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Fundraising and Charitable Donations Policy
July 2025
The Foundation does not itself raise funds. Fundraising for the Foundation is undertaken by AKS. The Foundation manages the funds raised by AKS and uses them to support its “Objects” as a Charity as defined in the Constitution. The AKS Lytham Foundation is a registered charity, number 1191646.
These Objects are:
To advance the education of boys and girls by the provision of a day or day and boarding school or schools by way of providing bursary awards subject to parental means testing thereby widening access to AKS School, and to improve the infrastructure of AKS School or such other area of benefit within which the Charity Trustees decide to benefit.
This policy acts as a guide to how the Foundation will discharge its obligation to manage the Funds in an appropriate way, and how decisions on accepting and refusing charitable donations generated by AKS are made.
Fundraising Principles The Foundation will require that AKS, as a minimum, will follow the following principles in its Fundraising activities:
• Follow the ‘fundraising code’ of the fundraising regulator, the independent regulator of charitable fundraising in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/code as amended from time to time.
• Follow the Charity Fundraising guide of the Charity Commission for England and Wales - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charities-andfundraising-cc20/charities-and-fundraising, as amended from time to time.
• Ensure that the reputations of our donors, AKS and the Foundation are protected from any real or perceived impropriety in the offer and receipt of a charitable donation.
• Undertake fundraising that is legal and transparent
The AKS Lytham Foundation is committed to the principle that it solicits gifts from those individuals who have an active relationship with the AKS and its heritage schools. This includes:-
· Alumni from the heritage schools (Arnold School, Queen Mary School, King Edward VII School and KEQMS) as well as former pupils of AKS Lytham.
· Former staff
· Current and former parents
· Friends and supporters of AKS Lytham
· Individuals or organisations that have been carefully identified as having a potential interest in supporting a specific activity or initiative.
The AKS Lytham Foundation believes and maintains the principle that, wherever possible, all gifts should be made:
· Without coercion and as an informed decision.
· With full transparency and agreement regarding the use of the gift by AKS. Should a donation be made at a time when the donor was not able to make an informed decision, but this was not clear to the fundraiser, such a donation would be returned.
· In full confidence that the donor will be acknowledged and recognised as he/she wishes and their donation will be used according to their wishes.
Fundraising chain of responsibility • Information on donors and donations is maintained centrally by the AKS Lytham Foundation and is reported on regularly to the Foundation, including Gift Aid declarations where appropriate.
• Anonymous cash donations will be recorded in such a way as to facilitate a claim to HMRC under the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS).
• The Foundation will require written confirmation annually from AKS that their fundraising is compliant with the fundraising principles set out above.
• Board members retain their ultimate responsibility for accounting and managing donations without delegation of these responsibilities. The Board will hold others to account for how they carry out their role, the standards required by our trustee duties, and wider law and best practice.
Commitments of the AKS Lytham Foundation
The Foundation will commit to:
• Dealing with conflicts of interest both involving Board members, staff and volunteers, as well as donors and potential donors.
• Implementing appropriate financial controls to monitor and account for funds
• Managing risk according to a risk register and checklist
• Acting with reasonable care and skill, taking appropriate advice where necessary
• Planning effectively to decide the Foundation’s approach to funds management including forecasts of what we need now and in the future, this will include our costs, our reputation, our risks and the maintenance of our objects and the monitoring of our progress.
• Ensuring AKS is advised of our Fundraising principles and our requirement that their fundraisers have clear delegation in written form, clear reporting procedures, clear delegation of authority and clear documentation in reports back from activities.
• Protecting the Foundation’s money and other assets with clear accounting procedures, monitoring of financial activities, and oversight by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. This will include analysis of income sources and mitigation of the risk of over dependence on any one source.
• Identifying and ensuring compliance with laws or regulations that apply specifically to the Foundation’s operations.
• Being open and accountable
ConstituencyAKS has just over 1,000 contactable alumni on the database and this total continues to grow each day. It is from this group, primarily, that the AKS Lytham Foundation will focus the majority of solicitations, on the basis that they are the people most likely to support. To this end, alumni are invited to make a donation to the AKS Lytham Foundation each year provided that they have provided the appropriate consent.
Consent
‘Consent must be freely given, specific and informed, and involve a positive indication signifying the data subject’s agreement.’ The Fundraising Regulator
We therefore require our alumni, former parents and supporters to opt-in to be consistent with best practice. This includes separate consent for each marketing channel (post, email, phone etc.). Communication preferences are stored on the Development Office database (oaksconnect.com).
Legitimate Interest
Periodically the AKS Lytham Foundation will approach current parents for bursary funding and is currently actively fundraising through the Change Their World Campaign to support transformational bursaries. The AKS Lytham Foundation considers that it has a legitimate interest to approach current parents for support for fundraising initiatives. Once a current parent no longer has a child attending AKS, further communication from the Development Office will be based on opt-in consent.
Means of Solicitation The AKS Lytham Foundation employs a range of direct solicitation methods which include emails, letters and face-to-face approaches.
Once a year, hard-copy fundraising materials, which usually include an impact report and brochure about supporting the AKS Lytham Foundation with a donation form, are sent out. The Development Office checks that those who have requested that they are not mailed, or are not solicited, will not receive these solicitations. Such requests are recorded on the database. Every attempt is made to ensure deceased constituents are excluded from such mailings. During enhanced fundraising periods, the frequency of direct mail may increase to twice a year.
Email From time to time, alumni and other potential donors are contacted by email, (provided that they have provided consent to receive such communications), and this includes information about donations such as links to the donation page of the website (oaksconnect.com). The Development Office at AKS can always be identified as the originator of the message (through alumni@). It is always possible to opt out of receiving email communications.
Face-to-face solicitations The Director of Development meets potential and current donors where appropriate to solicit gifts. The solicitation of a major gift is likely to entail a series of meetings. Every request for a meeting, whether made by letter, email or telephone, where a solicitation, or a conversation leading to a solicitation is envisaged will explicitly indicate this is the purpose, or part of the purpose, in the request.
The fundraiser would not typically accept a gift as ‘cash in hand’ on the day of the meeting. If during the course of the meeting, the fundraiser believes that the potential donor is not capable of making an informed decision about a donation, such a donation will not be solicited. In such circumstances, a note would be made on the database and were any further solicitations to be made, they would be by mail only.
Acceptance and refusal criteria of donations All gifts given for a restricted purpose will be received and used solely for the purpose agreed between the donor and the Development Office at AKS. Some gifts may be unrestricted and will therefore be spent at the discretion of the AKS Lytham Foundation Trustees. The full value of every gift (including gift aid, if applicable, and minus bank charges and accountancy fees) is used for the charitable purposes of the AKS Lytham Foundation.
The following are to be taken into consideration:
The AKS Lytham Foundation welcomes and actively encourages gifts made through Wills and other forms of legacy giving. Such gifts will be administered with sensitivity and respect, and the Foundation will work closely and appropriately with the executor or administrator of the estate to ensure that the donor’s wishes are understood and fulfilled. Where a legacy gift is given for a restricted purpose, it will be applied in accordance with the terms set out in the Will, provided these are consistent with the charitable Objects of the Foundation. The Foundation reserves the right to seek clarification where terms are unclear and, where necessary, to decline a legacy gift in line with the refusal criteria set out in this policy.
• Donations in Cash over £500 will not be accepted.
Donation Categories and Due Diligence procedures
Knowing our donors
As part of cultivating a donation, the Director of Development will identify a potential donor and complete internet searches (or use local knowledge) in order to know what the organisation’s or individuals business is in order to be assured that it is appropriate for the AKS Lytham Foundation to be involved with them.
Furthermore, in order to ensure that expectations and commitments are clear (for both the donor and AKS Lytham Foundation) and so that there is no reputational risk to the AKS Lytham Foundation or AKS Lytham, the Director of Development will also set up a meeting or series of meetings for the potential donor with one or a combination of the following prior to accepting a donation:-
The Trustees of the AKS Lytham Foundation may decide to refuse the offer of a donation because the purpose of the donation does not match its fundraising objectives or if there is doubt about the appropriateness or legality of the source.
Should a donation be refused for any reason, records will be kept to indicate why it was refused and any such refusal will be communicated in appropriate language so that it does not cause offence.
Specific Refusal Criteria Donations will not be accepted if:
• They will help further the donor’s personal objectives in conflict with those of the Foundation.
• They are aimed at funding a specific child or a child and which would be unlawful as Discrimination.
• There is any association with criminal sources, illegal activity or corruption.
• They might damage relationships with other supporters.
• They incur ongoing costs that cannot be met from existing resources.
Gift Aid and Tax Efficient Giving The AKS Lytham Foundation does not attempt to claim gift aid on any donations which do not meet HMRC guidance, but it is committed to reclaiming gift aid on all gifts made by UK taxpayers where a Gift Aid declaration has been made. To that end, every gift aid receipt (generated through oaksconnect.com) and acknowledgement letter to a donor who has gift-aided his/her gift serves as a receipt for tax purposes. Donors may be provided with a schedule of their donations during the course of a tax year to assist with their income tax returns if they request this information.
Handling of donations In line with IoF best practice, cash and cheques are banked at the earliest possible opportunity. Cash and cheques that have not yet been banked are stored securely by the School Accountant.
At the time of receipt, the Director of Development will agree and record with the donor how they would like their gift to be used from the following options:-
· The Transformational Bursary Fund
· Improvements to building and facilities on the AKS Lytham site
· Teaching Resources
· Pupil Resources
Processing Fees Payment of donations can be made by a variety of methods including BACS transfer, cheque and online through oaksconnect.com. There are no transaction fees for payments made by BACS transfer or cheque.
For donations made online, transaction fees are applied to all gifts made via oaksconnect.com. Go Cardless which processes all gifts made to the AKS Lytham Foundation by direct debit charges 1% per domestic transaction+20p, capped at £4. They charge 2% per international transaction +20p.
Stripe charges a fixed fee and a percentage of the transaction for a credit or debit card payment. There is no monthly fee. The price is the same for all cards and there is no charge for failed transactions.
In GBP accounts (pounds sterling) the Stripe fees per transaction are:
Data Processing Personal data is processed fairly and lawfully. It is only used for specified and lawful purposes and is not processed in any manner incompatible with those purposes. As far as possible, personal data is accurate, kept up to date and processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects.
AKS complies with UCST’s policies and procedures in relation to Data Protection. The privacy policy specific to the AKS Development Office can be found on the oaksconnect.com website.
Data is not, and has never been, sold to third parties.
Database and Security All alumni and donor data is held securely on the Development Office database on oaksconnect.com.
This database is password protected and only those who need to see financial data have the relevant permissions to do so. The School Accountant deals with all financial data in line with the finance departments policies and procedures.
Confidential waste of this nature is disposed of securely in the finance office. The School Accountant produces termly bank reconciliations for the AKS Lytham Foundation and an annual download of all donations.
Gift aid claims will be prepared by the School Accountant and submitted to HMRC electronically. The spreadsheets are stored on the Office’s shared Teams drive, which is part of a secure network. Access is limited to members of the Development Office, the Finance Office and the IT support team.
Acknowledgement, Recognition and Stewardship The AKS Lytham Foundation is committed to the public and private recognition of its donors where it is desired.
The names of all donors are recorded in the annual Impact Report unless they have requested anonymity. The impact report does not list the value of individual gifts. Major donors (£50,000 or more and values can be created on a cumulative basis) are given the opportunity of having their name inscribed on the Major Donor Wall in the Senior School Foyer.
Other forms of recognition are offered in line with the value of the gifts, such as an invitation to the annual AKS Lytham Foundation Patron’s Lunch, named plaques at AKS and the Benefactors Book. In no circumstances will a gift be accepted where the donor expects a place or position at AKS to be offered, and in no circumstances will such a place or position be offered in recognition of a donation.
Complaints The AKS Lytham Foundation is open to complaints of any type and will use them to improve the organisation. Any complaints about the activities of the Foundation will be dealt with according to our complaints policy.
