#79 What's the scariest thing in your contract?

For everyone in fundraisingland it was Halloween – smiling fundraisers went from supplier to supplier to ask for face to face capacity for the next year. Holding out their contract buckets they waited to see whether they would be lucky and get a nice treat. But for some fundraisers things looked a lot scarier than they’d hoped, and instead found themselves on the end of a nasty trick.

If you’re responsible for managing supplier partnerships for your organisation the best way to make sure there aren’t too many nasty surprises lurking in the darkness, is to have a high-quality contract and due-diligence process in place with your suppliers. This is just as important if you are recontracting with your existing supplier, as well as bringing on new partners.

The risk of getting the due diligence wrong can be pretty scary, even when it’s not Halloween. We’ve seen suppliers go bust owing their clients significant amounts of money that they couldn’t afford to waste. Regulators are also continuing to look at fundraising to make sure that charities are taking responsibility for their supply chains.

The process of due diligence and contract development can look frightening – the legal jargon and complex documents take a lot of time to get through and can lead to awkward conversations with suppliers, when what you really want to be doing is building a constructive and positive fundraising partnership with them.

A good contract can also make the difference between a successful program and a challenging one. Very often suppliers will bring their own contracts to the charity, and these are usually (and understandably) weighted in favour of the supplier.

A good contract should protect the interests of both parties, and it’s vital to include clauses that regulators, including the FWO expect to see and that give your organisation the ability to effectively manage your fundraising.

Fundraising Partners can make the whole process less scary, less time consuming and a lot easier. We can provide a suite of easy to use due diligence materials, support you through the process and make sure that your due diligence and contract processes will help you achieve your fundraising objectives.

We’ll also help you keep the CEO and Board happy that you’ve properly managed the risk in your fundraising.

If you’d like more treats than tricks in your supplier contracting this year, get in touch!