Annual report

The financial year 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023 was the first of the Fundraising Regulator’s new strategic plan 2022-2027. This year we have been preparing for significant change to ensure we are innovative, proactive, intelligent and collaborative in our approach to regulation. This included launching our code review, preparing for our levy review, reviewing how we share complaints data with the sector and developing our proactive regulatory approach.

Download our annual report and accounts 2022/23

Majority of donors feel more confident supporting charities displaying the Fundraising Badge

It’s encouraging that 73% of respondents to our research survey would be more confident supporting a charity displaying the badge (when told what the badge represents)*. 61% of respondents were also shown to think more positively of a charity displaying the badge and half (50%) reported they would be more likely to support a charity they had not heard of before if it was displaying the badge. 

Registered organisations can display the Fundraising Badge – the logo that says ‘registered with Fundraising Regulator’ – on their fundraising materials to show the public they are committed to legal, open, honest and respectful fundraising in line with the Code of Fundraising Practice. 

6,056 charities have registered with the Fundraising Regulator, a 7% increase on the year before. This demonstrates continued strong support for the voluntary regulatory model of fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Smaller charities are increasingly recognising the value of voluntary regulation, as the regulator saw a 11% increase in their registrations. 

Increasing recognition of our casework service

We saw an 8% increase in the number of complaints we received in 2022/23, with 1,137 incoming cases. 20 charities also used our self-reporting pathway, with the number of self-reports increasing in the last quarter of the year in response to a news story that identified issues with a sub-contracted fundraising agency carrying out door-to-door fundraising.

Preparing for the future

The report discusses preparations for several key projects as part of our strategic plan. This includes our code review, levy review, and the development of our new proactive regulatory function – which has since led to us launching our first market inquiry into the use of subcontractors in fundraising.  

“The charitable fundraising sector continued to face challenging conditions as the cost-of-living crisis and significant global events continue to impact the landscape, and this in turn affects the way we need to regulate the sector. I would like to commend charities and their partners for their hard work in the face of such challenges.” 

Lord Toby Harris, Chair

Headshot of Lord Harris of Haringey

Copies of other historic reports are available on request, please contact us with any general enquiries at admin@fundraisingregulator.org.uk.

 

*This was updated to include (when told what the badge represents) on 1/05/24)