Institute Welcomes Launch of New Fundraising Promise
Howard Lake | 12 October 2006 | Newswire
The Institute of Fundraising (‘Institute’) welcomes the new Fundraising Promise and is urging fundraising organisations to sign up to the Fundraising Standard Board’s self-regulatory scheme for fundraising prior to its public launch in the New Year.
Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive of the Institute of Fundraising, says:
Government has made no secret that, should this scheme fail, regulation will be thrust upon the sector. We have lobbied hard for self-regulation and its implementation is a vital opportunity to grow public trust and confidence in charities and to raise awareness of the high standards of UK fundraising. But, we have just one shot at making it work and this is it.â€
Following the consultation and re-write of the Fundraising Standards Board’s Donors’ Charter, the new Fundraising Promise is a practical, applicable commitment that fundraising organisations can make to their donors and potential supporters. All organisations that sign up to self-regulation will be required to commit to and promote the Fundraising Promise, alongside the Institute’s Codes of Fundraising Practice.
The Institute of Fundraising retains responsibility for the best practice standards for UK fundraisers – the Codes of Fundraising Practice – and continues to develop those standards in close collaboration with its Organisational members. A discount of up to one third of the cost of signing up to self-regulation is available for all Organisational members. The Institute is currently researching the provision of additional training to enable charities to meet the challenges of self-regulation.
-ENDS-
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
For further information please contact:
Lucinda Frostick Tel. 020 7840 1015
Institute of Fundraising email: lu******@in**********************.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. Institute of Fundraising (www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk)
The Institute of Fundraising represents fundraisers and fundraising throughout the UK and is committed to the highest standards in fundraising management and practice. With 4000 Individual members and 200 Organisational members, the Institute is the largest individual representative body in the voluntary sector. The Institute retains responsibility for the Codes of Fundraising Practice, which are the standards upon which self-regulation is based.
2. Fundraising Standards Board (www.fsboard.org.uk)
The Fundraising Standards Board is an independent body that has been established to introduce a new self-regulatory scheme for UK fundraising.
3. Self-Regulation
Self-regulation for fundraising is an independent, opt-in scheme for all charitable fundraising organisations and suppliers. Fundraising organisations that sign up to self-regulation will be required to meet the best practice standards; the Donors’ Charter and the Institute of Fundraising’s Codes of Fundraising Practice. The Fundraising Standards Board will monitor compliance with the Codes, introducing a robust consumer-facing complaints procedure. The implementation of self-regulation will allow fundraising organisations to publicly demonstrate best practice, to eliminate bad practice and to increase public trust and confidence in the voluntary and community sector.
The implementation of self-regulation will allow fundraising organisations to:
– Drive up the standards of UK fundraising
– Provide a regulatory scheme that is robust, yet realistic and accessible to all charitable fundraising organisations
– Demonstrate best practice in fundraising
– Increase public trust and confidence in charities
– Eliminate bad practice
4. Codes of Fundraising Practice
There are now 25 Codes of Fundraising Practice, covering a range of fundraising practices, a Donor’s Charter and a Code of Conduct. Organisational and Individual members of the Institute agree to abide by the standards set out in the Codes as a condition of membership. The full set of Codes are available in CD-Rom or may be downloaded free of charge from the Institute’s website. Codes are developed by a working party of volunteers, undergo a consultation period of at least three months and finally must be approved by the Institute’s Standards Committee and Trustees.
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.