Fundraising Policy

Engineers Without Borders UK inspires, upskills and drives change to put global responsibility at the heart of engineering, ensuring a safe and just future for all.

Our fundraising policies aim to assist staff and volunteers seeking to attract fundraising and to ensure all fundraising is in accordance with our charitable purpose and conforms to the highest ethical standards. The policies are intended to ensure clarity and transparency for all stakeholders to minimise any risk of bringing Engineers Without Borders UK into disrepute as a result of collaborations with or fundraising from individuals or external organisations.

These fundraising policies apply to all trustees, staff, and volunteers of Engineers Without Borders UK or Engineers Without Borders UK Trading Limited, or any future subsidiary entity or affiliate of Engineers Without Borders UK.

What fundraising legislation do we follow?

Engineers Without Borders UK is proud to be registered with the Fundraising Regulator.

UK fundraising practice must follow the relevant legislation as set out in the Charities Act, other relevant legislation and local government by-laws. Fundraising is regulated by the Fundraising Regulator which holds the Code of Fundraising Practice for the UK and which makes sure all fundraising is legal, open, honest and accountable.

The Code of Fundraising Practice outlines the standards expected of all UK charitable fundraising organisations. It includes information about important principles and behaviours, and explains the standards for each different area of fundraising – for example donations, events and trust fundraising.

Donation Acceptance Policy

Engineers Without Borders UK welcomes and actively seeks fundraising, sponsorship, gifts, donations and gifts in kind [all subsequent references in these policies to “fundraising”, “sponsorship”, “gifts” or donations” applies equally to all four categories] from individuals, companies, trusts and foundations, and other organisations to support its work to deliver its charitable mission.

The Trustees are legally accountable for decisions relating to whether a donation is accepted or refused. The Trustees have a duty to consider carefully, on the basis of the evidence made available to them, whether the Engineers Without Borders UK’s interests will be better served by accepting or refusing the donation and to act accordingly.

On a day-to-day basis, the Board of Trustees delegates the responsibility to accept or refuse donations to Engineers Without Borders UK’s Chief Executive, assisted by the Leadership Team, as detailed in section 9 ‘Policy for Approval for Fundraising’.

When considering to work with a specific company, trust or foundation, a due diligence process will be followed to protect the integrity and reputation of the Engineers Without Borders UK.

In the first instance, the Head of Sustainable Growth is responsible for ensuring any potential donor is supporting the Engineers Without Borders UK in accordance with this policy. If any element of the policy is contravened, the Head of Sustainable Growth will make recommendations to the Chief Executive on the acceptance or refusal of suggested donations.

The Chief Executive will ensure that the Board of Trustees is informed on any donation that they judge could potentially raise questions to why Engineers Without Borders UK rejected it or accepted it. The Chief Executive, assisted by the Leadership Team, will present the case, any evidence and share the key decision points and procedure that was followed in that particular case.

If Engineers Without Borders UK decides to refuse a donation, we will maintain a record of our decision and the reasons for it, in accordance with our Data Protection Policy.

General Principles

Any donation must be clearly evaluated in order to establish whether it would be in the best interests of Engineers Without Borders UK to accept or refuse it. The donation will be evaluated against these factors:

The donation should contribute towards Engineers Without Borders UK’s overall strategy and plans to inspire, enable and influence the engineering community to serve all people and our planet better than ever before.
Engineers Without Borders UK should be able to successfully deliver the agreed activity and advance its mission under the conditions tied to the donation.
The donor’s own objectives or activities must not appear to be incompatible with Engineers Without Borders UK’s vision, mission and values, particularly if this risks causing significant damage to our integrity, public image or professional reputation.

Refusal criteria

Engineers Without Borders UK will refuse donations in the following circumstances:

  • Where the activities of a donor are directly contrary to the objectives or agreed policies of Engineers Without Borders UK
  • Engineers Without Borders UK suspects that the gift has been donated to facilitate money laundering or other criminal activity.
  • Where it can be clearly shown that the cost of accepting a donation will be greater than the value of the donation itself, and that acceptance of the donation will directly lead to a net decline in the assets of Engineers Without Borders UK, including for example:
    • The loss of volunteers whose services would be at least as great a value as the donation.
    • The loss of staff or the inability to recruit staff.
  • Where the offer of support is dependent upon the fulfilment of certain conditions placed upon Engineers Without Borders UK and any condition:
    • Is in itself contrary to the objectives of Engineers Without Borders UK
    • is regarded as needing an unreasonable level of support from Engineers Without Borders UK, especially in relation to the size or impact the donation will have on our charitable activities.
  • Where a companies or individuals wealth is known to result from illegal activities or where there are indications of corruption and related economic crime.

As our audience and programmes include individuals under 18 years of age, it would not be appropriate to accept support from the following sectors:

  • Tobacco
  • Gambling
  • Adult entertainment

We will accept support and donations from an individual that is an employee of a company that we are unable to accept direct support from. Not accepting their donations on the basis of who they work for would be unacceptable discrimination.

Donations will only be returned in line with Engineers Without Borders UK policies or in exceptional circumstances. If it is unclear whether or not a refund should be given, we will consider getting legal advice.

Corporate Partnership Policy

Engineers Without Borders UK’s mission includes inspiring, enabling and influencing the engineering community to be more globally responsible, including the wider business sector.

As such, Engineers Without Borders UK works with, and actively seeks to work with, companies who are committed to improving the world in which they operate and share our vision of the engineering community serving all people and our planet better than ever before. Engineers Without

Borders UK welcomes fundraising, sponsorship, gifts, donations, pro bono and wider support from companies to deliver its charitable mission.

Prior to approaching a company as a potential partner, a research and due diligence process will be followed to protect the integrity and reputation of Engineers Without Borders UK. The same process will be followed for unsolicited company approaches or donations. This includes:

  1. Ethical Profile – Part A: Prior to approaching a company as a potential partner, a research and due diligence process will be followed to protect the integrity and reputation of Engineers Without Borders UK.
  2. Ethical Profile – Part B: Prior to approving a company as a partner, a second due diligence process will be followed to protect the integrity and reputation of Engineers Without Borders UK.

Anonymous Donations Policy

Donors sometimes wish to remain anonymous due to a desire not to exhibit their philanthropy publicly, or for other reasons. Engineers Without Borders UK will not normally accept donations where the donor wishes to remain anonymous because such a donation may prohibit transparency of its compatibility with these fundraising policies. If Engineers Without Borders UK is able to satisfy itself that the donation derives from ethical sources then it may accept an anonymous donation. Where a donor wishes to remain anonymous, the Chief Executive and Head of Sustainable Growth will review the potential donation and approve or decline the donation based on the principles detailed in these fundraising policies.

Anonymous donations with a value of over £25,000 need to be reported to the Charity Commission as a serious incident.

Transparency Policy

This policy is a public document and is available on Engineers Without Borders UK’s website.

Restricted Funds Policy

All items fundraised for a defined specific purpose, and the corresponding subsequent expenditure extinguishing the fundraised amount, will be recorded separately in Engineers Without Borders UK’s financial accounting system, and be recorded as charitable activity and Restricted funds in the annual financial statements.

Gift Aid Policy

Engineers Without Borders UK is able to reclaim Gift Aid on any donation by an individual who has paid UK tax during the year to at least the value of the gift, and in addition has made a declaration to Engineers Without Borders UK that this is the case. There must be an audit trail back from each donor to a written declaration or confirmation of a verbal declaration. Evidence of such declarations is maintained by the Engineers Without Borders UK employees or, when online giving platforms have been used, by the service provider. Gift Aid is claimed in accordance with HMRC Gift Aid regulations.

Communications and Confidentiality Policy

All those involved in fundraising for Engineers Without Borders UK have a responsibility to donors as well as to the organisation and adhere to the following procedures:

  1. Donors and prospective donors are entitled to the following, and these will be given promptly upon request:
    •  The most recent financial statements
    • A copy of these fundraising policies
  1. The privacy of donors will be respected:
    • Any donor records maintained by Engineers Without Borders UK will be kept confidential
    • Donor data held will be in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (“GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 1998
    • Donors have the right to see their own donor record, and to challenge its accuracy
    • Information collected by Engineers Without Borders UK is not for sale or to be given away or disclosed to any third party without consent.

Engineers Without Borders UK’s privacy policy is available via ewb-uk.org/privacy-policy

    • Donors and prospective donors will be treated with respect, and after initial contact Engineers Without Borders UK will honour any requests they make to
    • Limit the frequency of solicitations
    • Not be solicited by telephone or other technology
    • Limit the amount or frequency of printed or online material that they are sent.

Any communications to the public in the course of fundraising activity will be truthful and open. If you have any concerns or questions about how Engineers Without Borders UK use personal data, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Policy for Approval for Fundraising

When considering whether new donors or sources of income meet the criteria set out in these fundraising policies, the following approval procedures apply, regardless of the type or source of income.

  1. All opportunities must be reviewed against the conditions for accepting and refusing donations.
  2. The following approval limits apply for all sources of income that meet the conditions for accepting donations:
    • Fundraising amounts which are less than £24,999 per financial year require approval by the Head of Sustainable Growth.
    • Fundraising amounts between £25,000 and £99,999 per financial year require approval by the Chief Executive.
    • Fundraising amounts in excess of £100,000 per financial year require approval by the Board of Trustees.
    • Fundraising of any amount that would result in delivery of new activity that represents an operational change requires approval by the Chief Executive.
    • Fundraising of any amount that would result in delivery of new activity that represents a strategic change requires approval by the Board of Trustees.
    • All contracts and agreements related to fundraising are agreed and signed by the Chief Executive.

Managing Risk

We will examine external incidents involving our partners or supporters that have the potential to impact on Engineers Without Borders UK’s integrity and public or professional reputation.

The nature of the incident and the actions taken by the organisation will be assessed to determine what response, if any, is required by Engineers Without Borders UK.

Policy Review

These fundraising policies are subject to review and approval by the Board of Trustees every 3 years, or more frequently if circumstances require.

Policy Administration

The Head of Sustainable Growth will administer these policies, reporting to the Chief Executive.

How to raise a complaint about fundraising at Engineers Without Borders UK?

It is our aim that everyone who donates to Engineers Without Borders UK has a positive experience, but we understand that sometimes this may not happen and supporters may not be happy with their experience. To make a complaint please contact us at:

[email protected]

Engineers Without Borders UK, The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London SE11 5RR

Tel: +44 (0)203 752 5820