Institute of Fundraising and Charity Finance Group to produce guidance on online giving platforms

It follows suspension of the CharityGiving website; Daniel Fluskey of the IoF says charities must be confident about using new giving technology
The Institute of Fundraising and Charity Finance Group will jointly produce guidance for charities about using online giving platforms and payment systems.

The sector bodies have teamed up to provide the guidance after the suspension of the online giving portal CharityGiving by the Charity Commission last month.

The guidance, which will be developed over the next few months, will explain how online platforms work so that charities are able to understand the donation process and try to ensure donations are secure. It will also cover good practice in online payment systems used by individual charities.

It comes after the commission said an initial assessment by the interim manager of the Dove Trust, the charity that owns CharityGiving, found that charities were owed at least £250,000 in donations from the site.

Daniel Fluskey, head of policy and research at the IoF, said: “Digital donations are growing – more people are using online giving platforms or smartphones to give money to their favourite causes. As the technology continues to develop it’s important that charities feel confident in using digital channels to connect with donors. We hope that this guidance will achieve that.”

Jane Tully, head of policy and public affairs at CFG, said: “Online payment systems and giving platforms provide a wide range of benefits for charities, not least in terms of their cost effectiveness. However, as we saw with CharityGiving, there are can also be risks involved, and it is important that charities know what questions to ask when choosing providers and setting up their systems.”

Source: Third Sector