Two now-closed community interest companies breached the Code of Fundraising Practice for unlicensed street fundraising and “pressuring” behaviour, an investigation has concluded.
The Fundraising Regulator said its probe followed multiple complaints about street fundraising by Atoma Union and its sister organisation Youth Works, including reports of “aggressive” behaviour.
Both organisations had been dissolved by the time the regulator concluded its investigation.
Over the course of its investigation, the regulator received information from three separate local authorities suggesting the CICs were actively soliciting funds, while two had issued warnings instructing them not to fundraise without the correct licences.
Three complaints were also made about fundraiser behaviour that could be regarded as “pressuring” and, in one account, “particularly aggressive”, the regulator said.
Between May and December 2024, the regulator received four complaints about possible street fundraising near Farringdon Station, London, two of which described verbal and physical altercations with fundraisers.
The regulator wrote to the director of both CICs, explaining the complaints suggested a possible pattern of aggressive and pressuring fundraising behaviour and asking what processes the organisations had followed to obtain correct permissions.
The letter was signed but the regulator did not receive a response, it said, adding that attempts to contact the CIC’s phone numbers from their websites found they were invalid.
Then in 2025, the Charity Commission told the Fundraising Regulator a local authority had raised concerns about fundraisers collecting cash and card payments in Leamington Spa town centre with a street collection permit from the council.
The local authority had also received complaints from members of the public and community wardens, describing the fundraisers as “aggressive”, the regulator said.
Multiple attempts were made to contact the CICs, including via a letter sent by special delivery, but all went unanswered.
After contacting local licensing teams in London, the regulator was told by one council that it had seen five to 10 representatives at a time, usually following people outside Farringdon Station.
Another confirmed it had observed fundraising in 2024, including in the Covent Garden area, adding that no licence or permission had been issued and that officers had issued warnings.
The Fundraising Regulator said: “In the absence of any information to the contrary, despite our repeated attempts to contact the CICs, we considered it reasonable, on the balance of probabilities, to conclude that both CICs were engaged in fundraising without the correct licences.”
It based this decision on stakeholder intelligence, complaints, enquiries about donations and reports of money being exchanged for nothing in return, the regulator’s case summary said.
“We found that fundraisers representing the CICs were, in some instances, acting in a way that could reasonably be perceived as placing undue pressure on members of the public to donate,” the regulator said.
The regulator identified three code breaches, two of which related to fundraiser behaviour and the other relating to licences and permissions.
It has made a number of recommendations to other CICs and charitable organisations that wish to engage in street fundraising, including ensuring the appropriate licences are obtained prior to engaging in any public fundraising.
The regulator also recommended organisations keep a record of all permissions obtained and provide appropriate training for fundraisers, including on expected behaviour.
The Fundraising Regulator said it will share its findings with the CIC regulator, the Metropolitan Police and other relevant stakeholders.
The Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies said it did not comment on specific CICs.