The Institute of Fundraising says lessons will be learned from the death of Olive Cooke, who was bombared with 180 fundraising letters a week
The charity fundraising code of conduct is to be reviewed following the tragic death of 92-year-old poppy seller Olive Cooke.
Senior representatives of the fundraising industry are to meet to review the circumstances that saw generous Mrs Cooke bombarded by charities seeking to raise money.
The Institute of Fundraising (IoF), Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) and Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, the main regulating bodies for the industry, have all agreed to feed into a review.
They say they are committed to ensuring that lessons are learned from the events that Mrs Cooke’s family and friends claim contributed to her death.
The IoF, which represents over 5,500 individual fundraisers and over 420 fundraising charities from across the UK, said it will ensure lessons are shared with fundraising charities, and that standards and guidance are reviewed.
We will review any learning following Mrs Cooke’s sad death to make sure that our rules and guidance for fundraisers are as robust as they can be
Peter Lewis
Peter Lewis, chief executive of the IoF, said: "Fundraisers know that it is absolutely critical to maintain public trust and confidence in charities, and an important part of this is to fundraise in the right way and to the highest standards.
“The IoF Standards Committee – which sets the rules for fundraising across the UK – will review any learning following Mrs Cooke’s sad death to make sure that our rules and guidance for fundraisers are as robust as they can be.”
In the meantime, the FRSB, which handles complaints about breeches to the existing code, said charities already have a responsibility to be mindful of how they approach vulnerable people.
Its chief executive Alistair McLean urged the public and families of vulnerable people to contact any charities they are concerned about.
“This is a tragedy and we extend our deepest condolences to Olive’s family and loved ones,” said McLean.
“The last thing that charities would want to do is to cause distress to the public when they fundraise.
“There are clear and high standards for charity fundraising in the UK, set out in the Institute of Fundraising’s Code of Fundraising Practice, which cover the requirement not to pressurise the public and reinforce data protection requirements.
“The code also makes it clear that charities need to be mindful of how they fundraise amongst people who may be in vulnerable circumstances and that organisations need to respect donor’s requests around the frequency with which they can be contacted.
“What is critical is that if you’re unhappy about how a charity fundraises or you don’t want to be contacted in a certain way, our advice is to get in touch with the relevant charities and talk to them. They will listen and respect your views, and your feedback can influence how they do things in the future.”
Mrs Cooke was found dead in the Avon Gorge outside Bristol on 6 May. She sold poppies for the Royal British Legion charity appeal for 76 years and had been presented with the Lord Mayor's Medal as well as a Points of Light award by the prime minister for her work.
A family friend of Mrs Cooke’s claimed on Friday that she was put “under pressure” from from constant charity letters, cold calls and requests for cash.
Michael Earley said she was being sent 180 letters a month and was plagued by phone calls.
He said: "In the end, she wouldn't answer the phone. That's what caused a little bit of anxiety. Of course, the next thing we knew, Olive passed away.
"She was exhausted by this situation."
Her granddaughter Louise said she believed the charity letters were a factor, along with Mrs Cooke’s ill health.
Rob White, at trhird sector think tank NFP Synergy, said: "Olive's tragic death is very sad for all who knew her and for anyone involved in the sector, and we welcome the fact that several charities have said they will investigate their own involvement.
"It's important, however, to move forward with the fundraising debate based on the consistent, long term problems it has caused. Charities do great work and they must fundraise, but they must also talk to people to find out how often they want to be contacted.
"We also want to see more people included in the process of setting fundraising rules, such as donors, politicians or other members of the public. At the moment, the rules are only set by fundraisers themselves.
"Our data shows that although around half of the public find telephone and doorstep fundraising very annoying, only around a fifth have been asked to give in this way in the last three months.
"The idea that everyone in the UK is being bombarded by phone calls and door knockers is inaccurate and unhelpful in trying to find a solution everyone is happy with."
