Charities that operate best practice need to defend their fundraising methods more stridently to turn the tide of public opinion back in their favour, say Stephen Cotterill and Celina Ribeiro.
This September is shaping up to be a crucial month for charities. A review from the NCVO’s Sir Stuart Etherington is set to hit our inboxes any moment now and, at press time, the Institute of Fundraising’s Standards Committee is seeking amends to the recommendations from the ICO regarding contacting warm donors that are registered with the Telephone Preference System. Working group reports and further reviews are all in the offing. All this internal activity has been spurred by recent media coverage and a backlash from the general public.
It seems like fundraising has been under siege all summer. It might have been on the cards for a while. It might have been that the sector had grown complacent. The reason why is not so important. What is important is the erosion of public trust that the last few months has caused and the way it has been handled. Those articles vilifying practices, agencies and charities, no matter how poorly executed or ill-conceived, have helped to fuel a growing perception among the public that fundraisers in general do not operate best practice. This despite the fact that the vast majority of charities and fundraising teams do their best to adhere to IoF codes and ethical methods.
Matters have been made worse by an almost blanket silence from charities. Regulatory bodies and membership organisations have been reactively scrambling to define codes and guidelines, which is all well and good; individual charities have had scores of internal comms meetings and strategic team sessions. But all the while, the public has been allowed to draw their own conclusions fed by a rabid red-top press smelling blood. Without a clear public rebuttal from the sector, or vocal defence from the major charities that operate on the high street and conduct a large volume of face-to-face fundraising, the negative perception of fundraising among the public has continued to grow in the radio silence.
A case in point is a feature story that was meant to run in this issue. The original cover feature was broadly intended to be about public trust and what we had to do as a sector to regain it. Our journalist contacted more than a dozen charities and not one wanted to go on record or defend their practices. Some said they would rather not get involved as they hadn’t been targeted in recent attacks; others, that their trustees would not allow them to speak; others didn’t reply to enquiries at all. It is a sensitive issue, no doubt, but until the sector starts to box its corner better with a more strident voice, particularly in the media, it gives the tabloids free licence to heap salt on the open wounds of fundraising teams around the country. Fundraisers need strong vocal support from their boards and their senior management now more than ever.
