Fundraising complaints increased by almost half in 2013

The FRSB Complaints Report 2014, published on 9 June, reveals that the FRSB’s member charities reported 48,432 complaints to the Fundraising Standards Board in 2013 – a 44 per cent increase from 2012. The majority of the complaints related to direct mail, telephone and doorstep fundraising, and came from a total of 20bn fundraising requests made, which is a significant increase on the 13.2bn fundraising requests made in 2012.

Direct mail was the most complained about fundraising method, with complaints about both addressed and unaddressed mail rising 38 per cent in 2013. However, this increase must be looked at in the context of the number of mailings increasing by 57 per cent over the same period. The vast majority of complaints related to addressed mailings and it seems that three charities alone were responsible for forty per cent of all addressed mail complaints and just one charity reported more than half of the complaints about unaddressed mailings.

Telephone fundraising was the second most complained about fundraising method and generated the most complaints per fundraising request at one complaint per 923 calls. Complaints relating to doorstep fundraising continued to rise in 2013 and were up 27 per cent on the previous year.

Complaints about street fundraising fell by 10 per cent in 2013, although the volume of fundraising requests made on the street also fell by 13 per cent in 2013. It appears that only two charities were responsible for 42 per cent of all street fundraising complaints.

For further information, please download a copy of the FRSB Complaints Report 2014 here: http://www.frsb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/FRSB_Complaints-Report…

For further information on fundraising matters for charities please contact our charity law solicitors on 01895 207809 or email charities@ibblaw.co.uk..