Eczema Outreach Support (EOS) is a charity supporting children, young people, and their families affected by eczema.

In order to provide services for our members and to increase awareness of eczema and the impact it has on the lives of our members we need to raise funds every year. Without fundraising EOS cannot support families to thrive.

We raise funds from a variety of sources and strive to not be dependent on one type of income source.

Sources of income include grants from trusts and foundations, money donated or fundraised for EOS by our members and other supporters, income from charitable activities and grants, partnerships or donations from private companies, including pharmaceutical companies. Sources of income are published in our annual report and accounts every year and financial supporters are also listed on our website.

This Ethical Fundraising Policy sets out how decisions are made regarding fundraising and accepting or refusing money and provides a clear framework to ensure that we do not compromise our vision and values when raising funds.

What we have to consider

For all fundraising we have three key elements to consider:

• Our duty to members and people affected by eczema. We have a duty to raise money to provide the services that benefits our members and the whole eczema community across the UK.
• Our duty to donors – whether individual donors, a trust or a private company. For example, we have a duty to ensure that no individual feels pressurised to donate and that we spend any money received in line with agreements made.
• The trust people have in EOS. We must ensure that the impartiality of EOS is not compromised and we live up to our values.

We must always look for the balance between these elements and the deciding point can vary between different types of funding.

Code of practices

We follow The Code for Fundraising Practice as set out by the Fundraising Regulator.

We also expect any funder to follow any relevant Code of Practices for their sector when donating money or entering into agreements with EOS, for example the ABPI Code of Practice in place for the Pharmaceutical Industry. If we become aware that a relevant code of practice is not being followed we will not accept the donation or grant.

General principles

If fundraising from individual donors the duty to the donor weighs higher than the duty to the members, for example we will not persistently harass a donor for more money, even though more money would benefit our members.

If fundraising from trusts or private companies the duty to our members usually weighs highest.

We accept money that allows us to deliver services to our members or that allows us to raise awareness about eczema to fulfil our duty to the members.

We do not accept money or pursue funding that would conflict with our strategy or values or where a donor gains influence on the work we do. Accepting such money would not benefit members and would compromise EOS’ impartiality.

We never accept funding that would require EOS to endorse or lobby for specific products or treatments – this would be a breach of our duty to people with eczema, as each person with the condition is different. But for the same reason we will always argue that having several choices available is key for successful eczema management.

The process

The questions we consider when assessing suitability of funding are set out in Appendix A

Responsibilities

• The board of trustees has overall and final responsibility for accepting or denying funds.
• The CEO has day-to-day responsibility for ensuring the policy is put into practice.
• All staff involved in raising funds has responsibility for following best practice and highlighting any potential conflicts.

Concerns

Anybody who has any concerns about fundraising practices at EOS can raise as complaint as set out in our Complaints Policy.

If after responses from both EOS and EOS trustees the concern is not resolved a complaint can be raised with the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel (For details see https://goodfundraising.scot/).

Our registration number with the Office for the Scottish Charity Regulator is SC042392.

September 2023