The Fundraising Regulator’s new Code of Fundraising Practice came into force on 1 November 2025, updating the previous 2019 version.

The updated version contains “principles-based rules”, which it says makes it less prescriptive and more proportionate for users.

The issue of fundraiser safety has also been advanced by the UK’s Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIOF) and the fundraising think tank Rogare. On 17 November, the organisations proposed the sector-wide adoption of a Donor Code of Conduct. More on that here. The same day, the CIOF published a page on its website detailing that many fundraisers have experienced sexual harassment in their careers, often by an external stakeholder such as a donor.

Code changes

In addition to the new rule on protection from harassment, the updated Code includes a section on fundraising platforms.

There are also new principles on transparency in ‘convenience giving’ and ‘unstaffed collections’, meaning places where someone can tap their card to donate, or are asked to add an additional amount to a retail transaction.

The Code no longer includes rules about charities making commission-based payments to fundraising staff. Instead, it says that organisations must “give appropriate consideration to… whether this fits the values [of your charity]”.

Need for interpretation

An article by Bates Wells, a law firm specialising in charity clients, says that the move to a principles-based approach is the “biggest” change in the new Code. The article says:

“Whilst there are advantages to a principles-based approach, it means that there will be a greater need for organisations to interpret the Code and assess how the rules apply to their fundraising activity. This may make it harder to know how to comply with specific Code sections.”

Lord Toby Harris, Chair of the Fundraising Regulator, says:

“The new code is clearer, easier to use and designed to reflect the realities of modern fundraising. We are grateful to the many charities and fundraisers who shaped these changes. Their input has helped us create a code that continues to protect the public, supports innovation, and reinforces trust and confidence in charitable giving.”

The regulator says that a recent survey of UK fundraisers showed that 90% are positive about the new code, with 91% feeling that it is clearer.

It has also been made somewhat shorter – the 2025 Code is 21,000 words, down from 32,000 for the 2019 version.

The Fundraising Regulator is the independent regulator of charitable fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel performs a similar role.

Kenneth Kamp Butzbach, the body’s secretary general, wrote recently that there is a paradox in the way the government praises the charitable sector and indicates that it has high ambitions for it, but then implements bills “which make it harder for organisations to raise money”.

In the article – posted on ISOBRO’s website and political news website Altinget – he points out several examples of this, with the latest being reforms to inheritance tax. By abolishing this tax when an estate is passed to nieces and nephews, the government has weakened the incentive to give legacies to charities, he argues.

Butzbach says of this specific change:

“We are undoubtedly looking into a major decline in donations from inheritance as a consequence, which will have serious consequences for the funding of social efforts, nature projects, emergency aid and support for vulnerable groups.”

Additional challenges

He lists several other changes from recent years including reforms of the country’s postal service, which has led to “rising postage prices and poorer quality”; new regulations being put on telephone fundraising; and stricter financial reporting requirements for charities’ fundraising income.

The week after that article was published, ISOBRO published another item on its website noting with disappointment that the Government’s finance bill did not contain a new foundation law, despite having been proposed earlier this year. ISOBRO says that a new law is “essential for both foundations and the many civil society organisations that cooperate with them”.

Better assessments needed

In the Altinget article, ISOBRO proposes that the government could motivate more people to give by raising or removing the tax deduction ceiling for donations.

It also suggests that it should be a requirement that all legislative processes are subject to a civil society impact assessment, similar to existing assessments which examine climate and business impacts.

Butzbach’s article concludes:

“In its own words, the government has high ambitions for civil society. But if the government and parliament say their words of praise about the importance of civil society, they must give us the framework to do our job.”

Despite the unfavourable environment, the latest Nordic Donor Survey found that Denmark was more generous than its three Northern neighbours, as previously reported by Fundraising Europe.

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Last updated in 2020, these profiles are written by national-level experts and provide an in-depth analysis of requirements such as those for registration, reporting, economic activity, governance, and tax treatment. They also outline trends and developments in each country.

The profiles are designed to help researchers, the sector, philanthropy partners and policymakers with the analysis of trends and developments in their countries.

13 were published in December. The remainder of the profiles will be published early this year and made freely available on Philea’s website.

They will also serve as the basis for an updated version of Philea’s benchmark publication, Comparative Highlights of Foundation Laws. This publication, developed with an advisory committee, provides key insights to enable legislators, philanthropists and academics to compare what is happening elsewhere with their own domestic situations, and help national efforts to advocate for a more favourable operating environment.

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The European Commission’s Action Plan for a comprehensive Union policy on the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing commits it to taking measures to strengthen EU rules in this area. The action plan is built on six pillars. Under Pillar 2, “Establishing a single EU-wide body of AML/CFT rules”, the Commission proposed the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism package of laws in July 2021.

Following its adoption by the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in March, members of the European Parliament adopted this new package of law on April 24.

This new body of law replaces Directive (EU) 2015/849 (as amended by Directive (EU) 2018/8431).

The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism package consists of:

• The EU single rulebook regulation – provides rules on customer due diligence, transparency of beneficial owners and the use of anonymous instruments, such as crypto-assets, and new entities such as participatory finance platforms
• The Sixth Anti-Money Laundering directive ­– contains national measures on monitoring and on Financial Intelligence Units, as well as on access by the competent authorities to the necessary information, such as registers of beneficial owners
• The Anti-Money Laundering Authority regulation

It aims to achieve the following main objectives:

– Harmonize and strengthen the rules to fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

– Improve supervision and cooperation between Financial Intelligence Units.

– Strengthen the European framework for crypto-assets.

Improving access to information on beneficial owners

Article 12 of the Sixth Directive stipulates that people with a legitimate interest, including journalists and media professionals, civil society organisations, competent authorities and supervisory bodies, shall have immediate, unfiltered, direct and free access beneficial ownership information held in national registries and interconnected at EU level.

Strengthening the powers of Financial Intelligence Units

Each Member State must set up a Financial Intelligence Unit responsible for preventing, detecting and effectively combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

Article 18 of the Sixth Directive gives FIUs immediate and direct access to a range of information, including tax data, nonprofit registers and national registers of beneficial owners.

Article 20 of the Directive requires Member States to ensure that FIUs are empowered to suspend or refuse the execution of a transaction when it is suspected of being linked to money laundering or terrorist financing.

The creation of a new EU anti-money laundering authority

Regulation 2021/0240 (COD) establishes a new European authority to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. This new authority will be in Frankfurt and will be responsible for:

– Contributing to the implementation of harmonized rules.

– Directly supervising financial sector entities exposed to the highest risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.

– Facilitating cooperation between national Financial Intelligence Units.

– Monitoring and supporting the implementation of targeted financial sanctions.

Next steps

The texts must now be formally adopted by the Council before their official publication in the EU’s Official Journal.

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The changes have been put forward by the country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate in a bid to offer further protection for consumers with doorstep selling and online sales. They would mean that a consumer would only be bound to a contract if they explicitly agree to it in writing after their conversation.

The organisation says that door-to-door fundraising in the Netherlands recruits more than 400,000 donors each year for the sector, collectively worth tens of millions of euros. It suggests that adding an extra step to the signup and confirmation process the proposed laws would mean losing many of these.

As such, Goede Doelen Nederland has written to the country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy saying that while it appreciates the importance of consumer protection measures, charities should be exempted from these rules.

The letter notes that when the Government presented its proposals, it included evidence about consumer complaints. These complaints mostly focused on energy suppliers, internet contracts, television subscriptions or lotteries, while charities were not mentioned. It also highlights that both the Dutch law and the European Directive exempt donations to charities from the current consumer protection rules, and that strong self-regulation already exists in the sector.

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Before the announcement, the reform was moving through the approval process, with the changes set to come into force at the beginning of 2024. They include the widening of the definition of donation to include non-financial donations such as professional services, advertising space, and real estate. In addition, donors will be able to receive goods or services in recognition of their donation, provided these do not exceed 15% of the value of the gift, up to a maximum ‘thank you’ value of €25,000.

The law reform was approved in late April in the Congreso de los Diputados, the lower house of Spain’s parliament, and was being processed in the Senado (upper house) when the announcement of a general election saw both chambers dissolved.

In this scenario, sector bodies say, the only possibility for the patronage reform to go ahead is if the government processes it through a Decree-Law.

President of the Spanish Association of Foundations AEF Javier Nadal says:

“Being realistic, retaking this reform will mean starting the parliamentary process again, which would take more than a year and would delay its entry into force until at least 2025.” 

Highlighting the reform’s importance, Glòria Oliver, president of the Spanish Fundraising Association (AEFr) adds:

“A fiscal framework that encourages philanthropy is justified because it increases the social benefit that the government could otherwise have achieved through direct spending. Philanthropic donations strengthen civil society, foster solidarity and reduce inequality, and should therefore be encouraged.”

Other key changes in the Patronage Law reform highlighted by AEFr are:

1. Increasing tax relief on donations. Currently, donors can claim 80% tax relief on the first €150 of donations, and 35% on the rest. Under the new law, 80% would apply to the first €250, and 40% would apply to the rest. Increased deductions will apply for individuals or organisations making repeated donations.
2. Research & development; social and employment services for those at risk of social exclusion; and teaching or training for high-performing students are added to the list of operations for which non-profit organisations can receive tax exemptions.
3. Nonprofit organisations will be exempt from certain taxes on their assets.

The country’s third sector has been lobbying for reforms to the law, which was created in 1994 and last updated in 2002, for a number of years.

Oliver says:

“This new law presents us with a unique opportunity to improve Spain’s global positioning in philanthropy, increasing tax incentives for millions of citizens and companies. We are sure that these citizens and companies will respond by again increasing their level of contributions to nonprofit entities.”

Fundraising Europe recently reported that Spain’s third sector grew its total income by 10.5% in 2021 as it diversified fundraising streams, although it remains marginally smaller than it was 10 years ago.

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The statute on European cross-border associations and nonprofit organisations was proposed earlier this year in response to what’s commonly referred to as the Lagodinsky Report. This saw MEPs, led by Dr. Sergey Lagodinsky, MEP for The Greens, call for the creation of an EU-wide right to associate and for the establishment of minimum standards to protect European CSOs. A public consultation on the proposal, which EFA fed into, has just ended.

The webinar, attended by fundraisers from around Europe, saw Lagodinsky give an overview of the proposed statute. This was followed by a presentation on the Dutch perspective from Yvette Kleekamp, public affairs advisor of Goede Doelen Nederland, and ended with a Q&A session. The event was chaired by EFA board member and public affairs chair, Simona Biancu.

On the need for a statute, Lagodinsky said:

“We know that there is an assault on democracy in many of our member states, from within and without the European Union, so this is about creating legal safeguards and standards that would also protect civil society. And if we are serious about creating a common democratic space, we also need to enable those national organisations working in the nonprofit sector to transcend the boundaries and borders of nation states.”

Part of the proposal, he said, was to establish a common European understanding of when an organisation can be considered a public benefit entity, and to ensure these are not discriminated against because of their funding comes from, or their objectives.

Offering the Dutch perspective, Kleekamp said that European laws to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, and to protect privacy, often made the work of Dutch nonprofits more difficult so this was a welcome proposal.

She explained:

“A lot of nonprofit organisations, large and small, are confronted with blocked bank accounts or barriers to opening new ones, and refused payments. In addition, there are huge delays in transferring money to both high risk and low risk areas abroad. We have to find a solution, so we very much welcome your initiative.”

Lagodinsky acknowledged that the proposal comes with limitations – for example covering associations but not foundations, and falling short of asking for a mutual European-wide definition and recognition of public benefit status. It is, however, an important first step, he said.

Commenting, Biancu noted:

“This marks a crucial change for the European third sector, bringing in the concept of a European space for philanthropy, and recognising the crucial role of NGOs and CSOs in shaping an inclusive, more equal and fair Europe.”

EFA’s consultation response

EFA’s response to the consultation, which sets out its position on the statute, can be read in full here. Overall, EFA supports and stands for the proposal to create a European supranational legal form for the nonprofit sector, and welcomes standards that create a favourable environment for nonprofit organisations through the proper application of fundamental rights and freedoms for these organisations.

EFA believes that in principle the proposed Regulation and Directive offer an important opportunity for nonprofits across Europe to strengthen their legal position and to give their social, non-commercial interests more weight in legislation. However, EFA also believes that the European Treaties should explicitly recognise that nonprofit organisations are essential for democracy and make an important contribution to achieving the values and objectives of the European Union. As such EFA underlines the importance of recognising the specific and autonomous character of nonprofit organisations as a starting point.

The reform includes 135 legislative acts, including rule changes, and new tax concessions and financing opportunities.

To understand the impact of the changes, the “Reform in Movement” survey, from Terzjus Observatory and Italia non profit with the involvement of ASSIF and other partners, questioned 1,671 third sector organisations, working mainly in the areas of personal services, cultural recreation and education, and education and training.

It found that 86% think the reform process is too long, while not everyone understands the changes, which include the introduction of a nonprofit register RUNTS and a new reporting tool, the Social Report, both of which are designed to improve the sector’s transparency.

Also being introduced is a new tax system, including changes to the 5×1000 rule, and legislation that will enable nonprofits to obtain and renovate unused public properties. For the first time too, third sector organisations, social enterprises and fundraisers are being given legal definitions, with the aim of bringing greater recognition of their role and work.

However, the study found that:

– Just under 1 in 3 are unaware of the opportunities RUNTS will present in terms of making all essential data from organisations accessible to all

– 40% are not aware of the newly introduced possibility of being able to support activities other than those of general interest

– Only 1 in 4 are aware that the reform has also affected 5×1000 income tax

– 1 in 4 organisations do not know about new tax benefits for donations introduced by the reform, while more than half of those who are aware have not yet shared the news properly with donors

– There is a lack of understanding over which organisations the new Social Report applies to, with it perceived as an obligation by just under 50% while 17% are unsure if it affects them.

– Few organisations are ready to adopt the new budget formats

– There is a lack of understanding over which organisations the new Social Report applies to, with it perceived as an obligation by just under 50% while 17% are unsure if it affects them.

The full report can be downloaded from Italia Non Profit’s site.

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Money laundering and terrorist financing are cross-border phenomena that can affect many nonprofits. The cross-border nature of these illegal activities also makes them difficult to tackle at national level.

Whilst the EU provides a framework via EU directives, member states have their own interpretations of these rules, resulting in a scattered regulatory environment and legal uncertainty for many nonprofits operating cross-border. Of particular relevance to most nonprofits will be the rules regarding beneficial ownership, which directly affects organisations’ board members. The European Commission has now proposed a new package that aims to harmonise the anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) rules across Europe, providing clarity for organisations and making it easier for them to comply.

In my column for the April edition of Fundraising Europe, I wrote that some of the existing rules on AML/CFT can cause confusion among nonprofits. A critical area of misunderstanding is reporting requirements, more specifically the rules regarding beneficial ownership.

Beneficial owners are board members of an organisation directly benefiting from the organisation. But this is interpreted differently across member states. In the context of a nonprofit, a board member is quite different to a beneficiary and does not always have financial ownership, so the term can cause great confusion and results in a lack of uniformity when organisations report the nature and extent of the beneficial interest held. The new regulation ensures the consistent identification of beneficial owners and lays down harmonised beneficial ownership rules. The Commission proposes for member states to be required to notify the Commission with a list of the types of organisations where beneficial owners are identified.

Under the Single Rulebook, the Commission proposes a consistent approach to the beneficial ownership transparency regime which requires ensuring that the same information is collected on beneficial owners across the internal market, introducing precise requirements concerning the information that should be collected in each case. That information includes a minimum set of personal data of the beneficial owner, the nature and extent of the beneficial interest held in the legal entity or legal arrangement and information on the legal entity or legal arrangement.

The European Commission furthermore introduces a new agency called the EU AML Authority (AMLA), which will supervise certain high-risk entities directly, and play a coordinating and supervising role vis-à-vis the national supervisory bodies, in light of the Commission’s overall harmonisation efforts.

The Commission also wishes to introduce a cap on cash transactions of €10,000, making it more difficult for criminals to launder money. Some member states currently have much lower caps, which they are allowed to keep, but others, such as Germany, have no cap at all. We expect this to be a key subject of debate amongst the European Parliament and the European Council, who will still need to scrutinise and approve the European Commission’s proposals.

The Commission’s proposal will now be passed to the European Parliament and the Council, who will scrutinise and amend the proposal. EFA welcomes the Commission’s efforts to clarify and harmonise, but urges the European Parliament and the Council to take a risk-based approach when scrutinising the proposal, to avoid unnecessary administrative and regulatory burdens on nonprofits.

About Patrick Gibbels

Patrick is EFA’s public affairs columnist in Brussels. He is the director of Gibbels Public Affairs. Follow Patrick @GPA_Brussels.

Read more from Patrick in our View from Brussels column here.

The Law on Preventing Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction entered into force on 31 December 2020. The main reasoning behind the law – outlined in the rationale of the draft version­ – is “to catch up with international standards in the fight against the financing of terrorism and laundering offences in light of the 2019 report of the FATF and the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions”.

However, 11 of the 43 articles amend two important civil society laws, while four articles amend the law on collection of aid, and seven amend the association law in Turkey.

Philanthropy Advocacy, a joint Dafne & EFC Initiative, has stated that some of these legal changes contribute to an unfriendly climate for civil society, by unduly restricting the operating space for civil society organisations and opening the door for arbitrary and discretionary decisions by public authorities.

Under the changes, online aid campaigns now require prior permission while a notification is required for aid sent or received from abroad. Public servants must also carry out annual audits on civil society organisations annually, or at least no later than every three years.

Harsher penalties have also been introduced for failing to abide by many of the new rules. For instance, unauthorised online aid campaign may be removed or blocked, and fines issued for violating the aid collection law. Organisations may be charged fines of up to €11,000 for failing to make a notification about aid sent or received from abroad, and failing to transfer aid through a bank.

In addition, should an organisation fail to give or show information, documents and records or allow visits as part of internal or external audits, the potential prison term has been increased from three months to one year or a judicial fine.

And, if mandatory books and documents that are kept by the associations are unreadable or lost for any reason, this must be reported to the local court. If an organisation does not notify the court within 15 days or submit the books during the audit process, they face a prison sentence of three months to one year or a judicial fine.

In an article on the changes on the Philanthropy Advocacy site, Hanna Surmatz, enabling environment manager at the EFC says:

“The new rules will have a chilling impact on cross-border philanthropy. Civil Society Organisations in Turkey have already been subject to a restrictive Law on Aid Collection, which requires prior permission and fulfilling numerous conditions for fundraising activities. The new Law brings additional restriction. Given the current COVID-19 crisis globally and other societal challenges, there is need for legal frameworks which encourage and facilitate philanthropic activities in line with the international standards, but currently the opposite is happening.”

Image by Ben Kerckx from Pixabay