Fundraising for Scottish charities
Fundraising is a vital activity that allows charities to raise awareness, achieve their aims and make a positive impact on communities in Scotland. Get it right, and your charity secures funding and public goodwill. Get it wrong, and you risk undermining the public’s confidence in your charity and the wider sector.
It’s up to the charity trustees to make sure that the charity – and anyone fundraising for the charity – observe the legal requirements and the kind of fundraising practices that will encourage the public’s continued support.
Who regulates charity fundraising in Scotland?
Charity fundraising in the UK is governed on a self-regulatory basis. This means that the charity sector itself sets the standards for charity fundraising, with some laws underpinning the self-regulation.
Charity law does, however, give OSCR powers regarding fundraising activity in specific areas.
Under self-regulation individual charities are the first point of call for any complaints about fundraising practices. Where a charity is unable to resolve the complaint, the complainant can escalate it to one of the following:
This means that charity trustees must:
- comply with all relevant legal requirements
- make sure that all funds which are raised are properly accounted for
- only spend donations on the purposes for which they were raised
What rules does my charity have to follow?
Your charity must follow the legal requirements relating to fundraising and the fundraising standards set out in the Code of Fundraising Practice.
Charity trustees are required by law to act in the interests of the charity. This means that charity trustees must make sure any fundraising complies with all relevant laws and does not put the charity or its reputation at unnecessary risk.
What does Scottish charity law say about fundraising?
The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 sets out certain specific requirements in relation to fundraising. These include:
- the requirement for your charity to have a formal agreement in place with the professional fundraiser that is acting on your behalf
- the requirement to provide information to your donors, setting out the payment arrangements you have with the fundraiser
- regulations controlling the collection of money from the public
- how your charity can get an interdict to prevent fundraising on its behalf
The Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009 also set out further regulations for Scottish charities, including:
- the information that your charity must provide to a donor
- what must be contained in the fundraising agreement between your charity and those fundraising on your behalf.
Our guidance explains more about the legal requirements around Scottish charity fundraising, and what this means for trustees.
Exempt promoters
Some larger charities that organise regional or national collections in Scotland can apply to us to be registered as ‘exempt promoters’. This status means that they don’t need to co-ordinate their activities with many local authorities when organising a collection, reducing the administrative burden on the charity.
We consider applications and publish a list of exempt promoters for reference.
An exempt promoter does not have to have permission from the local Council to hold a collection, but they must give the Council at least three months’ notice. You should note that the ‘exempt promoter’ is not the charity itself, but a named individual.
What happens if someone makes a complaint to my charity about fundraising?
- If someone complains to your charity about fundraising, you should take the complaint seriously and try to resolve the problem. If your charity has an appropriate complaints procedure, you should use this to deal with the complaint. Ideally, you should have a two stage process:
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- Stage 1: The charity tries to resolve the complaint.
- Stage 2: If the complainant is unhappy with the first stage they can complain to the charity trustees.
- If the complainant is still unhappy, after they have been through your complaints procedure they can ask the Scottish Fundraising Standards Panel (the Panel) to look at it. The Panel will decide if your charity has breached the fundraising standards and advise you of any steps you need to take.
- The Panel will also look at whether there might be a regulatory concern that should be referred to OSCR for consideration.
OSCR will only usually become involved in a fundraising complaint where there are concerns about:
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- a breach of charity trustee duties, including potential mismanagement or misconduct by the charity’s trustees
- a risk to public trust and confidence in the charity or the wider sector
- a risk to charitable assets.