By Oliver Bayer, Policy Officer at the Fundraising Regulator
In autumn 2023, we ran a public consultation as part of our review of the Code of Fundraising Practice. Some respondents said they were unclear about what they needed to do when working with commercial participators and professional fundraisers, and felt that they would benefit from some guidance in this area.
We also regularly receive enquiries about commercial participators and professional fundraisers through our Code Advice Service. Many enquirers are unclear on the difference between professional fundraisers and commercial participators. Many are also unsure when written agreements and solicitation statements (which explain how the charity will benefit from the fundraising) are required and what these should include.
To help answer these questions, we recently published two new pieces of guidance for charities: one about working with commercial participators and one about working with professional fundraisers.
This guidance will help charities, commercial participators and professional fundraisers fundraise in line with the law. The legislation in this area can be complex, so the guidance aims to simplify the necessary information with helpful examples.
What are commercial participators and professional fundraisers?
A professional fundraiser is an individual or business who is paid by a charity to fundraise on their behalf. This could include telemarketing companies paid to fundraise via telephone or fundraising agencies paid to fundraise through door-to-door or street fundraising.
A commercial participator is an individual or business which promotes their goods or services on the basis that they will make contributions to one or more charities. This could include an author who contributes £1 to a charity for every book they sell or a charity bag company that contributes £100 to a charity for every tonne of textiles they collect.
More details and examples of the different types of professional fundraiser and commercial participators that exist can be read in the full guidance.
What is in the guidance?
Working with commercial participators and professional fundraisers can be beneficial to charities, helping them to access new funding sources and external skills, knowledge and experience. However, there are legal requirements that charities need to be aware of when working with commercial participators and professional fundraisers.
The two pieces of guidance explain what a charity needs to put in place to work with them lawfully. This includes:
- Carrying out the necessary due diligence before entering a relationship with any commercial participators or professional fundraisers.
- Having a written agreement in place with all commercial participators and professional fundraisers before fundraising takes place.
- Monitoring that commercial participators and professional fundraisers are complying with the terms of this agreement.
The guidance also explains what commercial participators and professional fundraisers need to do to comply with the law. As well as having a written agreement in place and monitoring their compliance with this agreement, commercial participators and professional fundraisers must also provide solicitation statements. These are statements that outline the relationship between the commercial participator/professional fundraiser and the charity they are fundraising for. These statements should include the name of the charity(s) and how much they will receive from the fundraising.
The guidance includes further details on what should be included in a written agreement or solicitation statement.
If you have any questions about the guidance or the Code of Fundraising Practice, please contact code@fundraisingregulator.org.uk.