The charitable fundraising sector has faced challenges as the continued cost of living crisis has increased demand on services, while many organisations have seen further increased costs and reduced fundraising income. Additionally, charities have been adapting to new and emerging fundraising methods, and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), which has presented both new opportunities and challenges for the sector.

As always, we want to thank charities and their partners for showing their support for independent regulation and commitment to fundraising best practice during these times of change and uncertainty through registering with us.

This year saw us continue with our work to review the Code of Fundraising Practice (the code) ahead of the launch of the new version in 2025. In Autumn 2023, we ran our first 12-week consultation seeking the sector’s views on our proposals to update the code. This included carrying out engagement events with key partners in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland to ensure the consultation had a wide reach. Since then, we have redrafted the code to make it more principles based whilst retaining clear rules - taking account of the feedback we received during the consultation process - and prepared a final eight-week consultation on the new framework. Next year we will launch the new code and guidance alongside a programme of training and support for the sector.

Following the trend of recent years, our complaints caseload has continued to rise, and we have seen a further increase in the use of our self-reporting pathway by charities. It is encouraging to see that 31 organisations submitted self-reports to us this year (an increase from the 20 we had last year) as it enables us to have constructive conversations with these organisations to help resolve issues and improve fundraising best practice.