The COC will be implementing the Disclosure Regime for Public Fund-Raising Appeals on 9 October 2023.
Upcoming Implementation of the Public Fund-Raising Disclosure Regime
2 Currently, a fund-raiser would require either a House to House and Street Collections (HHSC) licence from the Police or a fund-raising permit from the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), if the fund-raiser is a member of NCSS, to conduct public fund-raising appeals through visits from house to house or by soliciting in the streets. With the maturing of the charity landscape, we had earlier announced that we will be making changes to the fund-raising regime to allow bona fide charities to fund-raise under more practical conditions.
3 Moving forward, under the Disclosure Regime which will come into effect on 9 October 2023, collections for local registered or exempt charities under the Charities Act, and collections for Fund-Raising for Foreign Charitable Purposes (FRFCP) permit holders approved by the COC, will only be regulated under the Charities Act. These entities (or “charitable fund-raisers”) will be exempted from applying for a licence to conduct house to house and street collections but will instead be required to:
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Disclose details of their public fund-raising appeals on the Charity Portal at least seven working days before the commencement of the appeal. Please note that the public fund-raising appeal cannot commence until the disclosure is submitted on the Charity Portal; and
- Ensure that their collectors and fund-raisers carry clear identification, such as an official letter from the charitable fund-raiser, and maintain appropriate behaviour when conducting the appeal.
4 For more details on the Disclosure Regime, please refer to the media release, FAQs and sample templates attached. The amendments to the Charities (Fund-raising Appeals for Local and Foreign Charitable Purposes) Regulations 2012 which will give effect to the Disclosure Regime have also been published. The Amendment Regulations can be found here.