Children in Need - pledges

[Pinotage]

Its Children in Need time again and those pledges are rolling in.

But do we know what the difference is between the amount pledged and the amount of money they actually receive?

[Dreaming]

I dont know, but find the whole thing, with the celebrities doing "their thing" for charity bloody annoying. Why dont they just put their hand in their pocket?

[Buenchico]

Before most people had debit/credit cards, Children in Need was unable to take electronic payments, so they had to accept people's 'pledges' that they would take their donations to the bank. Obviously some people never honoured their pledges but, even then, the amount actually received always exceeded the total value of the pledges. (This was probably largely due to the number of community groups which collected for the charity but didn't phone in to make a pledge).

Now that most people can pay by plastic, most of the 'pledges' are actually honoured immediately (i.e. Children In Need take the card number over the phone). Because of the work of community groups, the total collected each year continues to greatly exceed the value of the pledges.

Chris