Review calls for far more effective regulator
A damning report has concluded that the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) isn’t fit for purpose and should be replaced by a more effective regulator.
The review into fundraising by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) also wants to see the Institute of Fundraising stripped from overseeing the Code of Fundraising Practice.
Both the public and charities have lost confidence in the FRSB, the review states, and a new more effective body should be created in a bid to regain trust.
As it stands the FRSB only has the authority to adjudicate over its 1,400 members whereas the new body would have control over all charities in the UK.
It would have a broader range of available sanctions including the ability to order charities to stop carrying out certain fundraising activities for limited periods.
Charities didn't think hard enough about what it was like to be on the receiving end of some of their fundraising methods
The review also carries the recommendation for the creation of a new Fundraising Preference Service, enabling people to opt out of fundraising communications.
NCVO’s report coincides with a similar review of Fundraising in Scotland by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) which makes a series of recommendations in a bid to regain public trust after the death of charity worker Olive Cooke.
Stuart Etherington, NCVO’s chief executive, said a new system was urgently needed. "Britain is a tremendously generous country, and people have enormous goodwill for charities," he said.
"But charities must not take that for granted. We seem to have found ourselves in a position where charities didn’t think hard enough about what it was like to be on the receiving end of some of their fundraising methods.
"They thought too much about the ends and not enough about the means. This has been a clear wake-up call and now is the time to tighten the standards."
Rob Wilson, minister for civil society, said: "Charities need to work together to make sure vulnerable people are protected."
“I welcome the report as an important contribution and aim to consider fully before responding shortly."
