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Section 7

Fundraising partnerships

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Please provide any comments you have on the redrafted code rules below. You can comment on as many rules as are relevant to you. You can also save your responses and return to them later.

You can see how rules in the current code relate to the redrafted code in the Table of Changes.

The supporting documents include Code Compliance Guides which will help you understand how to meet the requirements of the redrafted code, and a Glossary with definitions of specific terms in the redrafted rules. CCG01: Documenting your Fundraising Decisions; CCG02: Due Diligence and Fundraising; and CCG03: Monitoring are relevant to Section 7.

7. Fundraising Partnerships

This section includes information about what charitable institutions need to consider when entering into partnerships with third-party fundraisers, what agreements with third-party fundraisers should contain, what monitoring charitable organisations should do in relation to third-party fundraisers and what some third-party fundraisers must say to donors when fundraising on behalf of a charitable institution.

Legal requirements for professional fundraisers and commercial participators

Professional fundraisers and commercial participators are particular types of third-party fundraisers. What makes a person or an organisation a professional fundraiser or a commercial participator is set out in law. The law also imposes particular obligations on what charitable institutions must do if they are engaging with professional fundraisers or commercial participators and obligations on what professional fundraisers and commercial participators must do and say.

In England and Wales: professional fundraisers and commercial participators are defined by Section 58 of the Charities Act 1992. The legal requirements to which they are subject are set out in Part II of the Charities Act 1992 and The Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994.

In Scotland: professional fundraisers and commercial participators are defined by Section 79 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. The legal requirements to which they are subject are set out in Part 2 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and in The Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009.

In Northern Ireland: there is currently no legislation for professional fundraisers or commercial participators, but charitable institutions fundraising in Northern Ireland may decide to follow the legal requirements in England and Wales or Scotland as good practice.

For more information about working with professional fundraisers and commercial participators, see:

7.1 Due diligence and conflicts of interest

In this section, ‘you’ means a charitable institution.

7.1.1

You must carry out appropriate checks on a third-party fundraiser before entering into an agreement with them, to ensure you can be confident that they are able to do what you expect them to do and that your relationship with them will not damage your reputation.

7.1.2

You and the third-party fundraiser must give each other full details of any actual or perceived conflicts of interest as soon as either party becomes aware of them. If the conflict of interest can be managed, you and the third-party fundraiser partner must take appropriate steps to manage it properly. If there is a significant conflict of interest, both parties must consider whether it is appropriate for the relationship to start or to continue.

Further Guidance on Due Diligence

Charity Commission for England and Wales (CCEW) – Due diligence, monitoring and verifying the end use of charitable funds

7.2 Contracts and agreements

In this section, ‘you’ means a charitable institution.

7.2.1

You must have an appropriate written agreement in place with any third-party fundraiser (unless they are a volunteer, in which case you may decide not to put a written agreement in place).

7.2.2

You must ensure that this agreement provides adequate protection and rights for your charitable institution, taking into account the activity to be carried out under the agreement. In particular, you must be able to terminate the agreement in a way that allows you to protect your charitable institution's reputation if this becomes necessary.

7.2.3

You must ensure that this agreement includes appropriate terms about:

  • The activities to be carried out by the third-party fundraiser (and if relevant, by you);

  • Any timescales;

  • If the third-party fundraiser will be paid by you, how this will be calculated;

  • If fundraising materials will be developed or shared, what copyrights you have over such materials;

  • Handling confidential information

  • How the third-party fundraiser is expected to behave, including expectations as to its compliance with this code;

  • Complaints procedures and engaging with the Fundraising Regulator; and

  • Whether sub-contracting by the third-party fundraiser is permitted and what standards are in place in respect of sub-contracted services.


Legal requirements for written agreements

You are legally required to have written agreements in place if the third-party fundraiser falls within the legal definition of a 'professional fundraiser' or 'commercial participator'. These agreements must be in place before a professional fundraiser begins fundraising on your behalf or before a commercial participator begins a promotion which makes representations that contributions will be given to you.

Legal requirements in Scotland are sometimes different to England and Wales. You must ensure that all written agreements meet the legal requirements of the country where the fundraising will be carried out.

Under Regulations 2-3 of The Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994 and Regulation 2 of The Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009, all agreements with professional fundraisers and commercial participators are legally required to include the following:

  • the names and addresses of the charitable institution(s) and the professional fundraiser/ commercial participator;

  • the date the agreement was signed, the duration of the agreement, and any terms relating to amending or ending the agreement early;

  • a statement of the main aims of the agreement and the methods to be used to achieve those aims (and, for agreements with commercial participators, a description of the type of contribution the commercial participator will make to you and the circumstances in which these contributions will be made);

  • for agreements with professional fundraisers, how much the professional fundraiser will receive as payment or for expenses and how this will be calculated;

  • for agreements with commercial participators, how much you will receive from the commercial participator and how this will be calculated (as a fixed amount or in percentage terms); and

  • if more than one charitable institution is involved, details of how the donations will be shared between you.

Additional legal requirements for written agreements in England and Wales

Under section 59 of the Charities Act 1992, in England and Wales you are legally required to put review procedures in these written agreements. You are also legally required to specify the following:

  • details of any voluntary regulation that the professional fundraiser or commercial participator has agreed to keep to;

  • details of how the professional fundraiser or commercial participator will protect vulnerable people and the wider public from unreasonable intrusion on a person's privacy, unreasonably persistent approaches or undue pressure to donate; and

  • details of how you will monitor the professional fundraiser or commercial participator to make sure they are keeping to the agreement.

7.3 Monitoring that fundraisers are meeting the code

In this section, ‘you’ means a charitable institution.

7.3.1

You must make all reasonable efforts to ensure that any third-party fundraisers you work with keep to the code.

7.3.2

You must make all reasonable efforts to monitor third-party fundraisers' compliance with the agreement you have with them.

For more information about what constitutes reasonable efforts, see:


Further Guidance on Monitoring

CCEW – CC26 Charities and Managing Risk

Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIoF) – Successful Partnerships for Sustainable Fundraising

7.4 Solicitation statements for professional fundraisers and commercial participators

In this section, ‘you’ means a charitable institution.

Solicitation statements are statements that professional fundraisers and commercial participators must give when fundraising for a charitable institution, explaining how the charitable institution will benefit from the fundraising.

7.4.1

You must make a solicitation statement before (as applicable):

  • a potential donor gives any money (or in a commercial participation, before a donor purchases the product or service); or

  • you ask for any financial details relating to the transaction.


Legal requirements for solicitation statements

Under Section 60 of the Charities Act 1992, The Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994 and Regulation 3 of The Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009, professional fundraisers and commercial participators are legally required to make a solicitation statement when asking for money or other property or representing in relation to a product or service that a contribution will be given to a charitable institution.

All solicitation statements are legally required to include:

  • the name of the charitable institution(s); and

  • if there is more than one charitable institution, details of how funds will be shared between them.

Solicitation statements for professional fundraisers are also legally required to include:

  • how their payment will be calculated; and

  • how much they will be paid for the appeal (or, if they don't know the actual amount, an estimate of the amount calculated as accurately as possible).

Employees of a professional fundraiser should provide a statement about the payment their employer will receive in connection with the appeal, not the payment they personally will receive from the professional fundraiser (their employer).

Solicitation statements for commercial participators are also legally required to include:

  • the sum (estimated if necessary) that will be given to or used for the benefit of the charitable institution(s) based on whichever of the following apply:

    • the amount of the price paid for the goods or services sold;

    • the amount of any other proceeds of the promotion; or

    • the amount of the donations made in connection with the sale or supply of goods and services.

There are also legal requirements which apply where a professional fundraiser or commercial participator asks for a donation verbally without the potential donor being present (such as in telephone fundraising or during a radio or television programme). 

For more information about working with professional fundraisers and commercial participators, see:

Additional legal requirements for solicitation statements in Scotland

Under The Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009, in Scotland, the standards on solicitation statements also apply to benevolent fundraisers (other than volunteers) carrying out benevolent fundraising. However, benevolent fundraisers do not need to state they are getting paid if they give the solicitation statement in writing, unlike professional fundraisers and commercial participators. Benevolent fundraisers only need to state they are getting paid if they give the solicitation statement verbally.

In Scotland, if a solicitation statement is made verbally by a professional fundraiser or commercial participator (but not a benevolent fundraiser), they are legally required to inform the potential donor that this information is available in writing upon request, regardless of the donation amount and whether the potential donor is present.

Solicitation statements for commercial participators working with charitable institutions registered in Scotland are also legally required to outline whether the commercial participator will receive any payments from the charitable institution as part of this fundraising.

Legal requirements for solicitation statements when collections are made by officers, employees or trustees of charitable institutions or connected companies

In England and Wales: Under sections 60A and 60B of the Charities Act 1992 a person who is an officer or employee of a charitable institution or a connected company or a trustee of a charitable institution is legally required to give a solicitation statement where they are acting as a collector in that capacity and are receiving remuneration of more than £10 per day or £1,000 per year either in that capacity or for acting as a collector.

In Scotland: Officers, employees or trustees of charitable institutions or connected companies are benevolent fundraisers for the purposes of the Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009 and will need to comply with those Regulations.

Legal requirements for solicitation statements where fundraising is for charitable, philanthropic or benevolent purposes, rather than for the benefit of a charitable institution

In England and Wales: Under section 60 of the Charities Act 1992 and regulation 7 The Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994, professional fundraisers and commercial participators are also legally required to give solicitation statements where they are fundraising for charitable, philanthropic or benevolent purposes.

In Scotland: Under the Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009, when seeking funds for general charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes, professional fundraisers and commercial participators must give an indication of this fact and how the funds will be distributed.

Further guidance

Cabinet Office: Guidance on Part 2 of the Charities Act 1992

Scottish Charity Regulator: Information to be provided by fundraisers

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