Accepting, Refusing and Returning Donations Policy
POLICY STATEMENT
Prince’s Trust Group Company (“PT Group Co”) is a key part of The Prince’s Trust Group (“the Group”). PT Group Co is the sole Member (or equivalent) of Prince’s Trust International, Prince’s Trust Aotearoa New Zealand, Prince’s Trust Australia, Prince’s Trust Canada and Prince’s Trust USA. PT Group Co is also an additional Member of The Prince’s Trust alongside each of the existing 12 Trustees/Members of The Prince’s Trust.
The role of PT Group Co is to support the other six Prince’s Trust charities and to encourage a common sense of purpose and strategy across the Group through sharing best practice, raising Group funds, demonstrating our shared impact and managing shared risks.
Our partners and the generous support of our community of donors enable us to meet our charitable objectives.
PT Group Co is committed to making decisions that are both in line with our charitable objectives and in the best interests of the beneficiaries we are here to support, and in accordance with guidelines published by the Charity Commission, The Fundraising Regulator and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising. This policy ensures that we do not compromise our mission and values when raising funds.
This policy governs the acceptance of funds by PT Group Co where, in doing so, this could be unlawful; or be contrary to our charitable objectives; or have a detrimental impact on our beneficiaries; or where we have good reason to believe that there is a circumstance where accepting a donation would be unethical.
Potential detrimental impacts to the Charity include reputational damage that may lead to a loss of support both in the short or long term. Particular care must be exercised if the activities or reputation of a potential donor may give rise to a perceived reputational risk.
Along with implementing this policy, PT Group Co has a robust decision-making process for donations and partnership opportunities that are deemed a significant risk. While this policy sets out our general approach to these matters, decisions to accept, refuse or refund a donation will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The policy applies to PT Group Co. For any information requests concerning other members of the Group, we will endeavour to redirect these requests in a timely way.
The Board of Trustees of PT Group Co is ultimately responsible for this policy, with the support of the senior management of PT Group Co and relevant colleagues from the Group, in particular the Ethical Fundraising and Reputational Risk (EFRR) Committee of The Prince’s Trust.
HOW DO WE ACCEPT AND REFUSE DONATIONS?
Our community of supporters are vital to enabling us to achieve our charitable objectives and support thousands of beneficiaries across the globe every year. We are committed to working alongside supporters and potential supporters to raise funds in a way which has the best interests of beneficiaries at heart.
PT Group Co is very closely aligned with the ethical fundraising practices of The Prince’s Trust. Together, we share a number of ethical fundraising and reputational risk indicators, where we will assess the donation or funding opportunity. We review these on an individual basis to balance out the help we could give beneficiaries in accepting the funds against the risks of doing so. These risk indicators include, but are not limited to, association with illegal activity, activities which could have a negative impact on beneficiaries’ chances to succeed and potential negative impacts to the reputation of PT Group Co and the wider Prince’s Trust Group.
To enable us to make an informed decision, we carry out appropriate research in line with our Privacy Notice. If, following this research, a donation or partnership opportunity is deemed to be a significant risk, the Board of PT Group Co, through assessment (including advice from EFRR Committee), decides whether or not the gift should be accepted or the partnership should be pursued. The Chief Operating Officer of PT Group Co attends EFRR meetings when PT Group Co opportunities are being considered. All opportunities relating to PT Group Co discussed by the EFRR Committee will ultimately be decided by the Board of Trustees of PT Group Co.
Where material concerns are raised about funds that have already been received by PT Group Co, the Board of PT Group Co will review it and determine whether it is appropriate to retain the funds or take the required action in relation to the funds or partnership. Repeated donations or multi- year partnerships are reviewed to include any significant areas of concern that may have arisen since the previous assessment and decision was carried out.
Where we know or have good reason to believe that a supporter lacks capacity to make a decision to donate or is in a vulnerable circumstance which means they may not be able to make an informed decision, we will not accept the donation.
PT Group Co reserves the right to refuse donations or terminate partnerships without reason being provided, where the activities of the individual or organisation conflict with our mission to transform lives and build sustainable communities around the world.
LINKS TO OTHER POLICIES
Other policies which may be relevant to this policy are:
CONTACT
For queries relating to this policy, please contact dermot.finch@princes-trust.org.uk
Author: Dermot Finch, Chief Operating Officer, PT Group Co
Date approved by PT GroupCo Board: 10 Feb 2023
Next review date: Feb 2025