FRSB News
12 August 2010
The Three Peaks Challenge
Three Peaks Landowners prompted to refer contraventions of charity code to fundraising regulator.
The Institute of Fundraising and Fundraising Standards Board are calling on the National Parks to report any charities which contravene best practice guidance when co-ordinating Three Peaks charity challenge events. The aim of this campaign is to ensure that any poor practice is identified and terminated, ensuring the long-term sustainability of charity challenge events that raise vital funding for UK charities.
Complaints about charity challenge events in the Three Peaks should be referred to the Fundraising Standards Board who can then help forward them to the relevant charity, assist in resolution and education about specific park requirements and concerns from local communities. The FRSB works to resolve, monitor and adjudicate upon charity fundraising complaints.
The Outdoor UK Challenge Events Code provides best practice guidance for charity fundraisers, including a specific section on the Three Peaks Challenge. The Code emphasises the importance of preserving the natural environment in areas such as National Parks, whose beauty needs to be preserved. With these areas under increasing visitor pressure, land managers and local people are increasingly concerned about the impact of large scale charity challenge events in and around Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon.
A positive meeting between the FRSB and the Lake District National Park Authority established firm ground for cooperation. Bob Cartwright, Director of Park Services states: “We identified a number of areas where we might cooperate in the future and agreed the benefit of meeting and working with charities who regularly engage in the Three Peaks Challenge. I feel some of the key issues are the provision of appropriate services, sharing expertise, securing code compliance and working with local communities for a mutually beneficial and respectful outcome.”
Louise Richards, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the Institute of Fundraising, comments: “In revising our guidance on outdoor fundraising, the Institute wants to actively encourage best practice in this area. That is why, in addition to providing a revised Code to the sector and other stakeholders, we are asking landowners to refer any examples of bad practice to the Fundraising Standards Board. We feel this will help raise standards in outdoor fundraising, which remains a popular form of raising money for charity.”
Alistair McLean, Chief Executive of the Fundraising Standards Board adds: “The overwhelming majority of UK fundraising is conducted at an incredibly high standard. Fundraisers and volunteers come together to make these events an immensely successful and fun way of raising money for good causes up and down the country. But it is essential that participants follow the Institute’s guidance if charities are to continue to be welcomed by landowners and local residents.”
The FRSB’s members are bound by the Codes of Fundraising Practice and are subject to a three stage process in the event of a complaint. The first stage is handled by the charity concerned and the final stage is adjudication by the FRSB’s independent board of directors.
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