Do the standards around door-to-door fundraising need an overhaul?

Disclaimer: The experience and views outlined in this post are my own.

My 75-year-old mother has Alzheimer’s. I recently discovered - by chance - when going through her bank statements that monthly payments were being made to three charities, amounting to £250.

Knowing this was financially unsustainable for her, I contacted the organisations to cancel the payments. When asked how she’d been solicited, I was told she’d been approached by door-to-door fundraisers.

I asked my mother about the direct debits, but she had no recollection of signing up for them. When I told her how much money was leaving her account each month, she got anxious and upset.

The experience raised several red flags for me, as:

• My mother is a pensioner.

• She has dementia.

• She’s empathetic and generous by nature.

In short, she’s vulnerable.

I should say at this point, I have nothing against face-to-face fundraising per say. I appreciate it’s a valuable source of income for charities. This is evident from Chartered Institute of Fundraising figures, which showed a sharp rise in door-to-door sign ups, with 28,400 people committing in April 2022 compared with 14,500 in the same month in 2019.

My concern is that the regulations around soliciting donations from vulnerable people are not stringent enough.

What are the rules?

Section 1.3 of the Code of Fundraising Practice outlines the following standards on fundraising and vulnerability:

• You must take into account the needs of any possible donor who may be in vulnerable circumstances or need extra care and support to make an informed decision.

• You must not exploit the trust, lack of knowledge, apparent need for care and support, or vulnerable circumstances of any donor at any time.

• You must not take a donation if you know, or have good reason to believe, that a person lacks the capacity to make a decision to donate, or is in vulnerable circumstances which means they may not be able to make an informed decision. Among other things, you should consider:
  

• any physical or mental health conditions the person may have.

• any disabilities the person may have.

• any learning difficulties the person may have.

• whether the person is facing times of stress or anxiety (for example, following the death of a loved one or redundancy).

• whether a donation is likely to affect the person’s ability to sufficiently care for themselves or leave them in financial hardship.

• how well the person can communicate and understand what they are being told.

• whether the person is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

• the person’s age.

Is it ethical?

My concern about these rules is that indicators of vulnerability aren’t always obvious.

Take Dementia, for example. (For the unfamiliar, Dementia is an umbrella term for a range of medical conditions that affect memory, thinking, behaviour, and the ability to perform everyday activities). Many of these conditions are progressive, but the signs and symptoms can change from day to day, or (in the case of my mother, from hour to hour). 

My question would be this. Can a fundraiser make a fair and informed assessment of someone’s capacity to make an ongoing financial commitment based on a 10-minute chat on the doorstep?

Voice of the Regulator

Last year, the Fundraising Regulator urged charities to be “increasingly careful about the risks of requesting donations from people with dementia” and to “factor in” the way the UK’s population is set to age, especially when dealing with potential donors who are older and in poor health.

The warning followed the release of the regulator’s 2021/22 annual complaint’s report, in which it said it had seen a 19% increase in complaints on the previous year.

The majority of the complaints related to ‘misleading information in campaigns’, ‘negative behaviour from fundraisers’, and ‘fundraisers posting charity bags through doors despite signs asking them not to’.

The regulator pointed out that concerns about fundraising from vulnerable people “threaded through” many of the complaints it received and said it would “continue to work closely with charities to support them in the areas of concern identified in the report and to ensure they are properly equipped with the tools to fundraise appropriately.”

Opinion

The 2016 Charities Act introduced regulatory measures to protect vulnerable donors, but I’d  argue that additional steps need to be taken. For example, face-to-face fundraisers should receive comprehensive training on common physical and mental health issues donors may face, and the signs to look out for (the Chartered Institute of Fundraising has published guidance on this here). It would also be beneficial for fundraisers to ask homeowners to disclose physical or mental health conditions at the point of sign-up.

What do you think?

We’d love to get your opinion on the subject. Post your thoughts on our Facebook or Insta pages and we’ll include them in a follow-up post.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for a fundraiser to update your vulnerable person’s policy, we’ve got a bank of talented candidates waiting in the wings. Call us on 020 3750 3111.

The Small Charities Advisory Panel

There’s some good news for small charities.

In Spring 2022, the Small Charities Coalition (SCC) was forced to close due to shortfall in funding. The organisation championed small charities by providing low-cost training and events, information, and mentoring to ensure they had access to the skills and resources they need to thrive.

In a further blow, the Foundation for Social Improvement (a membership body that provides free advice and heavily subsidised training in strategy, governance, fundraising and impact to small charities) announced that they will also be winding up this Spring, due to a lack of funding.

The good news

To address the gap in provision, the Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI) teamed up with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) to create the Small Charities Advisory Panel as part of a deal to take over its services, and those of the defunct SCC.

Launched last month, the panel will champion the voices and experiences of small charities and ensure that they can continue to access tailored help, support, and advocacy.

About the panel

There are 14 members on the panel, including representatives from six small charities, two funders and six infrastructure organisations.

It’s being jointly chaired by Ray Coyle, director of volunteering charity Oxford Hub, and Vicki Beevers, chief executive of The Sleep Charity.

Other members include Becky Gilbert, co-founder of Baby Bank Network, Matt Plen, former chief executive of Masorti Judaism, and Amina Ali, a consultant at the charity think tank NPC. 

The chair of the FSI, Noorzaman Rashid, will also sit on the committee.

The role of the panel

The panel will help the NCVO and their partners anticipate and meet the needs of smaller voluntary sector organisations. They will also work with organisations across the sector to ensure that wider support offer is comprehensive, responsive, and coherent.

Among other responsibilities, the panel will:

• ·Share and explore insights and emerging trends, identifying gaps in support for small charities and finding ways to fill them.

• Share expertise to improve the practical support offering from the NCVO.

• Actively engage and represent the panel in appropriate forums and discussions, including being the ‘voice’ of small charities with a seat at the table in policy making forums.

Bring lived experience of small charities and best practice of small charity infrastructure support to guide the strategic direction of support for small charities.

Holding the NCVO accountable to ensure the voice of small charities is heard at all levels.

You can find out more about the panel and its members on the NCVO’s website.

Final Word

Infrastructure is a vital part of the voluntary sector ecosystem, providing support, connection and voice to government, so charities can focus on delivering their mission. And yet, over 1,000 infrastructure charities have closed in the last decade.

The launch of the Small Charities Advisory Panel and the commitment by the NCVO to secure and build on the legacy of the SCC and FIS will ensure that small charities are given a voice and are equipped to continue to provide their vital services to communities throughout the UK.

Looking for a savvy fundraiser? Whether your charity is large or small, we can help. Give us a call on 020 3750 3111 or email info@bamboofundraising.co.uk to find out how.

Organisational Culture: What Is it and why is it important?

“Organisational culture” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean? Intangible and difficult to define, organisational culture means different things to different people. We define is as ‘the set of values, ethics, and beliefs that define the day-to-day operations and the atmosphere at an organisation.’

In a nutshell, it’s your charity’s personality.

Why is it important?

Often seen as a ‘nice-to-have’ frippery, organisational culture is a vital component in keeping employees happy, motivated, and engaged. In fact, as research by HR platform Achievers found, it’s one of the top indicators of employee satisfaction and one of the main reasons that almost two-thirds (65%) of employees stay at an organisation.

It’s also a top priority for job seekers. A whopping 77% consider an organisation’s culture before applying for a role, and almost half of employees would leave their current job for a lower-paying opportunity at an organisation with a better culture.

Not convinced? Here’s one more stat for you. Organisations with happy employees outperform their competition by as much as 20%.  Yes, it can have a direct effect your bottom line … if this doesn’t convince you, we don’t know what will.

How to build an effective organisational culture

Organisations that nail their culture have exceptional rates of staff retention and productivity. It’s the secret sauce that takes their teams from good to exceptional. But what makes a winning organisational culture?

Here are three (of many) components that contribute to an awesome culture. We’ve also thrown in some examples of ways charities are putting them into practice.

Define and live your core values

Building shared values, and living those values, is the bedrock of a great organisational culture. They steer the way your people behave, treat one another, and go about their day-to-day work.

Take Mencap’s, for example.

• We are passionate about making the world a better place

• We are inclusive of everyone

• We are brave we challenge and try new things

• We are positive in our work and with each other

• We are kind to everyone

These core values paint a clear picture of who Mencap are, what they look for from their staff and how they approach their work.

Tip: Rather than create top-down values, give your team the opportunity to co-create them. After all, your values should be living, dynamic ideals that the whole team believe in. 

Foster strong relationships between employees

Work relationships are key to employee well-being. They can positively or negatively affect employees’ stress levels, productivity and happiness. So, if you want a happy, healthy, and united workforce, it pays to support and encourage social connections among staff.

Thirtyone:eight prioritises this with a number of initiatives, including:

• A dedicated games room for staff to use at break times, with a television, table-tennis table and table football. They run two table-tennis leagues, one for beginners and one for those who “want to get serious.

• Regular all-staff lunches, funded by the charity.

• Barbecues in the car park, cooked by the chief executive.

Prioritise employee wellbeing & work-life balance

A survey by Monster found that two in five (60%) of respondents ranked ‘well-being’ as their top or second preference when choosing an employer, with a third (34%) ranking it as their top priority.

It matters to jobseekers so it should matter to you. Ingraining it in your organisational culture is a way to show potential employees it’s a priority.

In its broadest sense, wellbeing is impacted by a number of elements, such as mental and physical health, a positive work environment, financial well-being, and healthy lifestyle choices.

Royal Holloway Students' Union ticks all these boxes with their wellbeing initiatives which include:

• Half-days on Fridays during July and August

• Birthdays off work and first-day-of-school leave for parents

• Wellbeing walks during working hours

• Staff netball, rounders and other sports focus on socialising and health

• Financial bonuses for exceptional performance

Recognise employee’s achievements

Another key component of a strong organisational culture? Making your employees feel appreciated. It may sound obvious, but a global study by the O.C. Tanner Learning Group found that 79% of people who quit their jobs cite “lack of appreciation” as their reason for leaving.

The lesson? Make gratitude part of your organisational culture.

There are loads of ways to do this. Over and above grand gestures like pay rises, bonuses, and promotions, thank you notes, gifts for staff members who go above and beyond, and acknowledging individual achievements in team meetings can go a long way to making staff feel valued.

Thirtyone:eight excels in this area too:

• As part of their appraisal process, staff who have achieved over and above expectation in a given year are given a cash bonus

• Staff receive gift vouchers and cards on their birthdays, signed by the chair of trustees, along with a note of thanks for their dedication

Final Word

Organisational fit is an important aspect of the recruitment process. If you want some help/advice on hiring the right people for your team, give us a call on 020 3750 3111

Data protection changes set to benefit fundraisers

Last month, the government presented the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI2) to Parliament.

The Bill aims to clear up some of the confusion surrounding General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and make data handling for businesses and charities in the UK more straightforward.

The government claims the Bill will save businesses and charities over £4 billion over the course of the next ten years.

Note: If you want to read the 214-page Bill in its entirety, be our guest. Otherwise, read on for the Cliff notes.

How will the bill affect fundraisers?

There are four key points to note.

1.   Soft opt-in

The laws governing electronic marketing (email, SMS, and telemarketing) are covered in the UK’s Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). Under PECR, businesses can send electronic marketing messages to existing customers without consent. This is known as ‘soft opt-in’.

Currently, the soft opt-in rule can only be used by organisations that are ‘selling something or negotiating to sell something’. And customer information can only be collected during the sales process. This means charities can’t use soft opt-in for campaigning. And, unfortunately, a donation to a charity doesn’t count as a sales transaction – it’s regarded as a transfer of money, rather than a purchase.

Under the proposed Bill, the soft option will be extended to charities, enabling them to communicate with existing donors on the same basis as commercial organisations. 

However, certain criteria need to be met:

• It will only apply to existing donors, not prospective or new ones.

• Marketing communications with existing donors must relate to similar services.

• Existing donors must be offered a simple means of opting out of receiving further communication from you.  

2.   Legitimate interest

The lack of clarity around ‘legitimate interest’ (situations where organisations can process personal data without needing explicit consent) has meant organisations have missed out on opportunities to attract new customers.

Under the new Bill, attracting and retaining donors through direct marketing is identified as a legitimate interest, and extended to charities, meaning you’ll be able to use it as a lawful basis to recruit new supporters. However, donors must have the right to object to marketing if they wish.

Cookie consent

Cookie consent will no longer be required when data is gathered to support website analytics. This means you’ll be better able to track how website visitors interact with your site and make changes to improve its performance.

Final Word

This is good news for fundraisers. It’ll bring electronic communication with supporters in line with print communications, and enable charities to approach supporters on the same basis as for-profit organisations.

If the Bill progresses as planned, the changes are unlikely to come into play until 2024, giving you plenty of time to assess your data protection practices and prepare for any changes.

This is where we come in. If you’re in need of a data-savvy fundraiser to check you’re compliant, we can help. Give us a call on 0203 750 3111 to get the ball rolling.

Four online tools to help you get ahead in your job search

Job hunting is hard work, isn’t it? Between writing cover letters, and customising your CV, to researching organisations and preparing for interviews, it’s time consuming, stressful, and requires a lot of effort.

The good news is, there are a wealth of free, online tools you can utilise to save time and optimise your chances of success.

Let’s get into it.

1.      Grammarly

During the initial screening process, recruiters spend an average of just 6-8 seconds scanning CV’s.  

This means you have precious seconds to make a solid first impression.

If your CV is poorly written, unfocused, or littered with spelling and grammar mistakes, it could cost you the job before you’ve made it past the first hurdle.

But don’t fret. If your English skills aren’t up to scratch, help is at hand.

Enter Grammarly.

Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant that flags potential issues with grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity, tone, and writing style.

As you write, it underlines issues, suggests alternatives, and explains how the corrections will improve your writing.

The basic version is free to use. You can either download the app (doing this will ensure Grammarly checks everything you write automatically), or cut and paste your text into the programme online.

2.      Word cloud generator

With the rise of applicant tracking systems, it's more important than ever to include the right keywords in your CV.

For the unfamiliar, keywords are ideas/topics that define what a piece of copy is about. They're the words and phrases people type into search engines to discover content.

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) qualify candidates by scanning CVs online for keywords provided by the hirer. If you use the right words to describe your skills and experience in your CV, the ATS will spot it and forward your details on to the hiring manager.

How do you know which keywords to incorporate?

This is where a word cloud generator can come in handy.

To figure out your keywords, take three job listings for positions you want to apply for and paste them into the generator. The resulting image will show you which words occur most frequently in those listings.

These are the terms you should highlight in your CV to get past the hiring bots.

Tip: The bigger the word, the more important it is.

3.      Yoodli Speech Coach

Do you fall apart in interviews? Do presentations make your knees quake? Get some coaching from Yoodli!

This clever AI-enabled communication coach can help you hone your speaking skills without the pressure of an interview panel.

How does it work?

You can either upload a pre-recorded clip of your presentation/interview answers to the app or record them in real-time. You then click a button, and the software analyses your delivery.

It will point out filler words (such as “um” or “ah”), repetitive phrases, hedging words (like, “you know”), non-inclusive words (such as saying “guys” instead of “folks”) and whether you’re talking too fast or too hesitantly.

At the end, the app will give you a confidence score, along with tips for improvement.

There are also a series of fun games to help you improve your impromptu speaking and manage your public speaking anxiety. For example, one of the games will challenge you to see how long you can talk without, um, saying a filler word. While another will feed you seemingly random words to work into a real-time conversation.

Tip: This video gives you the lowdown on how to use it.

4. LinkedIn interview prep tool

You probably use LinkedIn to search and apply for jobs. The likelihood is you use it to research organisations you’re interviewing with. But did you it can help you ace your interview?

LinkedIn’s interview preparation tool gives you access to a long list of commonly asked interview questions, such as ‘what is your greatest strength’ along with sample answers from professionals, and video tips from hiring managers on how to best answer them.

While the questions aren’t specific to the fundraising sector, the tool will give you a good idea of the sort of information to include in your own answers.

You can also practice your responses to interview questions by recording them on video. Your answers will only be visible to you and can be reviewed at any time.

Tip: You can view some of the content as a basic member, but to make the most of the feature, you need to be a premium member. Check out how you can try Premium for free.

Final Word

Ready to find your next fundraising role? Why not take advantage of these tools to get ahead?

If you’d prefer some good old fashioned face-to-face interview coaching, we can help. Give us a call on 020 3750 3111 or email info@bamboofundraising.co.uk to get started.