Our Donations Policy

We believe it is important that donors know how their money will be used. Our donation policy is designed to make this clear. We raise funds either for specific campaigns or for AAI discretionary funds. We always state what each fund-raising appeal is for.

Campaign-specific funds

When we need funds for a specific campaign, such as The Right to be Secular or to appeal sentences imposed for blasphemy, we will:

  1. State what we need money for.
  2. State the amount we need to raise. Where the amount cannot be determined precisely, we will make a low estimate and may revise the amount upwards or downwards as costs become clearer.
  3. Close fundraising when the required amount is raised.
  4. Use the money raised only for the stated campaign. However, in the event that more money is raised than is needed for the stated campaign, the balance will be transferred to our campaign reserve and will be used for current or future campaigns at the AAI board’s discretion.

Refunds

It is not normally possible for us to refund donations. This is for two reasons. Some platforms, such as Facebook, allow tax relief to be claimed on donations and we cannot refund money on which tax relief can be claimed. In these cases, it may be possible to claim a refund from the organization you made the donation through. Secondly, we cannot refund money if it has already been spent.

Otherwise, we will deal with each refund request as sympathetically as we can.

Discretionary funds

The AAI board is free to use discretionary funds in any way it thinks best to support our mission. Some will be used for administrative purposes, such as paying for our website or software licenses. Some is retained to support our campaigns or our affiliates’ campaigns. These funds are particularly important when we need money urgently and there is insufficient time to set up a fundraising appeal.

Unsolicited donations and members’ subscriptions are our main sources of discretionary funds, but from time to time, we may appeal for additional support.

How you can help

We help a lot of people, but it’s only a fraction of those who need help. The single biggest thing that limits how many people we can help is funding. Please help us to do more—become an AAI member or make a donation to our discretionary fund.



Join Us

If you have any questions about donations, please contact our Treasurer: treasurer@atheistalliance.org