6.Fundraising partnerships

Professional fundraisers and commercial participators are particular types of third‑party fundraisers. What makes a person or an organisation a professional fundraiser or a commercial participator is set out in law. The law also sets particular obligations on what charitable institutions must do if they are working with professional fundraisers or commercial participators and obligations on what professional fundraisers and commercial participators must do and say.

In England and Wales: Professional fundraisers and commercial participators are defined by section 58 of the Charities Act 1992. The legal requirements that apply to them are set out in part II of the Charities Act 1992 and The Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994.

In Scotland: Professional fundraisers and commercial participators are defined by section 79 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. The legal requirements that apply to them are set out in part 2 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and The Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009.

In Northern Ireland: There is currently no legislation relating to professional fundraisers and commercial participators, but charitable institutions fundraising in Northern Ireland may decide to follow the legal requirements that apply in England and Wales or Scotland as good practice.

If the third-party fundraiser falls within the legal definition of a ‘professional fundraiser’ or ‘commercial participator’, they are legally required to have a written agreement in place with you. These agreements must be in place before a professional fundraiser begins fundraising on your behalf or before a commercial participator begins a promotion which states that contributions will be given to you.

Legal requirements in Scotland are sometimes different to England and Wales. You must make sure that all written agreements meet the legal requirements of the country where the fundraising will be carried out.

Under regulations 2 to 3 of The Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994 and regulation 2 of The Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009, all agreements with professional fundraisers and commercial participators are legally required to include the following.

• The names and addresses of the charitable institution and the professional fundraiser or commercial participator.
• The date the agreement was signed, how long it is for and any terms relating to amending the agreement or ending it early.
• A statement of the main aims of the agreement and the methods to be used to achieve those aims (and, for agreements with commercial participators, a description of the type of contribution the commercial participator will make to you and the circumstances in which this contribution will be made).
• For agreements with professional fundraisers, how much the professional fundraiser will receive as payment or for expenses and how this will be calculated.
• For agreements with commercial participators, how much you will receive from the commercial participator and how this will be calculated (as a fixed amount or in percentage terms).
• If more than one charitable institution is involved, details of how the donations will be shared between you.

Additional legal requirements for written agreements in England and Wales

Under section 59 of the Charities Act 1992, in England and Wales you are legally required to put review procedures in your written agreements. You are also legally required to include the following details.

• Any voluntary regulation that the professional fundraiser or commercial participator has agreed to keep to.
• How the professional fundraiser or commercial participator will protect vulnerable people and the wider public from unreasonable intrusion on a person’s privacy, unreasonably persistent approaches or undue pressure to donate.
• How you will monitor the professional fundraiser or commercial participator to make sure they are keeping to the agreement.

Under section 60 of the Charities Act 1992, The Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994 and regulation 3 of The Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009, you are legally required to make a solicitation statement when fundraising or stating that the sale of a product or service will result in a contribution to a charitable institution.

All solicitation statements are legally required to include: 

• the name of the charitable institution or institutions; and
• if there is more than one charitable institution, details of how funds will be shared between them.

Solicitation statements for professional fundraisers are also legally required to include:

• how their payment will be calculated; and
• how much they will be paid for the appeal (or, if they don’t know the actual amount, an estimate of the amount calculated as accurately as possible).

Employees of a professional fundraiser should provide a statement about the payment their employer will receive in connection with the appeal, not the payment they personally will receive from their employer (the professional fundraiser).

Solicitation statements for commercial participators are also legally required to include:

• the amount (estimated if necessary) that will be given to, or used for the benefit of, the charitable institution, based on:
  • the amount paid for the goods or services;
  • the amount of any other proceeds of the promotion; or
  • the amount raised from donations made in connection with selling or supplying goods and services.

There are also legal requirements which apply when a professional fundraiser or commercial participator asks for a donation verbally without the potential donor being present (for example, when fundraising over the phone or during a radio or television programme).

Additional legal requirements for solicitation statements in Scotland: Under The Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009, in Scotland, the standards on solicitation statements also apply to benevolent fundraisers (other than volunteers) carrying out benevolent fundraising. However, unlike professional fundraisers and commercial participators, benevolent fundraisers do not need to state they are getting paid if they give the solicitation statement in writing. Benevolent fundraisers only need to state they are getting paid if they give the solicitation statement verbally.

In Scotland, if a solicitation statement is made verbally by a professional fundraiser or commercial participator (but not a benevolent fundraiser), they are legally required to tell the potential donor that they can ask for this information in writing, regardless of the donation amount and whether the potential donor is present at the time it is made.

Solicitation statements for commercial participators working with charitable institutions registered in Scotland are also legally required to outline whether the commercial participator will receive any payment from the charitable institution as part of this fundraising.

In England and Wales: Under section 60 of the Charities Act 1992 and regulation 7 of The Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994, professional fundraisers and commercial participators are also legally required to give solicitation statements if they are fundraising for charitable, philanthropic or benevolent purposes.

In Scotland: Under the Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009, when fundraising for general charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes, professional fundraisers and commercial participators must declare this and say how the funds will be shared out.

More information 

Cabinet Office: Guidance on Part 2 of the Charities Act 1992 

Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR): Information to be provided by fundraisers