In its first adjudication, the Fundraising Standards Board has rejected a complaint about mailings from Cancer Research UK, although the compainant 'had grounds for being annoyed'.

A member of the public had complained to the charity, and subsequently to the Fundraising Standards Board, about the frequency of mailings he received from the charity. He said that he had received 13 mailings in a two-year period. Each mailing included a Cancer Research UK pen.

Cancer Research UK did not accept that the complainant had been aggressively and wastefully targeted. The charity admitted he could have received up to nine appeals, but it appeared that at least four of the mailings had been received more than two years ago.

The charity also felt it did not waste natural resources because it now encloses cardboard barrelled pens rather than plastic pens with their mailings. Cancer Research UK said enclosing pens in mailings increases the response rate by up to 70%.

In its adjudication the Fundraising Standards Board acknowledged that the complainant "had grounds for being annoyed". However, the self-regulatory body aiming to improve fundraising standards ruled that there was not enough evidence to support the complaint. The Fundraising Standards Board concluded that it was possible that at least four of the pens were received more than two years ago and that it could not be established whether or not other people in the complainant's area had also experienced high volumes of mailings.

Links

• Summery of the adjudication (frsb.org.uk)