The Chartered Institute of Fundraising has launched three updated rule books for public fundraising to reflect the latest regulatory requirements.
The membership body says its rule books seek to strengthen standards across its public fundraising programme.
The rule books cover door-to-door fundraising, private site fundraising and street fundraising.
They have been revised following the implementation of the Fundraising Regulator’s new Code of Fundraising Practice, which came into force last November.
The rulebooks reflect the new code, alongside the Gambling Commission’s licence conditions and codes of practice, where applicable.
The CIoF said it carried out extensive consultation with its charity and fundraising agency members on the rule books.
The books include additional rules developed specifically for the CIoF’s public fundraising programme.
The membership body said these provide “further clarity, consistency and safeguards in areas where members have agreed that additional requirements are needed to support good practice and protect public confidence in fundraising”.
Each book distinguishes between the CIoF’s rules and requirements laid out by external regulation.
The additional CIoF rules include specific protections for households displaying ‘no cold calling’ signs, with the door-to-door fundraising rule book warning organisations not to door-knock in ‘no cold calling zones’ or on the door of any property with these signs.
The street fundraising rule book also includes a CIoF rule that any agency employing limited companies as subcontractors must provide the CIoF public fundraising programme with their name and location; and include in their contractual arrangements a clear requirement that all subcontractors must comply with all CIoF rules.
The rule books also include CIoF rules requiring branded clothing to be worn and laying out detailed requirements regarding permissions, conduct and the responsible use of private and street fundraising sites.
The guidance sets out separate expectations for frontline fundraisers and operational staff, alongside ways to assess compliance, report breaches, apply sanctions and hearing appeals.
All rules include an associated amount of penalty points if broken by an organisation. Each point has a monetary value of £1 and a bill would be issued when an organisation’s annual points total equalled or exceeded 1,000 points.
Rob Cope, executive director of membership and operations at the CIoF, said: “These revised rule books give charities, agencies, operational teams and frontline fundraisers clear and consistent standards to follow.
“They align our programme with the new Code of Fundraising Practice and other relevant regulation, while retaining additional safeguards developed with our members.”