Street fundraising breaches continue to fall says IoF
Melanie May | 7 June 2017 | News
Breaches of street fundraising rules fell again last year, according to figures from the Institute of Fundraising.
New figures from the IoF’s Site Management Agreements and mystery shopper programme for 2016/17 show that the average number of penalties issued during each street fundraiser compliance check fell to 28 points, from 52 points in the previous year, a drop of almost 50%. The overall proportion of checks that incurred any kind of penalty also fell for the fourth year, down from 58% in 2013/14 to 35% in 2016/17.
The IoF carries out over 900 undercover ‘mystery shops’ across the UK each year to check that its members are regularly adhering to the agreements and rules in place, with penalty points issued for any breaches. Every rule contained in the Rule Book for street fundraising carries a penalty of 200, 100, 50 or 20 points.
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hese rules relate to the conduct of fundraisers engaging with the public as well as to wider organisational practices, the operations of diaries and Site Management Agreements with local authorities.
Each penalty point accrued has an equivalent value of £1 with a fine issued when an organisation’s annual points total equals or exceeds 1000 points. The IoF reinvests the revenue from fines into training and development to improve standards within public fundraising.
Peter Hills-Jones, director of compliance at the Institute of Fundraising said:
“Previously as the PFRA and now as the Institute of Fundraising’s Compliance Directorate, we are working with and supporting members every day to ensure their engagement with the public is always a positive one. These numbers are a credit to our members and shows that when the sector works together with rules which are clearly understood and regularly monitored, we see impressive results.”
- Research aims to map transition street fundraising to office-based fundraising roles (10 March 2014)
- Is sympathetic face to face fundraising the way to go? (5 September 2011)
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.