FRSB to tackle poor fundraising practice among non-member charities
Howard Lake | 12 July 2009 | News
The Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) is considering how it can best address the issue of non-member charities which demonstrate poor fundraising practice which reflects badly on its members and the sector as a whole.
The debate took place at the last FRSB Board meeting on 2 July 2009. It did not, as reported and blogged about elsewhere, decide to adjudicate on complaints about non-members’ fundraising activities.
The FRSB regulates its 1,078 members’ fundraising practice, and addresses those that have demonstrated standards of fundraising that are not compatible with the FRSB’s Fundraising Promise or the Institute of Fundraising’s Codes of Fundraising Practice directly.
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Since its formation, it has of course received complaints about fundraising involving non-members. The Board now feels that it should consider playing a wider role in highlighting issues around poor fundraising practice amongst such non-members, if only to protect the reputation of its members.
The issue has been raised by the recently formed FRSB Advisory Forum: some members report feeling more and more frustrated that their work and the high standards in fundraising that they follow are being undermined by instances of poor practice beyond the membership.
However, the Board has made it clear that its adjudications and official three-step complaint procedure will apply only to FRSB members.
Alistair McLean, Chief Executive of the Fundraising Standards Board, said: “We believe that poor fundraising practice constitutes a reputational risk to our member charities – those who commit to and perform the highest standards of fundraising practice – and to the sector at large.
“We hope that by addressing those organisations that practice fundraising in this way, we will encourage them to join with the rest of our membership in seeking to both set and maintain the highest standards in fundraising. In so doing, we are seeking to protect the long-term reputation of charity fundraising.”
www.frsb.org.uk
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.