Gift Acceptance Policy

Overview

Help Musicians is the working name of the Musicians Benevolent Fund (a registered charity number 228089 in England and Wales and SC049625 in Scotland). For nearly a century the charity has provided help, support, and opportunity to empower musicians through all stages of their lives. We are over 100 years old and passionate about creating a world where musicians thrive.

We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and adhere to the standards of good practice set out in the Code of Fundraising Practice. We comply with all legal requirements relating to GDPR legislation (2016÷679) and promise to act in a transparent and open way in all communications with our donors and potential donors.

Like many other charities, our work is only possible through external funding. Help Musicians seeks and receives funding from a range of sources including individuals, companies, charitable trusts and foundations, and legators ensuring that we can continue our vital work supporting musicians across the UK to thrive. 
 

Help Musicians Trustees are responsible for assessing and managing any risks to the charity’s activities, beneficiaries, property, work, and reputation. Money laundering, tax evasion, proceeds of crime and adverse publicity about a donor are examples of how a charity could be exposed to criminal liability or reputational damage. Help Musicians therefore requires an appropriate due diligence policy covering solicitation, gift acceptance and refusals, to provide staff, particularly those who deal with fundraising, with the relevant guidance when seeking major gifts and substantial donations.

We have set out the following policies to ensure that the risk of accepting inappropriate external funding support is mitigated, so far as is reasonably possible. This is for the benefit of our organisation and for those we are here to support. 

External funding will ensure we can continue our vital work supporting musicians from this centenary to the next. We therefore seek income from a wide variety of donors, and this policy covers the solicitation and acceptance of such gifts.

Help Musicians is an independent registered charity and will always observe the requirements of charity law and all other relevant legislation in relation to the receipt and expenditure of funds. Ultimate responsibility for the acceptance and refusal of gifts sits with the Trustees of Help Musicians; however, the day-to-day decision-making has been delegated to key executive members within the charity. The Trustees are responsible for approving this policy which sets out a framework on which donations, gifts and legacies may be accepted. The policy will be reviewed annually by the CEO with any recommendations for amendments to be approved by the charity Trustees. 

The General Principles and Procedures for Gift Acceptance are detailed in Appendix 1.

The Director of Fundraising will be responsible to the Chief Executive for ensuring the day-to-day adherence of this policy. Responsibility for undertaking due diligence in line with the policy falls to the fundraising staff, who will obtain and bring forward all relevant evidence before making a recommendation or seeking further guidance about a particular gift.

Risks related to the charity’s external funding activities may include:

• Proceeds of crime — anonymous cash donations or donations via anonymous or unknown third parties may be a means of disposing of the proceeds of crime.
• Tax avoidance/​evasion — donors may seek tax relief on their donation while at the same time seeking private benefit as a result of their donation (e.g., insist that the charity purchase services from an associated company as a condition of the donation)
• Money laundering — donors can make loans to charities as a means of laundering money through a charity or they can make donations with specific restrictions as to which partner or project is to be funded as a means of transferring funds overseas and disguising the origin of the funds.
• Damage to reputation as a result of accepting an inappropriate donation.

Staff members putting forward a recommended donation must undertake reasonable due diligence and desk-based research on the financial and reputational dealings of potential supporters before donations are accepted. This will include, but is not limited to, research on company websites, publicly available account information, previous philanthropic activities, and media coverage. It will also include checking Director appointments against the UK Sanctions List at FCDO — UK Sanctions List Search — GOV​.UK. Only publicly available data will be used or stored.

Adequate records of all gifts will be kept by members of the Fundraising Team in the charity’s CRM database to ensure a proper audit trail, if required.

Charity Trustees will be provided with a quarterly update report on the status of fundraising to allow insight into the operation of this policy. 

Help Musicians is grateful for all pledges of support but reserves the right to refuse or return donations in certain cases where:

• There is any concern raised in relation to the Bribery Act 2010 or any suggestion that the donating party is seeking to influence the charity’s governance or executive decision-making for its own ends.
• There is any concern that the donation may have a significant negative impact on the charity’s reputation (e.g. the reputation or activities of the donor risk discouraging audiences or compromising other sources of funding/​donations).
• The cost of servicing the donation is greater than its value, or unreasonable in terms of its size or impact on the work of the charity.
• The gift would create an unacceptable conflict of interest.
• The gift would be in direct opposition to the charity’s mission, vision, and values.
• There is concern that the donor was lacking the mental capacity to understand the consequences of donating.
• The restrictions or conditions attached to the gift cannot reasonably be met by the charity, have burdensome administrative requirements, or could negatively impact on the charity’s mission, independence, or finances.

There may be occasions when Help Musicians will have to turn down opportunities of external funding, including gifts-in-kind and objects, where Help Musicians believe that acceptance could have a significant detrimental effect on its reputation or where there are legal concerns about the donation.

The Fundraising team must be aware of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and that it applies to money or other property that has been obtained through conduct that is criminal under UK law, even if obtained in ways that are legal in another country.

Help Musicians is committed to safeguarding the privacy of personal data and complying with the European General Data Protection Regulation (2016÷679), and any future changes in data protection legislation that Help Musicians is required to comply with.

Full details of our Privacy Policy can be found at www​.help​musi​cians​.org​.uk/​p​r​i​v​a​c​y​-​p​olicy

If you would like to make a complaint about the fundraising practice of Help Musicians, please send this in writing addressed to the attention of Charlie Hill, Director of Fundraising, through one of the following methods:

• Via email to fundraising@​helpmusicians.​org.​uk
• Via post to: Director of Fundraising, Help Musicians, 7 – 11 Britannia Street, London WC1X 9JS

Under the guidance of the Fundraising Regulator, we will respond to all complaints within 4 weeks of receipt. 

We monitor and record any complaints about our fundraising efforts, and this data will be shared with the Fundraising Regulator on request. If you do not feel that our response is satisfactory, please contact the Fundraising Regulator directly using their online complaints form, which you can find here.

For internal staff members and charity volunteers, you may report any concerns that you have about the fundraising practice of Help Musicians as per the guidance within the charity’s wider whistleblowing policy. 

The following principles and procedures apply to all kinds and sizes of gifts.

1. Gifts may be accepted through the charity’s Fundraising Team (inclusive of Individual Giving, Community Fundraising, Philanthropy, Corporate Partnerships, Trusts and Foundations and Events) as well as legacies and other teams supporting fundraising activities, as appropriate.

2. Members of staff dealing with gifts will take all reasonable measures to ensure that they are aware of the source of the gift. Due diligence will be undertaken to ensure that gifts are for purposes consistent with the charity’s mission, in line with its values, to ensure that no reputational issues are raised by their acceptance. This includes offences under the Criminal Finances Act.

Due diligence procedures will be:
a. Assessing whether the acceptance of the gift helps meet the charity’s mission and further its objectives.
b. Ensuring that the charity can fulfil any resulting obligations from accepting the gift.
c. To establish whether any reputational issues may arise as a result of the charity accepting the donation.

A gift should not be accepted if:

• There is any concern raised in relation to the Bribery Act 2010 or any suggestion that the donating party is seeking to influence the charity’s governance or executive decision-making for its own ends.
• There is any concern that the donation may have a significant negative impact on the charity’s reputation (e.g. the reputation or activities of the donor risks discouraging audiences or compromising other sources of funding/​donations).
• The cost of servicing the donation is greater than its value, or unreasonable in terms of its size or impact on the work of the charity.
• The gift would create an unacceptable conflict of interest.
• The gift would be in direct opposition to the charity’s mission, vision, and values.
• There is concern that the donor was lacking the mental capacity to understand the consequences of donating.
• The restrictions or conditions attached to the gift cannot reasonably be met by the charity, have burdensome administrative requirements, or could negatively impact on the charity’s mission, independence, or finances.

4. Members of staff must make their manager aware of any perceived personal or real conflicts of interest associated with any proposed gift. If there is any concern in relation to the gift, these should be raised directly with the Heads of Fundraising teams who will refer the matter to the Director of Fundraising.

5. Appropriate records demonstrating the appraisal of gifts should be recorded in the charity’s fundraising database.

6. All fundraising staff will maintain appropriate records to enable tax to be reclaimed under the UK Gift Aid scheme. This will be an auditable record for every gift and donor (individual, trust or corporate), held in the charity’s fundraising database which will also demonstrate the nature of the contribution and any benefits provided such as fund designation and naming rights.

Levels of authority when accepting Gifts

1. Due diligence checks into small cash donors and their donations will not normally be necessary unless there are other risk factors present (e.g. an anonymous donation where we are unable to track the source of funding).

2. Gifts of up to £5,000 will normally be accepted by the charity’s Fundraising team without further investigation if the donor is already known to the charity and there is no reason to suggest any further evaluation is required.

3. Any gift which is above £5,000 and the donor is not known to the charity should be referred to the Director of Fundraising for reference. The Director of Fundraising will refer the matter to the Chief Executive if there is cause for concern.

4. All gifts above £50,000 will be referred to the Board through the Chair of the Communications and Development Committee following a process of due diligence carried out by the Director of Fundraising or Chief Executive.

5. The Director of Fundraising will also refer gifts to the Chair of the Communications and Development Committee for advice in the event that a gift is of a high-profile nature or of a specific risk profile which the Committee may wish to consider further.

6. The Director of Fundraising will provide a bi-annual report of all gifts above £10,000 to the Communications and Development Committee to allow for visibility.