Organisations which consistently ask for money via direct mail top the list of complaints
Mail shots asking the public to part with their cash topped the list of complaints made about charity fundraising tactics last year.
Over 16,000 complaints were made regarding this method in 2014 – a 5% drop on the previous year but a figure still too high, according to watchdog the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB).
Its annual Complaints Report found that direct marketing (mail shots, telephone fundraising, email and SMS) and public collections (Direct Debit, cash, clothing / household collections) accounted for majority (86%) of fundraising complaints recorded.
While charity advertising has the biggest reach of all fundraising methods, it prompted just 1,000 complaints in 2014.
Chugging, where paid fundraisers stand on the street and attempt to persuade the public to sign up to direct debts, received only 865 complaints.
There is an urgent need for funds. But, there is also an urgent need to ensure that public concerns are addressed - Colin Lloyd
Complaints, said the report, are driven by a relatively small number of bigger charities. The average number of complaints per organisation is 39, with larger ones averaging 500 complaints and smaller groups averaging less than one.
In total, 52,389 complaints were recorded in 2014 by 1,338 FRSB members who have a combined annual income of £5.1 billion.
Colin Lloyd, chair of the FRSB, said following the death of Olive Cooke the need to listen to donors and the wider public “has never been more evident”.
The organisation is still investigating whether relentless pestering by charities for cash contributed to the 92-year-old poppy seller’s death.
He said: “We recognise the immense challenges facing charities as they deal with continued government cuts and growing demand for services.
“There is an urgent need for funds. But, there is also an urgent need to ensure that public concerns are addressed and that a balance is struck that meets both the interests of the donor and charity beneficiaries,” he said.
Save the Children is one of the first charities to change its own practice in light of recent scandals. It announced this week that it is to end cold calling.
It will also give regular donors more power over how often they would like to be contacted and will pledge not to sell on or share data.
It has also pledged to oversee more closely agencies employed to help the fundraising efforts.
Other charities are waiting to see how the regulator responds, with the most likely outcome a limit on the number of contacts made by post or phone each year.
Lloyd added: “The common themes in complaint monitoring of a general dislike of some fundraising methods and the frequency of charity asks must be met with a true commitment by all practitioners to question the number of approaches they make and the ability with which they enable people to opt out of future contact,” he said.
| Method | Complaints | Fundraising volume |
|---|---|---|
| Addressed mail | 16,520 | 194,831,803 |
| Telephone fundraising | 8,056 | 18,564,907 |
| Doorstep face-to-face | 7,618 | 42,610,955 |
| Clothing collections | 6,974 | 125,078,643 |
| Email fundraising | 2,522 | 295,133,045 |
| Outdoor events* | 2,293 | 1,567,283 |
| Raffles* | 1,428 | 33,972,196 |
| Private site face-to-face* | 1,123 | 1,038,714 |
| Lotteries* | 1,034 | 75,718,619 |
| Street face-to-face* | 865 | 33,472,620 |
*Volume for all fundraising is measured by the number of solicitations for funds, except for starred methods where alternative measures are used as appropriate (ie the volume of outdoor events is measured by the number of participants, raffles by tickets sold and private site fundraising by Direct Debit sign-ups).
