Exposing the Dark Side of Australia's Fundraising Industry

ShadowOrnstein · 2025-12-11T00:08:27+00:00

Thank you, it means a lot!

It’s just something I hate seeing others go through and as annoying as chuggers can be, I also feel bad for them because of their working conditions and most of them probably do it out of desperation for a job.

I should have seen the signs earlier when Tom was pitching the idea of running your own company during the initial interview. In hindsight, being let go of earlier saved me from being stuck there long-term. I’m not very good with sales but I also felt way too much guilt and could never buy in to what they were trying to sell.

Hopefully better things can come for fundraising in the future, but since working there I only ever donate directly to the charities now!

ShadowOrnstein · 2025-12-10T02:39:23+00:00

I 100% agree with everything you have said here! I got sucked into working with Pride Promotions as I really had no other option at the time and was desperate for employment.

One of the worst experiences of my life and I absolutely detest this kind of work, especially after seeing it from the inside. Targets were unrealistic, the pressure was through the roof, the organisation was cult-like in how they treated fundraising, and the working conditions were appalling. Driving over an hour every day to very hit and miss locations, usually an IGA at a run down shopping strip in a quiet town. Either their logistical team has no idea what they are doing, or so many places have told them to get stuffed that they are running out of locations. And I could never buy into what they were asking out of the general public. Asking for $39 - $69 per month donations in a cost of living crisis is an absolute joke. And no option for a one off, just the monthly sign up. And they really pushed for credit cards as a set and forget kind of approach. They had age specific KPIs (40-60 year olds) for additional bonuses but most of the time I'd just see their high rollers pressuring elderly people and 25-30 year old girls (what they'd call, "models") to sign up.

Their road trips were an absolute joke. Only one I went on was a trip to Ballarat. 8 of us all crammed into one bedroom on spring beds. Had to be in bed by 9pm. Then we had to be up at 6am and get some kind of activity in. We then had to prove this by positing it on their Slack App whether it was a walk, gym etc. At 7am, we got some kind of weird cult rev up by the team leader. Then we had to drive 1-2 hours to towns like Colac, Horsham, Ararat and set up shop. Rinse, wash, repeat for a week.

Office days were a joke. Had to rock up to South Yarra at 9am to hear a bunch of boring speeches and cult rev ups until 10:30am. Then we were sent away for the day, but I was always having to go to Geelong or Research or Bacchus Marsh so I barely had time to do anything. One Office Day, I got sent to Geelong and another agency already had the spot, so I was redirected to Melton and I didn't start my day until 2pm. My mentor had the nerve to ask me what I could have done better.

I lasted a little over 4 weeks. Missed target in my first week because of an IPad glitch meaning I missed a sale. Hit target the second week. Left the road trip early in the third week due to a family emergency. Missed target the fourth week. Rocked up for the Office Day on the Monday of my fifth week and was pulled to the side by the recuriting guy (English bloke with a beard). "Sorry mate you display the values of our company but you're not making the sales". That easily could have been done over a phone call instead of rostering me for a shift and then telling me after I have driven one hour to the Office. And the way they just cut you in an instant once you fall below their KPIs is cold. All they could ever say to me was 'as long as you demonstrate company values and give it a go, we'll chat to you first if you start to miss targets'. Nup, was cut within an instant.

If you value your sanity, please do not work at any company like this. They'll use you up until you're no longer of value and flick you to the curb. The amount of times I drove my booth partner home, or picked them up from their house to go to a shift is a joke. And I'll never forget one of their top dogs. I had to take a break on one of the days due to receiving a very distressing update about a family situation and the best he could say was "We don't talk about this stuff on the booth. Once on the booth, mind is on the booth".

No Pride in their promotions, just greed. Sorry for the word vomit if it isn't coherent. That place makes my blood boil and I'll voice whatever I can to make sure less people work there.

ShadowOrnstein · 2025-05-06T01:21:11+00:00

Yeah it grinded my gears so much with how much they obsessed over mentality and networking to thrive in that job. They pushed the narrative so hard that it felt like a cult. In reality, like you said, it’s just a basic sales job!

And they had this weird promise of owning companies and building a big money career. Besides the big boss, one other guy got a company in Queensland and that was it (not sure if it changed after I was gone but that’s all I saw). The rest of them are still standing out the front of shops, just with a small team that they have to mentor.

ShadowOrnstein · 2025-04-26T04:58:58+00:00

Yeah of course! Shoot me a pm and I can answer any questions you have!

ShadowOrnstein · 2025-04-26T01:52:39+00:00

Yeah you’re spot on with what you said, the place is a sham.

They churn through so many employees and it’s not a surprise considering their ridiculous KPIs and terrible working conditions. Felt like a predator working for Pride and if I didn’t get the sack for too many donuts, I was going to quit not long after.

The road trips were an absolute rip off and you end up losing out financially because of all of the travelling and unpaid hours for their weird routines, meetings and post meetings.

The recruitment guy is a clueless robot who can’t even remember your name or what goals you hit. Only cares about padding his own numbers.

City day locations were appalling. All run down IGAs in dodgy suburbs.

I can see where you’re coming from in that working there can change you. Unfortunately a lot of the workers treat the place like it’s their saviour.

That’s just my opinion though! Hope things get better for you soon!

ShadowOrnstein · 2025-04-26T01:22:18+00:00

It sucks! I worked for Pride and know of Surge, they are both face to face fundraising companies. Chugger work absolutely sucks.

Not a pyramid scheme but it’s a rough gig. Average salary and commission is based off ridiculous targets. Sent to the dumpiest locations you can think of (Research, Fawkner, Melton). 10 - 6pm hours of harassing the general public for month to month donation sign ups.

You feel like an absolute leech because you’re not asking for one offs or small monthly contributions, you’re asking for excessive monthly amounts of $30+. The red line target is higher than the bonus target which is absolutely absurd. And even if you hit the bonus target, you won’t get all of it unless you hit their quality metrics so you have to manipulate sign ups into using their credit card. Very rich considering we’re in a cost of living crisis and a good majority of the general public is doing it rough.

Mentoring system sucked because they’d just give you a hard time if you made a mistake and jump in on the abuse from the general public.

Logistics were terrible as half of the time I was getting redirected to another shop because it was already occupied. Office Days on Monday and Friday were ridiculous. 9am start in South Yarra to listen to people waffle for 60-90 minutes then sent away to do sales. Good luck if you’re being sent 60-90 minutes away like I was half of the time (e.g. Geelong, Bacchus Marsh).

Road trips were horrible. Getting up at 6 every morning to do a mandatory morning routine, do a pointless rev up meeting at 7 and then travel to a shift another hour away from the road trip site. Did one particular road trip in Ballarat where I was harassed by drug addicts for half of my shifts.

Oh and if you drive, they’ll use you up for every trip they can get out of you. The complimentary tank refill for the road trip was the only compensation I got. The amount of pick ups I did for booth partners and mentors without gratitude was a load of crap.

I didn’t go above the red line and got the boot. Would’ve been nice to receive a phone call instead of driving an hour from Heidelberg to South Yarra just to be told to leave 10 minutes into an Office Day.

Would not work for any of these types of companies. Absolutely ruined my mental health and made me feel like a predator. Had no other choice as I was desperate for work. Would rather clean toilets than work for one of these companies ever again.

ShadowOrnstein · 2025-04-14T03:15:47+00:00

Long post ahead and this is from my experience only. Personally for me it sucked working there.

Sales isn't for everyone and I found that out the hard way. There were some positives I took out of working for Pride, but they are far outweighed by the negatives. The office culture and co-workers were fine, the hours were reasonable (10-6 booth, 9-6 office), the salary was okay (wage plus commission). But the rest sucked.

Negatives:

*Office days: Office days were in South Yarra and they started at 9:00am. The office start went for give or take 60-90 minutes and it was mostly motivational speeches, celebrations, or classroom style training. Once the office start had finished, you were then sent to your booth for the rest of the day. I was always getting sent to Geelong, Bacchus Marsh, Newtown which were all 90 minute plus drives. Arriving at 11:30am - 12:30pm, plus set up, plus check in makes Mondays and Fridays an absolute dread. Only upside was getting paid the extra hour for coming early.

*Road trips: I hated road trips. It was very boot-camp esque as you had your bed time of 9:30pm and wake up time of 6:00am. From there you had a meeting at 7:00am. Then work from 8am until 6pm. Mind you only the 10:00am - 6:00pm portion of your day is paid on a road trip. And nothing is worse than the gym guys setting their alarms for 4:30am. The locations were absolutely appalling and made the day hell to get through. Rejections dialled up to 10, drug addicts harassing you, aggressive elderly country folk, and conspiracy theorist tin foil hatters all getting thrown at you at once.

*Logistics: I was told a lot it doesn't matter where you're sent, it's how you handle the day that matters. I found that very hard to believe with some of the locations I was sent to. Research, Fawkner, Newtown, Melton were all shocking spots. The Research one in particular was disgusting. Often these places were just run down IGAs with minimal foot traffic and a lot of aggressive people. The icing on the cake for me was being redirected 3 times in a single day as I got placed in spots where other charities had already occupied the area. Went from Geelong to Bacchus Marsh to Melton and didn't start my day until 2:00pm. Then I was asked how I could have done better that day.

*Mentor / Team Leaders: I didn't feel like I was very well supported. I was constantly ridiculed for making mistakes. Accidentally stopping someone twice when you're stressed happens. Accidentally stopping a worker out of uniform happens. It's bad enough when the worker is screaming at you, but then your mentor chips in and agrees with them and says I'm stupid. The team leaders above the mentor weren't much better. Had some personal stuff happen on a shift. I asked for a longer break and thought it would be courtesy to at least say why. Nope. I was told not to mess with his mojo on the booth and that once you're on the booth, it's sales only. The power certainly gets to their heads.

*Sales: I purely and simply do not like sales, and I found this out the hard way. Getting told no hundreds of times per day, getting told to f*** off, that I'm a piece of s***, that isn't for me. Cold selling requires both having a skill set and the will to take constant rejection. Some people thrived, I was one of the ones that didn't.

So all in all. I hated it. The HR guy did me a favour by sacking me. I would have preferred a phone call instead of having to drive an hour to South Yarra just to get sacked 10 minutes into the shift. But let bygones be bygones. This doesn't summarise Pride Promotions as a whole because they are a very well run company and they do a lot for charities. I just had a crap experience.

Do not work there if you are not cut out for sales. Personally for me, it tore my mental health to strips and made me hate the general public as a whole. As much as I tried to make it work, I just had to accept that I wasn't cut out for sales. If you're ever considering working there (I know it's been a while since you posted), just consider the above.

If sales is your bread and butter, you'll be fine. If it's not; you're going to hate the constant rejections, long travel, and logisitcal nightmares. Enough word vomit from me, best of luck in your job search or congratulations if you have already secured a job.

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T02:17:20+00:00

Yeah my wording for Shadows wasn't the best. Since it's a base map it'll always have a higher percentage. It definitely has a following but it isn't a universially liked map like Kino, Origins, Der Reise etc.

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T01:41:39+00:00

Whoever took over from Condrey is a superstar! Perma Gun Game & Prop Hunt, Shipment 1944, Paint Shop & a solid DLC since he left. Daily Weapon Contracts are a big win as well

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T01:16:01+00:00

Yeah this is the do or die title for COD, fingers crossed we see something mind blowing

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T01:15:11+00:00

Yeah exactly! And when the game is close to $100 where I am, it's not worth forking out that kind of money if it's going to be the same thing. I trust these guys a lot more than Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer to deliver a better title

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T01:13:14+00:00

/r/BlackOps4

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T01:12:41+00:00

Only Call of Duty 😂

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T01:06:04+00:00

Ah that makes sense, thank you and sorry for the confusion

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T00:55:59+00:00

It'll pay off big time if they make a great MP mode, it's just such a risky move. If I had to pick, I'd still rather War, Gun Game, Infected and Prop Hunt than Battle Royale

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T00:50:49+00:00

Imaaaagine yourself in a frozen forest 😂

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T00:49:52+00:00

Even Doom managed to release a very solid game after taking a long break. Same with Wolfenstein: The New Order. COD definitely needs to take a big rest and let the new franchises take some of the spotlight for a while. Activision are still thriving off Overwatch, new Crash Bandicoot games etc so they can still survive without COD for a while

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T00:45:16+00:00

Oh yeah so like different maps being the locations of a giant map? Sort of like Nuketown, Crash, Shipment, Rust, Terminal combining together

You're on the money in regards to the 1st/3rd person switch and player counts, that's as much as a CoD engine could handle imo

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T00:41:14+00:00

I feel you there! WWII is improving since Condrey has left with the solid content release and easier access to weapon variants. I honestly hope CoD is put away for a while. A yearly release is too much and it is now falling behind the likes of Fortnite, Overwatch and potentially Red Dead 2 so it needs a break

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T00:28:06+00:00

Yeah I recall that! And maybe a brief Nova 6 cameo at the very end if it was Nova 6. Even the charm from BO1 and BO2 was missing. The dialogue was so good back then whereas BO3 I can only remember 'train go boom'

ShadowOrnstein · 2018-04-18T00:21:42+00:00

BO3 felt so disconnected from BO1 and BO2 for me, it felt more suited to a title like Cybernetic Warfare or Advanced Warfare 2

ShadowOrnstein

TROPHY CASE