Fundraising Regulator response to Covenant Framework consultation

A strong civil society is a fundamental part of a well-functioning society. Charities help encourage civic participation, provide essential services, and support marginalised groups, often filling gaps that the state struggles to cater for. The importance of this principle is embedded in the Fundraising Regulator’s work and the development of our policy and decisions that impact on charities. As a regulator, our primary goal is to protect the public from harm. However, we do this while keeping a firm focus on promoting trust and confidence in charitable fundraising. We strike this balance by supporting charities to comply with proportionate regulation, and by being collaborative, reasoned and evidence-based with our complaints adjudication processes. 

Working in partnership with charities, public bodies and other regulators is central to the Fundraising Regulator’s regulation and the support we provide to charities. For example, in 2023 we launched a market inquiry into the use of subcontracting in face-to-face fundraising. This followed intelligence from public complaints, self-reports from charities, and reports in the press about poor fundraising practice by subcontracted agencies. To understand and develop solutions to the issues that had arisen, we conducted fact-finding workshops with representatives from charity fundraising teams, charity compliance teams and fundraising agencies. Recommendations based on real-world experience and shared learning were instrumental in securing buy-in from charities, fundraisers and agencies working on their behalf. We continue to work in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIOF) to implement the recommendations and help improve practice in this area.

The Fundraising Regulator’s Strategic Plan commits to creating opportunities for more proactive engagement with fundraisers and to give them a voice in policy development. We have begun working in partnership with the CIOF to establish a mechanism to involve fundraisers - from a wider range of networks - to review guidance and facilitate discussions about existing and emerging issues in the sector, such as the use of AI and other technologies. Our goal is to ensure the development of policy reflects the real-world experience of fundraisers and is fit for purpose for those that will be impacted by our regulation and decision-making processes. 

The Fundraising Regulator’s independent regulator status means we are well placed to convene cross-sector discussions aimed at exploring issues and identifying solutions. 

• We have convened stakeholder meetings with organisations which have concerns about the fundraising behaviour of certain Community Interest Companies (CICs). By bringing together representatives from the voluntary sector, police and crime prevention agencies, local government, national government, and other regulators, this partnership working has led to a greater awareness of the challenges at hand and the sharing of best practice across the country.
• We have worked with Home Office officials on the potential use of crowdfunding platforms to raise funds for terrorism purposes. By convening discussions between counter terrorism and crime prevention agencies, and the largest fundraising platforms - Just Giving, GoFundMe, and Crowdfunder - Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) pathways and other methods of communication between the platforms and law enforcement have been improved and strengthened.
• More recently, we have brought together the main parties involved in fundraising following the Southport tragedy on 29 July 2024, including Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Charity, Community Foundation for Lancashire and Merseyside, JustGiving, GoFundMe, CCEW, and the National Emergencies Trust. These discussions helped ensure donations were distributed effectively and public communications conducted sensitively on what has been a highly emotive issue.

Charities fund much of the important work they do through generous donations from members of the public. Although most charitable fundraising is genuine, there are fraudsters who seek to take advantage of the public’s good will. Our ‘Tips for giving safely to charity: advice for the public’ sets out steps for members of the public to follow to make sure you are safely giving to legitimate causes. In partnership with CCEW and Action Fraud we promote this advice during busy periods of giving, such as Christmas, Ramadan and Giving Tuesday.

Underpinning much of the work of the Fundraising Regulator is the ability to share good practice, intelligence and learning through our partner networks. We regularly engage with the charity umbrella bodies in each nation, including the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), the Northern Ireland Council Voluntary Action (NICVA), the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA), and other representative bodies such as the CIOF to share intelligence and disseminate important regulatory updates. Similarly, we meet regularly with other regulators such as CCEW, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, and other statutory and non-statutory bodies whose remits intersect with charitable fundraising (such as DCMS, Information Commissioners Office (ICO), the Gambling Commission, and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)). These partnerships are vital for ensuring our regulation is fit for purpose and our messaging effectively reaches the correct audiences. 

The Fundraising Regulator fully endorses the principle of participation and engaging with communities to tap into real-world expertise and experience. The Code of Fundraising Practice (the code) is developed in consultation with the public, fundraisers, charities and governments across the UK. This allows us to make sure the code stays up to date, reflects best practice, and remains clear and accessible. Ensuring a wide range of stakeholders have a voice in the code’s development means our regulation reflects the lived experience of the people we serve to protect and the organisations we work with on a daily basis. Our ongoing review of the code has included a three-stage consultation process, including a 12-week call for information, 12-week consultation on proposals and a final two-month consultation. Our inclusive and accessible approach to participation and consultation – which takes into account the good practice in the previous Compact between government and the charitable sector - serves as a model for gathering insight and challenge to drive sound decision-making.

We believe it is important that the public has a voice in policy development by considering the needs and experiences of individuals being asked to give, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances. Charity fundraisers have access to a great deal of information about how people give, and which causes they support. However, less is known about the public’s real-world experience of fundraising practice. In our role as a regulator, we are committed to using public research to underpin and inform our work and it is important that we understand the motivations and experiences of those who support charities. In September 2023 we worked with Opinium to conduct research into the public’s perceptions, experience, and expectations of, charitable fundraising. The research exposed important learning for charities about the public’s views and experience of face-to-face fundraising, and the need to plan this method carefully to avoid harming and alienating donors. The Opinium research forms one part of a series of public research programmes that we have run in recent years, highlighting the importance we place on understanding the public’s views and experience of fundraising and our regulation. 

Ensuring the voice of charities is heard was a key aim of the Fundraising Regulator’s recent review of its Fundraising Levy. For the first time since we were founded, we needed to increase the annual levy we ask charities to pay to ensure we could continue to provide effective and proportionate self-regulation and promote public trust in charitable fundraising. Conscious of the challenging economic environment and the financial strain many organisations were facing we wanted to make sure charities had a say on our proposals before we implemented any changes. While we were unable to avoid an increase in the levy, we were able to meet calls to phase in the costs over two years, instead of one, as originally proposed. This engagement helped reduce the short-term financial burden on many charities.

Charities, communities and government all need accurate and up-to-date information and data to operate effectively. Our extensive guidance suite provides advice on best practice in fundraising to help protect the public and donors, and support the vital work of fundraisers. We also publish summaries of our investigations to share learning with the sector and enable the public to make informed decisions when they donate to charity. 

The Fundraising Regulator’s Annual Complaints Report presents insights from our casework alongside complaints reported by a sample of the UK’s largest fundraising charities. The report highlights the fundraising methods and practices that might lead to complaints to the Fundraising Regulator and offers advice on how to mitigate this risk. It also looks at the number of fundraising complaints received by charities themselves so that organisations can benchmark their activity against their peers and share learning on how to respond to particular challenges. We also periodically analyse a sample of charity reports to assess compliance with the fundraising reporting requirements of Section 13 of the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016. Our accompanying guidance helps charities understand the importance of reporting on the requirements under the Act, and for charities with an income of over £1 million, meet their legal duty to do so. 

To promote co-operation the Fundraising Regulator has memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with other organisations (for example, CCEW, CIOF and CCNI) where there are issues of mutual interest or concern. This helps ensure appropriate consultation on matters of relevant and significant policy initiatives so that charities comply fully with their regulatory obligations and adopt best practice in governance, practice and accountability.

The Fundraising Regulator has well established partnerships with government and charities that we use to collaborate on policy development and intelligence sharing. These partnerships are built on the principles of honest and open communication; utilising external experience and expertise (accepting challenge when necessary); and providing clear and accessible information. For example, our ongoing review of the Code of Fundraising Practice used the following methods of engagement to ensure as many stakeholders as possible had a meaningful voice in developing a new framework:

• An initial call for information was used to gather views and insight on the current code, and ideas for improvement from anyone with an interest in charitable fundraising.
• A follow up consultation was used to test broad proposals for change before new regulations and guidance were decided upon.
• We conducted a final consultation to collect feedback on a draft code and guidance to make sure it works for the fundraisers and organisations that will need to use it on a daily basis.
• Throughout the process we engaged all key stakeholders, including charities, fundraisers, representative bodies, legal experts, other regulators and public bodies, through face-to-face meetings, webinars, workshops, speaking events, and targeted communications.
• We ensured all our consultation interfaces were as accessible as possible, so that both small and large charities could submit feedback and evidence easily. 

We believe that the Covenant should aspire to facilitating this level of inclusive collaboration and partnership working in policy development for it to hold weight and be effective for both government charities alike.

In our experience a key barrier to meaningful partnership and collaboration is the lack of time and resources available to some charities. This also applies to some of the charity infrastructure bodies that provide an important conduit for channelling sector feedback to government and public bodies, and for sharing intelligence and good practice across civil society. The Fundraising Regulator recognises the Government’s aim to make the new Covenant a reality in the current economic environment given the significant financial challenges the public and charitable sectors are facing. However, it should also be noted that some infrastructure bodies could struggle with the capacity needed to effectively engage with their members on such matters as policy development and service design should these be amongst the main objectives of the new Covenant.