FUNDRAISING POLICY

Policy Statement

Home Again is a Registered Charity and relies on income from fundraising to secure its organisational activities.

We must ensure that by undertaking fundraising activities we uphold any legal, statutory or regulatory requirements, and maintain our reputation and adherence to our company values.

This Policy provides guidance on how fundraising at Home Again will be managed to ensure that we maintain these standards and provide reassurance and transparency to our donors and sponsors of our processes.

We are registered with the Charity Regulator and are committed to maintaining good practice in fundraising.

This Policy will be reviewed every three years or more frequently as legislation, guidance from official bodies or industry best practise changes.

Definitions

Home Again fundraises through the following means:

“Sponsorship” is where a business provides money in order to secure the marketing and promotion of its business name, products, services or image. Sponsorship may also include the giving of services or goods for the same in return. It is usually a taxable supply (see VAT appendix).

A “donation” is a gift for which no direct benefit is sought. A donation may take various forms including cash, services or goods and can be from an individual or an organisation.  The following donations to approved bodies qualify for tax relief: (i) a minimum donation of €250 (ii) a maximum donation of €1,000,000 in any one year. The donation must be: (i) be in the form of money or designated securities (quoted shares and debentures) or a combination of both (ii) not be repayable to the donor (iii) not benefit the donor or anyone connected to the donor (iv) not be a condition of connected with any arrangement involved in obtaining a property other than by way of a gift from the donor to the Approved Body.

A “grant” is cash given to an individual or an organisation for a specific purpose. There is an obligation to fulfil any criteria the funding body may place upon the grant i.e. to ensure the project that is funded satisfies their aims and objectives and proceeds as outlined during the grant application process. Funding bodies usually require some level of profile in return for their grant and this should be in proportion to the size of grant and agreed in writing before accepting the grant. This is usually in the form of a logo or line credit with agreed wording in publicity.   Grants should always be documented in some form of written agreement between the parties.  Grants are not subject to VAT, unless we are providing goods or services in return.

Requirements

Home Again will only accept funds if they meet the following requirements:

  • Benefit: there are strong grounds for believing it will result in achieving the Home Again mission. The benefit sought should be viewed as good value for the level of support given and the resource required to secure it.
  • Integrity: the company, organisation, partnership or activity will not bring Home Again into disrepute, damage our reputation or integrity, or be likely to result in loss of income for example through
  • Strategic fit: partnerships, activities and the objectives of companies or organisations we work with, do not contradict the Home Again mission, aims and objectives.
  • Independence: donations, partnerships or activities do not compromise our independent status.
  • Influence: there is no attempt on the part of the partner, donor, company, or organisation to influence our policy or actions either explicitly or implicitly. All funding must operate within the requirements of the Home Again Anti-Fraud and Financial Controls Policy.
  • Legality: partnerships, activities and the wider business activities of partner companies or organisations must be, as far as we can ascertain, wholly legal under applicable law.
  • Codes of Practice: acceptance of donations, partnerships and activities must comply with the Fundraising Regulator Code of Fundraising Practice.
  • Standards: the partnership, company or organisation and activity must meet any appropriate and associated national or international standards and abide by any relevant regulations.

 

Board of Director Responsibilities

Final responsibility for actions under this Policy and our Fundraising Strategy rests with the Home Again Board of Directors, who will be able to demonstrate they act in ‘the best interests of the charity’.  This means Directors will not be influenced by personal moral perspectives or judgements, or derive any personal benefit from funding to the charity.

Trustees will declare a conflict of interest where it exists.  All reasonable efforts will be taken to ensure the source of donations adheres to anti-money laundering legislation and all monies received are from ethical sources.

Authority to Proceed

All gifts (including sponsorships) should be channelled through the Finance and Fundraising Sub-Committee to ensure they are documented and handled in line with this Policy & company procedures.

Gifts can only be accepted providing that appropriate authority for approval has been secured.

The thresholds for approval are as follows:

Gifts up to €5,000 = Finance Sub-Committee approval
Gifts above €5,000 until €25,000 = Board approval
Gifts above €25,000 until €75,000 = Board  approval
Gifts above €75,000 = Full Board approval

All gifts above €75,000 should be discussed in the Finance and Fundraising Sub-Committee (to ensure ethical and regulatory compliance) before being brought to the Board for approval.

Transparency

A copy of this policy will be displayed on our website and given to any third parties who undertake any fundraising on our behalf.

Process of Managing Corporate Sponsorship

Before a sponsorship can be secured, the following steps must be undertaken:

Research: businesses approached should be researched to ensure  a best fit in line with this policy.

Valuation: benefits to be offered to a sponsor must be valued to ensure proposals are fair and reasonably priced.

Benefits: all crediting & branding permitted must be agreed in advance based on the valuation.

Invoicing: full payment should be received before the activity sponsored takes place.

Contracting: all sponsorships over €1,000 should be documented with a written contract.

Evaluation: sponsors should be provided with an evaluation demonstrating return on investment after the activity.

Review: sponsors should not be contracted for longer than 3 years without consideration of whether the partnership still presents best value for Home Again.

All sponsorship is unrestricted income to the charity as a service provided in return for payment.

All sponsorships should be recorded by the Financial Administrator.

Process for Managing Donations and Grants

When a donation or a grant is received, staff should ensure the following:

  • Clarify where the donation or grant will be spent and whether it should be treated as unrestricted or restricted funds.
  • Document the gift and log any relevant details agreed such as management of the gift and activity funded, decision making for any changes to the activity supported, payment schedule etc.
  • Procedure for thanking the funder, ensuring that benefits of significant financial value are not given that will conflict with this policy or significantly off-set the value of the gift.  

Data Protection   

Home Again will administer all fundraising in line with its Data Protection Policy.

Funders will never be given direct access to mailing lists or data held by Home Again unless it has the express permission of the data subject.

All funders have a right to request access to their data and may obtain this by contacting the Director of Operations.

Home Again acknowledges the donor’s right to privacy and will uphold the values of the Fundraising Regulator’s Fundraising Best Practice.

Should any funder or donor wish to make a complaint about fundraising, then they may do so under the Home Again Complaints and Compliments Policy.

Use of agencies & third parties

On occasion, we may work with third parties, sponsorship agencies, consultants and partners on our fundraising.  Where such parties are engaged, they must also adhere to this policy.

The use of their services must be communicated to prospective donors and the value of their use must be assessed to ensure that significant ROI on is obtained.

External reference materials:

Revenue Guidelines Donations:
www.revenue.ie/en/personal-tax-credits-reliefs-and-exemptions/donations-and-covenants/charitable-donations

Charity Regulator:
www.charitiesregulator.ie/en

  • Guidelines for Charitable Organisations on Fundraising from the Public
  • Comments, Compliments and Complaints
  • Trustee Duties