Member Bulletin March 2026

Dear Members,

We hope your year is off to a great start. March has been a busy month for the PFRA, with the Board Away Day held in Sydney on the 5th of March. The session provided valuable time for discussion and planning as we look towards the next phase of our work.

With Easter approaching, a quick reminder that, as per the PFRA Standard, no fundraising is permitted on Good Friday (3rd April).

Below are a few key updates for March:

• PFRA Annual General Meeting 2026 – Save the Date
• Fundraiser Spotlight
• FIA Conference Follow-up
• Member Alert: Digital Bank Accounts Review
• Fundraising Principles

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to the team.

Wishing you all a happy Easter.

Thank you,

The PFRA Team

PFRA Annual General Meeting 2026 – Save the Date

This year’s Annual General Meeting of members will take place on:

Date: Friday the 29th of May
Registration: 2pm
AGM: 2:30-4pm
Venue: UTS Aerial Function Centre, Ultimo Sydney

Further details will be shared as we get closer to the date. Please RSVP here to let us know if you’ll be attending.

Farewell to Alexis Wolfe and Director Elections 2026

This year sees one of our wonderful and longstanding charity directors, Alexis Wolfe, sadly retiring from the board as she has served an amazing three terms! Since joining the board, she has brought her well-known enthusiasm, energy and positivity to every discussion, meeting, and decision. She will be greatly missed by the whole PFRA team, but we know she’ll continue to be a huge advocate for our work and F2F across the sector.

The silver lining in this cloud however is that this provides an opportunity for another amazing charity fundraiser to join the board and help shape the future of this vital channel. Further details and the application form can be found here. If you would like a confidential discussion with either the CEO or Chair on the role and its requirements, please email admin@pfra.org.au

Forms must be submitted by 5pm on Thursday 16th April. Shortlisted candidates will be notified by Friday 24th April. The election will be held online as in previous years on 21st to 22nd May to provide as many members with the opportunity to vote as possible. You will receive your electronic ballots on the morning of Thursday 21st May.

Fundraiser Spotlight

Niamh, representing MSF through The Fin Agency, recently received glowing feedback from a PFRA mystery shopper during a visit to Rothwell Shopping Centre. The shopper reported being genuinely moved by the interaction, noting that Niamh and her colleagues were exceptionally friendly, professional and engaging. The experience stood out as a great example of face-to-face fundraising done well, in that it was respectful, authentic, and impactful. Thank you to Niamh for representing both MSF and the sector so positively.

If you receive positive feedback about your fundraisers that you would like to share, please send it to admin@pfra.org.au. We know fundraisers have an incredibly challenging job, and we would love to highlight more of the positive engagements they have while representing PFRA member charities to the public.

FIA Conference Follow-up

At the end of February the PFRA CEO Peter Hills Jones attended the FIA Conference. It is always a good opportunity to catch up with PFRA members from across the country and discover the latest happenings in the wider fundraising sector. A highlight for Peter was seeing one of our members – Anglicare WA’s Melissa Batchelor present on the main stage talking about the importance of F2F, and how being part of the PFRA has helped the charity’s journey.

Member Alert: Digital Bank Accounts Review

Following on from the PFRA Member Alert regarding the use of digital bank accounts, the PFRA has now closed this investigation, and two fundraisers have been deregistered from the Sales Assured Register. We would like to thank all of the suppliers involved for their thorough cooperation with the PFRA and remind members to ensure all fundraisers on their campaign are on the Register. Of course, we will continue to investigate if any further information or evidence should be presented to us.

Fundraising Principles

As part of the PFRA’s ongoing efforts to reduce fundraising red-tape for its members, we are pleased to confirm that New South Wales is the latest jurisdiction to introduce the National Fundraising Principles, which go live on Wednesday 1st April 2026. NSW join Victoria, South Australia and the ACT in implementing the new laws. We encourage all members to refamiliarize themselves with the requirements here, and make sure that all fundraisers are provided with a copy as part of their training.

PFRA’s focus for the first half of 2026 is ensuring that Queensland and Western Australia follow suit to provide the nationally consistent and easy to follow rules the charity sector deserves. We are engaging with the ACNC and respective states to implement these reforms as quickly as they can.

February Quality Report

You can view the February Quality Report here or in the Updates and Publications area of the PFRA website.

It was great to see we had 8 breach free reports over February.