FRSB condemns sports company for breaching fundraising promise

Howard Lake | 25 May 2011 | News

• Tagged with:
• Fundraising Standards Board
• Law / policy

The Fundraising Standards Board has judged sports fundraising event supplier, Sports 4 All, to be in breach of the Fundraising Promise, and has been removed from FRSB membership.
The company brings celebrity-based sports events to schools across the UK. It was contracted to run an event at Colchester High School in January 2010, from which the school would receive 60% of the proceeds. By the beginning of this week however, the school had still not received the payment.
The complaint from the school concerning Sports 4 All has passed through all three stages of the FRSB process, leading to an upheld adjudication ruling on 27 April 2011.
All FRSB members must adhere to the Fundraising Promise and to follow the Codes of Fundraising Practice. The Fundraising Promise is based on a set of six core principles which state that they will fundraise in a respectful, honest, accountable and lawful way. Sports 4 All is deemed to have breached two of these six principles; “we are honest and open” and “we are committed to high standards.”
The board also found the company had exaggerated the quality of the event.
Colin Lloyd, Chair of the Fundraising Standards Board, said: “Sports 4 All has left Colchester High School considerably out of pocket. This is
inexcusable and the company can no longer be part of the FRSB’s regulatory scheme.”
Demetrios Bradshaw, director of Sports 4 All, told the Daily Gazette in Colchester that he had apologised and that “the money is now in the post”.
The FRSB has reported the company to Surrey Trading Standards for further investigation, and informed the Department for Education and the Youth Sports Trust about the case.
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.