Few people want much regulation – it’s not the British way!

 

However, events in the last 2 years leading to the setting-up of the Fundraising Regulator have fundamentally changed the fundraising scene in the UK.

 

The Fundraising Regulator is now seeking all of our views on a range of issues to do with the Code of Fundraising Practice.

 

Charity Trustees are just one group coming under the microscope, and in future Trustees will have to pay greater attention to governance and to the operation of their charities than they have needed to do in the past. It is worth remembering that in the case of the Kids’ Company, it was the Board of Trustees and their Chairman which was especially singled out for criticism, rather than the Chief Executive and her staff. The argument put forward was that the problems could have been avoided if the Trustees had exercised due diligence in relation to Kids’ Company’s activities.

 

Street fundraisers (“chuggers”) are another controversial group about which our views are sought. I am constantly amazed at the number of people in the charity sector who do not know about the need for photo ID, tamper-proof seals on collecting buckets and other containers – or about the permissions needed for street collections.

 

The Fundraising Regulator also seeks views on people in vulnerable circumstances. Scarcely a week goes by without media reports of people trying to change the Wills of vulnerable people in their favour; charities avalanching vulnerable people with funding requests; and c on-men (and con-women !) attempting to extract money and/or property from people whose physical or mental condition makes them an easy target for this sort of behaviour.

 

The Fundraising Regulator’s deadline is 28 April 2017. If you don’t air your views, don’t be surprised if the regulation is not as good as it should be …………….