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Times chugger story riddled with mistakes, claims NPC

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 24 Mar 2010

A Times article last weekend that encouraged the public not to give money to face-to-face fundraisers based its story on two-year-old Intelligent Giving blog entries and significantly misrepresented a senior figure from New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), the organisation claims.

In the article, journalist Lauren Thompson quotes “Heather Walker, of Intelligent Giving”, who left the organisation before Intelligent Giving moved under the control of NPC last year. It appears that Walker’s blog entries from 2008 have been represented by Thompson as a recent interview.

Thompson also quotes NPC head of strategy Tris Lumley (pictured) as saying “all chuggers care about is getting that £10 monthly direct debit… We believe that charities should inspire people through a connection with a cause, instead of targeting those who do not want to be approached on the street”. Lumley, however, claims he has been both misquoted and misrepresented.

NPC has demanded a retraction of the “factual mistakes” made in the article, headlined Beware the High Street fundraiser and published last Saturday. The organisation is expecting that a piece correcting the inaccuracies will be published next Saturday.

Civil Society understands that the Public Fundraising Regulatory Authority and directors of fundraising at leading charities were angered by the piece, but have been reassured that the NPC and Lumley were inaccurately represented.

In an interview with Fundraising magazine (to be published in April’s issue), NPC chief executive Martin Brookes said that under NPC’s guidance Intelligent Giving would move away from the "confrontational and ascerbic" tone that some of the site’s past blogs and statements to the press possessed.

Following the release of the Times story, Brookes said: “NPC does not take a position on particular ways of fundraising, face-to-face, ‘chugging’, mailshot or whatever. In our opinion, fundraising should be done in whatever ways maximise income, increase the number of donors as well as their engagement with charities and, in particular, emphasises the impact charities have of people's lives.

“We think donors should look at a range of things when giving to a charity, including its leadership, and its results. Focusing on just fundraising costs is foolish in the extreme.”

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Directory: Intelligent Giving | New Philanthropy Capital
Who's Who: Tris Lumley | Martin Brookes