Please note: This page contains mention of sexual harassment against women.
In what has been an acutely difficult week for women and many fundraisers, I want to directly address the issue of sexual harassment of women in the fundraising community.
We made clear in 2019 that sexual harassment is totally unacceptable in our community, improved our complaints policy, and set up access to an independent confidential helpline, Tell Jane, to offer support and advice. But these actions have clearly not been enough. For that I want to apologise to every member of the fundraising community.
Members have rightly expressed their concerns, particularly in relation to our handling of complaints of sexual harassment.
Our Chair, Claire Rowney, has made her own personal statement on Twitter which I encourage you to read. I fully support and share her commitment to delivering the culture change needed, as well as the improved policies and procedures that will need to sit behind that fundamental change.
In order to answer some of the questions that have been raised, and bring you up to date on our next steps, the team have developed some FAQs which are here.
This we have done with utmost care, due to the essential confidential nature of some of the issues raised.
Finally, I would like to reassure you that the Board of Trustees and the staff team, working with many of our amazing volunteers across the UK, are absolutely committed to urgently addressing the issues raised, and delivering the culture change required.
Peter Lewis
Chief Executive