Preliminary Report on Charity Fraud Awareness Week 2025

Ten years ago, “the idea that charities could fall victim to fraud was met with disbelief. The term ‘fraud’ had to be used cautiously, and the notion that charities were targeted seemed far-fetched.”

A decade later, the participants in a popular annual event called Charity Fraud Awareness Week are no longer doubters. They have seen the hard data. For many, the evidence hits close to home: insider fraud is sadly all too commonplace. It is one of philanthropy’s major problems. There is an  urgent need to combat this menace which repeatedly morphs into new and different forms, particularly as new technologies emerge.

This Charity Fraud Awareness campaign began as a UK endeavor spearheaded by its Fraud Advisory Council and the Charity Commission of England and Wales. This effort expanded into a global group of “charities, regulators, law enforcers and other not-for-profit stakeholders.” The coalition notably includes government representatives from several Commonwealth nations as well the United States. American partners include the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the National Association of State Charity Officials (NASCO).

All of these participants “have joined forces to focus on “raising awareness of fraud and cybercrime affecting organizations and to create a safe space for charities and their supporters to talk about fraud and share good practice.”

This year, Charity Fraud Awareness Week 2025 runs from December 8-12, 2025. In recent years, a much-anticipated highlight of the annual event has been the presentation and discussion of the results of a survey (of UK charities) conducted jointly by the Fraud Advisory Council and BDO Nonprofit. This year, however, there has been an unexplained delay in the release of a full survey analysis and report. The sponsors have released only a preliminary summary.

The full report is now planned for release in January 2026.  It will likely reveal crucial current data about the broad scope and all-too-common instances of deception, misappropriation, and other wrongdoing by bad actors: strangers as well as insiders. It will also include year-over-year comparisons, predictions for the next twelve months, and valuable advice on how to guard against these dangers or how to catch perpetrators and recover losses.

We’ve covered this story extensively, particularly since 2019. See: Charity Fraud Awareness Push (November 6, 2019); Charity Fraud: Often, It’s “Inside the House” (November 16, 2021); New Charity Fraud Awareness Survey 2023 is Out (November 30, 2023); and Snapshot Summary: Charity Fraud Awareness Week 2024 (November 30, 2024).

The Survey Report Summary

The two lead authors of the 2025 Charity Fraud Survey are Tracey Kenworthy, BDO’s Counter Fraud Director, and Matthew Field, head of the Fraud Advisory Panel. Echoing the campaign theme for this year –  “together against charity fraud” – they emphasized in the preliminary Summary how they have set the tone of continuing cooperation and sharing of information and strategies. “Together, we have worked diligently to raise the profile of fraud affecting charities, focusing on key trends and offering insights into how charities can  better protect themselves.”

The preliminary data presented a day or so ago will be more meaningful when the full report is released in January 2026 with more extensive – and current – numbers.

Web Homepage

“StopCharityFraud” continues in effect as an awareness hashtag and campaign via social media all year long. The purpose is to urge (and assist) donors and charities to be vigilant in recognizing red flags (e.g., pressure tactics, strange contact info); to uncover new schemes and scams; to institute systems and procedures as safeguards against outsider intrusions or embezzlement; and to report suspicious activity to organizations like the FTC or to state and local law-enforcement or regulatory authorities.

The website for the “StopCharityFraud” campaign and “Charity Fraud Awareness Week”is Preventing Charity Fraud, preventcharityfraud.org.uk. The current website retains the format and the excellent, in-depth, content from prior years under the “Resources” Tab.

Among the interesting new entries are:

• AI And Your Charity: A Friendly Starter Guide
• Protecting Purpose: Charity View On Tackling Fraud (December 9, 2025) Lucy Morgan, Breast Cancer Now, preventcharityfraud.org/blog

More items are added regularly.

Separate Sleuthing

A simple Google search using the hashtag “StopCharityFraud” or the slogan “Charity Fraud Awareness Week” unlocks a separate treasure trove of information submitted by members of the charitable community, by professional advisors, and others offering the type of cooperation and collaboration that the sponsors of the Charity Fraud Awareness campaign emphasize.

Similarly, there is gold on the various social media platforms. Insert the same type of generalized prompt in the sites’ search boxes; it will yield a mountain of information. In particular, LinkedIn is a gem for serious information-sharing by professionals. The platform is emerging as a successor of sorts to what Twitter used to be in its heyday.

Google search examples:

• Fraud Stop Newsletter – Charity Edition (December 2, 2025) TIAA, [“real-life case studies and outcomes to keep you informed and strengthen your fraud prevention strategies”]
• Fraud prevention in grantmaking: practical lessons from the front line (November 11, 2025) Gino Brancazio, Lightning Reach

LinkedIn search example: 

• Charity Fraud Awareness Week Is Here! December 8–12, 2025  (December 9, 2025) Sask Nonprofit [warns about popular new scam involving fake donor checks followed immediately by requests for  refund]

Conclusion

In tumultuous times, fraud doesn’t take a vacation. If anything, scam artists accelerate their efforts since chaos results in staff losses and breakdown of systems and safeguards.

Despite other problems and pressures, now is not the time to relax vigilance.

– Linda J. Rosenthal, J.D., FPLG Information & Research Director