IoF announces street fundraising agreement with Birmingham City Council

03 May 2017 News

The Institute of Fundraising has agreed a site management agreement with Birmingham City Council, following on from a successful three-month pilot arrangement in the city.

According to a statement from the IoF, the new agreement with Birmingham City Council came into effect yesterday and will see street fundraising activity in the city centre limited to certain days and places a cap on the amount of individual fundraisers able to work on a site at any given time.

The site management agreement was originally reached last year, but has now been extended on a "rolling one-year basis". 

A spokeswoman for the IoF said the site management agreement reached by the fundraising membership body with Birmingham City Council meant that street fundraising will take place on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. She also said “the total number of fundraisers in the city centre will be no more than 12, spread over three sites at any one time”.

In the statement, the IoF said that “agreements such as the one in Birmingham, alongside the 125 agreements with other councils across the UK, enhance the sustainability and future of street fundraising”.

An initial agreement was put in place between the Public Fundraising Association (PFRA) – the then regulator for street and private site fundraising – and Birmingham City Council in April 2016. The initial agreement was for a three-month trial period, between July and October, and originally limited street fundraisers to only working in Birmingham city centre between Sunday and Tuesday.

Birmingham council calls previous agreement ‘success’

Speaking about the agreement, Chris Neville, head of licensing at Birmingham City Council, called the trial agreement a “success”.

“Following the success of our trial agreement with the Institute of Fundraising, introduced last July, there’s been a significant reduction in the number of complaints we receive about face-to-face fundraising and its impact on the public and local businesses,” said Neville.

“This new 12-month agreement will see fewer fundraisers in the city centre, which we welcome, and we will continue to work in partnership with IoF going forward.”

Peter Hills-Jones, compliance director at the IoF, said: “Charity fundraisers will warmly welcome today’s important announcement that a well-balanced approach to sustainable fundraising in the city centre has been reached.

“The success of the pilot highlights that these agreements work for both the public and Britain’s charities. Charity fundraising is more important than ever as charities rely on the generosity and support of the public.”

 

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