This policy describes the approach to be taken to fundraising on behalf of the National Football Museum.
1. About this policy
The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance on the acceptability of external funding sources to protect the museum from reputational risk. The policy outlines the process required to carry out due diligence checks and to authorise acceptance. It also serves to provide clarity and openness to all our stakeholders.
2. Context and principles
- The National Football Museum (NFM) aims to maintain a broad base of different sources of funding, including grants, individual and corporate donations, sponsorship and legacies.
- We actively seek opportunities to work together with external organisations and individuals to achieve synergistic objectives. However, it is vital that the museum maintains its independence and does not allow any external partnership to bring the name of NFM into disrepute. Therefore, we must take reasonable measures to check the provenance of any income.
- All NFM fundraising activity will comply with all relevant legislation and follow relevant guidance including money laundering rules, the Bribery Act, Charity Commission guidance, the Museum Association’s Code of Ethics, the Institute of Fundraising guidance, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice.
- The NFM leases the Urbis building from Manchester City Council to house the collection in Manchester. We also receive significant grant funding from MCC and have a grant agreement in place which includes the following terms of that agreement and must be adhered to regarding fundraising activities:
NFM shall not enter into any advertising and/or sponsorship arrangements in respect of the Approved Purposes relating to tobacco, pornography, gambling, (with the exception of the National Lottery or any funding provided pursuant to National Lottery related grants) political parties, religious groups, companies whose core business is nuclear fuels and/or other local authorities and/or cities
3. Acceptability of funds
When deciding whether to accept a donation or work in partnership, the staff and Trustees have a duty to demonstrate that they have acted in the best interest of the charity. The
NFM accepts financial support from, and partnership working with, companies, trusts and foundations and individuals on the following conditions:
- There are strong grounds for believing it will result in a benefit to the fulfilment of the charitable objectives of the NFM as detailed in the governing document “Memorandum and Articles” 10/04/18.
- The support in no way presents a conflict of interest to achievement of the aims and goals of the NFM (see 3.1).
- We are satisfied that any adverse publicity or damage to reputation resulting from accepting support is unlikely to prevent the fulfilment of the museum’s charitable objectives (see 3.1) or our ability to raise funds from other sources.
- There is no attempt on the part of the donor to materially influence NFM policy or actions either explicitly or implicitly.
- That initiatives do not compromise the independent status of the museum.
- Any donation, sponsorship or gifts have not been illegally obtained nor associated with criminal sources or activity.
- We are satisfied that the gift has not been solicited or accepted from anyone considered not of full mental capacity.
- A truly anonymous donation, where we only deal with an intermediary who is not prepared to identify the donor even to senior management member or trustee, will not be accepted.
- We will not accept support which is conditional on fulfilment of conditions not in the best interests of NFM and therefore compromises our integrity.
- There is no risk of significant financial loss arising from failure to effectively deliver any relationship with funders (in addition to the loss of the gift).
4. Approval approach and responsibilities
Fundraising at NFM is coordinated by the Finance and Commercial Team and is overseen by the Finance & Commercial Director. To consistently assess the acceptability of donations
and partnerships, and ensure we are carrying out due diligence, the following approach to donations and acceptance will be followed.
- All staff and trustees should ensure that any philanthropic gift, financial or in-kind, is channelled through the Finance and Commercial Team having flagged any relevant discussions with this team in advance.
- To ensure conflicting requests are avoided and approaches don’t undermine longer- term strategic fundraising plans, no specific donation request should be made by any members of staff without prior consultation with the Commercial and Finance Team.
- The Finance and Commercial Team will conduct research into potential individual funders, trusts and foundations and corporate prospects using the Prospect Due Diligence Form and Ethical Review Template (Appendix 1). This will allow any concerns to be identified at the outset and before any approach or acceptance is made.
- For all contributions under £20k, pledged or received, the Finance and Commercial Team will carry out a reasonable and proportionate due diligence search of publicly available material to identify any controversy or concern. Concerns will be escalated to the Finance & Commercial Director for review with a recommendation who will decide to accept or reject a donation in these circumstances. Any rejections will be shared with the CEO and with trustees at the next Fundraising Working Group meeting.
- Any pledge or donation above £20k, or where the potential publicity generated warrants a more comprehensive review will be referred to NFM’s SLT to consider against our acceptance criteria in full. The CEO will take SLT’s recommendations to the Fundraising Working Group. The decision of whether to accept, reject or return a donation in these circumstances will lie with the Chair of the Fundraising Working Group or the CEO acting under delegated authority.
- Any decision to reject or return a gift will be communicated to the prospect or donor by the Fundraising Lead, Development Lead, Finance & Commercial Director or CEO as appropriate, sharing our policy and explaining our reasoning.
- Where necessary, the Finance & Commercial Director, CEO and Trustees will take advice on the suitability of companies and organisations from experts e.g. The Museum Association, The Arts Council, and the Charity Commission.
- NFM encourages staff, volunteers, and stakeholders to report any concerns they may have about potential breaches of this policy including concerns about conflicts of interest, the source of donations, undue influence, breaches of confidentiality, misuse of funds, or any other unethical fundraising practices. Such concerns can be made to the Finance & Commercial Director, CEO or confidentially by following NFM’s Whistleblowing Policy.
5. Transparency
- NFM undertakes to communicate this policy to all its potential donors, sponsors and supporters.
- If having accepted a donation, the NFM subsequently finds that it breaches this policy, it reserves the right to review and terminate the agreement or return the donation.