Amnesty International Ireland’s Fundraising Donor Charter

As the promotion and protection of human rights is not recognised as a charitable purpose under Irish law, Amnesty International Ireland cannot register as a charity in Ireland. However, in order to ensure best practice and the highest possible standards in how we raise funds for our work, we apply the principles and guidelines for best practice from the Charities Regulator’s Guidelines for Charitable Organisations on Fundraising from the public.

We want to maintain the highest possible standards when receiving donations from our generous supporters.

  • We promise to treat all of our donors with respect, honesty and openness.
  • We commit to being accountable and transparent so that donors and prospective donors can have full confidence in Amnesty International Ireland.
  • We promise to use your donations effectively.

We promise our donors that we will:

  • Treat all donors with respect and confidentiality
  • Ensure that our communication with our donors is honest and transparent
  • Respect our donors’ right to privacy and confidentiality
  • Not subject our donors to any form of undue pressure
  • Inform our donors of the work of Amnesty International and keep them updated about how their donations are used to help strengthen the Movement and achieve our human rights goals
  • Use donations in a way that preserves the dignity of the people whom Amnesty International serves
  • Handle donations responsibly and ensure they are used effectively
  • Publish our annual accounts on our website, and provide further financial statements when requested.
  • Provide appropriate acknowledgement, thanks and recognition
  • Inform people whether those seeking donations on our behalf are volunteers, employees or third party agents, as per our disclosure statement
  • Give prompt, truthful and forthright answers to any questions people may have about Amnesty International.

All donations will be:

  • Handled with the highest level of accuracy and transparency. Financial records will be kept to ensure accountability and tracking
  • Processed quickly so that gifts can help to prevent abuses of human rights as soon as possible
  • Put to use for our work fighting injustice both in Ireland and around the world. If we appeal for funds for a particular area of work, we will ensure donations are applied to that work.  Where an appeal has been fully funded, we will notify donors in advance that their donations may be directed to another similar area of work.
  • Acknowledged promptly, unless no acknowledgement is requested or insufficient contact details are provided
  • Subjected to an annual audit by a firm of independent auditors, and will be included in our annual accounts filed with the Companies’ Office
  • Used solely to deliver Amnesty International’s mission and objectives.

Amnesty International’s staff will:

  • Be polite, courteous, transparent, accurate and honest
  • Respond to email, letters and telephone enquiries, in a prompt manner
  • Achieve the highest standards of professionalism at all times
  • Seek to minimise costs relating to fundraising activities
  • Benchmark fundraising performance against other similar organisations to ensure we are raising funds in an efficient and effective manner
  • Make it easy to ask a question or make a complaint
  • Treat all feedback and complaints seriously and deal with them quickly and appropriately
  • We will transparently report on our financial performance in full compliance with national accounting laws and protocols
  • We will inform donors, members and the general public about how we are utilising the funds provided to us and the impact that his is having or has had
  • In the case of recruitment of direct debits, we adhere to the Code of Practice first developed by  ICTR and CII. This was developed further by the Charities Regulator in the ‘Responsibilities of Fundraisers’ section of the Guidelines for Charitable Organisations on Fundraising from the Public and all of our Fundraisers are aware of and adhere to these good practice guidelines.
  • Adhere to the guidelines and requirements contained in the Charities Act, 2009 (PDF)
  • Comply with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 (PDF)

What to do if you have feedback:

If you have a comment about any aspect of our work, we’d love to hear from you. You can reach us by post, telephone or by e-mail. We would also be very happy to meet face-to-face if that is preferable.

We would be very grateful if you could give us as much information as possible and let us know the best way to contact you, providing relevant contact details.
Email:  info(at)amnesty.ie
Phone: 01 8638300