Fundraising Regulator to publish list of levy paying and non-paying charities
Howard Lake | 29 July 2017 | News
At the end of the August the Fundraising Regulator will publish a full list of charities which fall within the scope of its levy. The list will distinguish charities which have paid and those which have not paid the voluntary levy.
The Regulator first published a list of those organisations which had registered with it on 10 July and has updated it since. The levy is made on charities which spend more than £100,000 per annum on fundraising. Some charities that spend below that amount have still registered with the Regulator, and these are included on the list.
Charities that pay the levy are automatically registered with the Fundraising Regulator and smaller charities are able to register on payment of “a modest fee”, in each case committing to the Fundraising Promise and displaying the Regulator’s badge.
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The expanded list, to be published at the end of the first year of the levy, will be the first that highlights those charities that have not paid or not responded to the Regulator’s request.
SEE ALSO: The Fundraising Regulator one year on
The full list has been published “in the light of calls for full publication”. The Regulator’s Board has concluded that “it would be in the interests of transparency and fairness, particularly to those who have paid, to disclose the complete list of those charities asked to contribute to the costs of regulating fundraising through the levy”.
Some sector leaders continue to point out that the levy is voluntary:
Name and shame?
It did not specify who had made these calls for publication, or indeed how many there had been. Sir Stuart Etherington called for such a “name and shame” approach on the first anniversary of the Fundraising Regulator on 6 July, noting that this approach was not then policy for the Regulator.
A journalist from the Daily Mail asked at the anniversary event, at which the Fundraising Preference Service’s launch was announced, also asked if a list of non-paying charities would be published. Lord Grade, Chair of the Regulator, suggested that, with the initial list published, it wouldn’t be hard to search for well-known charity names to see if they were on the list.
From the end of August, that journalistic research will no longer be necessary.
The list will also be shared with the Charity Commission, although it was not explained what the Commission might do with the information.
Who has paid the fundraising levy?
The Regulator states that 1,768 charities qualify, based on their fundraising expenditure, for the levy. At 26 July 2017:
- 1,344 of these had paid or committed to pay (including “all but a handful of the largest charities”)
- 244 are in negotiation with the Regulator about payment
- 35 have declined to pay
- 165 have not responded, including to a reminder letter sent by the Chair of the Board or the Chief Executive
The Fundraising Regulator covers England, Northern Ireland and Wales, with a co-regulatory system in Scotland.
Reminders to pay
In addition to the reminder letter the Regulator has asked NCVO (whose CEO Sir Stuart Etherington chaired the 2015 Cross-party Review of Fundraising which led to the creation of the Fundraising Regulator and Fundraising Preference Service) and the Institute of Fundraising to contact their members to encourage them to pay the levy.
Peter Lewis, Chief Executive of the Institute of Fundraising, did so, saying: “Fundraisers absolutely want the Fundraising Regulator to succeed. I would encourage all fundraising charities to sign up to support the Regulator and pay the levy as appropriate. We need an effective and properly resourced Regulator to help ensure high levels of trust in our work and to make sure that when things go wrong quick action is taken to deal with it.”
The Institute’s new Chair Amanda Bringans met for the first time with Lord Grade to discuss self-regulation and other matters:
She too called on member charities to support the Fundraising Regulator by paying the levy if they fall within its scope or getting in touch with them if they have not yet done so.
Lord Grade of Yarmouth, Chair of the Board, reiterated the Regulator’s call for the levy to be paid. He said: “The public generously supports charities, so their commitment to good fundraising practice is of vital importance. For charities spending more than £100,000 a year on fundraising, paying the levy is a very clear sign of their commitment to ensuring the maintenance of excellent fundraising standards and professionalism.
“I am pleased that so many charities have paid the levy and want to commit to carrying out their fundraising in an exemplary way. The system of voluntary regulation proposed in the Cross-Party Review can only work effectively if those being regulated are prepared to support the Regulator.”
WATCH: Sir Stuart Etherington at the launch of the Fundraising Preference Service
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.