Red-Kettle Restriction Cuts D.C. Salvation Army’s Holiday Take
January 7, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Salvation Army in the Washington metropolitan area said donations fell 25 percent short of its holiday fund-raising goal, a showing the organization blamed in part on grocery chain Giant’s decision to slash the time charities could spend soliciting outside its stores, reports The Washington Post.
The Salvation Army said it collected $1.1-million in the D.C. region last fall, including $270,000 from red kettles outside Giant stores–60 percent less than it collected at the supermarkets last year. A spokesman for the charity said its “lowered visibility across the community” played a role in the fund-raising slide.
Last year Giant enforced new restrictions on holiday fund raising outside its stores, sharply limiting the hours and days Salvation Army bell-ringers could operate. In a statement the company said it changed the policy to allow a greater number of charities to solicit on its premises.
