Target bids bell-ringers farewell

When Rich Silva sent out dozens of red-draped bell-ringers for the Salvation Army this fall, he removed one company from his list: Target Corp.

The retail giant denied the bell-ringers the right to solicit funds outside its 1,300 stores this year, saying it could no longer make an exception to its national no-solicitation policy.

In Spokane, the two Target sites collected more than $16,000 in donations last year, said Silva, the Salvation Army’s business manager. That’s about 10 percent of the charity’s total collection.

Silva expressed disappointment but said he understood the corporation’s decision.

“They figured if they let us in, they had to let everybody in,” Silva said. “We regret that it happened, but we respect their decision. Target has been a really good friend.”

The Salvation Army’s local chapter operates about 30 kettle sites each day, manned by about 50 volunteers working shifts. The bell-ringers collected about $160,000 last year.

Target had been the Salvation Army’s second-most profitable collection point, accounting for nearly $9 million of the $93.8 million bell ringers raised nationwide in the 2003 holiday season.

Now some shoppers are fuming that the nation’s second-largest retailer would turn away a charity whose bell ringers have long been a symbol of the holiday season.

“Target is this year’s Ebenezer Scrooge,” said Randy Sharp of the American Family Association, a Christian group that sent an e-mail this week to 2.3 million people urging them to shop elsewhere in protest of Target’s policy. “They are the Grinch that stole Christmas for a lot of needy children.”

Silva said the number of volunteers has tripled this year, in part because of news of Target’s decision.

Brie Heath, a Target spokeswoman at corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, Minn., said the company notified the Salvation Army in January.

“We have always had a no-solicitation policy,” Heath said. “The one exception to the policy had been the Salvation Army.”

But Heath said many other nonprofits had petitioned to use store property to solicit funds.

“It got to the point where we could no longer say yes to one organization and no to another,” she said.

Other corporations have taken similar steps. In 2001, Wal-Mart limited fund-raising organizations to 14 days in a calendar year. The Salvation Army’s fund drive began on Nov. 19 this year, Silva said, and lasts more than a month.

But Silva said other stores have boosted their help for the nonprofit. He said employees at a local Fred Meyer store spent several hours volunteering at kettle sites this year. ShopKo stores also allowed bell-ringers to begin about a week earlier this year, Silva said.