There has been a lot in the press recently about the practice by some (not all) charities of using call centres to badger people into giving more money, made worst by reports of the effect this has on the elderly.
One of the lead items on the BBC this week was about charities that could face a fund raising ban for breaking the rules. Shooting themselves in the foot is phrase that comes to mind, almost as bad as Volkswagen rigging test results on their cars.