Charity law: professional fundraisers and commercial participators

The Code of Fundraising Practice (the code) includes standards about fundraising partnerships between charitable institutions and third-party fundraisers, such as professional fundraisers and commercial participators (see Section 7 of the current (2019) code and Section 6 of the new (2025) code). Professional fundraisers and commercial participators are defined in law (see legal context, in the section below). Although the administration of law is not in our remit, we must use the definitions in the law to apply the code.  

We think the principle of the law is sound. It aims to provide clarity for charities, companies and potential donors about how much money from a donation or purchase goes to a charitable cause. Some of the definitions are however, in our view, unclear and outdated. This means it can take time, resource and legal opinion to work out what an organisation is, when we should be able to focus on its fundraising, and whether it complies with the code.  

This view was reflected in responses to our recent code consultation, particularly in relation to the many fundraising methods which have developed since the law was passed in 1992.   

The Charities Act 1992 and the Charitable Institutions (Fund-Raising) Regulations 1994 define professional fundraisers and commercial participators in England and Wales. In Scotland, equivalent definitions are provided in the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and The Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009.  

There is no equivalent legislation in Northern Ireland but section 7 of the code advises: “charitable institutions fundraising in Northern Ireland may decide to follow the legal requirements of England and Wales and Scotland as good practice.” 

Please answer the nine questions in this form in turn. Question one will ask for your details, and the other questions will have a ‘Yes/No/Don’t know’ option with a free text field below.  

The survey closes on Friday 3 October.

The survey is being sent to three groups: 

• UK charity regulators and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising.
• Non-charities registered with the Fundraising Regulator.
• Charity lawyers (through the Charity Law Association). 

We will share an anonymised summary of results to all respondents in each group. For example, if you are a non-charity and respond to the survey, you will receive an anonymised summary of views from other non-charities, but not the summary from regulators or charity lawyers. 

Once we have analysed responses, and have written and circulated the anonymised summaries, we will consider appropriate next steps. 

If the consensus appears to be that the law is clear and fit-for-purpose, we will advise the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and close this strand of proactive work. 

If the consensus advises a review of the law, our initial plan is to draft a position paper to DCMS to outline the summarised sectoral concerns raised in this survey and recommend a UK government consultation to consider a review of the law. Our position (at the time of writing) would be likely to be that a review is required, rather than a request for the law to change in any particular way.  

If we are likely to proceed with a position paper, we will follow up with organisations which responded to the survey. We would share our draft position paper with respondents, and may explore ways organisations could support the paper, if they wished to do so.  

If you have any comments about how this survey has been conducted, please contact us.