Review To Examine Charity Fundraising Practices

A national review of fundraising practices in Scotland is under way.

The review led by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) will assess whether the current system of public charity fundraising self-regulation is working.

It aims to identify bad practice and strengthen public trust.

The informal review will include a survey to gather views on fundraising from members of the public, charities and professional fundraisers.

The Scottish Government asked SCVO to act as a similar review is carried out in England and Wales. It will report back by the end of August.

John Downie, SCVO's director of public affairs, said: Charities in Scotland have earned high levels of public trust but high-profile media reports of poor fundraising practice south of the border are damaging the strong reputation which charities rely on to attract donations and volunteers.

It's vitally important that we do everything in our power to maintain high levels of trust of charities otherwise thousands of people across Scotland could miss out on life-changing help and support.

The review will consider what reasonable steps can be taken to strengthen public trust, put a stop to any bad practice and make sure that giving to charity is a positive experience for people in Scotland.

People right across the country will have a chance to feed their views and experiences into the review when we launch the survey next week.''

Members of the review group include John Brady, head of fundraising at St Andrews Hospice, and Alison Greig of Citizen's Advice Scotland.

David Robb, chief executive of OSCR, the Scottish charity regulator, said: Fundraising is a key contact between charities and the public.

Our interest is in ensuring the continued trust and support of the public for charities and their work. We welcome the opportunity to contribute to the informal review and to continue working with other organisations and the charity sector to reinforce transparency and confidence.''

Any views on public charity fundraising in Scotland can be shared with the review by emailing research@scvo.org.uk.