Complaints report 2017-18 published

A report about complaints received about fundraising in 2017-18 is now published.

Part one of the report looks at the 1,504 complaints we received from the public about fundraising by charities. We completed 78 investigations between 1 April 2017 and 31 August 2018 and of those, 63 cases included a breach of the Fundraising Code.

The most common Code breaches were about:

  • General principles
  • Third-party fundraising
  • Personal data

Part two focuses on the 21,851 complaints received by the 58 charities spending the most on fundraising in the charity sector. Door-to-door fundraising was the most complained about method, with addressed mail being the second most popular complaint.

In the report we note the commitment from organisations to make changes if they’d breached the Code. We also include summaries of some of the investigations as examples of our casework, and to share learning with the sector.

In April 2019, we’ll be collecting data about fundraising complaints from the same organisations for the 2018/19 report.

Gerald Oppenheim, Chief Executive said:

“Our Complaints Report is vital to our understanding of fundraising standards in the UK, and helps to inform our work. Complaints made by the public help us, charities and their fundraising partners learn from concerns and make improvements. We will continue to review and evaluate the complaints process, and we look forward to working closely with charities to make sure high standards of fundraising practice are maintained.”