Complaints policy

Sometimes things do go wrong or we may not get the balance right despite our best endeavours, and when that happens we strive to remedy it and use the opportunity to learn from any mistakes.

The aims of this Policy are:

• to ensure that the importance and value of our supporters' comments and complaints is acknowledged across the Art Fund

• to provide a clear route by which members and supporters can raise concerns about a service they have received or an action taken by Art Fund, and clear guidelines to staff to assist them

• to ensure that complaints are dealt with fairly, promptly and sensitively, we learn from our mistakes and use feedback from our members and supporters to continuously improve services.

1. Definition of a Complaint

A complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not and however made, about the standard of or the delivery of service, the actions or lack of action by the Art Fund, or its staff,which affects a supporter or a member of the public.

2. What does this Policy cover?

This Policy covers complaints made by any person or organisation who uses or receives a service from the Art Fund. This definition includes:

a) Individual and Corporate Membership
b) Donations and Sponsorship
c) Legacies, bequests and gifts
d) Website and other Art Fund microsites including any Art Fund applications
e) E-newsletters and other e-communications sent by Art Fund
f) Digital products
g) Events organised by Art Fund
h) Art Quarterly and Art Map publications
i) Grants for acquisitions and other Art Fund funding schemes
j) Campaigning activities and Special Appeals
k) Marketing materials, mailings, promotions and awareness campaigns

This Policy does not cover complaints from members of staff, trainees, apprentices or persons on work placements, involving working conditions, pay or other internal grievances, nor complaints about the internal services provided by one Department to another.

A complaint can be made on behalf of an individual by a relative, carer, solicitor or other third party. In these cases evidence may be required to confirm that the complainant both knows of and consents to the complaint being made and is happy for information on this matter to be shared with the third party.

Complaints from individuals who wish to remain anonymous should still be recorded and investigated, but he/she should be informed that a detailed investigation cannot be carried out if the complaint is about the service delivered to that individual or about the attitude of a member of staff.

3. Confidentiality

All complaint information will be handled sensitively, telling only those who need to know and following any relevant data protection requirements including Art Fund’s privacy policy.

4. Responsibility

Overall responsibility for this policy and its implementation lies with Art Fund’s Senior Management Team.

5. Complaints Policy

Our policy is:

• To provide a fair complaints procedure which is clear and easy to use for anyone wishing to make a complaint

• To publicise the existence of our complaints procedure so that people know how to contact us to make a complaint

• To make sure everyone at Art Fund knows what to do if a complaint is received

• To make sure all complaints are investigated fairly and in a timely way

• To make sure that complaints are, wherever possible, resolved and that relationships are repaired

• To gather information which helps us to improve what we do

6. Making a complaint

A complaint can be made by phone, by email or in writing.

Written complaints may be sent:

• by post to Supporter Services, Art Fund at 2 Granary Square, King's Cross, London N1C 4BH or

• by e-mail at members@artfund.org

Verbal complaints may be made by phone to 0203 757 9772

7. Social media complaints and third party websites

Complaints made via social media or a third party website which are not received through our formal channels will not go through the resolution process below.

Instead, we aim to acknowledge all social media complaints and respond to these with a request that a complaint is made via the above channels.

We may also respond in this way if a complaint is made through another channel such as a third party website.

8. Receiving a complaint

Complaints may arrive through channels publicised for that purpose in section 6 or through any other contact details or opportunities the complainant may have.

Art Fund staff and external service providers will:

• welcome and react positively to all feedback received, whether this is in the form of complaints, comments or suggestions.

• aim to address any problems raised at the earliest stage possible by suggesting a course of action to remedy the situation

• deal with complaints fairly, thoroughly and sensitively

Complaints received by telephone or in person need to be recorded. The person who receives a phone or in person complaint should:

• Write down the facts of the complaint

• Take the complainant's name, address and telephone number

• Note down the relationship of the complainant to Art Fund (for example: member, website user...)

• Tell the complainant that we have a complaints procedure

• Tell the complainant what will happen next and how long it will take

• Where appropriate, ask the complainant to send a written account by post or by email so that the complaint is recorded in the complainant's own words.

• If unable to offer a course of action to remedy the situation, ensure that the details of the complaint are forwarded to the Supporter Experience and Operations Lead, Head of Individual Giving for development team complaints or Head of Programme Delivery for complaints from museums, programme partners, awardees or applicants, within 24h or the following working day.

9. Resolving Complaints Procedure

Art Fund follows a first-contact resolution approach, aiming to address any problems raised at the earliest stage possible and its staff and any service delivery providers will be empowered to resolve swiftly any difficulties reported during the first contact and should do so if possible and appropriate.

Stage One

Whether or not the complaint has been resolved and regardless of to whom it is addressed, the complaint information should be passed to the Supporter Experience and Operations Lead, for complaints relating to the development team to the Head of Individual Giving, or for complaints relating to programmes to the Head of Programme Delivery (“Initial Reviewer”), within a maximum of 24 hours or the following working day.

On receiving the complaint, the Initial Reviewer records it in the complaints log. If it has not already been resolved, the Initial Reviewer will delegate an appropriate person to investigate it if this is not themselves and to take appropriate action.

If the complaint relates to a specific person, they should be informed and given a fair opportunity to respond.

Complaints should be acknowledged by the person handling the complaint within 3 working days from receipt. The acknowledgement should say who is dealing with the complaint and when the person complaining can expect a reply. A copy of this complaints procedure should be attached.

Ideally complainants should receive a definitive reply within 10 working days of receipt. If this is not possible because for example, an investigation has not been fully completed, a progress report should be sent with an indication of when a full reply will be given.

Whether the complaint is justified or not, the reply to the complainant should describe the action taken to investigate the complaint, the conclusions from the investigation, and any action taken as a result of the complaint, as appropriate.

Stage Two

If the complainant feels that the problem has not been satisfactorily resolved at Stage One, they can request that the complaint is reviewed by the Senior Management Team. At this stage, the complaint will be passed to the Director of Audiences and Engagement, the Director of Development or the Director of Programme and Policy depending on the function to which the complaint relates.

The request for Senior Management Team level review should be acknowledged within a week of receiving it. The acknowledgement should say who will deal with the case and when the complainant can expect a reply. Art Fund will not necessarily accept a request for the complaint to be dealt with or passed to a particular individual, or dealt with by the person to whom it is addressed. This complaints policy will only be deviated from at Art Fund’s sole discretion.

The Director of Audiences and Engagement / Director of Development / Director of Programme and Policy may investigate the facts of the case personally or delegate a suitably senior person to do so. This may involve reviewing the paperwork of the case and speaking with the person who dealt with the complaint at Stage One.

If the complaint relates to a specific person, they should be informed and given a further opportunity to respond.

The person who dealt with the original complaint at Stage One should be kept informed of what is happening.

Ideally complainants should receive a definitive reply within 10 working days from the acknowledgment date. If this is not possible because for example, an investigation has not been fully completed, a progress report should be sent with an indication of when a full reply will be given.

Whether the complaint is upheld or not, the reply to the complainant should describe the action taken to investigate the complaint, the conclusions from the investigation, and any action taken as a result of the complaint.

The decision taken at this stage is final, unless the Senior Management Team decides it is appropriate to seek external assistance with resolution, except in cases where the Senior Management Team deem a complaint to be extremely serious, in which case the Senior Management Team will escalate the complaint to the Director of Art Fund, who will investigate and respond to the complaint.

External Stage

The complainant can complain to the Fundraising Regulator at any stage.
Information about the kind of complaints the Fundraising Regulator can involve itself in and the procedure for making a complaint can be found on their website at www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk

Variation of the Complaints Procedure

The Senior Management Team may vary the procedure for good reason. This may be necessary to avoid a conflict of interest, for example, a complaint about the Director of a Department should not also have the Director of the Department as the person leading a Stage Two review.

Monitoring and Learning from Complaints

Complaints are reviewed annually to identify any trends which may indicate a need to take further action.