# PFRA introduces new rules for doorstep face-to-face fundraising

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/10/17/pfra-introduces-new-rules-doorstep-facetoface-fundraising/
- Published: 2011-10-17T07:58:53+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

![](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/files/images/news/pfra_door_rulebook.gif)

The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, the self-regulatory membership body
for face-to-face fundraising, has today published a rule book to cover doorstep 
face-to-face fundraising, a companion volume to its rule book for street face-to-
face fundraising.

The PFRA Rule Book (Door) contains new rules and guidance based on the organisation’s
interpretation of the Institute of Fundraising’s Code of Practice on Face-to-Face
Activity. Its rule are binding on PFRA members.

Much of it mirrors the street Rule Book, but of course it excludes rules that relate
only to street fundraising, such as the three step rule.

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New rules specifically about doorstep F2F are:

* Fundraisers ought always knock or ring at a property’s main entrance and not use
side entrances or back doors, unless a resident gives permission to do so.

* Fundraising may only take place between 9am and 9pm (10am on Sundays and public
holidays) unless fundraisers have permission to visit outside these hours.

* Fundraisers should take extra care when calling once darkness has fallen so as
not to cause alarm or distress to householders.

As with the new street rules, breaches of the doorstep rules will incur penalty 
points, which, after a six-month trial and a review, will be converted into fines
at £1 per point. Once a fundraising organisation passes a 1,000-point threshold,
they will be liable to monetary fines.

The new rules will be backed up by a new doorstep quality control programme designed
to complement the mystery shopping programme for street fundraising. The three stages
to this programme will be phased in over the next year.

The first stage will involve PFRA’s standards team inspecting training sessions 
to check how well the requirements of the code and Rule Book are communicated to
fundraisers.

After that, PFRA’s standards team will begin shadowing fundraising teams to observe
how they operate on the ground.

Finally, within 12 months, PFRA will place on its website a customer feedback mechanism
whereby members of the public can post comments and observations about doorstep 
face-to-face. This is not a complaints process, as there is already an established
PFRA complaints process that any resident can use.

www.pfra.org.uk

 * **[Mick Aldridge has stepped down as PFRA Chief Executive](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/10/24/mick-aldridge-has-stepped-down-pfra-chief-executive/)**(
   24 October 2011)
 * **[PFRA appoints new Chair](https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/01/25/pfra-appoints-new-chair/)**(
   25 January 2012)
 * **[Glasgow City Council and PFRA agree controls for face to face fundraising](https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/03/06/glasgow-city-council-and-pfra-agree-controls-face-face-fundraising/)**(
   6 March 2012)
