Fundraising Regulator income up but more needed to keep it effective, annual report reveals
Melanie May | 10 January 2019 | News
1,527 charities had paid the Fundraising Regulator’s Levy by the end of the 2017/18 financial year while its income rose to £1.98m. However, more income is needed for the Regulator to remain effective, according to its annual report published today (10 January).
Alongside its annual report, the Regulator has also published a Report and Annual Accounts for the period 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2018, which it has made to line up its financial year with the annual 1 September collection of the fundraising levy.
The reports reveal that around 100 charities have not yet paid either Levy 1 or 2, with the Regulator stating a need for it to ‘improve and stabilise its funding stream from the levy and registration payments in 2018/19 so that it can carry out its regulatory tasks effectively.”
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More funding needed
At present, it says, it is it is only just about achieving the level of funding it needs through the present levy and registration payments: “Our overall income remains below the £2-£2.4m the Cross Party Review recommended the regulator needed to undertake its tasks effectively, and restricts our ability to undertake more proactive activity.”
The Regulator’s income grew to £1.98m in the year ending 31 March 2018, an increase of more than £400,000 from the previous year, with £871,000 coming from late payment or deferral of income from Levy Year 1, and £1,048m from Levy Year 2.
There was also increased income from registrations of smaller charities and commercial fundraising organisations of £62,000. This gave the Regulator a cash surplus of just over £200,000 in this year, which it is holding as reserves. By the end of August, its reserves had grown to just under £500,000.
Costs included those for developing and running the FPS system, which came to £455,000, while its ongoing annual running costs are around £330,000 per year, including both the web application and call centre support service.
Staff costs came to £809,000 for the financial year 2017/18, with the Chief Executive paid £70,651 plus £5,652 in employer’s pension contributions to the NEST company pension scheme. Staff costs were £344,600 for the period from 1 April to 31 August, with the Chief Executive, Gerald Oppenheim, paid £13,587 with no employer’s pension contributions for this period. His annual salary for a five-day week is £81,520.
Regulator activity
The reports show that in the 2017/18 financial year, the Fundraising Regulator resolved 1,101 complaints, 87% within four weeks, with an 18% increase in complaints received in the last six months of 2017-18 compared to those received in the same period in 2016-17. It also concluded three consultations and published two updates on the Code of Fundraising Practice, which had over 3,000 charities and other organisations signed up to it by the end of 2017/18.
In addition, the year saw the launch the Fundraising Preference Service to which the public made over 16,000 suppressions of individual charities, handled over 1,200 fundraising enquiries and provided information in 96% of cases within 14 days, and had 185,000 visits to its website. By the end of August, suppressions had risen to around 20,500.
- Online fundraising complaints up by 252% during the pandemic (29 September 2021)
- Fundraising Regulator updates Code on TPS compliance (21 June 2018)
- Code of Fundraising Practice on house to house collections opens to public consultation (29 September 2010)
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.