8.Fundraising communications and advertising
This section covers standards related to promoting your fundraising. It also includes standards for fundraising over the phone, by post and through direct messages.
Many fundraising communications take the form of advertising and so are covered by The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) and The UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code), which are managed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA offers a range of advice and resources which can help charitable institutions make sure their advertising keeps to their codes.
The ASA’s codes do not cover all types of fundraising communication, such as live communication made over the phone or in person, but these are covered by wider consumer‑protection laws (such as the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015). All types of fundraising communication are expected to meet the standards set out in this section.
8.1 General standards
In this section, ‘you’ means a charitable institution or third-party fundraiser.
You must make sure the content of your fundraising communications, and the methods you use to deliver them, are responsible and suitable for the people they are aimed at.
You must not use claims or images in your fundraising communications that people may find shocking merely to attract attention. If you do use shocking content, you should include warnings about this.
You must make sure information you include in your fundraising communications about your charitable institution and fundraising activities is accurate.
Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIoF): Accuracy and clarity in fundraising
Government Digital Service: Understanding accessibility requirements for public sector bodies
Case studies
You must be able to show that all case studies are representative of real situations.
If any details in a case study have been changed, you must make this clear.
You must get clear and informed permission from any people who could be identified from a case study before you use it.
If the person has died, you must take all reasonable steps to get permission from their estate.
Enclosures
You must take appropriate care when including enclosures in fundraising materials. This includes making sure enclosures:
- strengthen your message and do not encourage someone to make a donation based on guilt or embarrassment;
- are safe for the person receiving them; and
- do not cause undue inconvenience to the person receiving them.
You are legally required to make sure your fundraising communications keep to trademark and copyright law, including The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Trade Marks Act 1994, and get appropriate permission to use images, logos and so on from the person or organisation who holds the rights to them.
Your public advertisements are legally required to keep to the following.
In England:
In Scotland:
- Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997
- The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (Scotland) Regulations 1984
In Northern Ireland:
8.2 Information that must be included in fundraising communications and online content
In this section, ‘you’ means a charitable institution or third-party fundraiser.
As well as your main website, you may have other related websites or microsites created for specific campaigns or events. This section covers all websites which host fundraising activity and online media you control, such as social media accounts.
You must make sure your contact details and information about how you process personal data is easy to access on your website and anywhere else you collect personal data.
If you are fundraising in partnership with one or more charitable institutions, you must state how the money will be split between the organisations.
For charities
Section 39 of the Charities Act 2011 sets out the information which registered charities in England and Wales with an income over £10,000 per year are legally required to include in their fundraising documents.
In Scotland, the information that is required in documents relating to registered charities (including Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations) is set out in the following.
- The Charities References in Documents (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (as amended)
- Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations Regulations 2011 as amended by The Charities (References in Documents) (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2024
- Section 52 of The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005
For registered companies (including charitable companies and community interest companies)
The Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015 set out the legal requirements for registered companies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Companies House also provides guidance on information which must appear on signs, stationery and promotional material.
Section 112(6) of The Companies Act 1989 and The Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015 set out the legal requirements for documents relating to registered companies in Scotland.
For charitable incorporated organisations
Charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) are also required to state their names in every document and location in which a charitable company would be required to state its name under The Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015. This obligation is set out in section 211 of the Charities Act 2011.
Scottish charitable incorporated organisations (SCIOs) are covered by the rules set out above in the ‘For charities’ section.
Fundraising Regulator: Requirements for fundraising documents
8.3 Fundraising calls
In this section, ‘you’ means a charitable institution or third-party fundraiser.
This section includes all fundraising calls and voicemails that are made to ask for financial donations and other types of donations, such as volunteering time. It does not include administrative calls (although you can use this section as guidance for those calls).
You must not make fundraising calls:
- to anyone you have reason to believe is aged under 16;
- after 9pm, unless the person has asked you to call after that time; or
- by dialling random numbers generated manually or automatically.
You must check the person is happy for you to contact them at that time at the start of a fundraising call.
You must be clear that you are going to ask for financial support during a fundraising call (this includes when leaving a voicemail).
You must make sure your fundraising calls are conducted responsibly. This includes:
- not asking for a financial contribution more than three times in a single call.
The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR) set out a number of legal requirements relating to phone calls, which will apply to fundraising calls. During fundraising calls, you are legally required to:
- give your name and the name of the charitable institution you are fundraising for;
- make calls from a number which can be identified by the person receiving it and which they can use to return your call;
- provide a valid business address or Freephone number if someone asks how they can contact you; and
- provide an appropriate solicitation statement if you are a professional fundraiser asking for donations.
During fundraising calls, you are legally forbidden from:
- making automated phone calls (calls made by an automated dialling system that plays a recorded message) unless you have the person’s permission to do this;
- making silent or abandoned calls;
- calling someone again if they have told you in a call that they are not happy for you to contact them; or
- claiming that marketing calls are administrative calls.
These are just examples and do not represent all the requirements of PECR. Ofcom has provided specific guidance on persistent misuse of electronic communications, which includes information about silent calls and other types of nuisance call.
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): Direct marketing using live calls and Telephone marketing
8.4 Opting out of communications and consent
In this section, ‘you’ means a charitable institution or third-party fundraiser.
You must have appropriate systems and procedures in place to make sure that:
- you do not send fundraising communications to people who have indicated they do not want to receive them;
- you stop sending fundraising communications to people you know have died;
- you meet your obligations under data‑protection legislation; and
- your databases are accurate, and where necessary, kept up to date.
If you do not have specific permission to contact a person, you must check against lists of people who have previously indicated that they don’t want to receive fundraising communications, such as the following.
If you have a person’s consent to send them electronic direct marketing, you must:
- offer an easy way for them to withdraw their consent (for example, by providing an ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails); and
- remind them of their contact preferences and offer an easy way for them to change these (for example, by providing an ‘update marketing preferences’ link).
You must use a simple opt-out message for people to tell you if they don’t want to receive messages from you. This includes offering an option for people to reply to mobile messages to opt out of receiving them.
Fundraising Regulator: Legal requirements for storing, maintaining and sharing data
Fundraising Regulator: The rights people have over their data
You must be able to justify how often you contact people about fundraising, balancing the need to communicate with not bombarding people.
You must make sure consent statements included in your fundraising materials are clear, easy to read and suitably prominent.
Under The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR), fundraising communications sent by email or mobile phone are legally required to:
- only be sent to people who have given their consent beforehand;
- include clear procedures for how people can subscribe and unsubscribe;
- offer a way to opt out of marketing messages at no extra cost; and
- include clear information on costs associated with any premium-rate messages.
Under Article 7 of UK GDPR, you are legally required to update the person’s record as necessary to reflect any changes to their consent or contact preferences. For more information about consent, see the ICO’s guidance on obtaining, recording and managing consent.
Fundraising Regulator: Telephone Preference Service (TPS) compliance checking: quick guide for fundraisers