I WISH to share my concerns over the methods used by commercial fundraisers acting on behalf of charities.

Recently, a commercial fundraiser representing the Singapore Heart Foundation knocked on my door to solicit donations.

However, rather than clearly indicating the reason for his visit, he claimed to be trying to raise awareness of heart disease and asked to speak only to the working adults of my family.

When we requested educational brochures on heart disease, he claimed he had no brochures to distribute and started to solicit donations instead.

I was shocked by his attempt at hard-selling and the fact that he had misrepresented his motives.

I refused to make any donation and asked him to leave. He shouted at us for asking him to leave empty-handed.

The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and other government agencies should step up governance of fundraisers to prevent the use of such tactics.

The remuneration for such commercial fundraisers should also be scrutinised, especially if it is tied to the amount of donations raised, as this would encourage the use of hard-selling and unethical tactics.

Lastly, the Code of Governance for Charities and Institutions of a Public Character (IPC) should be made mandatory.

It should, possibly, forbid charities and IPCs from engaging commercial fundraisers, as they may continue doing so - despite being aware of their use of doubtful tactics - because of their ability to raise substantial sums of money.

Mr Goh Bin Seng

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