Policy for Fareham Lions Club
1. Charitable purpose and objective
The trustees apply the funds of Fareham Lions Club at their discretion and in accordance with the charitable purposes and objectives of Fareham Lions Club CIO and Lions Club International.
2. Priorities for support
The amount of work or number of projects that can be supported by the trustees is necessarily limited to the amount of funds that are available for distribution each year. The trustees and members of Fareham Lions Club have determined that the current priorities for funding are:
- The humanitarian need of individuals within Fareham Town, Gosport and Portchester;
- The humanitarian service being provided by an organisation for the people within Fareham Town, Gosport and Portchester;
- The humanitarian service to be provided by an individual from within Fareham Town, Gosport and Portchester
- The humanitarian request from Lions Club International Foundation, Lions Clubs of the British Isles, Lions Clubs District 105SC (and its successor) and any Lions Club within District 105SC (and its successor) for worldwide projects or emergency need
3. Principles applied in determining support
In awarding grants, the trustees and members of Fareham Lions Club will apply the following principles:
- They will consider any requests or known situations that are eligible for consideration:
- From any geographical area within the UK and overseas;
- From organisations and individuals alike.
- Each request or situation will be considered on its own m Where situations have been previously considered (whether successful or not) any due diligence undertaken to reach an earlier decision will be made available.
- They will carry out sufficient due diligence to ensure that the request or situation meets both the charitable purposes and the priorities for support as set out in this policy.
- They are content to work in partnership with other grant making bodies where funding of an entire project is beyond the scope of any single organisation. This includes, but is not limited to, national and international relief operations in the wake of natural disasters.
4. Applicant and partner due diligence
- The trustees and members of Fareham Lions Club will carry out sufficient due diligence on any potential beneficiary to ensure:
- The identity of the beneficiary;
- That funds are applied in accordance with the charity’s charitable purpose;
- That funds are not knowingly used for:
- Money laundering in accordance with the operative Money Laundering regulations;
- Terrorist financing in accordance with the Terrorist Act 2000;
- Bribery in accordance with the Bribery Act 2010.
- In cases where the charity is not the only supporter of the work or project, and to protect its reputation, the trustees and members of Fareham Lions Club may choose to extend any due diligence beyond the proposed beneficiary and to include other partner supporting organisations.
- The trustees and members of Fareham Lions Club will adopt a risk rated approach to due diligence. Risk factors will include:
- the size of the grant;
- the geographical location in which the grant will be applied;
- the nature of the relationship between the charity and the applicant;
- the administration costs involved.
- Grant size will be an important risk factor and the larger the grant the greater will be the likely level of due diligence undertaken.
- Where the proposed beneficiary is well known to the trustees or members of Fareham Lions Club and the relationship has been long standing and well established, the amount of due diligence undertaken is likely to be reduced.
- The results of any due diligence will not last indefinitely. In cases where beneficiaries are supported for a significant period of time, additional due diligence will be undertaken on a change of circumstances that might impact the beneficiary, or in any case after a period of one year.
5. Administration
- For smaller grants, requests may be made informally, through a presentation or written request. Where specific needs or situations are known, grants may be made at the discretion of the trustees and members without any form of request.
- For larger grants, trustees and members should be confident:
- Of the purpose of the proposed grant including an understanding of the work and the way in which the grant will be managed and applied;
- Of the person(s) responsible for the management of the grant and for overseeing the work;
- That all local applicable laws and working practices associated with the work are fully and properly applied;
- That suitable safeguarding policies are in place in cases where the applicant works with children or vulnerable adults.
- For very large grants, in addition to the requirements set above, trustees would expect a written report (on request) setting out the progress and achievements for the period covered and detailing any forthcoming changes to either the nature or the location of ongoing work.
- With the agreement of the charity and the beneficiary, grants will be provided by means of an electronic banking transfer or a cheque. The charity’s normal payment authorisation process will be applied to any payments. With the following exception: where it is for the humanitarian need of an individual within Fareham Town, Gosport and Portchester, where items will be purchased to the value of the grant awarded.
- Where the grant is for a specified project or purpose, and in situations where that purpose does not proceed or where any grant or part thereof remains unused, unused funds must be returned.
- Where formal written applications have been received, or other records maintained, these will be stored and subsequently disposed of in accordance with the charity’s policy on data protection and prevailing Data Protection legislation.
6. Decision making
- The decision of the trustees and members on whether to award a grant is final.
- The trustees and members are not obliged to provide an explanation to applicants in the event of an application being unsuccessful.