08/05/2019
Fund Raising Regulator
Any complaint received by the regulator post 1 March 2019 will now put your charity on a public list. It is therefore important to have a good internal process in place for dealing with any complaints. This is in line with the culture of transparency that the Charity Commission encourages in the sector. This register will become a place that donors may consult before making the decision to donate to a particular charity.
The regulator has recently reported 59 Charities to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), where they did not comply with the Fundraising Preference Service (FPS). FPS was introduced in 2017 to help control direct marketing. Failure to comply under FPS can also amount to a breach of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and / or Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
A useful guide, if you fund-raise via the telephone can be found at https://www.institute-offundraising.org.uk/library/a-good-call-using-the-telephone-for-successful-fundraising/