Several high-profile charities are not taking up the News of the World's free advertising in its last edition on Sunday, as the Institute of Fundraising warns that doing so could potentially be a breach of the codes of fundraising practice.
Civilsociety.co.uk has learned that the RNLI, RSPCA, The Brooke, Care International, Thames Reach, ActionAid, WaterAid, Salvation Army, VSO, RSPCA, Oxfam and Barnardo’s have all decided not to advertise in the final edition, which would typically go out to 2.66 million readers. Not all these charities have been contacted with an offer to advertise, but are understood to not be interested in pursuing the opportunity. No charities have come forward to say that they will be advertising.
The RNLI released this statement: "The RNLI has not been approached by the News of the World with an offer of free advertising. However, if we were to be, we believe accepting any such offer would be potentially damaging to our reputation as a charity and to our ability to raise funds – this is borne out unanimously by the comments we have received from our supporters so far today."
In announcing the closure of the News of the World (NotW) following the phone hacking and police bribery revelations, News International chair James Murdoch said that charities and “causes” would be offered any advertising space in the final issue on Sunday for free and that all profits from that issue would go to good causes.
“While we may never be able to make up for distress that has been caused, the right thing to do is for every penny of the circulation revenue we receive this weekend to go to organisations - many of whom are long-term friends and partners - that improve life in Britain and are devoted to treating others with dignity,” he said.
“We will run no commercial advertisements this weekend. Any advertising space in this last edition will be donated to causes and charities that wish to expose their good works to our millions of readers.”
The NotW did not return calls querying the popularity of its offer. However, civilsociety.co.uk understands the newspaper is approaching the offer in a 'three-tier priority hierarchy'.
First, charities they already support such as Help for Heroes, who never paid for space anyway due to the paper's proactive endorsement; second, advertisers who have paid before; and third, any other charities who show interest.
Falling foul of fundraising codes
Charities that do, however, could fall foul of the Institute of Fundraising’s Acceptance and Refusal of Donations Code of Fundraising Practice, the Institute warned. The Code requires a robust, trustee-approved procedure for vetting partners and rejecting or accepting donations.
Acevo meanwhile said it would not be issuing guidance to its members about whether or not to take advantage of the NotW offer but deputy CEO Peter Kyle tweeted: “Not comfortable at announcement that profit from #Notw will be given to charity. The voluntary sector is not an image rehabilitation service.”
NCVO chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington said: “Taking up the offer of free advertising in the final News of the World is a matter for individual charities to determine.
‘In assessing whether their organisations should advertise, charity trustees must consider the reputational implications for their organisation and the impact upon their beneficiaries of doing so given the current circumstances that News International finds itself in.”
Navca chief executive Kevin Curley added his voice to the fray on Twitter, tweeting "News of the World Free advertising for charities in the last edition Surely nobody will sink so low? I know where you live."
Badger5000 tweeted: “Don’t fall for the #Notw profits-to-charity scam. Buying it will help them cover their costs. Donate direct if you were going to buy it.”
Turn bad situation into good
Joe Saxton, chair of CharityComms, said charities whose beneficiary class had not been directly affected by the phone hacking scandal, such as the RSPCA, could conceivably advertise in the final edition. “They might see it as too good an opportunity to miss,” he said. “Don’t forget a decent-sized ad in the News of the World can cost tens of thousands of pounds.”
And even others who had been impacted, such as the Royal British Legion, he said, could turn the situation to their advantage by designing specific ads saying something like ‘We might not miss the newspaper, but we sure will miss its readers and the fantastic support you’ve given us over the years – and this is how to keep in touch’.
Saxton accepted that there is a risk attached to being involved with the paper at all but charities have to weigh up the fact that there might be a lot more people reading it this weekend. “So an ad along those lines could be a good balancing act,” he said.
Additional reporting by Tania Mason
