Ethics and Sponsorship

1. Introduction

"Sponsorship is not philanthropy. It is a mutually beneficial business partnership"
Friends of the Earth/Directory of Social Change (1)

"In this competitive age the reasons for a company wishing to work with a charity are seldom purely philanthropic."
Institute of Fundraising Practice (13)

These web pages have been developed by the Ethical Consumer Research Association to provide UK charities and other values-led organisations with some basic tools to develop policy and practice on fundraising with commercial partners. They comprise:

• a discussion of some of the key issues
• examples of existing policy in the public domain
• a free template for creating your organisation's ethical sponsorship policy
• implementation and practical issues
• references and links to other organisations working in the field

Ethical Consumer has been involved in campaigning for corporate social responsibility since 1989 and has provided research services for charities wanting to check out potential commercial partners since 1995.

We welcome comment and criticism on the content of these pages. Please email ecis@ethicalconsumer.org

Next