Donor’s Charter

The Donor's Charter, produced by the Institute of Fundraising, outlines our commitment to good fundraising practice.

Our pledge to you

When you consider making a gift to the Crime Diversion Scheme, we undertake that:

• All communications surrounding it will be honest, truthful and will comply with the law
• Your right to privacy will be respected and you will not be subjected to any form of pressure
• Your gift will be applied to the purpose for which it was originally requested
• Your gift will be used in a way that preserves the dignity of the beneficiary
• Your gift will be handled responsibly and to the greatest advantage of the beneficiary
• The Crime Diversion Scheme and fundraisers representing Crime Diversion Scheme will consider how they meet your wishes as a donor and will be transparent in their dealings with you
• Fundraisers will respect your need for confidentiality and will comply with the law relating to fundraising and the use of personal data
• Fundraisers will strive to achieve the highest professional standards at all times
• The cost of generating funds will never exceed 20p in the £1.

Any concerns you may have relating to these points will be handled swiftly and effectively by the organisations with which they are raised.

The complaints procedure: how to raise your concerns

As a member of the Institute of Fundraising, the Crime Diversion Scheme follows the complaints procedure as detailed below:

Where your concerns relate to fundraising, you should initially contact the charity concerned:

• through its fundraising department
• if you are not satisfied with the initial response, contact the charity's chief executive officer in writing. If you are not satisfied with this response, contact the charity's trustees.

If these options do not meet your concerns, contact the Institute of Fundraising. You will need to provide:

• details of your concerns
• details of previous contact with the charity
• any other supporting material.

The Institute will examine your case and will contact you to let you know how it proposes to act on it.

The Institute will contact the charity concerned and, unless requested not to, will provide it with copies of all correspondence.

The Institute will invite the trustees of the charity to respond to the complaint and will notify you of the outcome of this action.

Where your concerns relate to Public Collections, contact:

• the local authority licensing officer
• the Metropolitan Police.

Where your concerns relate to:

• dishonest handling of funds
• misapplication of charitable funds
• actions that contravene the charity’s trust deed or charity law
• actions that threaten to bring the charity into disrepute and the Institute of Fundraising is unable to resolve your dispute with the charity, the Institute will refer your concerns to the Charity Commission, the Scottish Charities Office or the Northern Ireland Charities Branch of the Department of Health and Social Services.