A fundraiser for the agency Appco UK, who was raising funds for Breast Cancer Now, took donations from a vulnerable individual despite having reason to believe he lacked capacity, the Fundraising Regulator has found.
The watchdog has found that BCN’s contracted agency, Appco UK, breached the Fundraising Code of Practice’s provisions regarding engagement with vulnerable individuals during a fundraiser’s doorstep interaction with a vulnerable member of the public.
The regulator launched an investigation after a woman complained that her husband, who is vulnerable and did not have capacity to authorise donations, had been signed up for monthly donations to BCN by an Appco UK fundraiser.
The complainant contacted BCN after discovering that donations dating back several months had been taken from her and her husband’s joint bank account, the regulator said.
After being contacted about the donations, the charity cancelled the direct debit and refunded the complainant for the money already taken.
The complainant told BCN that due to her husband’s vulnerability, she believed the fundraiser had likely entered their property to assist him in getting their financial details.
“The complainant explained to the charity that her husband had no knowledge of these details, or which bank they used, and therefore [she] did not think that he could have been signed up otherwise,” the regulator said.
BCN was unable to confirm the details of what happened, since the fundraiser who had signed up the husband had left Appco UK by the time the complaint was received.
But the charity found that the complainant’s husband had not been sent an advance notification letter after being signed up to donate, due to a system error.
The regulator said BCN “acknowledged that this mistake meant that the complainant did not discover the donations were being taken sooner”.
The complainant also told BCN that they had a “no cold callers” sign at the property but was unable to confirm whether this was in place at the time. Therefore, the charity was unable to say with certainty that its agent had ignored a notice not to call at the address, the regulator said.
The watchdog said there was not enough information available to determine whether there was a sign in place at the property at the time and that it was satisfied with how BCN handled the complaint.
The regulator found that the charity’s policies and procedures, as well as the training and monitoring of the contracted agency, were sound overall and was satisfied that the omission of the advanced notification letter was an “incidental error”.
But the regulator said, given their level of training, the fundraiser should have been aware of the husband’s vulnerability and should not have signed him up to donate.
“We could not fairly say on the information available the specific actions this fundraiser took during this interaction – only that we were content on balance that the code was breached in terms of the assessment of a potentially vulnerable donor,” the regulator said.
The regulator found that, although there were no systemic issues with the charity or agency, the agency was in breach of the fundraising code due to the individual fundraiser’s actions. The charity, being ultimately responsible for its agents, was also in breach of the code, the regulator said.
The regulator recommended that Breast Cancer Now review its existing regular giving process to minimise errors that could result in advance notification letters not being sent.
It also urged the charity to review the training of its third-party fundraisers to “ensure that there is no contradictory local guidance undermining its policies or fundraising practice”, with particular reference to potential donors who may be vulnerable.
The regulator urged Appco UK to review any local guidance that brings into question the delivery, understanding and practice of its vulnerability training for fundraisers.
Both Breast Cancer Now and Appco UK have accepted the regulator’s findings and recommendations.
A spokesperson for Breast Cancer Now said: “The safety and wellbeing of everyone engaged by our fundraisers is our top priority, and we take any complaints made extremely seriously.
“We accept the recommendations in the Fundraising Regulator’s report regarding this complaint, and have conducted a thorough review of our face-to-face fundraising practices to ensure all agency fundraisers working on our behalf fully adhere to our high standards and follow the code of conduct at all times.”
A spokesperson for Appco UK said: “We have fully co-operated with the Fundraising Regulator with its investigation, our policies and procedures were examined and it was concluded that there were no systemic issues.
“We continue to review fundraising practices and training to ensure adherence to the Fundraising Code of Practice at all times.”
Gerald Oppenheim, chief executive of the Fundraising Regulator said: “Charities and fundraising agencies should take careful note of our findings in this investigation.
“Fundraisers must be trained to recognise when they might be interacting with a potentially vulnerable individual, and behave accordingly.”