Fundraising Regulator & IoF issue guidance for return to public fundraising
Melanie May | 26 June 2020 | News
The Fundraising Regulator and Chartered Institute of Fundraising (IoF) have today published two pieces of guidance to support the return to fundraising activities in line with social distancing requirements.
The guidance covers the over-arching principles which should be applied to all fundraising methods, and specific advice on public fundraising (including street, door-to-door and private site fundraising). It has been prepared in consultation with Public Health England and the Health and Safety Executive, and is the first of a series from the Fundraising Regulator and IoF that will offer practical advice covering fundraising activities affected by social distancing. Further instalments will be published over the weeks ahead.
Today’s guidance aims to support good decision-making and sets out a framework for safe and responsible fundraising. The two organisations say it is essential that fundraising organisations consider this guidance, the nature of their activity, the location, their preparation, and undertake a full risk assessment to inform decisions. They also advise consulting with staff and volunteers before undertaking any fundraising activity.
In all cases, the guidance says, fundraising should only be reintroduced where it is safe to do so and if it is in line with Government advice and any guidance issued by the devolved administrations. The recent changes to lockdown restrictions in England mean that public fundraising may return if organisations are able to comply with this new guidance. However, some methods of fundraising, such as community fundraising events involving large groups of people, or mass participation events, cannot safely resume under current social distancing rules.
Priya Warner, Head of Policy at the Fundraising Regulator said:
“This guidance is intended to support the sector as they look to begin fundraising activity that they paused back in March. However, I want to be clear that public fundraising activities should only resume if it is safe to do so. It’s the responsibility of individual charities to exercise judgment about when and how to resume fundraising, and this should only be when thorough risk assessments have been carried out, and informed decisions based on each individual organisation’s unique circumstances have been made.”
Daniel Fluskey, Head of Policy and External Affairs at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, said:
Advertisement
“ Restarting fundraising is going to be really important to keep charity services running as well as enabling the sector to play its full role in wider recovery. Public fundraising activities have been rightly on hold during lockdown, but with the return of non-essential shops and other businesses resuming activity, it is appropriate for charities to be thinking about how they can restart fundraising in a safe and responsible way. This guidance sets out the key considerations that organisations need to be thinking about as they plan their return to fundraising activities in line with social distancing requirements.”
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.