The chair of the Commission on the Donor Experience has said that the new initiative will release guides for fundraisers and donors by the end of this year, at the launch event yesterday.
Sir Martyn Lewis, chair of the commission (pictured), described the guides as "mini bibles" which will help advise charities about "how they work and deal with donors” and be a “bible for donors" that explains "what they can expect from charities”.
Richard Spencer, director of the initiative, echoed Lewis’ comments and said that the commission would begin a consultation process with working fundraisers and donors in the spring and was aiming to have the ‘mini bibles’ published by the end of the year.
Spencer said that the commission already had over “400 volunteers” from across the sector who had signed up to work with Commission during the consultation period.
He said that the initial consultation will seek to highlight areas of current fundraising practice that need to be worked on. Once those areas have been agreed upon, each will be “divided into individual projects which will then be worked on by volunteers from around the fundraising sector”.
The Commission on the Donor Experience will be sharing its data and findings with other, similar initiatives, such as the Understanding Charities Group and has already been in contact with Alan Gosschalk on the subject.
The commission is made up of 12 individuals representing both charities and donors, including Sir Martyn Lewis, chair of NCVO; Giles Pegram former director and head of fundraising at NSPCC and Tim Hunter, director of fundraising at Oxfam.
Daphne Clarke, who appeared on The One Show in June last year to complain about “aggressive” fundraising tactics and helped draft a pro forma letter that was downloaded over 30,000 times, has also joined the commission to offer a perspective from vulnerable donors.
Stephen Dunmore, interim chief executive of the Fundraising Regulator, endorsed the initiative and said that he looked forward to “working closely with the commission”.
