Minister Alan Shatter calls for much greater participation from the sector in the ICTR charitable fundraising Codes of Practice project

17 November 2011

ICTR Logo Those of you who attended ICTR’s Annual Conference Whither or Wither Charities on Thursday (10th November) will have heard Minister Alan Shatter outline his approach to making progress on Charities Regulation and also express his disappointment at the low level of sign-up by Charities to the Guiding Principles for Fundraising despite considerable investment by the state and the fact that the Principles are considered an integral part of the regulation process.

The Minister made the point that in the current economic climate it is not realistic to fully implement the Charities Act 2009 in the medium term and therefore we need to be pragmatic and revisit the principles behind the Act, what it was intended to achieve and how best to achieve this in the current circumstances. He summed up the objectives of the Act as being to enhance public confidence in Irish charities by increasing the transparency of Irish charities through a proportionate regulatory framework. He is looking at what can be done to protect the sector, prevent abuse and maintain public confidence and indicated that he is:

“....currently taking legal advice in terms of what might practicably be done within available resources, but, subject to this legal advice, and particularly given the long-stated desire across the sector for regulation, I would hope that we will be in a position to take steps to enhance the regulation of the sector.

However, I believe that this regulation must involve, in the first instance, much greater participation from the sector in the charitable fundraising Codes of Practice project.”
He expressed the hope that over the longer term he would have the resources to fully implement the Act but in the meantime we need to work together to ensure that we have a confident, transparent Irish charities sector."

“Ultimately, we all want the same outcome. We have a shared vision of a professional, highly regarded, and transparent charities industry.
.............I would see that bodies such as ICTR will have a critical role to play in achieving this outcome. ...”

The Minister then challenged the sector to play its part by signing up to the Guiding Principles for Fundraising:

“Indeed I would see involvement with the codes of practice as an ideal forerunner to the development of a better governed, more transparent charities sector.  However, individual charities will have to stand up and be counted and demonstrate that this long stated desire for regulation is genuine and will be translated into action on their part. Regulation will not work without buy-in from the Irish charities sector. And I stress that buy-in begins with signing up to the fundraising codes of practice. Indeed, I am exploring ways under which adherence to the Codes might potentially be a requirement for collection permit applicants.”

What do you need to do to meet the requirements for signing up to the Fundraising Principles?

The Board or governing body of your Charity needs to formally commit to complying with the Principles and this should be noted in the minutes of the meeting. On the sign up form you will be asked to indicate that the commitment has been formally made and the date of the meeting at which the decision was recorded. 
You should indicate in an accessible position on the website (i.e. not hidden away) that your charity is committed to compliance with the Statement of Guiding Principles for Fundraising. 
You must have a Donor’s Charter and Complaints procedure easily available to the public – again this would normally be on your website (possibly on the fundraising page) and you should really give a named individual as the contact person for feedback/complaints.
Use the Checklist http://www.ictr.ie/files/Compliance%20Checklist.pdf to ensure that you have got everything in place before signing up

Once you are satisfied that you are ready then sign up on our website at http://www.ictr.ie/content/sign-guiding-principles

NOTE: That there are sample templates for all the documents required on the website at http://www.ictr.ie/content/list-resources-support-implementation-statement-guiding-principles-fundraising

If you have any additional questions please email ICTR at - ictr@ictr.ie - and we’ll help you in any way that we can. Those that have already signed up have found the resource materials to be a great help in minimising the work you need to do so don’t put it off any longer, it’s easier than you think. Just DO IT!!