The Chartered Institute of Fundraising has updated its disciplinary procedures so that it can name perpetrators in future investigations into sexual harassment.
A CIoF spokesman told Third Sector the decision had been made “for transparency”.
Last month, the CIoF board published a report summarising the findings of a long-running investigation that upheld four complaints of sexual harassment against a fellow of the institute.
The man has been stripped of his fellowship and banned from attending CIoF events, but has not been named.
In a Q&A blog about the report, published this week, the CIoF said this was because “the investigation was conducted under the 2019 complaints and disciplinary rules, which [do] not cover publishing names of subjects of complaint”.
But, it added: “Our new complaints and disciplinary rules will allow us to publish names in the future.”
The report itself offered further clarification, saying: “For future investigations, the Chartered Institute will publish a summary of adverse decisions on its website and this will normally exclude the identities of individuals except the subject of the complaint.”
It is expected individuals will generally only be named when a complaint has been upheld against them.
The CIoF said it had implemented a new central screening process for participants in its events and activities to enforce the fellow’s ban on attending without publicising his name.
A CIoF spokesperson told Third Sector that the CIoF board would decide in each case what information should be included in the summary to be published on its website.
“The change to our complaints and disciplinary rules is on publishing a summary of every adverse decision for transparency,” he said.
“This enables us to name subjects of investigation in future, where considered appropriate, and was brought in as one of the actions, learnings and improvements that we have identified during the conduct of investigations and review of our policies and procedures to create a safe environment for fundraisers.”
A list of the fellows on the CIoF website was taken down several weeks before the publication of the report.
In the Q&A blog, the CIoF said this was because the list was “being updated and to ensure that the Fellows scheme incorporates changes underway”.
It went on to say: “Our Fellows scheme is currently paused to new nominations, with our Nominations and Elections Committee reviewing the criteria and process and reflecting on learnings that have come from this process.”