The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association has today unveiled a new regime to enforce good standards within door-to-door fundraising which will include resident feedback and trailing fundraising teams.

The release of the new compliance regime comes as PFRA chief executive Sally de la Bedoyere speaks at the Institute of Fundraising’s face-to-face fundraising conference at which she’s expected to warn that without proper self-regulation of standards, doorstep fundraising could become the next fundraising bête noir.

Door-to-door fundraising is one of the fastest-increasing causes of complaints about fundraising across the board, according to recent reports. 

The scheme will include the PFRA sitting in on the training of doorstep fundraisers, as well as shadowing teams as they go door to door with the aim of reporting and recording fundraiser standards. Penalty points will be awarded for poor performance.

The association will also liaise directly with residents to garner their views on the behaviour of doorstep fundraisers.

The new system will initially piloted in the Greater London area for six months, beginning November, with an expected rollout following that. The PFRA has a compliance regime in place for street-based face-to-face fundraising for some time.

PFRA head of standards Nick Henry said the organisation had always intended to launch a door-to-door regime “once we had the street compliance procedures bedded in”.

“Our main aim, of course, is to protect residents from poor fundraising,” he said.