# Fundraising complaint rates are static, but some methods show disproportionate increase in complaints - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/06/09/fundraising-complaint-rates-static-methods-show-disproportionate-increase-complaints/ - Published: 2014-06-09T09:35:33+01:00 - Author: Howard Lake The net proportion of complaints made by members of the public has remained static over the last financial year, latest figures from the [Fundraising Standards Board](http://www.frsb.org.uk) show. Although complaints made to the FRSB’s 1,203 members rose by 44 per cent to 48,432, the volume of fundraising rose by 51 per cent. This means that the proportion of complaints to volume is 0.00026 per cent compared to a complaint rate of 0.00024 per cent in 2012/13. [⌊Statistics from the FRSB Complaints Report 2014⌉⌊Statistics from the FRSB Complaints Report 2014⌉[ Some highlights of the FRSB Complaints Report 2014 Complaint rates for many of the different methods of fundraising methods are more or less proportionate to the volume increase in those methods. However, there are a few exceptions. ## Advertisement [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/) ## Complaints by different methods of fundraising   [⌊Complaints by fundraising type⌉⌊Complaints by fundraising type⌉[ Fig 1. Complaints by fundraising type. Fi2. Use of fundraising type v/s proportion of charities reporting complaints. Source: FRSB 2014 By far the biggest proportionate rise is in **SMS fundraising**, where complaints have increased from by more than 1,100 per cent from 26 to 287, while the volume of the method has gone up by around 300 per cent. Complaints about **outdoor fundraising events** almost doubled (87.4 per cent rise) while the number of registered participants has hardly changed at 1.56 million ( although two charities were responsible for two thirds of the complaints generated). Similarly complaints about **doorstep face-to-face fundraising** increased by 26.8 per cent even though the number of doors knocked by doorstep fundraiser hardly changed from last year’s 43.6 million (a 1.5 per cent increase to 44.3 million). **Clothing collections** saw a near tripling of complaints, up to 5,699 from 1,910, while volume fell by around 60 per cent. However, this has been attributed to one particular campaign run by a charity. According to FRSB’s figures – contained in its annual Complaints Report – the number of **cash collections** held by charities fell by 70.4 per cent to 233,720 collections, yet the number of complaints about this type of fundraising rose by 54 per cent from 109 to 168. FRSB says there has been a “steady pattern of growth” in complaints about cash collections. By contrast, complaints about **street face-to-face fundraising** – which received wisdom says generate most public hostility – fell by 10 per cent to 739 complaints although volume (this method’s the lowest number ever) against a fall in solicitations of 13 per cent. There has also been a proportionate drop in the number of complaints about email fundraising. **As usual, addressed direct mail, telephone fundraising and doorstep F2F occupy the top three slots as most complained about methods**. Other findings include: • Those charities made almost 20 billion donor contacts, (the total reach through fundraising advertisements, direct mail, telephone fundraising, email marketing, face-to-face asks etc) • On average, the largest UK charities reported 515 complaints, while the smallest than one • There was a 13 per cent annual increase in the number of charities reporting their complaints to the FRSB, a 51 per cent increase in fundraising activity and a 44 per cent rise in the number of complaints. • More than half (55 per cent) of complaints were incurred by less than 2 per cent of reporting charities • 5,834 complaints were logged by newly reporting charities • 59 per cent of respondents reported no complaints for 2013 • 18 complaints required formal intervention and were escalated to Stage 2 of the FRSB complaints process in 2013. The majority of these complaints related to allegations of poor fundraiser behaviour   **Average number of asks needed to generate a complaint for the top ten most complained about methods of fundraising (only those methods where volume is measured by number of solicitations** Telephone fundraising 923 Doorstep face-to-face 1,395 Major donor 1,596 Addressed direct mail 2,837 Trust/foundations 4,520 SMS fundraising 4,919 Email fundraising 7,969 Clothing collections 18,972 Street face-to-face 26,008 Un-addressed direct mail 83,102 • The full report, containing more details on the type of complaint received for each method, can be downloaded from [www.frsb.org.uk/complaints](http://www.frsb.org.uk/complaints) * **[FRSB seeks fundraising complaint data for 2014](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/01/09/frsb-seeks-fundraising-complaint-data-2014/)**( 9 January 2015) * **[Oxfam and FRSB to investigate Mail on Sunday’s claims of ‘high-pressure’ fundraising techniques](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/06/08/oxfam-and-frsb-to-investigate-mail-on-sundays-claims-of-high-pressure-fundraising-techniques/)**( 8 June 2015) * **[FRSB proposal to limit comms shows we need a new theory of fundraising ethics](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/06/10/frsb-comms-limit-shows-need-for-new-theory-of-fundraising-ethics/)**( 10 June 2015)