25/06/09
Face-to-face (F2F) fundraising has received a ringing endorsement from Liberal Democrat MP and former charity fundraiser Martin Horwood.
The former fundraiser for Oxfam and the Alzheimer’s Society was speaking at a reception at the Houses of Parliament as part of the fifth birthday celebration for the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association – the self regulatory body for F2F fundraising.
“The money raised through F2F fundraising has helped to lift people out of poverty and helped them to understand their rights and to challenge those keeping them in poverty. It has provided for people with dementia and with mental health issues, and for their carers,” Horwood said.
“If the thrust to regulate F2F out of existence had succeeded, the problem would not have been that just a few agencies lost their contracts and put some people out of work, it would have been that people living in poverty and people suffering problems and disadvantages all around the world would have suffered.
“That’s why the PFRA are so important, because they have been working to raise awareness of F2F with the public for the past five years just as I have tried to explain and build understanding of F2F in Parliament through my work on the Charities Act. But I want to see more fundraising directors supporting face-to-face in public and not just through the pages of the charity sector press.”
Horwood – who has been MP for Cheltenham since the 2005 general election – added that opposition to F2F as a fundraising method often came from “people who think they know how it works or how much it costs but actually don’t know a lot about it at all”.
And he had some advice for fundraisers when dealing with MPs who question whether F2F is the best way to engage with the public.
“If some MPs question whether face-to-face contact on the street is the best way for charities to engage donors, ask them how they engage with voters. Yes, they do it by direct mail and by telemarketing, but they will tell you that the best way to get through to voters is to get out on to the street and talk to them directly – we call it canvassing.”
The reception on Wednesday 24 June was attended by MPs, senior fundraisers and representatives from local authorities and licensing organisations.
Address the gathering, Mick Aldridge, ceo of the PFRA, said: “Face-to-face is the prism through which many issues affecting fundraising are refracted. In dealing with the issues that F2F fundraising throws up, the PFRA has shown responsibility, restraint and reasonableness.”