The Fundraising Regulator has started inviting charities to participate in its complaints market research.
From mid-May, a sample of about 500 large fundraising charities, registered as levy payers, will be asked to take part by BMG Research, a firm hired by the regulator for the project.
The Fundraising Regulator announced the research plans in February, saying the 18-month project would gather data about the types of fundraising complaints that charities receive during 2026/27 and how the sector could learn from their experiences.
The project will update and replace the in-house approach taken previously by the regulator’s Annual Complaints Report, which focused on 58 of the largest and levy-paying fundraising charities to identify the most complained-about fundraising methods among those charities.
But the new project will expand on the sample size and invite an additional cohort of small and medium-sized fundraising charities to participate.
The regulator has since announced in a blog post that the new project will be carried out via an online portal, which has been designed as a data collection tool.
Participating charities will have the chance to prepare the data requested and then submit it via the portal.
Charities will first be asked to respond to some simple screening questions, to make the research experience more bespoke for each organisation. Charities will only see data requests relating to the types of fundraising they carry out.
BMG Research will first approach a sample of about 500 large fundraising charities from mid-May. Small and medium-sized charities will have the opportunity to participate at a later date.
The regulator said it would not know the identities of the charities that take part.
“The more charities that agree to take part, the more we can all learn about current fundraising practices. We therefore hope as many of the charities contacted by BMG as possible get involved and share their experience,” said Claire Herbert, policy specialist at the regulator.
The Fundraising Regulator previously said the research project would conclude with a report on the findings, expected mid-next year.