Door-to-door charity appeals in Poland

Are these appeals usually genuine? How does someone eliminate the ones that are not?

I had someone knock, they asked for a relatively small sum for a child who is ill, they had a binder of documents.

But there didn't seem to be a charity reg number when I enquired. They did however have a slip of paper with the bank account number if I wanted to pay in to them. No website apparently.

A Google search does not bring up the name of the ill child nor any charity for them.

Any advice on this?

Am I being overly cautious? In the UK, charities have numbers, donation campaigns are usually Google-able to verify what's what. (I should add, there are some registered charities in the UK which are questionable, even with the reg number.)

My advice would be not to open the door to anyone.

If someone's coming to me they'll call on the way over, or tell me a few days before.

This used to annoy the gas meter dude, but he's got my number now, so he texts me when he's due over.

Thanks Smurf

I thought it was the Administration, because she had a big binder book with her.

But I would still open the door to a genuine charity collector, to give a modest amount. I know some of the poor here are quite desperate. A few months ago, a well-dressed woman knocked here and the whole estate asking for food or toiletries. I gave some food and shampoo. She took a bus away from the estate, and I have a feeling she really was in need. How humiliating it must be for these people, honestly, I feel for them. Of course, every few mins here men also go through the bins, if you leave something near the bins (bread or a CD or book) it's usually gone in 15 mins.