Supporting Charities at BISR

Transcription

1 Supporting Charities at BISR Guidelines The charities committee was created to encourage the BISR student community to see beyond their normal experiences here in Riyadh, and to develop a sense of community responsibility. Throughout the BISR Community, classes take on group charity projects and at various times the whole School come together in support of a specific cause. In addition, students often work as individuals or together in House groups/interest groups to raise awareness and money to improve the lives of those less fortunate. Parents and friends of BISR are also invited to participate in charity projects. In order to keep an eye on the bigger picture, teachers, students and parent class representatives who wish to organise a fund raising event/activity are asked to complete a Charity Event Proposal Form, submit it to the BISR Charity Committee Executive (a sub-committee of the student council) and then wait for approval. Please note that any such event/activity is voluntary and without obligation. BISR Charity Committee Procedure: Charity Event Proposal Form to be completed by event organiser. (This may be a student, teacher/tutor or parent) Charity Event Proposal Form to be approved by Class Teacher/Tutor, then Head of Year/Key Stage BISR Charity Committee Executive to obtain final approval from the respective Head of School BISR Charity Committee will give go-ahead to event organiser, issuing a BISR Charity Committee reference number, for tracking purposes All money raised is to be paid to finance (via reception) using the BISR Charity Committee reference number Event organiser to inform BISR Charity Committee Executive of amount raised. BISR Charity Committee Executive will liaise with finance department, to arrange transfer of cash to the relevant organisation. If you are considering an event/activity that involves a financial donation of any kind, we encourage you to choose a beneficiary from the revised list of charities/organisations A Charity Event Proposal Form and a Revised List of Charities can be viewed and downloaded from the BISR website.

2 If you need any assistance, please feel free to contact the BISR Charity Committee throuch your class of form representative. Key information for Infant School:- A number of charities/organisations have been identified, to be supported through Infant School activities/events. Children will be involved, where possible, when deciding on charities/organisations to work with and specific projects undertaken Smaller events/activities, limited to class, are encouraged, ideally incorporated in to social gatherings, such as class parties Children and teachers may decide on ONE Class Charity to support. Parent Representatives can help this process by discussing at the Class Coffee Morning and proposing one or two charities to consider Parent Representatives are invited to support child driven class initiatives and are welcome to organise class events/activities with a charitable theme Child participation and involvement should be a major factor, when deciding on a charity/organisation to support Event organisers are asked to refrain from arranging Bake Sales, in keeping with the School s ethos of Healthy Eating Key information for Primary School: A number of charities/organisations have been identified that will be supported through Primary House activities and events. Students will be involved in deciding which charities and organisations are supported and which specific projects are undertaken Smaller events and activities that are limited to class, are encouraged. Ideally these should be incorporated into social gatherings, such as class parties Students & teachers may decide on ONE Class Charity to support. Parent representatives can help this process by discussing at the Class Coffee Morning and proposing one or two charities to consider Parent representatives are invited to support student-driven class initiatives and are welcome to organise class events and activities that have a charitable theme Student participation and involvement should be a major factor when deciding on a charity/organisation to support Event organisers are asked to refrain from arranging Bake Sales, in keeping with the School s ethos of Healthy Eating Key information for Senior School: A number of charities and organisations have been identified that will be supported by the Senior School through activities involving Senior Houses, Year Groups, Tutor Groups and Young Enterprise Groups Senior Houses will be encouraged to support locally based service projects. Ideally, these will be charities and community organisations that we are developing a Service relationship with 2

3 In addition to the whole school Mufti Day (usually one per term), Senior Houses will be able to incorporate a Mufti Day into their Charity House Week. This initiative will be limited to the Senior School and will be organised and run by students Whilst there are extensive CAS opportunities presented through the TTS Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) programme, National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA) and Sixth Form CAS electives, maximum student participation and involvement should be a major factor with any charitable initiative The focus of the Young Enterprise Groups is business education, but if any profits are made they will be channeled to support Internationally focused CAS projects. Ideally these will be charities and organisations that students will have the opportunity to visit and work with, as part of their respective Year Group field trip Parent representatives are invited to support student driven initiatives and are welcome to organise tutor group based or year group based events and activities, which complement local and International Service projects. These projects should be cleared with the student s tutor first Some questions and answers: Fundraising by students is a regular activity in most schools. The reasons are obvious. Fundraising involves fun activities that help others and build group cooperation. Yet fundraising is not always as educational as it could be. This document is intended to help take fundraising to another level, deepening students' understanding and enhancing their potential to become well-informed active citizens. What is a charity? Charities are particular kinds of non-profit organisation that benefit the public. To qualify, an organisation has to carry out charitable activities, which are quite tightly defined by law. Relief of poverty is a major charitable purpose. So is furthering religion and promoting education. These were fixed as charitable activities as long ago as the 17th century. Since then, other ways of promoting benefits to the community have been accepted by the charity commission as charitable. Not all voluntary and non-profit organisations are charities. Political activity is not a charitable purpose, for instance. That means some well-known organisations such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace are not charities though, of course, plenty of people raise money for them. On the other hand, the rules mean that some surprising organisations are charities. Oxford University promotes education, and is a charity. Its publishing arm, Oxford University Press, has the same legal status, and is also therefore a charity even though its trading activities in 2007 brought it turnover of 453 million and net profits of 71.1 million. Do charities have to be registered? In most countries, Yes. In the UK, unless they are very small, with an income of less than 1,000 a year and with no premises. Most register with the charity commission, which makes a lot of financial and management information on them publicly available. Some types of charities, such as universities, are not registered with the commission, because they are regulated in a different way. How important are charities? As those figures show, charities generate a lot of money by means other than donations. Knowing this is important in appreciating what kind of organisations they are. The common image of 3

4 amateurish organisations doing their best on a shoestring budget doesn't match the reality of many charities today, or the importance of the work they do. For instance, many receive fees for delivering services on behalf of local or national governments. They may get sizeable grants from charitable trusts or companies. Some hold significant assets, and get income from property they own and other investments. They often have income from their trading arms linked companies that are not charities but run as commercial businesses that gift their profits to the main charity. And there are charity shops. Which charities are worth fundraising for? There is no one answer to that question. It all depends on what the priorities are and what you want to achieve. There is a whole heap of educational potential in finding out the answer for any group. See below for some ideas. Which charities are most efficient directing money where it really counts? This often-voiced concern about overheads also doesn't have a simple answer. To understand why, look at three quite different types of function that an effective charity must successfully carry out: They must deliver the benefit to the community that they are set up for They must have management structures and systems to decide the best use of resources, support and train staff and volunteers, pay them, provide necessary equipment and so on They must raise the money needed to meet their costs A small local charity might hold meetings in a rented space in a community centre with volunteers doing a lot of its organising work in their own time in their own homes. One of the tensions charities work with is that the fundraising function which is vital may at times clash with parts of the service delivery function. For instance, a charity working with a marginalised group may be encouraging them in positive self-determination, part of which is to develop a sense of worth and dignity. There are other problems. Fundraising material can oversimplify and is unlikely to focus on the infrastructure spending. A charity fundraiser may say something like: " 10 could provide a family with essentials such as food, clothing and cooking utensils following a natural disaster". Charities cannot be blamed for such tactics. They compete hard with nearly 200,000 other charities for their share of the public's donations. And they know from experience that the public generally does not wish to know too much about how charities really work. People like the simplified "shopping items". What can BISR do? Our school can look beyond those simplifications and explore what charities do much more closely making contact, asking questions and following what really happens. Look at the areas for exploration below. Activities and discussion Be concrete. It is far too vague to say a charity is for disabled children, cancer or the environment. There is a big difference, say, between cancer research which finances research staff in laboratories and a cancer charity that provides nursing support to affected families. Likewise, a faith-based charity which says it works in Africa may be relieving poverty but as a charity it may 4

5 also, quite legitimately, be promoting a religion. So are schools that do a 24-hour fast helping to feed the hungry or contributing towards building a place of worship? Here are some ideas for increasing the education elements of charity fundraising: Try to make a meaningful link between the charity and BISR. There may be some personal connection, because of notable individuals, the history or traditions of the area, or current circumstances of a well-known student or local family. A personal link can make a charity's operation more real Look at the annual report of charities that might be under consideration. See what problems they face, and where they are allocating their resources. Examine what, if anything, marks a charity out from others working in a similar field. Does this resonate with our students? Consider contacting those who work for a charity, especially those who have direct experience of the service delivery. Prepare questions designed to tell students what they want to know do not just accept the "schools speaker" with a prepared package of charity PR Enquire what else, apart from fundraising, can be done. Does the charity offer education programmes or opportunities for students to raise awareness among their peers? Are there campaigns, and are these likely to develop students' skills, knowledge or attitudes? Try to build a relationship with the charity. Good ones will want to engage with students, regarding them as more than simply an unpaid fundraising team. Find out about the lives of those who are helped. What strategies do they use to help themselves? Knowing who benefits from a charity's work and their real circumstances is a good way to challenge patronising attitudes that perpetuate misleading stereotypes of "active givers" and "passive recipients" Have fun. There are many inventive fundraising ideas around, and a keen imagination will always develop new ones. But never lose sight of the point of it all. Would a charity helping victims of alcohol-related violence want a group of students organising a fundraising pubcrawl? Many people would recognise a mismatch there. At all times think about the dignity of those the charity intends to assist 5