# BBC Radio 4 to broadcast new programme on charity fundraising practices

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/10/06/bbc-radio-4-broadcast-new-programme-charity-fundraising-practices/
- Published: 2017-10-06T07:00:58+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**BBC Radio 4 is to broadcast a programme this morning (Friday 6 October) investigating
charity fundraising practices.**

Called[_ Selling Barbara_](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b096jf3r) and produced
by Lydia Thomas, the 28-minute programme follows 90-year-old charity supporter Barbara
Smith as she investigates which charities have traded her data and why they have
done so. She talks to [Smile Train](https://www.smiletrain.org/), which has admitted
to sharing her data with other charities and explains to her why they traded her
name and address in the past, and is invited to Oxfam’s offices by Chief Executive
Mark Goldring to see the work the charity does and hears how the media coverage 
about charities in the wake of the [Olive Cooke](https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/01/20/frsb-publishes-results-of-olive-cooke-investigation-and-related-complaints/)
case resulted in Oxfam examining how it fundraises.

Interviewed on the programme are: Paula Sussex, previously CEO of the Charity Commission;
Chair of the [Fundraising Regulator](https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/) Michael
Grade; Mark Goldring, Chief Executive of Oxfam; Susu Stinton, Trustee, Smile Train,
and Mark Roy, Chairman of REaD Group.

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The programme airs today at 11am.

 

_Update 12.24 6 October 2017_

The Institute of Fundraising has issued a response to the issues raised in the programme.

Peter Lewis, Chief Executive of the Institute of Fundraising said: “Mrs Smith’s 
account on the ‘Selling Barbara’ BBC 4 Radio programme highlights that there is 
still concern among some donors.  This reiterates the importance of both changes
that have taken place in recent years – the banning of selling data, the new and
stronger Fundraising Regulator and the Fundraising Preference Service – and the 
ongoing work by charities themselves to ensure fundraising practice keeps pace with
public expectations.  These changes were, are, and will continue to be supported
by charity fundraisers because they know that high standards and public confidence
matters.

“The programme also highlights the positive difference that charities make in the
world, and the importance of the public’s support in making this possible.  Nothing
is more important to charity fundraisers than the support of donors, and this is
why the fundraising sector is so committed to improving donors’ experience and connecting
people with the causes they care about.”

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## Comments

### By: Michael Britton

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/10/06/bbc-radio-4-broadcast-new-programme-charity-fundraising-practices/#comment-3169
- Published: 2017-10-08T09:53:00+01:00

No apology then from Mr Lewis for allowing a culture where people’s personal details
were being traded like baseball cards.
 Barbara also raised the point that she kept
being sent junk (gifts) that far outweighed the cost of her original donation. What
a shame there was no charity to answer that. To their credit Oxfam came out very
well. The rep from Smile “everyone else was doing it” should be given her marching
orders.