Fundraising Standards Board launches to the public

Howard Lake | 12 February 2007 | News

The Fundraising Standards Board has launched to the UK public, giving them details of how it will handle public complaints about how its members raise money. The voluntary self-regulation scheme has attracted nearly 250 of the UK’s charities and fundraising agencies as members.

All members have agreed to adhere to a set of codes and a Fundraising Promise committing them to treat the public with “respect, fairness, honesty and clarity in all their money raising activities.”

The FSB is also announcing to the public its tick mark logo, designed to offer the public “a mark of reassurance to look for when giving to charities in the future.” A few members have already begun to use the logo in adverts.

Jon Scourse, Chief Executive of the FSB, said: “This is an historic moment. For the first time there is an independent body you can go to if you are unhappy about how a charity raises money. We’re here to help you give with confidence, so the next time you put money in a tin, sponsor someone to run a marathon or receive a mailshot in the post, look for the tick – it’s your mark of reassurance.”

Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive of the Institute of Fundraising, said: “Self-regulation will enable fundraising organisations to follow one clear set of standards, in the form of the Institute’s Codes of Fundraising Practice…

“The implementation of self-regulation is an opportunity to increase public trust and confidence in charities and to raise awareness of the high standards of fundraising in UK.”

The FSB say that it represents a word first in terms of self-regulation of fundraising.

The Board developed from recommendations made in ‘Private Action, Public Benefit’, a government report on charity law and regulation. The Buse Commission then conducted a 18-month consultation on the issue in 2003-2004, and then a sector-wide steering committee chaired by Charities Aid Foundation then reviewed the commission’s recommendations and proposed a structure for the voluntary self-regulation fundraising scheme.

Twelve months ago the Board appointed Colin Lloyd as Chair and Jon Scourse Director of the body. In June 2006 it then began recruiting member organisations and was originally scheduled to be launched to the public in October 2006. Debate over the content of the Fundraising Promise and fewer than expected membership applications contributed to delaying the public launch until today.

IntelligentGiving.com, “the independent site for the independent giver”, welcomed the fact that the launch of the FSB “shows that some charities do have professional fundraising standards – which most of the public don’t know – and that it’s deemed important enough to spend serious cash advertising the fact.”

However, it added that “we’re finding it hard to get excited. The Promise is a voluntary scheme (in fact a reaction to government pressure), so far only about 200 charities – out of the 5000+ that count – have signed up. And you, the public, will have to police it.”
Similarly Louise Cook at Fundraising Technology pointed out that “there are over 167,000 charities in England and Wales alone and so far only 200 charities have paid their fee and obtained the tick.”

She added: “until tens of thousands of organisations join surely we have to be careful not to make the public think that only those 200 charities are safe to give money too.”

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.