The charitable arm of the Tate gallery has outright refused to contribute the £15,000 set-up costs towards the Fundraising Regulator, becoming the first of the top 50 fundraising organisations approached to do so.

According to a spokesman from the Tate, the art gallery administrator has told the Fundraising Regulator that the organisation is already regulated by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and that it doesn’t partake in the kinds of fundraising activities that were covered by the Etherington Review’s recommendations.

"Tate is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored, and already regulated for charity law purposes, by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

"Tate fully supports the idea of a regulator, but its fundraising does not include the activities covered by the Etherington review recommendations and it was not clear that it would be appropriate to contribute.”

The spokesman said however that the Tate is still open to discussions about how “the proposals might be broadened to include other fundraising activities”.

Lord Grade, chair of the Fundraising Regulator, said that only one of the 50 charities approached for funding by the Fundraising Regulator at the start of the year had refused while speaking at an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Charities and Volunteering in March.

It emerged in February that Lesley-Anne Alexander and the RNIB were reluctant to give the Fundraising Regulator the money requested until they got “more information” about where the money would be going.

Civil Society News understands that Parkinson’s UK is also dragging its feet over paying the start-up money. The organisation has been approached by Civil Society News for a comment.

A number of other organisations that were approached have also questioned why the Fundraising Regulator has decided to remunerate its board, including Children’s Society and the Dogs Trust.

A spokesman from the Fundraising Regulator said that talks were ongoing with the Tate and with a number of other organisations who have still yet to contribute to the regulator’s start–up costs. 

He confirmed that 39 of the 50 approached have since provided the start-up costs requested.