Memories of the 28th Century

Today I was approached by a guy who works for Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. who was try to collect money for Planned Parenthood. I don’t know how widespread Grassroots Campaigns is, but they regularly have people begging for their campaign do jour here in the Connecticut River Valley.

When I first noticed their canvassers I started to wonder about them, so I interrogated some of them. I asked what percentage of what they collect goes to the group that they name, and all of the ones I asked said, “100% went to the non-profit.”

That is clearly false, because they pay the canvassers, so something has to be held back for their pay and for office expenses. I took some flyers that were for recruiting canvassers that had the phone number on them. I called several times but got no response, which seemed quite odd. I didn’t really care, so I dropped it for a while.

A few months ago I saw an ad on one of the job boards for manages, so I applied. I got a call a few days later, and I talked up my experience as a manager, but I also dug a little. Apparently it is a nationwide company that contracts with non-profit groups to collect money for them. The pay for managers is straight salary, but for canvassers it is base hourly pay plus extra for getting more than a certain amount. I asked about tax reporting requirements and the percent that is turned over to the non-profit, and the answer was nonsensical; I don’t know what it meant. Apparently the guy I was talking to didn’t know much about anything except recruiting people for the local offices, so I didn’t learn much, nor did I get a job, but I didn’t expect to be hired.

I hadn’t seen any canvassers for a few months until today, when I was approached again. I quizzed this guy, but he didn’t know any more than the others, but he seemed to realize that it didn’t make sense, when I asked where the money he was paid came from, if everything was turned over to the non-profit.

I don’t care enough to call the Attorney General’s office, but I am curious, and might this be a good scheme for a get rich quick plan? I also wonder why none of the local papers have bothered running a feature about this group. Maybe it’s too small a game to bother anyone.

Any thoughts on starting a non-profit to profit from that dodge?

Apparently the employees like the job. http://www.indeed.com/cmp/Grassroots-Campaigns/reviews But some of the employees think it’s a scam. So maybe my doubts are justified. And there’s this article: Grassroots Campaigns: Using and abusing student workers http://open.salon.com/blog/ruthiekel...tudent_workers

Well, it’s not the kind of business that I’d get into, but it’s better then nothing.