An investigation into failures by the Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIOF) to act on allegations of sexual misconduct has revealed the fundraising body’s leadership is “more likely than not” to have been told about concerns a decade ago.

This contradicts previous claims by the leadership that it had been unaware of allegations of sexual misconduct by one of its members at its convention in 2014.

A previous investigation three years ago into the allegations had found that “on the balance of probabilities”, a complaint of sexual harassment was not reported by a complainant to its then chief executive Peter Lewis.

This was despite the complainant saying the matter was reported at the time to Lewis, who resigned in 2021.

New evidence

But the fresh probe into the scandal, commissioned by the CIOF in November 2021 and carried by JEDI Consultancy, has considered a new witness who told its investigators that “they had witnessed and overheard” the complainant telling Lewis about the allegations.

This “therefore potentially corroborated” the complainant’s account, says JEDI Consultancy in its report into the scandal which has been published this week.

The new evidence was put by investigators to Lewis but “he continued to deny this account of events had taken place”, they said.

In addition, a previously unavailable email showing Lewis had been told about the CIOF member’s “inappropriate” conduct was also shown to the former CEO. However, he has denied he was referring to “sexually inappropriate behaviour but rather other unconnected behaviour”.

Investigators say they are “not convinced by this explanation, given that the wider context of this email thread was about issues of sexual harassment, so it was unclear to us why he would be raising entirely unconnected issues of behaviour at this time”.

“Having carefully considered all the documentary evidence, tested the credibility of witness evidence and weighed all the relevant factors in the balance, we find that the events as described by the anonymous attendee of the 2014 Convention, namely that she had told the former chief executive Officer about allegations of sexual harassment/assault at the relevant time, are more likely than not to have occurred, “ found JEDI Consultancy’s investigation.

“We accept the evidence of the anonymous attendee.”

It adds that it is “more likely than not” that Lewis and/or the CIOF “knew or should have known about allegations of sexual harassment/assault at material times and failed to act”.

This includes the specific complaint about conduct by the member at its 2014 convention.

They also found that the fundraising body’s leadership, including Lewis, should have known about sexual harassment/assault complaints from 2017 onwards based on the evidence.

It also failed to act “reasonably promptly” to the allegations up to 2018.

“We hope that our findings can support the CIOF to continue to make the vital changes needed in their organisation to create a much safer system, free from the dynamics of any form of oppression, in particular, the issues of sexual harassment/assault, that this investigation has focused on,” JEDI Consulting’s investigation concludes.

The investigation acknowledges that the CIOF has since taken action to measures to strengthen its complaints handling.

Further recommendations are made to ensure this process is simplified with clarity on how anonymous and informal complaints are addressed. Complaints handling processes also need to be reviewed on a regular basis.

‘We failed in a number of ways’

Commenting on the investigation’s findings CIOF chair Nadine Campbell said the fundraising body “wholly acknowledge that we failed in a number of ways”.

“We are deeply sorry to those who experienced sexual harassment/assault, for failing in our responses to past incidents of such behaviour and for the subsequent distress and trauma this has caused those individuals,” she said.

“We fully recognise and accept that the CIOF has made mistakes which have resulted in our failure to protect and support people in our community and has unnecessarily prolonged the pain they have had to endure.”

She said: “In particular, the CIOF apologises for not believing or supporting individuals who told us that they had been subjected to sexual harassment/assault. We did not demonstrate adequate concern or provide sufficient support for those individuals who made the very difficult decision to disclose to us what they had gone through.”

Campbell admits that the email investigated by JEDI Consulting “ought to have been provided by the CIOF” to the previous probe in 2021.

“The CIOF is very sorry for that failing and has now improved its systems to ensure this would not happen again.”

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