The Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIoF) has announced changes to its safeguarding processes, with a delayed independent review of its response to sexual harassment complaints set to be published early this year.
In a blog posted this week, Michele Welch, head of professional conduct at CIoF, said it had now appointed a professional conduct committee, set up to oversee its complaints process, and set up a refreshed safeguarding hub, a section of its website dedicated to its work in this area.
The committee is responsible for developing the CIoF’s code of conduct for its members, code of behaviour for its events, and overseeing all complaints and disciplinary policies relating to professional conduct.
Announced in 2021 as part of CIoF’s response to recommendations made by its learning review, the committee met most recently in December and evaluated CIoF’s policies and procedures in line with best practice.
The committee’s work will be partly guided by the recommendations made in CIoF’s upcoming independent review.
Nine committee members
Nine members have been appointed to the committee, which is chaired by Lindsey Bartling, a senior associate at Clyde & Co solicitors and a deputy district judge.
The committee had its first meeting in July 2023.
The other members of the committee are:
- Matt Radford, lead consultant at Vulnerable Paths and deputy chair of the committee.
- Graham Riscoe, a retired governance specialist.
- Kirsty Mavor, clerk to the board of management at Glasgow Clyde College.
- Gary Richardson, chief executive of Countryside Learning.
- Ngozi Cadmus, CEO of Happiworkers and a trustee of CIOF.
- Martine Koch, head of membership at Royal Town Planning Institute.
- Claire Hagon, an independent nurse consultant and life coach.
- Isobel Mihael, a consultant and fundraiser at Southside Family Project.
In another blog post, chair of the committee Bartling said that the members “bring with them not only a wealth of knowledge and experience, but a genuine desire to change how professional conduct is seen and dealt with by the CIOF and more widely across the profession”.
The group will meet a minimum of three times a year and provide an updated report at every trustee meeting.
Bartling wrote: “Where there is concern that conduct does fall below expectations, we will ensure that the complaints and disciplinary policies are effective and work for members at the crucial moment they might need them.”
A spokesperson for CIoF told Civil Society: “Membership of the professional conduct committee was done through a fair and open recruitment process.
“The chair was appointed in late 2021, while the rest of the committee joined from a process that began in March 2022.
“At their recent meeting they began to consider how they will operate as a committee and established ways of working going forward, including the allocation of responsibilities and the appointment of a deputy chair.
“The committee also started to consider best practice and examples from other organisations.”
Independent review to be published in early 2024
In 2021, CIoF announced a second independent review of its response to sexual harassment complaints, after its initial investigation was criticised.
The initial investigation, conducted by HR consultancy Tell Jane, cleared CIoF's former chief executive, Peter Lewis, of wrongdoing after an allegation on social media that a complaint of sexual harassment was made to Lewis in 2014, which he did not act upon.
Its upcoming second review is set to “focus on the wider issue of concerns, reports and complaints of sexual harassment not being acted upon appropriately over time by the CIoF”.
In an update in December last year, CIoF reported that its independent reviewers said findings from the delayed investigation would not be ready for publication until early 2024.
