WIREDGOV

Charity regulator works with Fraud Advisory Panel to understand charities' resilience to fraud and cyber-crime.

Fraud is a growing problem for charities, costing hundreds of millions, potentially billions, of pounds each year. Roughly 70% of all fraud is now committed online, meaning a charity’s valuable funds, operations, data and reputation can be at risk from a wide range of fraud and cyber-crime. It’s never been more important to understand fraud risk and to boost your charity’s cyber security.

Today, in partnership with the Fraud Advisory Panel, we have launched a survey, aimed at helping us get a better understanding both of charities’ resilience to fraud and their levels of cyber security. We are emailing 15,000 charities directly, inviting them to complete a questionnaire.

If you are one of the charities contacted, please do try to complete the survey as honestly as possible. We estimate it should only take around 15 minutes to do. If you are not contacted by us, there’s no need to take any action now.

All answers will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be disclosed or shared with persons or organisations outside of the Commission.

Alan Bryce, Head of Development and Operational Intelligence at the Charity Commission said:

This is a really important project that should significantly improve our understanding of what’s happening across the charity sector and shape our regulatory engagement, helping to build a stronger counter-fraud culture for the future. I urge those charities contacted to get actively involved and complete the questionnaire – your answers really will make a difference.

The survey will run for four weeks, and the Commission intends to publish the findings of the research later this year.