Fundraising Policy

Policies and Guidelines of the National Association to Protect Children on Third-Party Fundraising Projects

Introduction
As a grassroots membership association, the National Association to Protect Children relies upon the financial support of thousands of individuals from all walks of life. While most support our work through direct contributions, some individuals and/or organizations seek to sponsor third-party fundraisers. “Third-party” simply means that PROTECT has not organized and will not oversee any such fundraising event, be it an individual performance or a group effort.

Positive Third-Party Events
Since 2003, individuals and groups have raised funds to help support our efforts in a wide variety of ways. These have included music concerts, online auctions, art events, house parties, private receptions, t-shirt sales, donating a percentage of retail profits, a punk rock benefit album, and motorcycle rides. That we deeply appreciate such creativity and the support it generates is a given (no pun intended).

Negative Third-Party Events
Unfortunately, we have also had experience with other third-party activities that proved harmful to, or exploitative of, our organization, our cause, and most critically, the good name we have worked so hard to build over the past decade. Examples include promoting events as “fundraisers” that somehow produce no actual financial contribution because – to hear them tell it – the promoters used virtually all contributions to “cover costs” of the event. Other examples include claiming to “represent” us, claiming to speak for us, engaging in conduct which any reasonable person would see as disreputable, and designing projects that promote the name(s) or work(s) of the “sponsors” as opposed to promoting – and contributing to – our cause.

Third Party vs. Sponsored Event
We have limited resources, and we use them to further our clearly stated goals. While some “charities” are highly rated because they spend little of their income on fund-raising, those who award such ratings apparently count exorbitant salaries as “program activity.” We believe it would be a breach of faith with those who support our work to hire staff simply to exercise the due diligence required to thoroughly investigate and organizationally vouch for every individual who states they wish to fundraise on our behalf, nor can we responsibly predict the outcomes (positive or negative) of events organized by people not well-known to us.

Therefore, only fundraising and promotional events initiated by our staff, our boards, and volunteers well-known to us will be recognized as officially sponsored events, and only those events may use our logo, indicating official sponsorship. Please understand this is necessary if we are to protect the reputation of the very organization you support.

Third-Party Events and Promotions
Third parties wishing to raise funds for the National Association to Protect Children are asked to observe the following guidelines and policies. Failure to do so will result in, at minimum, disclaimer of any connection to us.

In your website, print materials and other advertising and promotion, please do the following:

1. Make a Clear Statement of Intent Regarding Donations
Please clearly state what you intend to donate and define clearly what you mean by “proceeds.” If any portion of funds raised is being kept to cover costs associated with the fundraiser, explain this clearly. Remember that we will make public the actual amount raised vs. actual amount donated upon anyone’s request or at our own discretion. Every politician talks “transparency.” We practice it.

2. Make a Clear Statement that Your Event is Not Officially Sponsored
“This is an independently organized event, not officially sponsored by PROTECT.”

3. Notify Us of Your Project
Let us know about your plans, including any web links about the project, what you expect to raise in gross revenue, what you expect to donate in net revenue, and whether you are making your own individual donation apart from the event itself.

We reserve the right to publicly disavow any project for any reason, but we will be pleased to provide a specific reason upon request of those involved. Our failure to specifically disavow any project may not be construed as support for that project. While this should be self-explanatory, we add that any project of which we are not notified in advance, or any project that claims it will be donating proceeds to us but does not inform us of such intent will be disavowed as soon as notice of same reaches us.