Winter storm warnings in northern Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Some consider it a season of enthusiastic
political fervor. Others, like area businesses, might see it as an
annual infestation.


      Every summer, canvassers representing environmental and civil
rights nonprofit organizations can be found daily on the streets of
Dinkytown and Stadium Village.


      Canvassers are employees of national groups like Grassroots
Campaigns Inc. or Fund for the Public Interest, not the American
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Equality
California or any of the nonprofits they stand there to represent.
The groups typically hire the umbrella campaign organizers to
canvass and fundraise.


      Many of the canvassers, like Jim Kilbride, who donned the ASPCA
cap last week, get the job to get their foot in the nonprofit door.


      "It's a way to wade into it," Kilbride said.


      Cole Andree said he originally approached a GCI canvasser about
racking up volunteer hours but ended up working for them when he
found out it was a paid position.


      In the first three days on the job, canvassers must collect $110
in total donations, Kilbride said. Passersby can donate one-time
donations or sign up for a monthly pledge. Canvassers do not accept
cash.


      Donors on average continue the monthly pledge for seven months,
so seven months' worth of donations is counted toward a canvasser's
daily quota, Kilbride said.


      On a good day, a canvasser secures five or six donations, GCI
field manager and Gustavus Adolphus College senior Nicole Meyer
said.


      GCI canvassers like Kilbride work five days a week and make
between $300 and $550 weekly, depending on location, according to
the GCI website. Hourly wage is approximately $8, Kilbride said.


      For businesses, the canvassers can impede foot traffic and
business.


      "On one occasion... we had canvassers right outside of our
door," said Rex Vogen, manager of Espresso Royale in Dinkytown.
Canvassers were catching students as they entered or left the
coffee shop. Vogen asked them to leave, and they obliged.


      "That was the end of that," he said.


      On the flip side, the canvassers also bring business to Espresso
Royale by having their meetings there, Vogen said.


      Overall, he said business is actually better with canvass season
in full swing.      


A similar case is true for the House of Hanson grocery store,
owner Laurel Bauer said. Though the canvassers bring business into
the store, Bauer's year-round customers are regularly pestered.


      "I've definitely experienced customers that have said they
don't want to come down here" because they are approached by
canvassers every time, she said.


      Despite a general reputation of having little spending money,
Meyer said campuses are good canvassing grounds because college
students are more open to different causes.


      Even if passersby are not interested in donating, the main goal
for Meyer and her colleagues is "to have a good conversation about
the cause," she said.


      To prepare for these conversations, canvassers go through
extensive training and learn scripts about the cause they will
represent on any given day, Kilbride said.


      Meyer said she and her colleagues are prohibited from canvassing near ATMs or on private property.
      

The University of Minnesota is a public school and therefore all
exterior spaces are public property. A permit would only be
required to set up a table, which canvassers do not do, University
spokesman Dan Wolter said.


      Bauer suggested moving the canvassers around more, as she sees them near her store, on the corner of 14th Avenue and Fifth Street Southeast "every single day."


      Bauer said since there are two different umbrella organizations
working with canvassers, they oftentimes overlap schedules and
overwork an intersection.


      Meyer said directors of both the Fund and GCI talk to make sure
workers for each don't overlap.


      The Fund and GCI regional and national offices did not return
multiple requests for comment on pay structure and businesses'
concerns.


      Nonetheless, Bauer asked that the canvassers "give the corner a
little break every once in a while."

Gallery

Social Issues

Some consider it a season of enthusiastic
political fervor. Others, like area businesses, might see it as an
annual infestation. Canvassers representing environmental and civil rights nonprofit organizations can now be found all over Dinkytown and Stadium Village.

Some Minn. businesses bothered by canvassers

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox