NI Charity Commission launches briefing paper on fundraising regulation

Howard Lake | 18 February 2016 | News

• Tagged with:
• Fundraising Preference Service
• Northern Ireland
• regulation

The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland has published a briefing paper which aims to support charities in understanding how proposed changes to fundraising regulation could affect them.

Tom McGrath, Northern Ireland’s Chief Charity Commissioner commented:

“Charity fundraising, a vital aspect of many charities’ activities, is largely regulated by the sector itself, a system known as self-regulation.

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“However, this system is currently being reviewed with the aim of developing a less complex and more effective system, which will help to reaffirm public trust and confidence in charity fundraising practices.

“We have produced a short briefing paper to help charities, donors, fundraisers and members of the public understand the proposed changes, and the impact they may have on how charities fundraise.”

The proposed changes, which are analysed in detail in the Commission’s Review of fundraising regulation briefing paper include:

• creating a new fundraising regulator responsible for setting and enforcing a single code of practice, and adjudicating on fundraising complaints
• establishing a system of co-regulation, involving enhanced self-regulation overseen by the new regulator working with statutory regulators such as the Commission
• creating a Fundraising Preference Service which could allow members of the public to opt out of fundraising communications.

Copies of the briefing paper can be found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland‘s website.

Proposed changes in three tweets

1/3 Proposed changes to charity regulation, analysed in our Review of fundraising regulation briefing (see https://t.co/K7VNbWZDVj) include:

— CharityCommissionNI (@CharityCommNI) February 15, 2016

2/3 Creating a new fundraising regulator responsible for setting and enforcing a single code of practice, and adjudicating on complaints.

— CharityCommissionNI (@CharityCommNI) February 15, 2016

3/3 Establishing a system of co-regulation, involving enhanced self-regulation overseen by new regulator working with statutory regulators

— CharityCommissionNI (@CharityCommNI) February 15, 2016

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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.