Ethical Fundraising and Donation Policy
POLICY STATEMENT
Prince’s Trust International has been supporting young people worldwide since 2015. We were founded by HRH The Prince of Wales to tackle the global crisis in youth unemployment, building on four decades of experience in the UK.
Our mission is to empower young people to learn, work and thrive. We provide opportunities to develop the skills and confidence to succeed and deliver tangible employment outcomes. We blend our expertise with a global network of local partners and develop programmes and interventions to help young people to build their own futures.
Our programmes and interventions are now present in 17 countries within the Commonwealth and beyond, across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Europe.
Our partners and the generous support of our diverse community of donors, fundraisers and volunteers enable us to meet our charitable objectives. We are committed to making decisions that are both in line with our charitable objectives and in the best interests of the young people we are here to support.
This policy ensures that we do not compromise our mission and values when raising income. It governs the acceptance of funds by Prince’s Trust International especially where there is a perceived risk to our programming staff, reputation, financial position, or brand in accepting the donation. It also ensures we have a robust decision-making process for all donations and partnership opportunities.
The Board of Trustees is ultimately responsible for this policy and reviews this, as appropriate, with the support of the charity’s Risk, Audit and Finance Committee.
HOW DO WE ACCEPT AND REFUSE DONATIONS?
Prince’s Trust International has a number of ethical fundraising and reputational risk indicators, which enable us to assess all donations or funding opportunities. We review these on an individual basis to balance out the help we could give young people 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 young people’s chances to succeed and potential negative impacts to the reputation of Prince’s Trust International.
To enable us to make an informed decision, we carry out appropriate research in line with our Privacy Policy. If, following this research, any of the risk indicators are identified or a donation is valued at £100,000 or more, this shall be escalated to the Director of Fundraising, Senior Head of Finance and CEO. All three of these must agree to proceed, except that in the event that one of these is absent and a decision needs to be made then such a decision may be made by any two of these plus an additional member of the Senior Leadership Team. If consensus cannot be achieved, or if the aforementioned decision-makers consider a matter should be escalated further for decision, the matter shall be referred to the charity’s Risk, Audit and Finance Committee.
Where the Director of Fundraising, Senior Head of Finance or CEO feel additional guidance would aid in the decision-making process, they may refer any case to the Prince’s Trust Ethical Fundraising and Reputational Risk Committee (“EFRR”). It is acknowledged that any guidance provided by the EFRR is solely to assist in decision-making and shall not be a substitute for a decision made by Prince’s Trust International.
Where material concerns are raised about funds that have already been received by Prince’s Trust International, the Risk, Audit and Finance Committee will review and determine the most appropriate course of 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.
Prince’s Trust International reserves the right to refuse donations or terminate partnerships without reason being provided, where the activities or the individual or organisation conflict with our goal of helping to transform the lives of young people internationally.
Prince’s Trust International is registered with the Fundraising Regulator. We endeavour to carry out our fundraising activities in line with the Code of Fundraising Practice, this policy and the expectations of our supporters. We are signed up to the Fundraising Preference Service, which gives the public control over the fundraising communications they receive.
CONTACT
For queries relating to this policy, please contact Kat.Farram@princestrustinternational.org