New ethical guidance on accepting and refusing donations

Charities faced with moral decisions about whether to accept or refuse donations often have a very difficult time reaching the right decision. How to balance the never-ending need for funds against the potential threat to a charity’s reputation that could alienate future donors? Thankfully, there are a number of sources of guidance to help trustees navigate these difficult decisions. 

Some recently published, thought provoking guidance issued by Rogare and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising Take it or leave it: The ethics of gift acceptance and refusal is a useful addition to the more practical Charity Commission guidance that was updated in March this year, which we summarised in our blog. The Chartered Institute of Fundraising also publishes member-only guidance on creating gift acceptance/refusal policies – this new ethical guidance is designed to support the policy guidance but is freely available.

The report is refreshingly nuanced and addresses issues in a sensitive way. It covers a number of areas including:

• A ‘refresher on fundraising ethics’ including a boot camp in consequentialism and deontology. It makes you reflect on how you think – are you a principles or an outcomes sort of person?
• Setting out the ethical rationale for refusing ‘tainted money’.
• Exploring whether personal moral values are relevant when refusing a donation – Charity Commission guidance is clear that they should not.
• Working out whether accepting/keeping a donation would be harmful to your charity’s goals, or to wider society.
• The importance of evidencing and keeping good records of decisions.

Anyone involved in deciding whether to accept donations, and in particular anyone drafting a donations policy will hopefully find this new guidance a useful extra tool.

We have advised a range of charities on the creation of donations policies and also helped with decisions about whether to accept or refuse donations. If you have any questions about accepting donations, please contact Neil Burton [email protected].