Fundraising

Fundraising

Charity fundraising—self and statutory regulation

The Charity Commission are not involved to a great extent in the regulation of charity fundraising. In the main, this has been left to self-regulation and statutory regulation. So far as self-regulation is concerned, this takes the form of trustees ensuring that their charity adopts best practice and avoids poor practice. In the pursuit of this, they can find help from the Institute of Fundraising and the Fundraising Standards Board.

The most important area of statutory control concerns house-to-house collections which are the staple diet of many charities. This is regulated by the House to House Collections Act 1939 and two regulatory SIs from 1947 and 1963. The regulation is mostly in the hands of local authorities who issue permits for such collections. They differ from street collections which are subject to a different regime and which, in practice, involve static appeals.

Many charities employ professional fundraisers to collect money or property on their behalf or commercial participators such as advertising companies to assist in public awareness. These persons are also regulated.

See Practice Note: Charity fundraising self and statutory regulation.

Charitable

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