Legislation requiring charities to include new clauses in their agreements with fundraising agencies comes into force tomorrow, but the Fundraising Regulator has said it will take a “flexible approach” until March to allow charities time to transition.
Clauses affecting fundraising were included in the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 which came into force in March. They give reserve powers to establish a new fundraising regulator if necessary, and also require charities with incomes over £1m to report on their fundraising in their annual reports, for periods beginning after tomorrow.
The act also requires charities to include clauses in any agreement with fundraising services provider, covering:
- Details of any voluntary regulatory fundraising scheme or standard that the commercial organisation undertakes to be bound by
- How the commercial organisation will protect the public from unreasonable intrusion on a person’s privacy, unreasonably persistent approaches or undue pressure to give
- How compliance with the agreement will be monitored by the charity
Any agreement signed after today must include the above clauses. However the Fundraising Regulator has today published further information about the act.
“Until 31 March 2017 the Fundraising Regulator will take a flexible approach in its expectations of updated agreements between charities, professional fundraisers and commercial participators to take into account reasonable contingency arrangements which may be required as a consequence of the new duty,” the guidance says.
However the regulator has been criticised for not providing clarity on current agreements.
“There remains some doubt as to the regulator's position on agreements that charities have entered into prior to the new rules coming into force tomorrow,” said Chris Priestley, a partner in the charity law team at Withers Worldwide. “It would helpful if the regulator could publish an unambiguous statement that existing agreements do not have to be renegotiated or amended.”
