Cabinet Office
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New guidance for professional charity fundraisers
The Cabinet Office today published draft guidance to help professional fundraisers and retailers who raise money for charity through sales to comply with new laws.
From 1 April this year, fundraisers who are paid to raise money will be required to say up front to potential donors how much of each donation will go to charity and what proportion goes towards their own wages. This will affect street, telephone and door-to-door collectors. Similarly, shops who donate a portion of the sale price on particular items to charity will be required to state explicitly the extent to which a charity will benefit.
The new laws, which are provisions of the Charities Act 2006, will ensure that the public can make informed decisions about making donations or purchasing a product from which a charity will benefit. They will also help to protect the high levels of public trust that charities need to thrive.
Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector, said:
"People have a right to know how much of what they give will actually go to charity. Professional fundraising is a legitimate and very effective way to raise money for the charities that do a huge amount to tackle poverty and injustice in our world. This will ensure that they can operate with full transparency, which will help maintain high levels of public trust in charities.
"This guidance aims to help professional fundraisers know what the law requires of them, and the Government is keen to have the views of charities on today's draft version."
Mick Aldridge, Chief Executive of Public Fundraising Regulatory Association said:
"This helpful Guidance from the Office of the Third Sector takes on board the real-world operational concerns of the fundraising community in a positive and constructive way, which will be an enormous benefit for charities and their agents seeking to understand and fulfil their legal obligations to ensure members of the public are properly informed when making their donating choices."
Currently, professional fundraisers and commercial participators are required to make statements but the new requirements are much clearer about what they must contain. To help professional fundraisers and commercial participators provide the information required by the law the guidance offers suggested template statements. For example:
Where the professional fund-raiser (an individual) is being paid an hourly rate: I am a paid / professional fund-raiser working on behalf of <<charity X>>. I am being paid an hourly rate of <<£xxx>> per hour. In all, I expect to be paid approximately <<£ XXX>> for carrying out this programme of conversations with supporters like yourself throughout the UK across the whole of the year.
The Charities Act 2006 is the most significant shake-up of charity law for four centuries. The changes to the requirements on fundraising statements are the first part of a series of changes to ensure that new fundraising techniques do not damage the high levels of public trust in charities. The Government has already helped the charitable sector to establish self-regulation of fundraising, with the Fundraising Standards Board.
The Cabinet Office would like comments before 31 May 2008.
Notes to editors
1. The Guidance is available at: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/thirdsector
2. The Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office leads on the Governments commitment to create the conditions for a thriving third sector. For further information see: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector.aspx
3. The Charities Act 2006 was the first major change to charity law for 400 years. It is largely deregulatory and will free charities up to focus on their charitable purpose. Further information including a Plain English Guide to the Act is available at: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/law_and_regulation/charities_act_2006.aspx
4. The Fund Raising Standards Board (FSRB) http://www.frsb.org.uk/
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