Choosing the charity of the year: A fair process?

To become a corporate ‘charity of the year’, charities usually have to go through lengthy selection processes. So, are these processes fair?

That’s the key question being examined in new research by Two Tomorrows associate Valerie Morton in conjunction with the UK’s Institute of Fundraising.

Valerie, who has 30 years’ experience working with charities and voluntary organisations, and in particular corporate-charity partnerships, has several concerns about possible unfairness in the way charities are selected by big companies. These include:

• stated decision-making criteria not being followed
• requirements for the charity to create specific projects to benefit from the money raised
• creation of volunteering opportunities for the company’s employees, which can be questionable in value.

The research aims to find out the true facts about selection processes and to examine potential solutions to what can be sensitive situations.

The first stage is a confidential survey of fundraising practitioners. The second stage will be to engage key people in the corporate sector to open up the kind of dialogue individual charities would find difficult to carry out on their own.

Valerie Morton comments: “Out of this research and consultation we are hoping to create a blueprint for ‘charity of the year’ adoption.”

Are you a fundraising practitioner? If so, please take part in the survey.