The Fundraising Standards Board has published the terms of reference for an investigation into both the case of Olive Cooke and wider fundraising practices, and promised an interim report in early June.

Olive Cooke, a 92-year-old poppy seller, is believed to have committed suicide in May. She received more than 260 pieces of direct mail a month, leading some national newspapers to claim she was "hounded to death" by charities - a claim her family have denied. Prime Minister David Cameron personally called on the FRSB to launch an investigation.

Alistair McLean, chief executive of FRSB, told Civil Society News this morning that the terms of reference of the investigation have now been announced.

He said the investigation, which commenced on 18 May, which will be undertaken by the FRSB executive team and overseen by the Board’s compliance & standards sub-committee, consisting of independent Board directors.  

It will examine both Cooke's personal interactions with charities and the wider fundraising environment.

McLean said: “We realise that this is a very important investigation and we are taking the matter very seriously.”

Wider fundraising environment

One strand of the investigation will identify key learnings from the “significant level of public complaints” that the FRSB has received since the news of Cooke's death broke.

McLean said that they have received over 300 comments or complaints since then, with some still coming in.

The majority of these centre round the frequency of communications. Cooke said she felt “overwhelmed” by the amount of mail she received, and several other donors have since publicly said the same.

The investigation will look at the sharing of personal data, as well as issues of consent and opting in and out when receiving contacts. This will involve looking at the effectiveness and accessibility of managing mailing and telephone preferences.

It will also look at the issues in managing relationships between charities and vulnerable adults. McLean said that the use of scripts in telephone fundraising will also form part of the investigation, looking at whether there is “undue pressure put on people to give”, in regards to people feeling “frustrated about being asked to give more than they can afford to”.

The use of enclosures, items sent alongside direct mail, will also form part of the investigation, which will assess whether there is sometimes an added pressure to make people feel guilty.

The FRSB, IoF and the PFRA have communicated to form these terms of reference, and all three will be talking to Rob Wilson, minister for civil society, at some point in the next few days.

Investigation into Cooke

The other strand of the investigation will look at Olive Cooke and ”the very specific issues related to making her feel overwhelmed by contact from charities”.

This will involve looking directly at the charities she supported, how long she supported them for, issues around whether the charities she had supported had given her details to other charities, and if so had she given her consent to that, how her details were shared, whether she was aware they were being shared, and whether she given the opportunity to opt out.

It will also look at whether Cooke or her family contacted any of the charities in question to request no further contact, and how that request was managed.

McLean said that the investigation will depend on speaking to the great-grandmother’s family, of who so far they have only spoken to their representatives. He said that the family has said that they are “more than happy” to work with them, but it may take a little time as they deal with the death.

What happens next?

McLean said that the FRSB will be working very closely with the IoF and PFRA in the context of the investigation. He said: “The IoF set the codes of practice, we enforce those codes. The Prime Minister has called on us to launch an investigation into lessons to be learned for the sector from the tragic death of Mrs Cooke.

“When we will complete that investigation which will be very much for the Institute of Fundraising, to review their codes of practice in context of the interim and final report when we finally get it to them. We are working very closely on this and it is very important to the sector, as well as it is for the public.”

An interim investigation is expected to be completed by the next IoF standards Committee on the 10th June, with the final report coming at some point after.

McLean said that the FRSB will be in contact with all charities which contacted Cooke "regardless of whether they are members or non-members”, with all complaints put through the FRSB’s standard complaints process.

When asked what they can do to for charities that are not registered with the FRSB, McLean said they will still contact them to advise them amend their practices.

He said that this sometimes results in charities who are not familiar with the body realising that the FRSB exists, signing up and changing the way they behave.

An inquest into Cooke's death was opened last week, and adjourned until 16 July.