Clara Govier says that simple changes in regulations could enhance the work of fundraisers in no timel

As a fundraiser you live by your ability to raise money. The need to raise more to support the increasing demand for services has resulted in some charities not meeting the high fundraising standards expected by the public. The danger is that this creates a perception which negatively impacts on those actually doing an excellent in increasingly challenging times.

So the recent report about the surge in complaints about how charities are fundraising has in some way been a further wake up to a sector that was seeing light at the end of a long and challenging tunnel.

Funds raised from the public are often the enabling fuel for many charities. Allowing them to power the core functions and people needed to extend their impact. But surely we also need to return to the age old question about how we can support the growth of ethically raised income and increase the sector’s impact at a time when it is struggling to keep up with demand and limited in its funding options.

Going forward longevity and the ability to support core costs are a crucial ingredients in sustainable charity funding. A recent report on sustainability, published by the Institute for Voluntary Research, highlighted that “long term challenges need long term funding”.

Our players at People’s Postcode Lottery have raised more than £175 million for charity – it’s an amount of money that was unimaginable when we started out ten years ago. Now, as part of an international family of postcode lotteries, we’re a part of the world’s largest fundraising private charity donor. The approach we take is to build truly lasting and impactful relationships with charities as we know that effective change is not about parachuting in resources at the cost of long term impact.

Our trust with our charities and our players is built up over years through content focused on the ability to make things better together.

But to grow our players’ impact, we want to do more and see simple changes to regulations which increase this connection with our players as philanthropists in their own communities. Small changes to Charity Lotteries legislation could see millions more raised or good causes at no expense to government or the taxpayer.

It’s this kind of change that could provide the diversity and range of income that ensures charities have the foundations to be impactful without using tactics which have no place in our sector.

The difference charities make to our society is something I’ve been lucky enough to see day after day. There is not one of us that hasn’t been touched by a charity or community group in a positive way.

It’s time we gave charities access to the resources they need and ensure we are all proud of the work our charities do rather than focus on the desperate methods employed by a few.

Clara Govier is head of charities at the People's Postcode Lottery