Update on checking and refusing donations
Howard Lake | 24 January 2006 | News
Sandy Adirondack has updated her legal guide’s section on the duties of charities’ governing body members under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to refuse a donation which turns out to be the proceeds of a crime.
Sandy, author of The Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook, reports that “governing body members could be prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 or other money laundering regulations if their organisation accepts a donation or loan which turns out to be the proceeds of a crime, and the governing body member or members knew or suspected that the funds represented the proceeds of crime.”
She explains that the Charity Commission’s ./guidance on charities and terrorism indicates that unsolicited donations could be suspicious, “especially if trustees are unable to satisfy themselves about the credentials of the people involved or the propriety of the donation or loan”.
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The Commission encourages charity trustees who are suspicious about a donation such that they want to refuse it to contact them.
Sandy’s update links to the relevant Charity Commission advice sheet.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.