The chair of the Fundraising Regulator has told the BBC that it is currently looking at “half a dozen” complaints that may be serious enough to warrant an investigation.
Appearing on the BBC’s You and Yours programme yesterday morning, Lord Grade said that the regulator has received over 300 complaints from the public about fundraising, since its launch in July with “half a dozen or so that are serious enough for us to go into investigation”.
Grade also said that the regulator was pleased with the fact that the public was coming to it with complaints, given that it hasn’t been “really going wide with our publicity, getting people aware that we exist. So we’re pleased that people understand that there’s an easy reference point of complaints from donors.”
A spokesman for the Fundraising Regulator refused to reveal the names of the charities or agencies possibly facing further investigation. He said that the regulator wanted to “avoid providing a commentary on its work”.
Reputational damage on Neet Feet ‘pretty severe’
Lord Grade’s appearance on You and Yours was scheduled to promote the publishing of the Fundraising Regulator’s first adjudication decision yesterday.
In its adjudication, the regulator found that the now defunct street fundraising agency Neet Feet breached six different Codes of Fundraising Practice. It also criticised seven charities for failing to properly monitor Neet Feet’s work on their behalf.
When asked what would happen to the seven charities after the decision was published, Grade said the reputation damage would be “pretty severe”, and said they would all be closely monitored by the regulator moving forward.
“The reputational damage for them is pretty severe. We will be monitoring them and demanding reports on what changes they’re making to their processes when they employ agencies and so on.”
When asked whether or not charities should “move their fundraising back in house”, in light of the Neet Feet incident, Grade defended the use of third party fundraising agencies, and said the cost of moving all fundraising back in house would be “punitive” for many charities.
“I think the costs of doing that would be punitive on the charities themselves. There’s nothing wrong with using agencies, and there are a lot of very good agencies out there that behave ethically out there,” said Grade. “But there are cowboys. Where there’s money to be made, you will attract one or two wrong’uns and, clearly, Neet Feet were completely out of control.”
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