The Fundraising Regulator is the independent regulator of charitable fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We set the standards that apply to charitable fundraising across all the UK through the Code of Fundraising Practice. 

We also regulate fundraising in Scotland when it is carried out by charitable institutions where the lead regulator is the Charity Commission for England and Wales or Northern Ireland. Fundraising by those only registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator in Scotland is subject to adjudication by the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel.

Find out more about us and the scope of our regulation.

Our strategic plan 2022–2027

We are committed to delivering independent self-regulation that ensures public protection, accountability, and excellence in fundraising now and into the future.

1. To deliver intelligent fundraising regulation that protects the public.
2. To inform the public about principled fundraising.
3. To support fundraising organisations to thrive.
4. To be a highly effective organisation.

We will be do this by being:

• Innovative: we will keep abreast of digital and wider social developments and how these may shape fundraising into the future.
• Proactive: we will improve our capacity to identify fundraising concerns before they crystallise and to prevent harm by early intervention.
• Intelligent: we will use our data more intelligently to support the development of the Code of Fundraising Practice and our compliance work.
• Collaborative: we will remain a thought leader in fundraising and make sure that fundraisers and the public have a greater voice in developing our policies. 

For more information, see the corporate publications page of our website. 

In this year’s report, we reflect on the outcomes and objectives set out in our business plan for the financial year 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024.

A message from our Chair

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 has been the first full year that we have had our new proactive regulation team. This ensures we can effectively monitor and explore emerging or unaddressed issues about charity fundraising and confront challenges before they crystallise. The team has already been busy working on several projects. However, our first market inquiry into issues arising from the use of subcontractors in face-to-face fundraising was of utmost importance. There have been several high-profile media stories about this, and the issue has threatened to bring the sector into disrepute and harm public trust. The report published as a result of this work has been valuable in sharing learning and has also enabled us to make recommendations that will help mitigate poor fundraising behaviour in the future.

A significant amount of time this year has had to be focused on issues related to fundraising carried out by community interest companies (CICs). A large volume of complaints about CIC behaviour in this respect have been received and there have also been high-profile cases involving CICs in the media. It has been necessary for us to consider these because such fundraising by CICs may be defined as charitable fundraising (and therefore falls within our remit). We know the public finds it difficult to differentiate between fundraising carried out by charities and CICs, so when a CIC engages in poor fundraising behaviour, it can reflect negatively on charities. There is a need for effective regulation of CICs in this area to help protect the reputation of fundraising and maintain public confidence.

Lastly, I want to thank my fellow board members and our co-opted expert committee representatives for their time, service, and input. I also want to thank our executive team and the wider staff team for their devotion and hard work in supporting the charitable fundraising sector in this changing environment, and for protecting the public in light of new and emerging challenges.

Lord Toby Harris

A message from our Chief Executive

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 while 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. In early 2025 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.

We commissioned research by Opinium this year on the public’s experience and expectations of charitable fundraising. The findings were encouraging, showing a positive picture of charities when it comes to public trust and individuals believing that charities will deliver on their promises. It was also clear from the results that ways of giving where an individual had more control, such as lotteries, and prize draws, were generally viewed positively, whereas more direct approaches, such as door-to-door, and public fundraising, were seen more negatively. Encouragingly, two-fifths of respondents said that the existence of the Fundraising Regulator would make them more likely to trust regulated charitable fundraisers. This demonstrates the value of charities paying the annual levy or registering with us and displaying the Fundraising Badge to show they are committed to fundraising best practice.

This year we sought feedback on proposals to increase the Fundraising Levy (the levy) and registration fee for the first time since we were set up in 2016. An increase in the levy was needed to meet a rising caseload, achieve our strategic goal of being a more proactive regulator, and to put us on a sustainable footing for the future. We proposed to increase the levy in a way that is fair and proportionate, so that the largest charities with the highest fundraising spend would see the greatest increase in their levy payments. In response to sector feedback, our board recognised the impact the current economic climate is having on charities and agreed that although the levy will have to go up for the first time in eight years, the proposed increases would be phased in over two years (in September 2024 and September 2025) instead of in one increase as originally proposed.

We have also begun work on several projects this year to help us meet our strategic priorities, which will continue into the next business year. This included beginning to review the contractual arrangements for our Fundraising Preference Service (FPS), introducing a new digital Fundraising Badge (allowing registered organisations to link directly to their entry in our Directory), and reviewing our website to ensure both charities and members of the public can find the information they need as quickly and easily as possible.

I would like to thank all the regulators, the government departments, the Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIoF) and other sector bodies that we work closely with in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to protect the public and support fundraisers. I would also like to thank the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) for their support and collaboration on fundraising issues in Scotland.

Lastly, I look forward to continuing to work with all the charities, fundraisers, and organisations registered with us to promote excellence in fundraising now and in the future.

Gerald Oppenheim