Personal Telephone Fundraising has announced that it has ceased trading with the loss of 150 jobs - the seventh fundraising agency to cease trading in the last twelve months.
Jane Cunningham, director of Personal Telephone Fundraising blamed the events of the summer which saw the agency’s “work capacity drop by 70 per cent overnight”.
She said in a statement that the telephone fundraising agency had ceased trading on 29 February with the loss of 150 jobs.
Cunningham said that the fall in work flow made it impossible for the agency to restructure the business to make it compliant with opt-in and ongoing changes to self-regulation.
“Following the events of the summer PTF saw its work capacity drop by 70 per cent overnight. As such the dramatic change in our ability to do business meant that our overheads greatly exceeded the revenue that could be generated from the ability of our clients to fundraise.
“Whist employees worked hard to change that situation, restructuring the business and implementing strategies to achieve compliant opt-in in preparation for clients returning to fundraising, we could not at that time have anticipated how slow and faltering an uptake in client activity would be.
Cunningham said that, after eight months of “grappling for work”, PTF employees were sent home for a second week in February. After this, Cunningham said “the board took the decision to call it a day; we felt it was important to close the doors whilst still able to pay the staff wages and minimise incurring financial debt within the business”.
PTF had around 150 permanent, full-time fundraisers on its books at the time it ceased trading. It was one of the few telephone fundraising agencies in the sector which employed all of its staff on permanent contracts with no added commission.
According to its last published set of small company accounts, PTF had total net assets worth £612,176 as of 31 March 2014.
Cunningham’s statement concluded: “In all of our endeavours the directors of PTF have sought to promote the highest standards in charity fundraising and good business practice. It is clear today that the company, through no fault or actions of its own, is unable to continue to trade in an effective manner”.
In a joint statement, the Institute of Fundraising and the PFRA said: “It is regrettable that a long standing fundraising agency who has partnered with many charities over the years has ceased trading.
"We recognise that this is a very difficult period for many fundraising organisations who play an important role raising vital funds for good causes.”
