WP&UP has a responsibility to the general public, its members, employees and volunteers to ensure all donations made to the charity are legitimate and comply with governing laws.

For all single donations totalling or exceeding £25,000 or consecutive payments equalling this sum within a two month period are to ensure appropriate due diligence is undertaken. WP&UP will endeavour to collect the following information about the donor:

• Who are the donors?
• What is known about them?
• Does WP&UP have a well established relationship with them?
• Are the donors UK taxpayers, and can Gift Aid be claimed?
• If Gift Aided, does the donation fail all the 3 tests, in which case it is a tainted charity donation? The tests establish whether the person or linked person or entity gains a financial advantage from the donation; whether 1 of the main or sole purposes is to obtain a financial advantage directly or indirectly from the charity for the donor or linked person; and the donor is not a wholly owned subsidiary of the charity or a ‘relevant housing provider’
• In what form is the money being received? Cash, cheque, bank transfer? Have any public concerns been raised about the donors or their activities? If so, what was the nature of the concerns and how long ago were they raised? Did the police or a regulator investigate the concerns? What was the outcome?
• Would any adverse publicity about the donor have a damaging effect on WP&UP?

WP&UP will not accept donations that are offered with any conditions attached. If the WP&UP Trustees are suspicious of any donation following due diligence checks then they have the following responsibilities:

• If due diligence checks reveal evidence of crime, trustees must report the matter to the police and/or other appropriate authorities.
• If the trustees have reasonable cause to suspect that a donation is related to terrorist financing, they are under specific legal duties under the Counter-Terrorism Act to report the matter to the police. In the case of money laundering, reports can be made to the police, a customs officer (HMRC), or an officer of the National Crime Agency.
• Such issues should be reported to the Charity Commission under the reporting serious incidents regime, especially if significant sums of money or other property are donated to WP&UP from an unknown or unverified source. This could include an unusually large one-off donation or a series of smaller donations from a source you cannot identify or check.
• Check the donor against the consolidated lists of financial sanctions targets and proscribed organisations.
• Consider whether to refuse the donation.