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New version of IoF’s guidance on the acceptance and refusal of donations
Howard Lake | 25 July 2013 | News
The Institute of Fundraising has published an updated version of its ./guidance about the policies and processes involved in the acceptance and refusal of donations.
The 'Donation Acceptance and Refusal policies and processes' document is available as a free PDF download and not just for Institute members.
The ./guidance is designed to help charities in developing a donor acceptance policy and the processes necessary to implement it.
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The 16 page document has been developed with assistance from members of the Researchers in Fundraising group, some of whom encounter potential problems when researching a potential major donor.
It has also been checked through by three firms of solicitors who specialise in charity law. Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP have verified that the references to legislation which need to be considered are accurate in respect of the law in England and Wales as at August 2012. Turcan Connell have verified references to legislation from a Scottish viewpoint, and Edwards and Co. Solicitors have verified references to legislation from a Northern Ireland viewpoint.
Guidance for charity trustees
The ./guidance has been produced for charity trustees who "must act reasonably and prudently in the interests of their charity in pursuing the charity’s purposes, as set out in its constitution".
Some charities refer to their policy as ‘donor due diligence’, ‘corporate engagement’ or ‘ethical’ policies.
Content of ./guidance
The document covers:
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Why having a policy is important
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Creating and developing policies/processes – considerations of issues to be included
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Processes – how to gather, use and store information
- Implementation – how to run the process and ensure its use
It is not meant to replace or act as a substitute for organisation's policies on these issues, but should serve as useful ./guidance for such policies.
Problems charities have faced with accepting donations
Charities can find themselves facing difficulties accepting donations. The ./guidance document gives three examples:
- When the News of the World newspaper closed in the wake of a phone hacking scandal, a number of charities were offered free advertising
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and a share of the profits from the final edition.
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A convicted paedophile left a legacy to three charities in their will. One of which was a charity working with children.
- A well-known, and highly regarded, English university received a controversial donation from a tobacco firm.
The key is to have a general policy that gives independent ./guidance should a challenge like this be faced.
Photo: Thumbs up, thumbs down – Vladimir Gjorgiev on Shutterstock.com
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.