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Sunday Telegraph accuses face-to-face fundraising company of failing to abide by regulations

Howard Lake

Howard Lake | 24 June 2012 | News

The Sunday Telegraph has investigated face-to-face fundraising company Tag Campaigns, part of The Gift Group, and produced undercover video evidence that it says demonstrates “apparent breaches of the self-regulatory code of conduct” and “a failure to disclose to donors” how much the campaign was costing the charity concerned.
During a one-day training session, the reporter claims that trainee fundraisers were not informed of the need to make any disclosure that they are paid, a legal requirement for fundraisers in the UK. As a result, trainees within that group failed to make the required disclosures to the public.
Part of the footage included the trainee fundraisers being told that one technique used had been to confuse potential donors in order to get them to stop and talk. Best practice standards (the Institute of Fundraising’s Face-to-Face Code of Fundraising Practice, section 4.0) state that fundraisers should “never deliberately confuse, mislead or obstruct the public”.
Tag Campaigns fundraisers ask members of the public to make small donations by SMS. Donors are subsequently called and invited to become regular donors.

Undercover filming

An undercover journalist filmed a training session for street fundraisers run by Tag Campaigns. The campaign was on behalf of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Response from Fundraising Standards Board

This was shown to Alistair McLean, Chief Executive of the Fundraising Standards Board, who said that, based on the evidence presented to him, Tag Campaigns seemed to have committed clear breaches of the codes of practice.
He said: “The footage of both training and on-street fundraising that I was shown by The Sunday Telegraph is deeply worrying. Professional fundraisers are legally required to make a clear statement disclosing the cost of the campaign and must not deliberately confuse a member of the public.
He added that most charities using this method of fundraising did so extremely well and adhered to the necessary standards.
He confirmed that “The FRSB has discussed this issue with Marie Curie and is now contacting Tag Campaigns to investigate the allegations.”

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PFRA’s response

Ian MacQuillin, Head of Communications at the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA), told The Sunday Telegraph: “If you are doing SMS text donations there must be a solicitation statement because there is a financial ask. To not do so is breaking the law.”

Tag Campaigns’ response

Tag Campaigns issued a statement saying: “Having conducted an urgent investigation into the specific allegations, and a review of our current practice, we have decided to institute a new and more rigorous training regime.” It said that it would submit these proposals to the PFRA within the next few days.

Sunday Telegraph investigates face-to-face fundraising company

The Sunday Telegraph reports that street face-to-face company Tag Campaigns has failed to abide by the code of practice established by the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA).

Storified by Howard Lake · Sun, Jun 24 2012 18:51:25

‘Chuggers’ tricks revealed in investigation – TelegraphLocal authorities and business groups had also made complaints about their behaviour. An undercover reporter spent 12 days working for Ta…
How street fundraising firm broke the code – Telegraph1.0 THE CODE OF PRACTICE EXPLAINED Organisations engaged in fund-raising should join the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) and should fo…
It presented its evidence to the Fundraising Standards Board.
Fundraising watchdog to investigate charity ‘muggers’ – TelegraphAlistair McLean, chief executive of the Fundraising Standards Board, the watchdog that enforces codes of conduct, says that Tag Campaigns…
Tag Campaign issued a statement saying that they were instituting new training procedures.
‘Chugging’ firm Tag Campaign’s statement in full – Telegraph"The Sunday Telegraph investigation has uncovered worrying shortcomings in the behaviour of some of our fundraisers, and we have naturall…
The Sunday Telegraph has placed the story in a wider context.
Fundraisers can be aggressive and intimidating, says report – TelegraphLocal councils currently have no power to ban or regulate street fundraisers, who are legally entitled to solicit direct debits or text m…
‘Chugging’ kingpins paid themselves £1.2m in just three years – TelegraphA Sunday Telegraph reporter, who got a job with Tag, worked on a fundraising campaign for Marie Curie for which the charity paid almost £…
The Sunday Telegraph summed up its findings in its editorial:
A tighter rein on ‘chuggers’ will yield more in the long run – TelegraphGiving to charities is not just good for the soul. It plays an ever-more important part in the delivery of vital services to people who n…
The story has of course been picked up elsewhere:
Chuggers probed over claims of confusion tacticsTag Campaigns are being looked into amid concerns their collectors – known as "charity muggers" or "chuggers" – were reportedly flouting …
Fundraisers in poor practice probeCharity fundraisers are to be investigated for poor practice amid allegations they were using confusing tactics and flouting rules. The F…


www.pfra.org.uk

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Howard Lake

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.

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