How the Charities’ Accounts Work
At the beginning of Michaelmas term, each JCR member is billed for three charities’ payments on their battels. All three donations are voluntary and each of the three is £5.
The ‘Charities – Yearly’ donation goes into the account for Charity of the Year (surprisingly enough!). In Michaelmas term, all JCR members are invited to nominate a charity as the JCR’s Charity of the Year. A vote is then taken in a JCR meeting to choose the charity.
The ‘Charities – Hardship’ donation goes into the college hardship fund for students experiencing financial difficulty.
The final £5 donation which is called ‘Charities – Miscellaneous’ goes into the general JCR Charities’ Account. Donations to any charity can be made throughout the year from the general JCR Charities’ Account. Donations are most often made to charities suggested by JCR members or to charities which write requesting a donation. As far as possible, JCR members should decide where the money in this account goes and all JCR members are very welcome to suggest charities. Details of how to get money from this account are below.
Donations of over £250 are unusual and need to be passed through two consecutive JCR meetings as a financial motion. Donations of up to £250 need to be passed through one JCR meeting. To do this you need to write a motion stating why you think the charity should receive JCR money and how much you want to give. You need a proposer and a seconder. For help with the wording of motions, contact the Charities’ rep.
Donations of up to £50 do not need to be passed through a JCR meeting. Any such donations will be advertised on the charities’ notice-board for at least 2 weeks and highlighted in the Charities’ rep’s remarks on the JCR agenda. This gives time for any objections to be raised; if disagreement about a donation cannot be resolved, the matter will be decided by a simple majority vote at a JCR meeting.
Policy on Responding to Requests for Donations
When the Charities’ rep receives a request for a donation from the Charities’ Account s/he will usually advertise this to the JCR. Any JCR member who wishes to propose a motion donating money to the charity may then do so. (On some occasions the JCR Charities’ rep will not advertise requests for donations, for example if the request is not connected to any registered charity or to the charitable activities of any JCR member.)
If no JCR member wishes to propose a motion to donate money to the charity, then the Charities’ rep may, at his/her own discretion, propose a donation of £50 or under. This will, as in the case of all donations of £50 or under, be advertised to the JCR for at least 2 weeks so that any objections to the donation may be raised.
Unfortunately, a number of decisions are left primarily to the discretion of the Charities’ rep. This is because of the large number of requests for donations received. The Charities’ rep will try to ensure that a range of charities are supported. No donation will be made without first either being passed as a JCR motion, or being advertised to the JCR (by means of the charities’ notice-board and rep’s remarks) for a minimum of 2 weeks. The Charities’ rep can also, of course, be questioned about any donation made or any decision taken at their discretion
Donations from the JCR Charities’ Account will usually only be made to registered charities, but may in special circumstances be made to other groups (most conceivably, if a non-registered but well-recognised charitable group within St Hugh’s or Oxford University requested support).