It has been acknowledged for some time that there is a tiny minority of fundraisers who sign ‘phantom’ donors – friends and family who they know will cancel before the first payment, or use other fraudulent measures to fill in direct debit mandates – simply to ensure they receive their weekly wage.
If they are caught, or even before they are caught, they will leave the agency or charity they are working for and start with another.
Following a request from a provider member at our 2009 AGM, to take a fresh look at this problem, PFRA set up a working party to consider possible options. The working party expanded the remit of the initiative, from a narrow emphasis phantom donors, to encompass wider professional standards and code compliance.
We consulted with members and other stakeholders during the autumn of 2009. In February 2010, initial proposals – a ‘blacklist’ and a combination of an approved register and a standardized reference procedure – were passed to a consultant to assess against HR and data protection compliance.
This project has been on hold while PFRA revamps its member services functions and we expect to begin serious consideration of this again towards the end of 2011.