It's red shield weekend... A weekend in May that usually brings out feelings of both frustration and appreciation in salvos, I think all across the world. The thing about red shield is that the idea is great, the cause is great, sometimes the response is great... But when you are out knocking on doors in a freezing cold winters morning, it doesn't feel so great!
This morning I was out collecting for somewhere between an hour and a half and an hour, knocking on door after door in quite an affluent area of Melbourne. The thing is despite the wealth of this area, I am pretty sure my collection bag only totalled about $60... Dismal! Sure there were some people that collected a whole stack more than this, but no where near the amounts in the collection buckets from the intersections...
So today I want to pose a bit of a controversial question... Is the door-knock dead?
Seriously... Think about it? Is there something else we could be doing? More intersections? A radiothon? Maybe even a telethon? What is it that keeps us going back to the door-knock? Is it because of the tradition? Is it for the little old man or women that tells us the have been waiting for us to come all weekend? Is it just so we can all go back to the hall for a pie and our big mac voucher? Or am I just in a bad area?
The thing is, I am all for raising money and don't get me wrong I am a salvo through and through... I am just wondering if we could be doing it better... That's all!
Oh and for all of those that haven't donated yet... Please dig deep and thank God for the salvos!
I think there probably is a better way but I think the problem is that there are to many ways. Take for example my collection in the door knock. I knocked on the door husband answers says we already gave at an intersection. Fine I walk away. I get to the end of the driveway and the wife calls me back and gives $50. There are to many ways to get out of it. Every motorist hates collectors at intersections you get hit by a charity every weekend and then against about 3 intersections in a row. The doorknock is a tradition. Yes it is probably the least viable collectio method available today but I no matter how much I whinge I will be pounding the pavement again next year in the doorknock.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dave. There are definitely better ways, but I also think the Salvo's need to be making sure they are not hounding people repetitively at every corner. People are always asking for money for one thing or another, the last thing you want to do is ask someone for money 4 times for the same thing.
ReplyDeleteAlso I think that given the high profile of the Red Sheild Appeal and Salvation Army as an organisation, there need to be more communication to the public about how is exactly funds are being used (i.e. how much of what gets collected goes towards what? How much allows the Salvation Army to keep running from an administraive point of view??) Greater transparancy builds greater trust in the organisation. What's more, it creates greater accountability and holds the Salvation Army in a place of integrity.