Self-regulation – where the hell's it going
Howard Lake | 12 September 2006 | Blogs
I somehow had a nasty feeling that the launch would be delayed. Too many folk had been asking me “what do you reckon – should we join?” I of course launched in to the full “if we don’t make this work, we’ll be regulated by something much worse – the Government”.
But the timidity of fundraisers has obviously won out. Or rather, the FSB has simply failed to make an impression. The arguments should be overwhelming: if you don’t join you won’t be able to fundraise within three years.
But the messages coming out of the FSB have been mixed. “It’s very unlikely that any charity will be thrown out.” “No, we won’t name charities who are caught out.”
WHAT?!! What is the point of the FSB if it doesn’t punish. And why should I join if there is no punishment. I wouldn’t want to join a club that anyone can join, the FSB Kite Mark will mean nothing.
FSB will only succeed if it breathes a sense of urgency into joining and if it is absolutely clear about what the deal is.
On the one side, there has to be a massive advertising campaign supported by all the signed up members. This need not cost much. A sentence in direct mailings drawing attention to the new logo, a piece in charity magazines and a pile of PR. Very little above the line advertising at all.
Even just twenty of the top fifty charities would have reached over 20 million people that way – quite a penetration.
The threat of being left behind then becomes insurmountable. John Scourse says he’d like to launch with 500 members. Yet even 100 members and a big publicity drive would force others to join.
When things are delayed, people begin to think that it’ll never happen. And then they’ll wait until it does before signing up. That’s the bind that the FSB finds itself in at the moment.
So we could simply say “come on, charities – sign up – the alternative will be far worse.” But that won’t wash. We’ve got to say “come on charities, if you delay you’re going to miss out and your fundraising could suffer. We’re launching with you or without you – why risk missing out.”
There are times when fundraisers are too timid. This time, their caution is understandabe. The caution of the FSB is not.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.