The Public Fundraising Association has launched an interactive   “e-learning platform” for members to help street fundraisers understand how to identify vulnerable people.

The platform, which is split into four different modules and is free to all PFRA members, covers the rules on street and door-to-door fundraising and uses a mix of “interactive games and videos to emphasise the real circumstances of potential donors”.

The four modules are called: ‘Street fundraising’, ‘Rules’, ‘Doors’ and ‘Vulnerable people’. This module consists of videos utilising “three actors with disabilities” and tests the fundraiser’s reactions when engaging with them.

Lewis Adler, one of the actors who appears in the vulnerable person module, suffers from severe hearing loss and dystonia, a progressive neurological disorder. Of the PFRA’s learning module, he said: “I’m just one of more than 70,000 known dystonia sufferers in the UK, but hardly anyone has heard of it. Needless to say I truly value any opportunity to raise awareness of the condition, and that of hearing loss.

“This initiative by the PFRA lifts the training of face-to-face fundraisers and disability awareness to a new level.”
Other videos in the ‘Vulnerable people’ module feature a blind actor and another who suffers from Tourette’s syndrome.

Peter Hills-Jones, chief executive of the PFRA, said: “The interactive system is a powerful way to highlight the standards we expect of our fundraisers, but provide them with the right kind of support. Driving up standards in face-to-face fundraising using this training will help to create both better fundraisers and longer term donors.”

A spokeswoman from the PFRA said that the platform cost "£47,000 to develop" in partnership with web developer Sponge UK. 

The PFRA spokeswoman also said that the organisation will look to "add more modules in 2016 (e.g. trustees, data protection, telephone fundraising, etc) following a consultation with members on what they would find most useful".