Nonprofits must self-regulate fundraising practices to avoid the big stick of government intervention and negative public reaction.

Nonprofits must self-regulate fundraising practices to avoid the big stick of government intervention and negative public reaction.

One of FIA’s major projects in 2006 through 2007 is the development of industry principles and standards of fundraising practice. If we ever doubted the importance of developing codes of conduct, then recent front page stories about various fundraising practices, including telemarketing, remind us how important it is that as an industry we adhere to professional codes.

Even more importantly, we should talk about them so that the public and bureaucracies know that our industry is ethical and professional, and carries values such as honesty, respect, integrity, compassion and transparency.

The charitable sector has just won exemptions for charities undertaking telemarketing from the recently-announced Do Not Call (DNC) Register. Immediately afterwards, there were opinion pieces claiming that the majority, if not 80%, of telemarketing calls are made by charities. FIA disputes these figures and believes that approximately 25% of calls are made by charities.

Whatever the figure, such exemptions are fragile and the result of hard-fought battles. To maintain them, we need continuing cooperation from fundraisers in providing data to support our submissions to government.

Government legislation is a constantly moving terrain. In the last 19 months FIA has made 19 submissions about aspects of fundraising regulation. A few more sit in the wings.

FIA has appeared before government committees, departmental officers and politicians. This has become a significant aspect of our work. We acknowledge the role of government in crafting legislation to regulate our industry and to protect the public. But we equally acknowledge our responsibility in ensuring that we self-regulate the practice of fundraising through our industry codes.

The Victorian Government in particular, in its recent document Proposals for Reform, recognised that FIA has a seminal role to play in the development of industry codes.

You could say that the interest of governments in reviewing legislation is to stay abreast of contemporary law. An important driver is public opinion – as evidenced by the introduction of a national DNC Register.

Let’s work together to ensure that our industry continues to provide services to society and public assurances of ethical practices.

Sue-Anne Wallace Chief Executive Officer, Fundraising Institute Australia