Member Article

The season of goodwill is upon us, with retailers and the press announcing Christmas charity partnerships to raise funds for good causes, but the cost-of-living crisis will still be with us in 2023.

Charities are increasingly feeling a greater level of pressure to be the first line of defence as gaps in public services open up and they face a “triple threat” of increasing running costs (in particular, energy bills), rising service demand, and falling incomes. Organisations funded through their own commercial activities have seen their incomes go down due to an enhanced attention to outgoings across all private and public organisations. According to data from Charities Aid Foundation one-quarter of charities say they have cut services to stay afloat and now have no room to cut further. A lot of people make generous donations - but perhaps for a specific project or a specific cause, while charities really need the support available for their core operating costs, in particular to continue to pay their staff.

To continue to raise funds from the public charities need to tell compelling stories backed with data and evidence about the positive impact they deliver thanks to the generosity of their donors.

As a social commentator, Charles Dickens saw the need for the reform of English society and urged the wealthy and privileged to exhibit a greater humanitarianism towards those in need. In the Victorian age philanthropy was the preserve of the wealthiest but now many of us donate to charities on a regular basis and will continue to do so for as long as we can afford it - provided the “ask” is sufficiently compelling and is delivered with integrity.

Fundraising is fundamental to many charities, but it also has the potential to cause nuisance and even harm and distress to people, so it is important that charities know how to comply with the law.

Direct marketing can add value to the customer experience, empowering people to achieve good, and when done responsibly direct marketing can also increase trust and confidence in a charity. This is why recently the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) published a suite of detailed guidance and practical resources to help organisations conduct their direct marketing operations in compliance with their obligations under data protection law and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (as amended) (PECR) Marketing ICO

Even a simple Direct Marketing Q&A sheet can help charities avoid falling foul of their legal obligations: Marketing ICO

And in its strategy for the coming five years the Fundraising Regulator acknowledges that the opportunity presented by growing use of data to support fundraising, as well as ever increasing amounts of data available about individuals and organisations carries with it risk, in particular around data security and consent, and that as the regulator of charity fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland it will need to inform the sector about these risks, as well as anticipate and mitigate against them.

Recently the regulator has sought views from the charity sector on how the Code of Fundraising Practice can be updated and in the coming months it will develop proposals for updating the code, before conducting a 12-week public consultation on any potential changes in the autumn of 2023.

In the meantime, in order to consolidate and build upon their constituency of support charities engaged in fundraising could do worse than take a leaf out of Dickens’ book, by communicating powerfully the difference their work makes.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come showed Ebenezer Scrooge a bleak Christmas Day in the future if he didn’t change his ways: his funeral attended by businessmen only on condition they were provided with lunch; his neglected grave; and Tiny Tim’s empty chair.

The old miser woke on Christmas morning a changed man and alive to the possibilities of doing and facilitating good.

 

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