This page is designed for Local Authority and other ‘Gatekeeper’ visitors – that is, anyone who has a stake in the access of fundraising organisations to fundraising sites, be they Licensing Officers, Town Centre Managers, private site owners, the police, elected Councillors, or other council officials; in fact, anyone the PFRA can work with to maximise the opportunities for fundraising whilst minimising incidents of inconvenience.
The PFRA believe charities have an absolute right to fundraise, but at the same time they have an absolute duty to do so responsibly. It has long been the opinion of the PFRA that there is currently no legislation which effectively covers face-to-face fundraising in the UK, because the street collection legislation (Police, Factories etc (Misc Prov) Act 1916 in England & Wales, Civic Government (Scotalnd) Act 1982 in Scotland) applies only to collections of money. However, as no money changes hands when Direct Debit forms are signed, this legislation cannot be applied to face-to-face fundraising. We obtained a legal opinion in support of this position in May 2005, a copy of which can be requested here.
This situation will change when the Charities Act 2006 (in England & Wales) and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (in Scotland) come into effect – currently scheduled to be during 2010 and during 2009, respectively.
Until that time, the absence of statutory regulation does not, however, man that there should be no regulation. Quiet the contrary. To maintain the effectiveness of face-to-face as a medium, everyone agrees that it is the both necessary and desirable to manage the frequency of collections, and the manner in which they are conducted, in any one area. This is the point at which effective self-regulation comes into its own. To this end the PFRA has already entered into a number of voluntary Site Management Agreements (SMAs) with local authorities to regulate and allocate access to fundraising opportunities. In almost every case local authorities have been pleasantly surprised by how much the situation can be improved by these arrangements, and for that reason they are formally recommended by both the Institute of Fundraising and the ATCM.
Throughout the rest of this section you can find out a great deal more about the regulatory options open to you, what the benefits of entering into an SMA are, and how to go about it.
“What” is the PFRA?
The PFRA is the nationally recognised Self-Regulator for all forms of “Face to Face” fundraising, which includes -
· Solicitation of Direct Debit commitments to charity on the High Street and in “public places”
· Solicitation of Direct Debit commitments to charity on household doorsteps and by visiting small businesses
· “Prospecting” (capturing contact details from interested “prospects” among the public, who are subsequently contacted by email, telephone etc.
“Why” is the PFRA?
The PFRA was founded in response to the apparent lack of clarity in the law surrounding public fundraising which came to light during the drafting of original Institute of Fundraising Code of Practice in 1999 / 2000. Originally established as a Working Party within the Institute of Fundraising (July 2000) we became an independent membership company in October 2003. The PFRA exists to Promote, Provide, and Police F2F by upholding the IoF Code of Practice (now in its 3rd iteration Oct 2008) and ensuring the compliance of both charities which use face-to-face and suppliers which provide relevant services.
Face to Face fundraising needs an organisation to promote and protect its interests because, despite much uninformed criticism, it remains demonstrably one of the most effective forms of supporter recruitment ever developed, generating huge numbers of donor pledges for charities and good causes from individuals who are not responsive to other media – for instance
• around 230,000 on the High Street 2007/08
• around 280,000 on the Doorstep 2007/08
These pledges are potentially worth a minimum of £55m+ a year to charities, resources which they simply would not have if face-to-face were not used – meaning beneficiaries whose needs would be unmet if face-to-face were not used.
“Who” is the PFRA?
The PFRA is owned, funded and managed entirely by the (mainly charity) members (we do not receive a penny of public money), with an annually-elected 16-person Board plus a number of expert Observers from a wide range of “stakeholder” organisations including (currently) –
· OTS – Office of the Third Sector (Cabinet Office)
· Charity Commission
· Institute of Fundraising
· Association of Town Centre Management
· Institute of Licensing
· Lotteries Council
These organisations advise us on policy development and practice and make sure we are completely aware of and in tune with current and anticipated legislation and relevant professional practice in other related disciplines.
“How” is the PFRA?
The fundamental basis of what we do, and “how” we promote best practice is the Institute of Fundraising Code of Practice for face-to-Face Activity. The Institute writes the basic ground-rules for all professional fundraising in the UK, and the Face-to-Face Code sets out the broad skeleton of principles which responsible charities and suppliers must follow when pursuing that activity. Above and beyond that, the PFRA populates that skeleton with specific rules and practices which in effect interpret the principles for the real world. Specifically we enter into individual negotiated Site Management Agreements (SMAs) with local authorities which craft the general principles into specific operating rules for particular locations. Adherence to these rules is monitored by spot-checks and independent “Mystery Shopping” whereby the quality of individual fundraiser engagements can be assessed against the requirements of the Code. The success of the PFRA is obvious from the regular endorsements which we receive from satisfied stakeholders, and is further demonstrated by the fact that working with us is formally recommended by both the Charity Commission and the ATCM.
“Where” is the PFRA?
As of January 2009 the PFRA has over 80 direct local authority partners in some form or another, plus a raft of less formal arrangements, which means that around 15m adults or approx 30% of the UK adult population capable of giving to charity living in around 160 local authorities UK-wide are covered by PFRA arrangements. And more are coming on board every day. In addition to our ‘head office’ in London we have a separate office in Edinburgh, Scotland, and during 2009 we will be actively building capacity in Northern Ireland. Further afield, the PFRA model has already been copied in both Australia and NZ.
