Changes to fundraising self-regulation are a “disastrously bad idea”, evidence on donor satisfaction shows, delegates at the International Fundraising Congress in Holland heard today.

The comments were made by Adrian Sargeant, director of the Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy, who was speaking in a session on donor satisfaction, in which he presented results showing 91 per cent of donors were very satisfied with the performance of charities they supported.

He said impending changes to fundraising regulation, proposed in a recent review by Sir Stuart Etherington, were “a disastrously bad idea" that would "silence the very vulnerable people they were looking to help”.

“Now vulnerable people will no longer have the right to have somebody put their hands up and ask for help on their behalf," he said, "and that seems to be a shocking way to go.”

Sargeant was presenting, alongside consultant Roger Lawson, the results of the centre’s most recent survey on existing donor satisfaction and loyalty towards charities.

The survey drew between 13,500 and 14,000 respondents from the existing donors of five UK charities: British Heart Foundation, Cats Protection, Sightsavers, RSPCA and WWF.

The data shows that 91 per cent of respondents were ‘satisfied or very satisfied’ with the quality of service and the trust they put in charity, while 88 per cent responded the same as to their level of commitment to the charities they support.

The survey, which was conducted between June and September 2015 during the height of the ‘summer of discontent’, shows, according to Sargeant, that: “donors are overwhelmingly happy with how they are treated”.

Sargeant challenged the NCVO, Rob Wilson the minister for civil society and the Institute of Fundraising to present their own data on the subject of donor satisfaction that justifies the fundraising review changes.

He said that the findings of the centre’s survey prove that there is no endemic problem with donor satisfaction in the UK, an assertion that was met with applause from some sections of the crowd.

“My challenge to the NCVO, and the minister and even to our very own IoF - who have decided this is a good idea that we have this scheme – is to show me their data that says that’s a good idea," he said.

"Because I don’t see what the problem is that they’re trying to crack with all of that that they wouldn’t have already cracked with all the stuff I’ve already described.

"The overwhelming experience of donors in our sample is positive, with high levels of passion being articulated for the causes we studied,” Sargeant said.

“If there are to be further changes to the oversight of fundraising in this country, those changes should be based on evidence.

“If NCVO, or others feel the need to continue with their pursuit of the great profession of fundraising, let them show their evidence that what they propose is either necessary or required.”