birding-aus

Is anyone else sick of BirdLife Australia marketing?

To: Tony Russell <>
Subject: Is anyone else sick of BirdLife Australia marketing?
From: Susan Knowles <>
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2015 06:42:54 +0000
William Macaskill in “Doing good better” attempts to provide information to let 
you choose the most effective charities. It’s worth a read and I think refers 
to a web site which I think helps with this   http://www.effectivealtruism.org. 
 I don’t think he rates animal charities as saving human lives is his basis for 
judgement.


> On 8 Dec 2015, at 2:38 PM, Tony Russell <> wrote:
> 
> And how do you identify those charities wherein even some of the donated 
> funds go to those in need and not mostly to the charity staff and management 
> ?  I've stopped all my donations to charities and do gooder funds because of 
> this unknown, and because of the way they pester you interminably once they 
> get your address or phone number.
> I did contribute modestly on line ( and therefore more unidentifiably) to the 
> recent bushfire relief funds, mainly because it was all so horrifying and I 
> wanted to help those who had suffered, but I could only assume, hopefully 
> correctly, that the banks did see to it that the money went where it was 
> needed in this case. I could be wrong though.  If it had been possible I 
> would have preferred to hand the money directly to the distraught families, 
> but that wasn't possible because the public were not  allowed into the 
> fireground in case we were looters or rubbernecks.
> 
> Tony.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Birding-Aus  On Behalf Of 
> Carl Clifford
> Sent: Tuesday, December 8, 2015 12:36 PM
> To: Fred Mack
> Cc: 
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Is anyone else sick of BirdLife Australia 
> marketing?
> 
> It looks like BLA has hired marketeers from the pester school of marketing, 
> whose technique seems to be based on the tenet that if they keep on dunning 
> you, you will donate, in the hope that they will go away. Unfortunately, they 
> don't, they just see a sucker and come in for more. I have just changed ISP's 
> and they are the same, ringing me 3-4 times a week, usually at meal times, 
> trying to sell me their mobile phone packages.
> 
> What worries me about this style of marketing by charities,such as BLA, is 
> the percentage of donations that are absorbed by marketing, in the form of 
> salaries, printing and postage etc. It has got to the point with mainstream 
> charities such as the Salvos, St Vinnies, that I no longer donate, because I 
> know that the majority of my donations will not go to whom I am hoping to 
> help. I only now donate to causes where I know my mony is really going to 
> make a difference.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Carl Clifford
> 
>> On 7 Dec 2015, at 10:09 PM, Fred Mack <> wrote:
>> 
>> https://support.birdlife.org.au/emailviewonwebpage.aspx?erid=2407986&trid=43b5737e-fb8a-4471-b824-64047318c034
>> 
>> “With numbers down 84%...  how long before the Lesser Sand Plover is extinct?
>> “This Silent Shorebirds Crisis can’t continue.”
>> 
>> Silent crisis? seriously, it’s been at the forefront of ornithology for 10 
>> years hasn't it… are BirdLife Australia just realizing this?.. and is this 
>> actually true? Given these people have recently said in similar marketing 
>> 90% of Australia’s woodlands have been cleared in the past few decades, we 
>> need to protect private land for Mallee- Emu-wrens (they never occured on 
>> private land as far as I know) and Magpies are going extinct, you have to 
>> wonder?
>> 
>> I’ve supported this organization in the past to the tune of tens of 
>> thousands and all I get is constant negative doomsday marketing trying to 
>> guilt me into things. They must send me a dozen a year. Add to that a 
>> massive and insultingly invasive, “supporter survey” asking me everything 
>> from my income to where live!
>> 
>> These people do wonderful actual conservation and research work - I know I 
>> help with much of it and they are great! but for god’s sake who is running 
>> this organization these days?
>> 
>> Is anyone else totally sick of them or is it just me?
>> 
>> Frank.
>> 
>> 
>> <HR>
>> <BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
>> <BR> 
>> <BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
>> <BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
>> </HR>
> 
> <HR>
> <BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
> <BR> 
> <BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
> <BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
> </HR>
> 
> 
> <HR>
> <BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
> <BR> 
> <BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
> <BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
> </HR>


<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR> 
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
<BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
</HR>

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU