They bid for the contract to be the primary fundraiser, so if you need a Dialysis machine for your local kiddies’ hospital and the Govt has spunked all the cash on some running and jumping races in London, you put it out to tender. It’s not necessarily the cheapest firm who gets the job either, it might be a quick campaign which is needed, or one which is very low-profile (which obviously makes it tricky, without over publicising). Some of these people then make nice fat pay cheques, laying into large corporations to get them to sponsor the new machine.
My conclusion was that the drives exist so CEOs can feel good about themselves because they obviously DON’T generate goodwill towards the stores.
Number of people who have complained about getting hassled: many
Number of people who thanked us for getting hassled: None that I know of.
I didn’t say the hassles hurt sales, I said they don’t generate goodwill. Which they don’t.
No, they can’t claim these pass-thru contributions as their own donations – their accounts know this would violate GAAP.
But some companies have tried to claim the time their employees spend on this – asking customers, putting up posters in the store, accountant time adding it up and sending money to the charity – as an n-kind contribution to the charity. So the few seconds the cashier is hassling you about thus – the store tries to claim that time as a ‘donation’.
I don’t know how this has worked, or if the IRS let it get by so far.
The stores get to deduct the salaries they pay to their employees whether the employees spend their time soliciting charitable donations or soliciting sales (unless there has been some dispute over whether time spent soliciting donations is an “ordinary and necessary” expense that I am unaware of). I would be amazed if anyone managed to deduct an employee’s salary twice because they spent their time soliciting donations.
Dateline Cleveland, Ohio, June 2012 …
HARVEST FOR HUNGER CAMPAIGN SETS NEW RECORD
15,010,760 million meals announced at recognition ceremony today!
*"CLEVELAND, OHIO - June 19, 2012 – The 2012 Harvest for Hunger Campaign cochairs Ken Marblestone, President, Charter One and RBS Citizens Ohio and Albert Ratner, Co- Chairman of the Board Emeritus, Forest City Enterprises announced the results of this year’s Harvest for Hunger community-wide food and funds drive at a ceremony today with Anne Goodman, Foodbank President & CEO.
Mayor Frank G. Jackson also attended the event to thank supporters.
The campaign raised a recordbreaking $3,673,015 million for local food pantries and soup kitchens.
The success of the campaign was due in large part to “Check Out Hunger,” a cashier-led fundraising effort in grocery stores across the region during March.
In Greater Cleveland, Giant Eagle, Heinen’s and Dave’s collected gifts from customers at their cash registers for the Harvest for Hunger campaign.
Collectively, the supermarkets raised $1,347,125. …"*
http://www.clevelandfoodbank.org/site/DocServer/Harvest_2012_Release.pdf?docID=5541
“Check Out Hunger” …
What was so great about this fund raising drive was the approach.
At the grocery store checkout, there were small tear pads.
Each tear pad was a dollar amount donation (i.e., $1.00, $2.00, $5.00, $10.00) with a corresponding barcode.
A customer wanting to make a donation would detach one of the tear pads and scan the barcode at the time of checking out.
That dollar amount donation was added to the checkout total and paid by the customer.
Vons is engaged in an organized Campaign to trick customers . I confronted the local store, Corporate office and Charities involved. All denied and all pointed fingers at each other. All you have to do is
google" Vons Charity" and you’ll see what they are doing to customers.
Vons should be ashamed at their scam of repeatedly asking paying customers to give a donation to the charity of Vons’ Choice. I was donating a dollar each time I shopped. I stopped after hearing a radio talk show complain about this practice of shaming the customer into donating. The next time I was in the store checking out, I selected “decline to give to a charity” I thought that would be the end but the cashier stopped the completion of the transaction and held my receipt hostage while asking me to give once again. I politely declined then she said we can "round up " meaning if my bill was 25.70, I would agree to pay 26.00 for the third time I politely declined . She reluctantly released my receipt and allowed me to leave. Vons is determined to force, bully or shame you into giving. I will NEVER give a cent to a Vons sponsored charity. I also will boycott any charity they were forcing down my throat. Here’s how the scam works: The guy bagging the groceries asks you over and over if you need help out, at the same time the cashier asks you for a donation then she asked if you found everything ok, then the , guy bagging asked another question then the cashier starts "rounding up your bill pretending she has your approval then the guy bagging distracts you again and you have to force the cashier to STOP adding donations to your bill. The Cashier and the guy bagging fire off a barrage of questions, it’s part of the SCAM to Confuse , Distract, Disorientate and Bombard the customer , while desperately trying to ADD money to the bill. I was so insulted by the behavior, I went in the following day to video tape it and I have this lady on video trying to force me to donate, while the guy bagging is asking over and over if you need help out. He asked 3 times. It’s a coordinated scam and Vons corporate has instructed the staff to engage in customer abuse, harassment and fraud. Can you imagine how an elderly person survives this onslaught? Shame Shame Shame! Shopping should not include aggressive panhandling at the register. It’s so sad, the homeless beg in front of the store and cashiers beg inside. It’s not good enough that we shop there. Never Again , Vons Never Again………Full Boycott!!!