Ethical Fundraising Statement

Young Camden Foundation (YCF) aims to encourage and assist its members, partners and supporters in connecting and working together to form innovative and sustainable opportunities for young people in Camden.

YCF believes that all children and young people in Camden should have the support and opportunity to thrive. YCF aims to provide a new model of local support that focuses on building capacity, better equipping the community with resources and funding, and connecting organisations to develop new and entrepreneurial approaches to support children and young people.

Our Ethical Fundraising Policy holds us to high standards of ethics and social responsibility within our fundraising. All YCF staff involved in fundraising have a responsibility to be aware and have a thorough understanding of the ethical issues referred to in this policy.

Supporters

YCF complies with the Charity Commission and UK law in every respect, including regarding openness and honesty with our supporters and members of the public. We publish annual statements on our website that show how donations and other income is spent, and how we manage donor’s information responsibly.

How we raise funds

YCF uses a mixed approach to raising funds: Approaching local and national funders, and Trust and Foundations; securing corporate investment, crowdfunding and social investment; and winning service delivery contracts from public and national government departments.

Our primary objective is to increase long-term investment in the local children and young people sector. As such, we are committed to fundraising in accordance with the following set of principles:

  • We will avoid, where possible, competing for funding with our members, thereby only seek funding to deliver activities that are not already being delivered by one or more of our members
  • We will, as far as possible, work collaboratively with our members to explore new fundraising opportunities
  • We will promote sustained investment in the children and young people sector and will support our members with securing long-term funding.

We will respect the privacy and contact preferences of all donors. We do not solicit donations by ‘cold calling’ by telephone or door-to-door collections, and we do not share personal information provided to YCF with any other organisation. We never pressure anyone to make a donation and take particular care to avoid asking vulnerable people for donations. We will respond promptly to requests to cease contacts or complaints and act as best we can to address their causes.

We will adhere to the Fundraising Code of Practice. We will monitor fundraisers, volunteers and third parties working with us to raise funds, to ensure that they comply with the Code of Fundraising Practice

Refusals & Returned Donations

The responsibility of judgement on whether YCF should refuse a donation lays with the Chief Executive Officer. However, due diligence on all donations will be conducted and the results will be shared with the YCF board along with recommendation from Chief Executive Officer.

Donations will be assessed according to an established criteria which will include the following questions:

  • Do their activities conflict with ours and our stated mission
  • Is there a reputational issue that is likely to impact future fundraising or ability to partner?

Donations from new business partners over £10,000 will require approval from YCF trustee board with a simple majority vote.

The trustee board will conduct an annual review of donors. In the event of an issue arising about an existing donor, the Chief Executive Officer will inform the trustee board for review and discussion. Any decisions will be made in consideration of the impact on existing services and support.

We will not solicit or accept donations from companies or individuals who participate in activities which appear to be in direct conflict with the best interests of our members.

We will not accept donations that could cause detriment to the charity's reputation or could impact our future fundraising ability and licence to operate.

YCF employees, members and partners can raise concerns about donors or YCF fundraising practices in confidence directly with the YCF Chief Executive.

We abide by the law (Charities Act 1992) which requires us, in deciding whether to accept or refuse a donation, to consider which action is in the charity's best overall interest. The law states that Trustees can refuse donations if they are not in the best interests of the charity to accept.

In deciding whether to accept or refuse a particular donation, the law requires Trustees to carefully consider, on the basis of relevant law (including anti-money laundering legislation) and the evidence available to them, which course of action will be in YCF’s best interests.

A record of all refused or returned donations will be kept with the date of refusal/return and an explanation.

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