Fundraising principles

Background - 29 September, 2006

Greenpeace's worldwide activities are funded almost entirely by donations from individuals in many countries around the world, and by private foundation grants.

Greenpeace offices actively solicit funds to maximise long-term income to enable the organisation to achieve its global mission. The methods we use to raise funds comply with the professional codes of conduct and accepted good practice promoted by fundraising, marketing and advertising institutes in the countries we operate within. Greenpeace works actively to ensure transparency and public accountability in its campaigning, fundraising and financial management practices.

In raising funds, we accurately describe our activities and needs. Our policies and practices ensure that donations further our organisation's mission. As a matter of policy, we do not seek or accept funding from governments, corporations, political parties or multi-national governmental bodies such as the United Nations or the European Community, as this could compromise our independent status with regard to the environmental issues we represent. We reserve the right to refuse private donations that may compromise our independence, integrity or deflect from our campaign priorities, and large donations are screened for this purpose.

Fundraising Costs

Greenpeace worldwide works to maintain a proper balance between costs, revenue and quality, and to keep fundraising costs to an acceptable percentage of revenue. Fundraising costs are clearly specified in the annual accounts  of Greenpeace offices.

Donors' Rights

Greenpeace is a Member of Accountable Now, a platform of international civil society organisations. Together, we strive to be transparent, responsive to stakeholders and focused on delivering impact. We have signed ten globally-agreed-upon Accountability Commitments and seek to respect human rights, be independent and work ethically and professionally.

Annually Greenpeace reports publicly on our economic, environmental and social performance according to the Accountable Now Reporting Guidelines to an Independent Review Panel. Learn more about our work and responsibility towards our stakeholders in our Accountability Reports.

Earmarked Gifts

Where donations are made for a specific objective, we fully endeavour to honour the donor's request. If we invite the general public to donate to a specific cause, a recognised accounting method will be used to track and control donations. Accurate and timely reports will be available to the public, including the amounts raised, how it was spent, and the net proportion used for the purpose or cause. We seek to actively raise no more than the full budget of activities we specify in earmarked funding requests; and will develop scenarios for dealing with shortfall or excess on specific earmarked fundraising projects. We take every effort to provide full and fair disclosure in managing donor designated gifts.

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