Campaigns to End Violence against Women and Girls - Virtual ...

important to have a clear, possibly written agreement on any donor requirements and
donor benefits, e.g. on visibility, access to campaign events, etc.
Bear in mind:
- Donated goods, pro bono time and other free gifts are valuable contributions that
must be properly acknowledged and accounted for as part of effective management
of campaign resources. Assign a monetary value to non-cash donations, and record
them in your accounts.
- When accepting pro bono support, verify whether the quality and timeliness of the
free services offered corresponds with the campaign needs. Some PR agencies may
be tempted to produce advertisements that shock the audience or generate publicity
of the PR agency itself, rather than engaging the audience on the campaign issue
See in-kind contributions under Budgeting and financial control for tips on tracking inkind
support.
MANAGING DONOR RELATIONS
Donor support should be acknowledged, e.g. on printed materials, the campaign
website and at campaign events. If there are good reasons not to publicly acknowledge
specific donors, e.g. when operating in politically sensitive environments, the relevant
organizations should be informed of these constraints early on.
A productive relationship with a donor requires regular communication that updates
donors on the campaign without overburdening them with excessive information. E-mail
newsletters are an inexpensive way of maintaining contact with large numbers of donors
and other stakeholders. As much as possible, donors should also be invited to
campaign activities.
Campaigns that have several institutional donors can reduce the burden of multiple
reporting requirements by organizing annual donor meetings for all their donor
representatives. Such meetings can replace multiple separate donor visits, and enhance
coordination between the donors. Consolidated reports can be presented that show all
campaign expenses and income, rather than one separate report for each donor. Such a
“consortium” approach is likely to reassure donors, because it is transparent.
8.3 FINANCES IN CAMPAIGN ALLIANCES
Campaign alliances are advised to establish a dedicated campaign secretariat based
on agreed, written procedures, for financial and other administrative tasks. Control of the
secretariat should be exercised by a board or steering structure, bringing together
several alliance members who have decision-making authority.
Ideally, the secretariat should be established as a fully separate entity, with its own bank
account and written procedures. Where this is not feasible, the secretariat is usually
hosted within a member organization of the alliance. As a result, the host
organization practically controls day-to-day management of income and expenses; and
the campaign secretariat needs to comply with broader financial procedures within the
host organization. Existing procedures must be reviewed, adjusted as needed and
explicitly agreed on so as to prevent unnecessary delays and conflicts.
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Campaigns December 2011