Professional fundraisers who interact with members of the public must tell them who they are working for and what personal financial reward they are getting from the arrangement, under new guidance issued by the Fundraising Regulator.
The regulator set out its guidance this week, after a series of complaints around ‘pressure-selling’ tactics and other practices by subcontractors.
It states that charities must have detailed written agreements in place with professional fundraisers working on their behalf, and carry out monitoring to ensure terms are being complied with.
The new guidance emphasises that charities “must carry out appropriate due diligence before entering a relationship with a professional fundraiser and ensure that any conflicts of interest are appropriately addressed”.
It adds that professional fundraisers should create clear “solicitation statements” setting out who they are working for and what personal financial reward they are getting from the arrangement, when interacting with members of the public.
Subcontracted organisations should carry out their own internal monitoring of workers’ conduct and report to the charities they are working for, it says.
The new guidance covers all types of professional fundraisers, ranging from telemarketing firms, to agencies paid to do door-knocking and street fundraising, to consultants hired to apply for grants and negotiate corporate donations or partnerships.
‘Tricked’ into donating
In June, the regulator criticised two charities for breaching its code of practice in relation to complaints about their contacts with potentially vulnerable individuals.
Breast Cancer UK and its contracted fundraising agency APPCO UK were reprimanded after the latter took donations from an individual “they had good reason to believe lacked capacity”.
Meanwhile Zen Fundraising Ltd workers, acting on behalf of SOS Children’s Villages UK, were found to have continued speaking to an autistic member of the public who did not want to engage, and laughed at a passer-by’s offensive remarks.
Other subcontractors working for SOS Children’s Villages UK were also found by a Wales Online investigation last year to have “tricked people” into donations during doorstep pitches.
Separately, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) Children’s Charity reported itself to both the Charity Commission and Fundraising Regulator in February after its subcontracted fundraisers were accused of using “pressure-selling techniques” in another investigation by the Times.
In its first-ever market inquiry, commissioned in the wake of Wales Online’s reporting and issued in March, the Fundraising Regulator told charities they must “tighten” subcontracting arrangements and focus on due diligence and contract management.
Regulatory code update imminent
The regulator is also in the process of reviewing its Code of Fundraising Practice, to ensure the ongoing relevance and effectiveness of the regulatory framework.
It has previously said that it would consider whether standards in the code “need to be updated and possibly strengthened” to address bad subcontracting practice.
In June, the Fundraising Regulator said it had finished drafting the new code and was seeking legal advice, ahead of a final eight-week public consultation scheduled for September.
When the new code is launched there will be a six-month grace period for charities to update their processes to align with it, the regulator said in a statement at the time.
“The casework team will not investigate complaints about the new code rules until after this six-month period,” it said.
“After this, the casework team will start to investigate complaints using the new code rules in full, with some flexibility depending on the nature and timing of the complaint.”
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