Rights to refunds or to cancel agreements

Any person (donor) has the right to seek a refund or to cancel an agreement for payment to a benevolent body, provided certain conditions are met. Donors will also have other statutory rights to refunds that may also apply.

 

Thresholds for refunds

Provided it is requested within 7 days of the solicitation refunds are available to donors as follows:

Method of fundraising	Threshold for entitlement to refund
Verbal solicitation made during a radio or TV programme.	Payments of £100 or more which are made by debit or credit card only.
Verbal solicitation which is not made directly face to face, for example by telephone.	Payments (or promises to make payments in the future) of £100 or more which are made by any means.

How should a refund be claimed?

A request for a refund or cancellation of an agreement must be made in writing within 7 days of the solicitation to the professional fundraiser or commercial participator. 

 
Professional fundraisers and commercial participators must make sure that any refund or cancellation requests are met as soon as possible. If there is an admin cost for processing the request this can be deducted from the refund.

Exceptions to the right to a refund

The right to a refund does not apply if services have already been provided by a professional fundraiser or commercial participator in return for the donation or if donors have already received goods in return for their payment, unless the goods are returned.

The right to a refund may not apply in certain circumstances, including when donations are made:

• in response to solicitations made directly by benevolent bodies or companies connected with them
• in response to written solicitations or face-to-face verbal solicitations
• in response to TV, radio or indirect verbal solicitations but which fall below the thresholds outlined above. 

Good practice: Even when there is no statutory right to a refund, fundraisers should consider any request for a refund that’s made within 7 days of the solicitation.