How to complain
How to complain
The Fundraising Standards Board exists to help you give with confidence to charities. We are here to deal with public complaints about fundraising activity.
We assess and adjudicate complaints against the Institute of Fundraising’s Codes of Fundraising Practice and the Fundraising Standards Board’s Fundraising Promise.
You can complain to us if:
- The charity you wish to complain about is a Fundraising Standards Board scheme member
- You have already complained to the member charity but are unhappy with the response
- Your complaint is about fundraising. In particular, if you have any problem with the method, media or manner of fundraising used by a member charity
Before you approach us with a complaint, however, you may want to find out more about the type of complaints we do and do not deal with.
You can register a complaint with us in several ways:
If your complaint falls outside our remit, we have a list of other organisations that may be able to help you take it further.
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Complaints we do and do not deal with
The types of complaint we deal with are those that concern:
Any event arranged by a member charity which raises money, such as:
- A charity ball
- A charity walk or run
- A coffee morning
Any communication from a member charity which asks for a donation, for instance:
- Magazine and newspaper advertisements
- Radio and TV commercials
- Posters on legitimate poster sites
- Direct mail (advertising sent through the post and addressed to you personally)
- Door-drops and circulars (advertising posted through your letter box without your name on)
- Advertisements on the internet, including banner ads and pop-up ads
- An individual fundraiser (either on the street or at your door)
The types of complaint we DO NOT deal with are those that concern non-fundraising issues, such as:
- The services a charity provides
- Administration and staff costs
- Administration or processing errors
- Retail issues
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Process for dealing with a complaint
Step 1
If you have a complaint about a Fundraising Standards Board scheme member, the first thing to do is to contact the charity or fundraising organisation and tell them.
Step 2
If you are not satisfied with the charity’s response to your complaint, and if your complaint is about fundraising, then you can complain to our Scotland & Northern Ireland office. If the complaint is about a potential breach of a Fundraising Code of Practice or the Fundraising Promise , we will investigate the complaint and work with you and the organisation in question to try to resolve the problem.
Step 3
If we cannot resolve the complaint to your satisfaction, you have the option to take the matter to our Board of Directors. They will review the complaint and decide whether to uphold or reject it. If the complaint is upheld, then they have the ability to specify that the charity takes action to resolve the matter. If the complaint is a serious breach of the Institute of Fundraising’s Codes of Fundraising Practice or the Fundraising Promise, then they can withdraw the charity’s membership from the Fundraising Standards Board scheme.
We will publicise all Board adjudications on complaints on our website. Names and addresses of complainants will remain anonymous.
The complaints process can be viewed as a flowchart.
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Timescales
You must register your complaint with the Fundraising Standards Board scheme member within three months of the incident occurring.
The scheme member must acknowledge your complaint within 14 days of them receiving it.
The scheme member should inform you of their response to your complaint within 30 days of them acknowledging it.
You then have 2 months to bring the complaint to us if you are not satisfied with the scheme members response.
If you pass the complaint to us, we will acknowledge it within 14 days of receiving it and will inform you of the results of our investigation within 30 days.
If you wish the matter to be taken to our Board of Directors, they will undertake a fresh investigation within 60 days.
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