Boy strokes kitten in Blue Cross employee's arms

Our supporter charter

Everything we do is focused on improving the welfare and quality of life for pets and to enable more people to experience the joy that pets bring. This is only possible thanks to our generous supporters who give their time and/or money to help us.

We have six principles that we believe are vital to our relationship with you:

1. We will respect you and promise that we will never take your support for granted:

  • We value you as an individual and the support you give to us, whatever form this support takes.
  • We do not undertake any form of fundraising which we have reason to believe a person might find uncomfortable. 
  • When we fundraise, we always ensure we comply with all regulations and closely monitor the activity to ensure your experience of this type of fundraising is a positive one.
  • We take care to ensure all fundraisers are appropriately trained, and we closely monitor activities, especially when we work with external partners for fundraising when our Blue Cross team is under resourced to undertake all our activity.
  • We are sensitive to fundraising from vulnerable individuals. Our staff, volunteers and partners adhere to the Chartered Institute of Fundraising's policy on vulnerable people.
  • We are members of the Institute of Fundraising (IOF) and are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and fully comply with their Code of Fundraising Practice.

2. We take the confidentiality and security of any personal data you share with us very seriously:

3. We will do our best to understand how you would like to be kept updated about the positive impact we are making on pets and their people and to tell you about new ways of supporting us:

  • We will communicate with you, where we have your permission, to keep you updated on how your support is helping pet welfare and share stories that demonstrate how you are helping transform the lives of pets in need.
  • We will communicate with you only in the ways you want us to when you tell us your preferred contact method. If you contact us about a change in your preferences, or how frequently you want to hear from us, we will make those changes as quickly as possible. We have a 21-day lead time for such changes to take effect.
  • We will be honest about the challenges we face and show you how you can further support us and pets in need unless you ask us not to.
  • If you decide you no longer wish to support us, we may ask you the reason for this, we will respect your decision and will amend the communications permissions you have given us.

4. We are transparent about how we use your donation(s)

  • We will use your donation carefully and responsibly, putting it to work as quickly as we can
  • If you request us to allocate your gift to a specific project, location or type of work, we will ensure this happens wherever possible. If this is not possible, we will advise you of this and proceed according to what you decide.
  • We will maximise the value of your donation through Gift Aid whenever we can and where you confirm your eligibility and consent for us to do this. 
  • We publish clear financial reports in our Annual Report 2021 and a top-level summary of our activity in our Impact Report 2021, both of which are available on our website.

5. We will listen to your feedback and ideas:

  • We welcome your views about what we are doing well and where we could improve.
  • We will make it as easy as possible for you to give us feedback which may include an invitation to join our Supporter Panel. 

6. We act when it will improve the service we provide:

  • When we get things wrong, we will take ownership and do our best to put things right.
  • We have a separate complaints procedure for responding to any complaints. We treat all complaints seriously, investigate them fully and respond to them as promptly as possible.
  • We also encourage positive feedback as this helps us to shape and continue to improve our very good customer service. 

Everyone at Blue Cross

Last updated: 26 October 2022