Face to Face fundraising

England

From 12 April: 

Door to door and private site fundraising permitted with appropriate COVID safety measures in place.

Scotland

From 26 April:

Door to door and private site fundraising permitted with appropriate COVID safety measures in place.

Wales

During national lockdown, door to door and private site fundraising will not be permitted.

When not in lockdown, door to door and private site fundraising will be permitted in line with national guidelines, with appropriate COVID safety measures in place (see below).

No current face to face fundraising activity. 

Please note that we not only constantly monitor the local in-country government guidelines, but we also adhere to the recommendations of the Fundraising Regulator and the Institute of Fundraising, before deciding whether fundraising should take place in specific regions.

Wherever safe to do so, it is important that fundraising continues to enable us to support people with sight loss, so they may live independently, actively and, most importantly, so they may live the life they choose. 

Our plans continue to follow government advice and every decision is based on ensuring the health and safety of not only members of the public but also our fundraising representatives.

Charities have taken a massive hit to their income due to the coronavirus pandemic, and continuing fundraising is really important to keep our services running.

Public fundraising activities are rightly put on hold during national lockdowns but, where there is resumption of local businesses such as hospitality and retail trading, as well as the support of the Fundraising Regulator, it is appropriate that we are able to continue fundraising in a safe and responsible way. 

All face to face fundraising activities that take place on behalf of Guide Dogs will be done in accordance with government guidelines and with the safety of our fundraisers and the public at the core.

All face to face fundraisers will be given full refresher training, including new coronavirus (COVID-19) safety measures, prior to returning to work. Appropriate barrier equipment will be provided, strict personal hygiene rules are in place and social distancing will be adhered to. 

We will review our measures in line with any changes to either government or regulator guidance.

Our priority is the safety and welfare of our service users, volunteers, staff, dogs and the public. To ensure we do this, a risk assessment has been completed for all Guide Dogs activities. This identifies what activities we are currently undertaking, the potential hazards involved with those activities, and what we are doing to help control them. This will be updated on a regular basis to account for any additional risks identified due to the ongoing situation.

All fundraisers have been given refresher training prior to going out to work which included health and hygiene, social distancing measures, barrier equipment and travelling to work safely. Teams will be observed on a regular basis to ensure adherence to the rules.

All fundraisers have been fully trained on how to behave in the new COVID-19 environment and will be prepared with barrier equipment and social distancing tools (such as masks and badges), as well as hand sanitiser and anti-bacterial wipes. Every fundraiser will ask if members of the public are happy to proceed with the conversation and will respect those who decide they do not want to take part in the interaction.

Strict personal and vehicle hygiene measures are in place in line with government guidelines and guidance from the Institute of Fundraising and Fundraising Regulator.

All measures will be reviewed and any changes to guidance adhered to.

All of our fundraisers wear:

• A blue (and on occasion black) t-shirt, jacket or tabard, with Guide Dogs’ logo
• An ID badge with the fundraiser’s name, photo and ID number

If you are unsure as to whether someone claiming to represent Guide Dogs is an authorised fundraiser you can contact our Supporter Care Team on 0800 953 0113 from Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. Outside of these hours the fundraiser themselves will be able to provide you with a number you can call to check.

Door-to-door (D2D) fundraising

Door-to-door fundraising is where our fundraisers call at homes across the UK, knocking on doors to speak with people about our work and asking them to support us by signing up to Sponsor a Puppy or Lucky Lottery.

Our door teams work regionally across the UK.

Private sites

Private site fundraising is where our teams visit a variety of locations such as train stations, shopping centres, supermarkets, large public events and festivals. These teams setup a Guide Dogs stand to work from and engage with people to provide them with information about Guide Dogs and to sign up supporters to Sponsor a Puppy and Lucky Lottery.

Street Fundraising

Our street fundraisers work in teams on town centre high streets throughout the UK, talking to members of the public to give them information about Guide Dogs’ work and asking them to sign up to support us.

Our teams of fundraisers are highly trained and enthusiastic individuals. They are dedicated to raising money and building awareness of our commitment to making people who are blind or partially sighted more mobile.

We are committed to ensuring that our fundraisers offer a positive experience to the public when interacting with them, and are friendly, professional and helpful.

We have an in-house team of fundraisers and also work with agencies to provide additional fundraising.

We are members of the Institute of Fundraising (IoF), Fundraising Regulator, and the Fundraising Standards Board. All of our fundraisers follow the code of conduct set out by the IoF. We also utilise mystery shoppers and carry out quality calling to make sure that all of our fundraisers meet the high standards that we expect from them every day.

Guide Dogs has a team of in-house fundraisers and also chooses to work with trusted partner agencies to help deliver professional ethical fundraising on our behalf. All fundraisers working on these teams are coached by Guide Dogs to ensure they are informed about our campaigns and provide an excellent quality of service in line with our own standards.

Charity Link are a fundraising specialist who have been operating for over 20 years. They have over 250 fundraising staff working in conjunction with a few chosen charities. Charity Link are our key partner for fundraising services at national events and within private sites. They have been working with us since 2000 and in that time have helped sign up hundreds of thousands of supporters to Sponsor a Puppy.

Appco UK are one of the longest-running and most experienced face-to-face donor recruitment agencies in the world, with a network of more than 4,000 fundraisers across 24 countries. Appco have been selected to partner with us and provide professional door to door fundraising services.

All of our agencies are active members of the Institute of Fundraising. We have chosen to partner with them because we know that they comply with all relevant laws and codes of practice.