They’re a feature of inner–city Sydney streets, but not all street marketers are volunteers.

Some are employees of a professional street marketing company that have been outsourced by charities to solicit donations.

Red Cross, Oxfam and Amnesty International are some of the large charities who use professional street marketing companies.

Charities revealed this week that up to 95 percent of first-year donations collected through this method will end up with a marketing company, reduced to 24 percent over four years.

While this has angered some members of the public, charities say face-to-face fundraising has been an important long-term funding source for its expanding operations.

2SER's Biwa Kwan reports.