Media attacks on charity fundraising are an attempt to make charities less able to campaign, the chief executive of Acevo has said.
In a post on his personal blog, Sir Stephen Bubb said “over the top” comments about a crisis in fundraising were “wide off the mark”, and that charities should think about beneficiaries rather than the attitudes of the media.
“It is perhaps questionable why this issue is being pursued so vehemently in some papers,” he said. “Surely it couldn't be anything to do with duffing us up so we feel less able to be robust in our campaigning?”
“Our guiding star must be our beneficiaries and not the tabloid press,” said Bubb. “Let's remember at this time less asking means less giving and that harms our beneficiaries.”
Bubb’s comments came in the run up to yesterday’s inquest report of Olive Cooke, the charity fundraiser who was reportedly “hounded to death by charity fundraisers”, according to the Daily Mail. The inquest recorded a verdict of death by suicide as a result of depression.
Bubb wrote: "Cooke’s family insisted that - while the letters and phone calls were intrusive - the charities were not to blame for Mrs Cooke's death. How does this square with media coverage and some politicians comments?”
But Bubb acknowledged that a review of fundraising practice was the “right” thing to do.
“Of course it is right to review how we fundraise," he said. "And it is right to look particularly at how outsourcing calls work as this, is not always done to the highest ethical standards. Bad fundraising practice harms all charities.”
In the wake of Cooke's death and subsequent media coverage, Acevo sent a request to its members to review their fundraising practises.
A spokesman for Acevo told Civil Society News the review request was a "response by Acevo, suggesting that all reputable charities specifically look at fundraising practises so that they can hold their heads up high with confidence".
In August, Acevo will join with IoF to meet with charity chief executives and fundraising directors to discuss best practise and “look at what we need to do that secures the balance between effective fundraising and meeting public concern over bad practise”, Bubb said.
