Reform group calls for fundraising transparency from Irish charities
Howard Lake | 8 December 2013 | News
The Irish Charities Tax Reform Group (ICTR) has called for charities to display full transparency and full accountability in how they fundraise and how fundraising money is allocated.
The call comes in the wake of revelations about some leading health charities paying ‘top ups’ from fundraising income to senior staff. These revelations have produced a strong reaction from politicians, commentators and charity supporters and increased the demand for closer scrutiny of charities.
“Charities should devote sufficient resources for wages and administration to ensure the highest standards in their operations, but must at all times display full transparency and full public accountability in how they fundraise and in how fundraised money is allocated,”
ICTR said.
It added that the charity regulatory body proposed under the 2009 Charities Act should proceed and be completed “without delay”. ICTR said the body should be adequately resourced, to ensure its full implementation and to provide both charities and the general public with clear understandings and assurances on issues such as governance, fundraising and financial reporting.
The Irish government said it intends to set up the regulatory body in 2014.
ICTR believes that all charities should operate according to clear and specific fundraising principles. These include:
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- Making information freely available and transparent to the public at all times
- Adopting an honest and open approach on all fundraising activities
- Providing a clear assurance to donors that their gifts will be used for the purposes for which they were given
- Ensuring there is no misleading or ambiguous information in fundraising communications.
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.