FRSB adjudicates on complaint against UNICEF UK
Howard Lake | 26 April 2009 | News
The Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) has issued its second adjudication concerning one person’s complaint in September 2008 about “exaggerated claims” in a UNICEF UK campaign leaflet that featured child immunisation and vaccines.
The complaint reached the third stage in the complaints process after UNICEF could not satisfy the complainant.
At FRSB level, the complaint was judged against the Institute of Fundraising Accountability and Transparency in Fundraising Code and the FRSB Fundraising Promise commitment: ‘We will be open and honest’.
Zoe Willëms, FRSB board member, explained: “The view of the sub-committee appointed by the board was that there were parts of the UNICEF leaflet which could be construed by readers as exaggeration. It was the Board’s view there was no intent to mislead and the average member of the public would not be likely to be misled”.
As a result of the adjudication, UNICEF have agreed to make changes to the relevant copy in the leaflet. This has satisfied the FRSB that no further action is necessary, so the complaint has been judged to have been “informally resolved”.
In January 2008 the first complaint that the FRSB adjudicated on was made against Cancer Research UK and concerned the number of pens received in direct marketing appeals. The complaint was not upheld.
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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.