The FRSB has thrown out a protracted complaint by an anti-face-to-face fundraising campaigner over Cancer Research UK’s disclosure of its fundraising costs and returns.

But while the fundraising regulator has supported CRUK over the complainant, it has rapped the cancer charity's  knuckles for failing to direct the complainant to the FRSB during the complaints process, which ran from June 2011 to March 2012. The process ended with CRUK director of fundraising Richard Taylor told the complainant that they’d not be able to provide any further information.

The complainant, who alleged to be writing a book about face-to-face fundraising, independently contacted the FRSB in June last year, arguing that CRUK had fallen foul of accountability and transparency obligations in the Institute of Fundraising’s code of practice. After putting more than 13 questions to the FRSB, they requested that the organisation open a ‘stage 3 adjudication’, the highest  level of complaint resolution within self-regulation.

Cancer Research UK had provided the complainant with a break down of its costs, divulging that in 2009/2010 it cost an average of £112 to recruit a supporter through face-to-face fundraising, and that investment reaped a £4 per £1 return. The PFRA website suggests the average returns are less, at £2.50 for each £1, however cancer charities typically have a lower cost-to-return ratio than other charities, due to their popularity with the public.

Meeting on 20 March, the FRSB board was unanimous in dismissing the complaint from the self-proclaimed F2F activist.

FRSB chair Colin Lloyd said that while disclosure of costs and returns information was very sensitive, “it is crucial that charities are open and honest with supporters”.

However, he went on: “At the same time the board understands that [charities] cannot – nor would we expect them to – give away commercially sensitive information. It can often be a difficult judgement call about where to draw the line, and we feel Cancer Research UK took a balanced and reasoned approach.”

A spokeswoman for Cancer Research UK said: “We are pleased that the FRSB board unanimously agreed that Cancer Research UK had handled the complainant’s queries in a reasonable and fair way, showing our commitment to open and honest fundraising.”