The table below shows the eleven ethical policies which could be found in full or in summary form on the web in April 2005. Click on the charity name to see the policy details in each case.
| Ethical Policy Type | Statement of Principles | Avoidance | CRM | Engagement | Process | Transparency | |||||||
| Diabetes UK | Working relationships | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| African Initiatives | Fundraising | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||||||
| Manchester University Foundation | Sponsorship | Yes | Yes | ||||||||||
| Mental Health Media | Funding | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||||||
| Save the Children | Investment | Yes | |||||||||||
| Action Aid | Investment | Yes | Yes | ||||||||||
| Barnardos | Investment | Yes | |||||||||||
| PDSA | Investment | Yes | |||||||||||
| Salvation Army | Investment | Yes | |||||||||||
| WWF UK | Investment | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||||||
| Oxfam | Purchasing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
As the column entitled 'ethical policy type' shows, only four of these are specifically fundraising policies. Six are ethical investment policies and one is an ethical purchasing policy which have been included because they are in some way analogous. It is also likely that, for the charities in question, company types excluded from investment are also excluded from sponsorship.
It is not clear why more policies have not been published on charity websites. If you know of any policies which we have not found, or if you can send us copies of other policies to include in our research, please do contact us.
All but one of the policies include a general statement or principles or commitment to address ethical issues.
This is also a point at which it is possible to define the scope of the policy. As we have seen in 2.3 above, the Charity Commission recommends, by implication, that policy formation addresses sponsorship, CRM (cause-related marketing) and licensing. Policies could also include: gifts in kind, corporate volunteering, affinity marketing, pro-bono work by suppliers and staff donor programmes.
Other columns on the table identify common aspects of ethical policies. Ten out of eleven contain exclusionary (avoidance) criteria, and two discuss engagement (see also 2.4 above). Four contain disclosures or promises to publicly disclose certain arrangements in a 'Transparency' section. Three contain 'Process' sections which explain how approvals have to take place. Only one - the Diabetes UK policy - specifically addresses cause-related marketing (CRM). This policy is without doubt the most complete, complex and mature of all those publicly available on the web. It also contains significant appendices and has been very influential in helping us to draw up the template in the next section.
Corporate Critic - a quick and easy to use research database for performing ethical company screenings.