Nearly two thirds of the public are interested in a Fundraising Preference Service, according to research published today by consultancy nfpSynergy.

The research, carried out with 1,000 members of the general public in January this year, found that relatively few people complained about charities, but that many people wanted to complain, but did not.

The research compared charities to six other sectors – broadband, mobile phones, press and media, supermarkets, pensions and mortgages.

Key findings

 

• 29 per cent of respondents said they were either extremely or very concerned about charities’ marketing.
• Charities had one of the lowest levels of complaint (6 per cent). But they had the highest level of ‘wanting to complain, but didn’t’ at 25 per cent.
• Asking about the proposed Fundraising Preference Service, 31 per cent of the public said they were definitely interested and 33 per cent probably interested.
• The level of interest varied considerably by age. The research found that 42 per cent of 45 to 64-year-olds were ‘definitely interested’ while just 13 per cent of 16-24 year olds were ‘definitely interested’.
• Only 24 per cent said it was reasonable for a charity to ‘write to ask me for my permission to talk to them again’.

Joe Saxton, author of the report, said: "This is sobering research and shows why we need the new Fundraising Regulator. Charities have the highest level of people who have wanted to complain, but haven’t. This may be because they didn’t know how, or that they didn’t feel it was right to complain about a charity.

“Part of the anger that we have seen from donors and the public may well be because the feedback and complaint mechanisms don’t work as well for charities. Charities need to learn from other sectors, such as supermarkets, mobile phone or broadband, about how to make complaining easier and more acceptable.

“The level of interest in the Fundraising Preference Service should give everybody pause for thought. If these figures are right then a large majority of the giving public could sign up to FPS, and cut them off from fundraising communications. If 30 million people sign up to FPS, the costs of the service will be very high and the impact on giving devastating.

“It’s clear the public want FPS. The question is whether it is the most cost-effective, fair and simple way to put the public in control of the fundraising communications they receive.”