10/08/09
- Tiny minority of ‘rogue’ fundraisers inventing donors just to keep getting paid
- ‘Approved register’ for street and door fundraisers under consideration
The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association – the self-regulatory body for face-to-face (F2F) and door-to-door (D2D) fundraising – has established a working party to look at establishing an approved register of fundraisers.
The working party was agreed at a meeting of the PFRA’s executive board in July, and follows a request from Together Fundraising at the organisation’s AGM in June to look into the issue of ‘rogue’ fundraisers.
Rogue fundraisers are 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.
Top of the list of options will be an ‘approved register’, along the lines of the one operated by the Energy Retail Association – only those accredited under the ERA’s EnergySure scheme are allowed to sell energy supplies door-to-door.
But the working party will also look at other ways to tackle this problem, including a standardised inter-agency referencing process and tighter contracts for fundraisers.
PFRA ceo Mick Aldridge says: “Just a tiny minority of the thousands of people who fundraise on the street and door could ever be classified as ‘rogues’. But they are clearly of concern to our members so we have decided to act and stop this problem.
“Rogue fundraisers are scamming charities and their employer fundraising agencies rather than members of the public. They are not generally conning people out of their bank details, but filling in forms with the names of non-existent donors or people they know will cancel.
“As it’s charities and agencies that bear the cost of this malpractice, it’s imperative that we find a cost-effective and easy-to-implement procedure to stop it.”
The working party will be chaired by Graham Bunce, who, as a general manager of professional fundraising organisation Support Direct, is part of the Cobra Group, which supplies door-to-door sales people for energy companies under the EnergySure scheme.
Other members of the working party are:
- Milly Ahmed, co-managing director, Gift Fundraising
- Richard Verden, head of individual giving, British Red Cross
- Anna Walsh, head of social fundraising, Bluefrog
- James Davis, managing director, Dialogue Direct
The working party will set its terms of reference at a first meeting during August with a view to reporting in October.
“This working party present us with a fantastic opportunity to drive up the already high standards of F2F and D2D fundraising,” says Bunce.
“I would like to see this operate along similar lines to a parliamentary enquiry, considering submitted evidence from PFRA members and other interested parties and stakeholders, as well as actively seeking ideas from outside the fundraising sector.
“We will look at all the options, not just an approved register, and make a recommendation to the PFRA board about how we should protect agencies and charities – and of course, the giving public – from rogue fundraisers.
“There are issues with tackling human resources problems such as this, but they are not insurmountable. If sectors such as energy retailing can overcome them, I am sure that fundraising can do it as well.”