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Help for Heroes is proud to support this year’s Charity Fraud Awareness Week which runs from 27 November - 1 December 2023.

Now in its eighth year, Charity Fraud Awareness Week is an award-winning campaign, run by a partnership of charities, regulators, representatives, umbrella bodies and other not-for-profit stakeholders, across the world.

Its aim is to bring together the third sector to share knowledge, expertise, and good practice in fraud prevention when many in the sector continue to remain susceptible to fraud and cybercrime.

Helen Stephenson CBE, CEO of the Charity Commission, said:

 Against a backdrop of rapid technological shifts, charity fraud is becoming ever more sophisticated and is something all charity trustees must be alert to. The first step for charities in protecting themselves is to be alert to the risk of fraud

Who is Charity Awareness Week for?

  • Supporters who donate or sign up to any of our communications
  • Trustees, directors, board members, staff and volunteers  
  • Organisations that represent the interests of the sector and/or act as their voice
  • Accountants, auditors, solicitors and insurers acting as advisors to the sector 
  • Regulators, law enforcers and policymakers who work to safeguard the sector
  • Anyone else who wishes to protect the sector and its valuable work. 

It's important that charities are alert to the risks of fraud and that we take steps to ensure that our money, people and data remain safe. This is why we have signed up to the charity fraud pledge, launched last year. The pledge sets out six basic steps that any and all charities can and should take to help prevent fraud.

Help for Heroes pledges to actively prevent fraud regardless of where it may occur in our organisation by:

  1. Appointing a suitable person to champion counter fraud work within our organisation.
  2. Ensuring that all of our trustees are made aware of the legal duty they have to protect the charity and its assets.
  3. Working with our staff, volunteers & trustees to identify threats of fraud & work to prevent them
  4. Writing a fraud policy and share it with staff, trustees & volunteers to ensure everyone knows what fraud is and how to prevent it.
  5. Regularly performing checks on individuals & organisations who we share a financial relationship with.
  6. Annually assessing our fraud controls taking into account new risks that may have emerged. 
Charity Fraud Awareness Week 2023
Charity Fraud Awareness Week 2023 - Preventing Charity Fraud

We encourage other third-sector organisations to sign up too, particularly at a time when, more than ever before, charities need to be aware of the risks from fraud and take appropriate steps to ensure their money, people and data are kept safe.

For more information about Charity Fraud Awareness Week visit: preventcharityfraud.org.uk and/or join the conversation at #StopCharityFraud