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GUIDELINES
FOR SUPPORT TO CHARITIES
1.
Objective
2. Organisation
3. Charities Coordinator
4. Selection Procedure & Criteria
5. Regular Appeals
6. Reporting
7. Publicity
1.
Objective:
As part of its mission, St Anthony’s Parish wishes to reach out to the
needy by providing support through legitimate charitable organisations.
2.
Organisation:
Charity appeals are envisaged on a monthly basis throughout the year. In
addition, during the Lenten period, charity appeals will be made on a weekly
basis. In total approximately 16 appeals are held in a given year. In
addition, during Advent, a Christmas sale is organised every year to which
all charities are invited to run a stall for their own fund raising .
3.
Charities Coordinator:
- A charities coordinator acts as secretary for this task, collecting
requests from charities for support, and submitting them to the Parish
Council for advance approval.
- The charities coordinator is responsible for all contacts with the
charity, organising the appeals at Masses, and for ensuring that the
transfers are made to the charities’ bank accounts following the charity
appeal.
4.
Selection Procedure & Criteria:
Only registered charitable or non profit making organisations (e.g. ASBLs)
may benefit from an appeal. The request should be sent to the charities
coordinator who will gather all relevant information about the charity and
present the request to the Parish Council on a quarterly basis. Where
possible, the charity’s sponsor will be invited to address the Parish
Council in person.
In
considering requests, the Parish Council will pay particular attention to
the following criteria:
- support for charitable works in favour of the needy in Belgium (strive for
balance in the regions French/Flemish/German)
- recognition of the multi-national membership of the Parish, and the desire
to support charities operating in native countries of parishioners
(Africa/South and Central America/India, E. Europe)
- minimising of administrative costs of the charity
- sponsorship by one or a group of parishioners
When legitimate requests significantly exceed the number of appeals, those
charities which cannot participate in the Christmas Sale should be given
particular consideration (other than those selected for regular appeals).
In order to ensure a balance between the support for charities working in
Belgium and abroad, it is proposed that as a guideline, non-regular monthly
appeals should be in support of charities active in Belgium, whereas Lenten
appeals will support charities active abroad.
Notwithstanding the above, urgent appeals may be made at any time during the
year, in response to a particular urgency or catastrophe.
In exceptional cases, and with the express approval of the Parish Priest,
appeals from individuals (i.e. not representing a registered charity) may be
admitted. These will be examined on a case by case basis.
Charities for which appeals cannot be held will receive a standard letter in
response (see attached draft).
5. Regular Appeals
A certain number of regular appeals which respect the above criteria will be
continued as follows:
January: Courant d’Air
Lent: Cardinal’s Appeal (1 or 2 collections)
Pentecost Sunday: Appeal to be selected by Confirmation Class
August: Good Samaritan Fund (according to need)
September: Little Sisters of the Poor
October: OASIS Christian Counselling Centre
November: St Vincent de Paul Society
December: St Gilles
The Good Samaritan Fund is administered by the Parish Priest and is for the
benefit of the needy in the Parish. It may also contribute to ad hoc/urgent
requests from charitable organisations, which the Parish Council would like
to support but for which no appeal is possible.
6.
Reporting
The charities coordinator is responsible for submitting regular reports to
the Pastoral and Finance councils.
In addition, regular feedback to the Parish community should be ensured
through:
(a) information in Words on the results of charity appeals
(b) reports to be published in the Parish newsletter, in principle twice a
year – in particular the Advent issue which should provide a running total
for the year’s collections.
7. Publicity
On the basis of the agreed guidelines, Parishioners should be invited to
submit proposals for support of charities through periodic publicity in
Words and/or the Parish Newsletter.
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