Thursday, May 2, 2013

What If Every Form Of Fundraising Had 'Solicitation Statements'?


Did you know in Northern Ireland face-to-face fundraisers are required to make a 'solicitation statement' at the point of sign-up? They must also disclose the 'notifiable amount' - the amount the charity pays the agency that employs them. It runs along the lines of:
“I am a professional fundraiser employed by Fundraising Ltd. on behalf of CharityAid. We expect to be paid approximately £200,000 in connection with this particular appeal, and the method used to determine our payment was calculated on the fixed cost of £200 per donor. We expect to raise at least £516,000 for the charity from this particular appeal."
There's no regulation like this down south yet, but we introduced our own declaration regardless, along the lines of:
“I am a professional fundraiser employed by Fundraising Ltd. and regulated by the 2009 Charities Act and the Irish Fundraising Forum for Direct Recruitment’s Code of Practice. The charity pays Fundraising Ltd. a fixed fee to undertake this public face-to-face fundraising work and to recruit long-term regular givers. This is one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways to raise funds.”
Regardless of what I think about having to declare the fees and costs and the wording of the statement, I began to think what other media would look like if they were subject to similar rules.

Mail
A declaration on the front of the envelope




Television
A banner declaration visible from the start of the ad.




Newspaper
Small print on every ad.
Although, to be comparable the small print would have to be at the top - the first thing visible.



3 comments:

  1. And can you imagine the telemarketing script - or the major donor fundraiser meeting a prospect!

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  2. Very funny. I think it puts people off listening to it too, but these are the regulation we have to endure. I always find in the face to face situation the persons eyes get all shifty as they are saying it too! People get uncomfortable talking about figures and the fact that they are being paid to fundraise, it's like they feel a little bit of guilt for taking a wage for fundraising when they shouldn't.

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