The Cabinet Office has published draft guidance for fundraisers working for agencies who are paid to raise money on behalf of charities. New legislation requires them to tell potential donors how much of each donation will go to charity and what proportion goes towards the fundraiser's wages.
This will affect street, telephone and door-to-door collectors. Shops that donate a portion of the sale price of particular items to charity will also have to state exactly how much this is.
The new legislation, a part of the Charities Act 2006, is designed to help the public make informed decisions about making donations or buying a product from which a charity will benefit. The Cabinet Office says it will also help protect the high levels of public trust in charities.
The new guidance lays out more clearly exactly what the solicitation statements should contain and it contains template statements to help fundraisers with the wording.
Mick Aldridge, chief executive of the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association said the guidance would be "an enormous benefit for charities and their agents seeking to understand the fulfil their legal obligations to ensure members of the public are properly informed when making their donating choices."
The Office of the Third Sector is looking for comments and suggestions to make sure the guidance is "as helpful and relevant for users" as possible before the final version is published. Comments and suggestions need to be submitted by 31 May 2008.
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/080221_fu...
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Draft guidance for fundraisers who are paid
The requirements for trustee / employee / officer seem to me to be stating the bleeding obvious! "I am making this appeal for the benefit of Deserving Charity. I am a paid employee of that charity." "No kidding, you charity workers actualy expect to be paid to do this sort of thing?"
Those for fundraising consultants present more of a headache. I wonder how the conversation will go and when it will occur?
"O by the way, I am required to advice you that I work for the Expert Fundraising Consultancy on behalf of Big Well Known Charity. We expect to be paid £x00,000 in connection with this particular appeal, and the method used to determine our payment was calculated according to an agreed daily rate for a specific number of consultancy days at differing rates according to the experience and seniority of the specific consultants and the type of work to be undertaken. We participated in a competitive tender process against other similar Consultancies. Big Well Known Charity appointed us on the basis of our estimated fees and our reputation in assisting other similar charities. We expect that Big Well Known Charity will raise £100,000,000 as a result of our expert advice. Now what was it we were talking about...?"
John Godfrey
John Godfrey
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