A Bristol-based church charity breached the Code of Fundraising Practice during a recent campaign, the Fundraising Regulator has found.
Yesterday, the regulator said St. Thomas Mar Thoma Church “failed to follow the code in some respects” while carrying out the Agape Project, a campaign aiming to raise £150,000 to buy a new building within 100 days.
It found the charity in breach of one section of the code, which states that if an organisation fundraises for a particular purpose, it must include a statement saying what will happen to the funds received if the total amount raised is less or more than the target.
Complaints to regulator
St. Thomas Mar Thoma Church approved the Agape Project on 29 August 2021 to sell its existing vicarage, settle an outstanding mortgage on the church building and buy a new site with enhanced facilities.
As part of the campaign, it sent a donation appeal letter to church members “explaining the problems with the vicarage and providing information about the building the charity would ideally like to replace it with”, according to the regulator.
The charity said the project was “executed in its fullness” on 1 July 2022 but an anonymous person contacted the regulator, arguing that the campaign had failed to achieve the charity’s objectives.
The complainant said that the purchase of the new building was done outside of the time limit the charity had advertised in its fundraising materials and did not reach the level of donations it said was needed.
They said that the purchased building did not fulfil the requirements set out in the campaign and that the charity had pressured donors by visiting their homes.
The complainant said donors should have been refunded “as the campaign had failed”.
Breach found
The regulator found that St. Thomas Mar Thoma Church failed to reach its fundraising target during the 100-day limit but bought a new building shortly after nonetheless.
While the charity missed its fundraising targets, the regulator said it was satisfied it “had achieved its overall goal of purchasing the replacement building”.
The regulator disagreed with the complainant that the purchased building was outside the campaign’s objectives, but “thought that the charity could have been clearer about its requirements”.
“From the information we considered, the only conditions for the new vicarage were that it was detached, had four bedrooms and cost approximately £500,000,” it said.
“We thought that the charity failed to follow the code in some respects – namely that it didn’t consider, nor inform donors, what it would do with funds if it was unable to achieve the campaign objectives.
“However, we didn’t think on balance that this would have swayed donors against supporting the campaign. There were issues in relation to complaint handling, although the charity did look into the matter when we asked it to.”
The regulator also considered the allegations around pressured fundraising but said it did not have enough information to arrive at a conclusion on this.
Charity told to review policies and procedures
The regulator found that St. Thomas Mar Thoma Church breached section 2.7.5 of the code.
It recommended the charity undertake a thorough review of its policies and procedures, and consider the requirements of the code, should it pursue fundraising activities in future.
“From what we have seen in this complaint, it was clear that the charity didn’t immediately recognise the Agape Project campaign as regulated fundraising, as it had primarily directed its fundraising efforts towards its own members,” the regulator said.
“The charity accepted our findings and recommendations and will be informing its members of the recommendations as soon as it seeks to implement these.”
Civil Society has contacted St. Thomas Mar Thoma Church for comment.
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