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How much fundraising is too much?

Fundraising | Michael Naidu | 12 Mar 2012

Fundraisers must have an honest discussion about just how much fundraising there should be or face a situation, says Michael Naidu.

After four and a half years as chair of the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, in January I handed over the reins of the organisation to Paul Stallard. He joins the organisation at an incredibly challenging but interesting time. The sector is limbering up for the Charities Act review and there are some big questions to be answered.

The challenge of organising access to fundraise in public spaces is not an easy one. It cannot be written down in one place and then followed by all. Charities of all shapes and sizes have the right to fundraise using a range of tactics and the public have the right to say ‘No thank you’. Striking a balance between the two will always be delicate and require ongoing dialogue as well as a willingness to work together. Arguably, this is the biggest opportunity – and threat – the sector has faced in decades.

The PFRA plays a unique role in the sector, being the only organisation that directly regulates an Institute of Fundraising code. And by regulate, I mean has the power to limit actual fundraising activity. This occurs on the street with agency and in-house organisations bidding for access to sites. The doorstep is a different matter.

The 2006 Act reduced bureaucracy on the doorstep and since then fundraising activity has increased dramatically, with big charities recruiting tens of thousands each and every year. This growth hasn’t been without problems. The increasing demand for clothing collections and the behaviour of nationally-exempt cash collectors has left some local authorities felling aggrieved.

Resolving these issues will require leadership. Local authorities are feeling the pain of national budget cuts, and increased scrutiny on their spending will make it harder to justify administration costs. The Charity Commission is responsible for registering charities, but has never shown any desire for regulating fundraising. Popular opinion, meanwhile, could be getting more powerful – the public have been asked by David Cameron to support the Big Society and current legislation is devolving power and responsibility to local communities. We have a responsibility to listen to what the public wants, but I worry about giving them the responsibility for designing and administering the system.

With neither local authorities nor the Charity Commission able to take control, that just leaves charities ourselves, namely the fundraising sector, to step up and offer solutions. The current structure in which the Institute of Fundraising sets the codes of practice and the Fundraising Standards Board offers the public the right of appeal seems a neat and effective solution, however, neither have the ability to limit capacity. Which begs the question: what is capacity and how much is there at the moment?

We as a sector have been reticent in acknowledging there may be a limit to the amount of fundraising activity the market can absorb. With the everincreasing demand for more funds it would be a brave, if not foolish fundraising director who would forgo fundraising in a bid to strike the right balance.

Without regulation we are at risk of polarising the fundraising market between big and small charities in the same way that the high street has become divided between the big five supermarkets and small high street retailers. Taken to a logical (and scary) conclusion there could come a time when the biggest fundraising charities have grown their databases to the extent that their combined attrition rate could equal the number of possible signups in the UK. They would either have to accept that their donor-base must shrink or would have to plan to take donors from their competitors. Some might think this acceptable, others that it is inevitable, but for me it would be the worst outcome.

I believe that all forms of fundraising would become more acceptable to the public if local charities could be seen to benefit as well. The man leading the Charities Act review, Lord Hodgson, should consider whether the fundraising regulatory system that results could allow a local hospice to stand if not outside their premise, then nearby and sign up new supporters. To get to this utopia, the sector needs to engage with the process of review, show leadership through sector-wide solutions and also recognise that you can’t have all of the cake and eat it as well. 

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