We seem to have found ourselves in a position where charities didn’t think hard enough about what it was like to be on the receiving end of some of their fundraising methods.
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The review follows concerns that leading charities have used aggressive fundraising tactics to target the vulnerable.
The new Fundraising Preference service would allow individuals to add their name to a “suppression list” so charities have a clear indication of who does not wish to be contacted.
A government commissioned report into the fundraising activities of charities has called for a major overhaul of the system.
Its recommendations provide a powerful incentive for politicians and the charitable sector itself to implement the proposed new framework of co-regulation for fundraising with immediate effect. The recommendations represent a new approach to fundraising self-regulation.
The chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations says the current self-regulatory system “really doesn’t have the clout or the sanctions” to prevent bad practice, the BBC reports. It would be the owner and enforcer of the code of fundraising practice – which now sits with the Institute of Fundraising (IoF) – and be able to proactively investigate breaches of standards (rather than wait for complaints from the public) and be responsible for convening all relevant bodies to ensure cooperation on fundraising issues.
However, the regulator says that “a revamped FRSB, properly resourced, would be the most viable and cost-effective way of moving forward”. Charities which seriously or persistently breach the rules would be named and shamed and could be forced to halt their fundraising until problems are resolved.
The review also recommends the creation of a new “Fundraising Preference Service” for the public to opt out of fundraising communications.
“They thought too much about the ends and not enough about the means”.
The IoF’s chief executive Peter Lewis welcomed the panel’s recognition of the need for “a regulator with stronger sanctions and real teeth; greater powers of investigation; and a firm and clear expectation that all charities should have to comply with the standards that are agreed” because that’s what its members had said they wanted to see.
Rob Wilson, minister for civil society, said: “Charities need to work together to make sure vulnerable people are protected”.
The move would enable people who feel pressured by aggressive fundraising tactics to put a stop to further demands for donations.
Research found that members of the public were frustrated about the lack of control over whether or not they were approached for fundraising and the lack of transparency over how their details were acquired.
It added that although charities were in their right to ask the public for money, the public also had the right to be left alone by fundraisers. We can and must do better.
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However it says excesses are more prevalent in large United Kingdom charities than Scottish charities raising funds north of the border.
