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Accepting, refusing and returning donations to your charity

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Document information
ByThe Charity Commissionplum_heron_2a51df

Legal rules for trustees when deciding whether to accept, refuse or return a donation.

Adapted edition

Charity governance
Document type
Reference Guide
Format
DOCX
Pages
9
Language
English
Version
1.0
Updated
2026-09-16
Category
Governance & assurance
Licence
Open Government Licence v3.0
Description

Legal rules for trustees when deciding whether to accept, refuse or return a donation. Consult the original guidance for current legal and operational details.

Contents
  • What we mean by a donation
  • A grant can be a donation or a contract
  • Donations you must refuse or return
  • Donations that you must refuse because they are from illegal sources or come with illegal conditions
  • Other donations that you must refuse or return
  • Donations that you are likely to need to refuse or return
  • Check separate legal rules for moral, or ex gratia payments
  • Check separate legal rules for failed fundraising appeals
  • Check you have a legal power to refuse or return a donation
  • Powers to refuse a donation
  • Powers to return a donation
  • Returning donations in specific situations
  • Making your decision
  • Your trustee duties
  • Your decision
  • Example relevant factors to consider and balance when deciding whether to refuse or return a donation
Source and licence
Accepting, refusing and returning donations to your charity

The Charity Commission

Original source OGL-UK-3.0

AttributionThe Charity Commission, ‘Accepting, refusing and returning donations to your charity’ (updated 4 March 2024), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

ChangesNeutral text-only adaptation from the official GOV.UK Content API body: headings, paragraphs, ordered and unordered list items and clickable source-link destinations in an appendix preserved. Images, logos, page design, accessible-format request widgets and linked attachments excluded; normalised whitespace, invisible format marks and typography.

Version history
  • v1.016/09/2026
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