Paul Stallard
Paul Stallard sees parallels between his work in the financial sector and challenges facing the PFRA
The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association has appointed Paul Stallard, director and founder of the financial services consultancy Hurndall-Stallard Associates, as its first paid chair.
Stallard, who will take up the role today, has worked in senior marketing and business development posts in the financial services sector since the 1980s. He will be paid £12,000 a year by the PFRA for working 55 days a year.
A statement from the PFRA said he had worked in a voluntary capacity for four national charities, including the Royal Life Saving Society and the Elizabeth Foundation, on their fundraising and management.
Stallard said in a statement that he saw parallels between the work he had done in the financial services sector and the regulatory challenges facing the PFRA, because of the considerable regulatory challenges financial services had faced since 1986.
"We are seeking to build relationships with local and central government during a time in which the regulatory framework for fundraising is in flux," he said of his new role.
"We must therefore be able to present a level of independence that shows we are not merely representing the interests of our members in raising funds for beneficiaries, but that we are genuinely prepared to build self-regulation that balances the duty of charities to ask for such support with the rights of people not to receive undue pressure to give."
He said he would play an active part in negotiating with councils to ensure that charities had a fair opportunity to fundraise. But he said charities needed to play their part by fundraising to a high standard.
Stallard takes over as chair from Michael Naidu, who has been acting chair of the PFRA since 2008, when the previous chair, Timothy Hornsby, resigned.
The PFRA is without a chief executive after the departure of Mick Aldridge in October. Ian MacQuillin, the PFRA’s head of communications, said now that a chair had been appointed recruiting a chief executive would be one of the organisation’s main priorities.
