Approved by TI Az board of directors meeting of 14 Aug 2009
With amendments as per board meeting dated 30 April 2015
Attachment 6 to Transparency Azerbaijan Governance Policies
TRANSPARENCY AZERBAIJAN DONATION AND FUNDRAISING STRATEGY
Introduction
This document is intended to guide the strategic financial planning, donation and
fundraising process. Donations and other income enable TI Az to fight corruption.
Secure and diverse funding enables TI Az to maintain its independence, protect its
reputation and operate effectively. In order to ensure accountability and transparency
and maintain its integrity as an organization, TI Az joined TI Donation Policy,
Procedure and Guidelines (passed by the TI Annual Membership Meeting, 10 October
2004) described below. The next step analyzes the financial situation of the TI Az,
identifies current income streams and funding needs, that is further detailed on annual
basis and is set forth in the Annual Activities Plan and Budget, as well as, potential
funding sources. Then it describes a selection of fundraising tools to help meet funding
needs over the coming years.
TI Donation Policy, Procedure and Guidelines
The National Chapters and the Secretariat of TI (TI-S) are funded from diverse sources:
foundations, governments, the private sector, individuals, membership fees, income
from publications, events and other activities and from an endowment fund. Relying on
many sources of income helps TI to maintain its independence. Funding may be
unrestricted or tied to specific projects.
Generally the National Chapters and TI-S ('TI Bodies') each raise their own funding. As
regards fundraising for the Secretariat, the Donor Relations department leads and
coordinates fundraising activities at TI-S. A sub-committee of the TI Board, the
Fundraising Task Force, pursues and oversees major fundraising initiatives for the
movement. This committee also advises on all matters referred to it under the
procedure described below.
TI must not risk jeopardising its reputation for honesty, openness and integrity. Its
reputation could be compromised if a TI body received funding from sources that were
perceived to be pursuing activities inconsistent with TI's mission.
Policy
It is TI's policy to accept funding from any donor and whether monetary or in kind,
provided that acceptance does not:
 impair TI's independence to pursue its mission
 endanger its integrity and reputation.
Scope
This Policy applies to all fundraising for all TI bodies, regardless of types of donor or
amounts involved, unless otherwise stated in this document. It is to be applied to all
new funding from existing donors and to all new donors in the future. It does not apply
to income raised from the sale of publications or from fees for participation in
conferences, events and other activities. Appropriate care to protect the reputation of TI
should always be taken.
Guidelines
Funding to enable TI bodies to carry out their work should be sought from a wide range
of sources. Care should be taken to ensure that project-related funding does not result
in undue influence over TI's programme work. Subject to maintaining TI's
independence and reputation, TI bodies may accept funding from all kinds of sources.
Each TI body should list all donations over € 1,000 and publicly disclose them,
including in the Chapter's Annual Report and on its website, and likewise in the case of
TI-S. If there is a significant risk that receiving funds from a particular source would
impair TI's independence or if there is a significant risk to TI's reputation from public
association with the donor, then funding from that source must not be accepted by a TI
body.
Any donation to a TI body must be able to stand up to public scrutiny. TI's
independence requires that a donor may be subject to the same criticism by TI as any
other organisation or individual in a comparable situation. A donor accused of having
been involved in corruption can expect no protection from TI.
TI can receive funding from corporations and donors from the private sector. This does
not imply any endorsement of a donating company's policies or record. It is advisable
that a potential donating company has made a public commitment to ethical standards
(such as the UN Global Compact, the Business Principles etc.), and TI bodies may
request that corporate donors sign a commitment to integrity before any donation from
that company is accepted. No TI body should accept a donation from a company that is
found to have engaged in corruption unless the company can demonstrate that this was
a violation of the company's policies, that breach of these policies are being addressed
in an appropriate manner, or that its policies have been amended to proscribe a similar
violation in future. TI works with companies on the understanding that they are
working towards a business environment in which bribery is not accepted.
Procedure
It is the responsibility of the staff and Boards of Directors of TI bodies to ensure that TI's
independence and reputation are not jeopardised. The procedure below describes the
steps which should be followed when a staff or Board member believes that any TI
body has accepted, or is considering accepting, funding from an inappropriate source.
Other people associated with TI may also make use of this procedure.
1. If any staff or Board member of a TI body is concerned that there is a threat to TI's
independence or reputation from donations already received, or about to be
accepted, the person(s) should draw this to the attention of the manager or Chair of
the Board of that particular TI body.
2. If necessary, the manager or Chair of the Board of the body will consult with the
Fundraising Task Force of the TI Board and seek their advice on whether to accept
funding from a specific donor.
3. If any TI body proposes to accept more than €100,000 (or an amount greater than
20% of its overall budget) from any private company in a year, this should be
brought to the attention of the TI Board Fundraising Task Force for their advice.
4. All communications with the Fundraising Task Force of the TI Board should be
made through a TI Board member or the Chief Executive of TI-S.
The Fundraising Task Force will report to the TI Board all guidance given under this
procedure.
Diversification of Income
Unlike many associations, where membership dues remain the primary source of
income, TI Az does not collect membership fees from individual members who are
board directors and staff members. Traditional revenue sources such as foreign donor
funding directly to TI Az and through TI Secretariat are harder to find and to register
under the laws of Azerbaijan, thus underlining the need to have a strategy to seek funds
from other sources. These sources are: funding from the Government of Azerbaijan
through NGO Support Council and direct funding from various public agencies, and
fees from the private sector for services.
Challenges and Mitigation Measures
Several key challenges that impact partnership and fundraising strategy and measures
to mitigate them are included below.
Challenge
Mitigation measure
Difficult economic conditions
New donor identification and solicitation
Tightened legal requirements
Thorough analysis of the new laws by the
lawyers and advice to TI Az managerial and
financial staff
Difficult operating environment
Consultations
with
respective
public
agencies and seeking their support for
projects at the stage of proposal preparation
Pressure from sponsors in terms of To adjust donor requirements to the needs
areas of the projects
of the country
Corporations
and
increasingly We try as best we can to tailor our programs
foundations want project-specific to meet both the requirements of our
proposals, rather than fund general organization and donors.
expends, such as rent, support and
admin staff, etc.
Fund raising tools
Face-to-face meetings with potential donors and/or clients are often necessary to
produce a good impression on the potential donors. Major funding foundations’
websites shall be regularly checked for announcement. TI Az will do its best to establish
contacts and participate in meetings of business associations, such as Amcham, EuropeAzerbaijan Chamber of Commerce, etc., present their projects in order to build the
reputation, demonstrate skills in order to be invited to participate in tenders for
services. TI Az will also do its best to convince businesses that their internal anticorruption policies and tools need to be reviewed and be brought in line with the
anticipated new law on whistle blower protection.
Project proposal preparation
Identification of the project/program that is of great importance both for TI Az and the
donor increases funding opportunity. Generally, concept paper of 2 pages (letter of
inquiry) is required at a first round of application process. It is to make sure that
interests of both do overlap before requesting full proposal in detail. It is the
responsibility of the ED to prepare concept paper and to organize managerial staff into
preparing a full project proposal. In case of need, TI AZ will seek assistance from the TI
Secretariat in editing project proposal. The projects must be realistic and aimed to tackle
one particular problem within a specified time frame and limited budget. Secondly, it
is vital to design new projects in a way that main outputs of the present project would
turn into inputs in next projects. Thirdly, a new project shall allow the organization to
build new networks strengthening each member’s capacity and ensure community
participation. The projects shall have flexible design that allows to quickly responding
to changing operating environment (political, legal, and societal). Each project proposal
shall have risk evaluation component and risk mitigation plan. The project is required
to possess consistent monitoring and evaluation plan with benchmarks and clear
indicators to measure success. A profound and unbiased approach to depict M&E
should not allow achievement of major outputs to overweigh measuring outcomes, and
should lead to sustainable processes among all stakeholders, including citizens, NGOs
and the government.
Exit strategy
TI Az designs adequate project exit strategy in order to provide sustainability of its
work. Project exit strategy is a specific plan through which the project will continue
realization of its goals and sustainability of outcomes upon withdrawal from a place or
people, or end of funding. The principle TI Az applies to its exit strategy is to move to
the next stage of a project using the experience acquired during the first stage, while
another option would be termination of support under a specific project. Thus, TI Az
launched its first ALAC project in 2005, added a component of extensive public
outreach and mobile legal aid sessions in 2008; the third phase was launched in 2011
with sets of recommendations for public agencies delivered through advocacy round
tables; while in 2012 TI AZ moved to the fourth phase to monitor implementation by
the Government of its international anti-corruption obligations and recommendations
provided by TI Az in collaboration with other civil society groups.
Board roles
The board should closely be engaged with the Executive Director and raising and
managing funds in order to provide transparency of activities and procedures. Thus,
the board shall be aware of any project proposal preparation stage so that board
members can provide their invaluable comments. Board members also shall be
informed of the results (both success and failure) of every tender process TI Az
submitted a proposal to. Further review of management of funds by the board would
contribute to the achievements of the organization. Therefore, budgets for all programs
and their implementation shall be presented to the board on quarterly basis.