The Fundraising Regulator should “name and shame” those charities which have not paid its levy, Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said today.
Etherington was speaking at the launch of the Fundraising Preference Service, a system which will allow donors to opt out of contact with charities.
The Fundraising Regulator is funded through a voluntary levy on all charities which have fundraising spend of more than £100,000. However collecting the levy has proved challenging, the regulator said today.
“The crucial issue is that the Fundraising Regulator is properly resourced,” Etherington said. “I know the board has determined that it will publish the names of those who have paid, but my instinct is they should publish the names of those who haven’t paid.
“Name and shame them, and let them explain why they don’t support the notion of self-regulation.”
Lord Grade, chair of the Fundraising Regulator, said there were two main categories of “refuseniks” – those who had refused to pay on principle, and those who had simply not engaged or responded at all.
The first round of the Fundraising Regulator’s levy is set to raise around £1.75m. This is more than £500,000 short of the regulator’s initial estimates, and more than £200,000 short of the £1.96m minimum budget it believes it needs to operate effectively.
Civil Society News was told last month that some 418 charities have outright refused to pay the levy. Another 219 have been wrongly invoiced by the regulator, because its levy was based on incorrect data. Another 155 are still in dispute with the regulator. Of these 68 will probably not pay, while 87 will probably pay a proportion.
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