The chair of the Institute of Fundraising said the fundraising membership body has “challenged certain aspects” of the ICO’s recent rulings.
Speaking to Fundraising Magazine, Taylor said that the Institute of Fundraising had challenged “the language, the tone and the proportionality” of the ICO’s findings into the RSPCA and British Heart Foundation in December 2016.
Taylor, who is set to step down from his role as chair of the IoF in the summer, after three years in the role did say however that the ICO’s job goes “way beyond the fundraising sector”, and that the sector had to “respect the ICO’s got an important job to do”.
One of the 11 charities
Civil Society News understands that Macmillan is one of the 11 charities issued with a notice of intent to fine by the ICO at the end of January.
Macmillan Cancer Support were named in written evidence presented to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, by the then Information Commissioner Christopher Graham at the beginning of January 2016.
Graham’s evidence was supplied to PACAC in relation to complaints made by the public in relation to the Telephone Preference Service during 2013.
Taylor, who is also the executive director of fundraising, marketing and communications at Macmillan, did not confirm or deny that the charity is one of the 11 charities issued with an intent to fine notification by the ICO.
He said it would be “madness” to discuss the ongoing investigations, until the ICO had finished with the investigations and issued anything further to the 11 charities.
In Fundraising Magazine
“It’d be madness if I was to comment on any of the 11 charities until the ICO has finished with its investigations and has reported on that," he said. "We don’t know what’s going to come on that. The only thing I would say is that we at the IoF have challenged certain aspects of the language, the tone and the proportionality of the ICO’s commentary.
“The ICO goes way beyond just the fundraising world. I respect that, and I respect they’ve got an important job to do and they must do it. I don’t want to comment about any charities that are currently being investigated.”
Taylor suggested he would be able to speak further in future, possibly at the end of March.
The full interview with Richard Taylor appeared in Fundraising Magazine’s March edition. It can be read in full by subscribers here.
