Acceptance or refusal of donations policy

Click on the above logo to open a downloadable version of this policy

Acceptance or Refusal of Donations Policy

1. Statement

This policy sets out the principles and practices by which Rotary Jaipur Limb (“the Charity”) accepts or refuses donations and the procedures they follow.

2. Scope

The policy applies to all volunteers and complies with Charity Law as the Charity is registered as such. The document makes clear the Trustee’s legal obligations regarding the acceptance and refusal of donations. It outlines the day-to-day procedures that need to be adhered to and ensures that decisions are not taken on an ad-hoc basis but are in support of the charity’s strategy and objectives.

3. Trustees’ Legal Obligations with respect to acceptance or refusal of donations

The Trustees take overall legal responsibility for decisions relating to whether a donation is accepted or refused.

The Trustees must be able to demonstrate that they have acted in the best interest of the Charity in each case.

The Trustees have a duty to consider carefully, based on the evidence made available to them, whether the Charity’s interests will be better served by accepting or refusing the donation and to act accordingly.

These judgements must not promote any Trustee’s or volunteer’s personal moral agenda or interest and the Trustees must not allow individual or collective personal, political or ethical issues, which are not directly related to the interests of the Charity, to affect their judgment.

4. Procedures

On a day-to-day basis, the Charity’s Board of Trustees accept or refuse donations to the Rotary Jaipur Limb.

Donations are presumed to be given in good faith and in the best interest of the Charity.  However, if there is doubt or question over the acceptance of a donation (using the guiding principles set out below), then the Trustees will be presented with evidence and all relevant information for them to make a final decision on acceptance or refusal of the donation in question.

If due diligence checks reveal evidence of a crime, this must be reported to the police and/or other appropriate authorities.

5              Guiding principles

A donation must be evaluated to establish whether it would be in the best interest of the Charity to accept or refuse it.

The following principles apply:

• The donation contributes towards the charity’s overall strategy and plans
• The donor’s objectives or activities must not appear to be incompatible with the Charity’s vision, mission and values, particularly if this risk causes significant damage to the Charity’s integrity, public image or professional reputation

The Charity will refuse donations in the following circumstances:

• The Charity will not accept donations from companies or individuals whose wealth are known to result from illegal activities or where there are indications of corruption and related economic crime.
• Where the activities of a donor are directly contrary to the objectives or agreed policies of the Charity or the Charity suspects that the gift has been donated to facilitate money laundering or other criminal activity (see Appendix A – check list for unusual/high risk donations)
• Where it can be clearly shown that the cost to the Charity of accepting a donation will be greater than the value of the donation itself, and the acceptance of the donation will directly lead to a net decline in the assets of the Charity.
• Where the offer of support depends upon the fulfilment of certain conditions placed upon the Charity and any condition:

a) Is contrary to the objectives of the Charity

b) Is regarded as needing an unreasonable level of support from the Charity especially in relation to the size or impact the donation will have on the Charity’s charitable activities

c) will divert the Charity from pursuing its current objectives, policies or work priorities as a necessary result of the fulfilment of the conditions alone.

The Trustees will take great care and consideration in deciding whether to accept or refuse a donation:

• Where an offer of support is dependent upon the Charity first spending its own money or resources to facilitate the conditions of the donation, as this might place the Charity’s assets under undue and inappropriate risk. Donations should preferably be given in full upfront or alternatively in instalments linked to an agreed contract and work plan.
• Where the support, whilst reflecting the Charity’s objectives, is untenable, for example, if the Charity does not have the resources to maintain the running costs associated with the donation.
• Where the support consists of goods, services or property which the Charity cannot lawfully use, convert, exchange or sell in direct support of its charitable objectives.

6              Effectiveness of Policy

The Trustees shall review and update this policy annually if required.

Appendix A – Unusual / High Risk Donations - Record

These questions are not intended to be asked in respect of each donation, but need to be considered depending on the risk, including the size and nature of the donation and whether it appears to have any suspicious characteristics.

Reason for Query/Nature of suspicion:

Please log details here dependent on the reason ticked above:

For 1.     Please record if any other donations had been made by the same donor

For 2.     Please record the donor’s name. The Charity Commission recommends knowing the identity of donors for what would be considered “substantial” donations. It is reasonable for the organisation to insist that Trustees know of the identity of the donor but to keep this anonymous from the rest of the organisation.

For 3.     Specify the conditions attached in detail.

For 4.     Give detail of the nature of the donation and why they appear to be suspicious.

For 5.     Country the donation was made from.

For 6.     Detail of what has raised the suspicion and any substantiating evidence.

For 7.     Specific detail.

Recommendation to the trustees:

After evaluation of the donation at hand, we recommend that (tick all relevant boxes)

The above is a recommendation only, the actual decision needs to be verified by a majority agreement of the Rotary Jaipur Limb Trustees in writing (emails acceptable).

Evidence of the same needs to be attached and held with this record.

Acceptance or refusal of donations policy v2