Scotland & Northern Ireland have different charity law and therefore require a different treatment of their issues and concerns. For that reason the PFRA has a separate Scottish office based in Edinburgh with a dedicated ‘Scotland and Northern Ireland Development Officer’.
Scotland
Charity law in Scotland – at least with regard to F2F and D2D – consists chiefly of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and thePublic Charitable Collections (Scotland) Regulations 1984 (both current and outgoing) and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (awaiting implementation). All these statutes allow for significantly different licensing regimes and “disclosure” procedures than in England & Wales (the IoF has produced an extremely useful guide to the main differences between Scottish and English charity law in so far as it impacts public fundraising). There is also a separate statutory regulator – the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).
For both these reasons the PFRA deemed it sensible to have a dedicated establishment in Scotland. The PFRA Scotland office opened in Edinburgh in Spring 2007. The Scottish Development Officer – Lucy Lowe – works in close co-operation with charity members and professional fundraising organisations at managing face-to-face fundraising activities across the country, which has a significantly more flexible attitude to F2F and D2D than in England & Wales.
She also works closely on issues of public fundraising with Scottish Local Authorities as well as the Scottish Executive, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the Institute of Fundraising and the Fundraising Standards Board (Scotland) (with the last two of which we share an office in central Edinburgh). PFRA Scotland has also established working relations with Trading Standards officers, and with Scottish Town/City Centre Managers through ATCM Scotland. The PFRA has a separate Scotland Committee (convened by Morag Fleming of Quarriers, which has a guaranteed seat on our main Board, and which has access to specific Scottish legal and public relations advice.
PFRA Scotland and its members strive to ensure consistently high standards of public fundraising that deliver value to charities and a positive experience to donors and the general public. We seek to sustain the long-term culture of giving and enduring public goodwill that Scotland is justly renowned for.
Northern Ireland
Until very recently Northern Ireland had no dedicated charity law as such. This situation has changed with the passage by the NI Assembly of the Charities Act (NI) 2008 which is being implemented in stages. This will allow for the establishment of a Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, and public fundraising licensing regime which in many respects will closely resemble that of England & Wales.
The PFRA’s presence in Northern Ireland is currently quite modest, although we do run diary schemes for Belfast and a number of other towns and cities. However the Scottish development Officer is also tasked with developing our presence in the area, and work has already begun with positive initial meetings with the Department of Social Development (DSDNI – the NI government department steering charity law), Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA – the main charity co-ordinating and representational body, and a fellow Board member of the FRSB) and the IoF in Northern Ireland. During 2009 a series of meetings are planned in collaboration with NICVA to promote F2F / D2D and the PFRA’s self-regulation, and we hope to be able to play a helpful role in assisting the Charity Commission of NI to grow into its new role. |
