So the Fundraising Standards Board has just published its first annual report, and a very glossy looking piece of work it is too! But once past the pictures of happy people (presumably donors happy in the knowledge that their money has been raised from them by the best of standards), we get to the heart of the matter – what are the public complaining about?

Interestingly, FRSB member organisations, of which there are about 860, reported a total of 8,434 complaints which sounds a lot, but only 4 of these (or 0.047%) were referred to stage 2 and only 1 to stage 3. Now I understand that some of this data will be incomplete, but I suggest that it just goes to illustrate that when a member of the public contacts a charity they are usually dealt with pretty effectively.

More interesting figures to come out of the FRSB’s data includes a comparison of the types of fundraising in percentage terms of complaints. If we take these figures at face value, then direct mail is more than twice as irritating to the public as face-to-face, as the FRSB commentary states: ‘Despite early sector speculation that the volume of complaints would predominately be about face to face fundraising, the results of the annual return suggest otherwise.’ They do nothing of the sort. If you take into consideration the volume of direct mail fundraising activity in comparison to the volume of face-to-face activity you will find the picture is somewhat different, and I would expect telephone fundraising to generate more complaints by volume than direct mail by the very nature of the direct approach.

One can of course make data look as different as we want it to be. For example, if we were to compare the volume of complaints to charities about direct mail to the volume of pieces sent in a year (according to the DMIS) the complaint level is 0.0000071% of mailing pieces sent. See what I mean?

The FRSB has to work for the sector, or at least in the eyes of the Government nannies, or we may be saddled with direct legislation that we neither want nor need.

We have to be careful about how the data we produce for public consumption is portrayed. Despite attempts to convince us that there are serious issues with public trust and confidence, I for one, remain of the opinion that if we continue to treat donors with respect, respond appropriately and continue to build rapport with our supporters, then fundraising is in pretty good shape.

Kevin Kibble