Permaculture Association Member Projects & Proposals

Our purpose is to unite people and planet

Voices for the Earth Guidance Notes

Earth Community Trust, UK registered Charity 1143660, Voices for the Earth Guidance Notes 03.17 1 For people who are applying to be Voices for the Earth and wish to benefit from our Charitable Status for funding or other agreed purposes.

We believe in supporting people, not projects

Who you are and what you value comes first. We value and support people who are in service to the Earth. People who are committed to speaking as a Voice for the Earth to advance similar values as ours are invited to use our charity as a conduit charity to advance your work. If who you are and what you do is in accordance with the Earth Community Trust’s (ECT) purpose of uniting people and planet and your values align with ours, please contact us.

Our Charitable Objects are to:

1. promote the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment with particular reference to permaculture, bio-dynamics and with a view to helping people connect with nature; and

2. advance the education of the public in the theory and practice of holistic living. Holistic living means a way of living that recognises human beings as a part of the greater whole.

The ECT is a UK conduit charity, which means that as a Voice for the Earth you can come under the ECT umbrella when you require a Charity bank account for funds to be received by you. Rather than you set - ting up your own charity, where a UK taxpayer or UK organisation requires a Charitable platform, you can process your funds through the ECT. This is called ‘restricted funding’, in other words your funds are ring- fenced in your name, minus our 10% tithe fee. It is up to you to provide us at the end of the year with a summary of what the funds were used for (this is for the Charity Commission) – you have complete au- thority to decide what you do with your funds. You are not an employee of the ECT; you can be self-em - ployed, be a volunteer or be leading a team of volunteers.

Why we believe in tithing. A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution back to the community. The 10% fee is a tithe which allows us to create a flow of funds back into the ECT which then in turn contributes to our funding pot, which helps support and keep our system in place. In this way we can build a system that has low costs, is self-funding and self-nourishing.

How it works

We provide you with our bank facility in the event that: a) you have a funder that is a UK taxpayer; or b) your funders’ gift is to be treated as charity tax deductible in the UK; and c) you do not have existing charitable status.

Please be aware, the Earth Community Trust does not provide funding. What we offer is the benefit of using our Charity bank account as a conduit charity if and when you have a UK taxpayer funder that requires you to have a charitable entity.

Requirements and eligibility

The ECT applies holistic living principles in the furtherance of building an Earth community through advancing the education of the public in the theory and practice of holistic living, including but not limited to the advancement of Earth Law, Restorative Justice, Earth Democracy, the People’s Process, Earth Walks and Earth Tours. How you promote the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment with particular reference to permaculture, bio-dynamics and with a view to helping people connect with nature is for you to determine.

Earth Community Trust, UK registered Charity 1143660, Voices for the Earth Guidance Notes 03.17 2 You must:  complete the Voices for the Earth Application Form, and sign the declaration at the end of the form.  Be accountable for the funds you receive via ECT by providing us with an end of year account for the ECT funds received and a report of how your ECT channelled funds were distributed.

When we receive your application we: 1. we will respond with a decision within 2 weeks; 2. check that your form has been fully completed. If it hasn’t, we will contact you asap and request further information or send the form back for completion; 3. If the decision needs further consideration, we will inform you of your timeline.

If your application is successful we shall send you an acceptance email and guidance notes for using our ECT charitable status. If your application is unsuccessful we will explain why. If re-application is recommended we will inform you. If we will not accept a further application we will state why.

Our 10% tithe fee

By sharing our charitable status for funding purposes, the funds that you receive will be processed through the ECT’s bank account. All monies raised using the ECT’s charitable status are subject to a fee of 10%.

We decided on our tithe fee after a great deal of consideration. (Other charities that extend this arrangement sometimes charge between 15-35%!) We use the money to cover administration of funds, general overheads and to ensure our reserve is kept in place and built upon.

Your funds

Please arrange for funders cheques to be made payable to the ‘Earth Community Trust’ with your name as the reference written on the back. If funders wish to make a direct transfer to our account, please see our Heart to Heart Funding page at http://www.earthcommunitytrust.org/heart-to-heart-funding for up-to- date details or alternatively they may choose to fund via CAF (we already have an account set up with CAF Charities Aid Foundation (cafonline.org). We have in place Just Giving (global) and Paypal (global). Your funder can choose which route is best suited for them. If they choose Just Giving, Gift Aid is automatically claimed on our behalf, which really helps us; alternatively we have a Gift Aid Form that your funders can fill in so that we can claim Gift Aid direct (please request this). Please ask all funds to name you, so that we can easily identify your funds when they come through. If funds can be received direct by you (ie. Your funder does not require you to have Charitable status), then there is no need to have them directed through ECT.

Gift Aid

A UK taxpayer donor who wishes to fund you via the ECT can additionally help by Gift Aiding their gift. This can greatly assist you and us. As a charity we can claim an additional 25% (approx.) from the Inland Revenue before reductions, 10% of which we shall retain and the remaining 90% you shall receive.

The easiest way to do this is to ask your funder to gift through Just Giving and ask them to tick the box to say they will Gift Aid their donation (http://www.earthcommunitytrust.org/heart-to-heart-funding). Alternatively, a Gift Aid Form can be completed. Please make it clear that the gift is for you by clearly referencing their gift to the ECT in your name.

E.g. Your UK taxpaying funder gifts £10,000 through ECT, and offers it to be subject to Gift Aid:

£10000 + 25% = £12500 £12500 - 10% = £ 1250 You receive = £11250

Earth Community Trust, UK registered Charity 1143660, Voices for the Earth Guidance Notes 03.17 3 Notes to help you fill in the form

Please fill in the form and email it to us.

Part 1: Name and contact information

Main contact person: where you are leading a group, please name the person responsible for liaising with the ECT for this application.

Part 2: Promoting your work and the Data Protection Act

Data Protection Act: We require your permission to store your information.

Part 3: General information about you

This section is asking you about you and general information about your work.

Part 4: A description of the work.

Please also provide a brief outline with links to website(s).

Part 5: Education and/or Awareness

Fill in either part a or part b, although you can fill in both parts if relevant.

Education can include training and educational materials such as books, posters, public presentations, talks, events. Awareness raising can include petitions of support (online and offline), film and public engagement.

Part 6: Earth Community connection, your values and mutual benefit.

The Earth Community connection: How does your work relate to connecting people to nature and/or holistic living? It is important that there is a connection.

Your Values: It is important for us that our values are in alignment (although they do not need to be the same). Please list what you value here.

Public Benefit: To qualify for support from the ECT, what you are doing must be of public benefit. This is because our Charitable Objects state that our work shall advance the education of the public.

ECT Benefit: All activities carried out by you shall benefit and help to deliver the ECT’s Charitable Objects. As part of the ECT, your work shall help ECT. Your answers may be the same as those given under ‘public benefit’.

Part 7: Declaration

To be signed by you. By signing the document you are confirming you have read and accepted the terms and conditions before signing this section.

Any questions?

If you are unsure about filling in the form, or whether your work would qualify or any other matter, please contact us at ECT. If there are particular questions we don’t know the answers to, or are unsure about, then we can contact the Charity Commission for advice.

Earth Community Trust, UK registered Charity 1143660, Voices for the Earth Guidance Notes 03.17 4 T&Cs

By becoming an ECT Voice for the Earth, you can use the ECT charitable status when receiving funds that specifically require charitable status. The trustees of the ECT are liable to the Charity Commission for all work undertaken using our charitable status. It is therefore important that you read these guidance notes carefully. Please make sure that everyone involved in the running and planning of your work has read them through too, so that you all have a shared understanding of what is required. In this way we hope to build a community of Voices for the Earth Community Trust.

Your responsibilities

 Honesty and integrity.  Keep the ECT informed of all funding that requires ECT charitable status.  Only use ECT if your funder requires it.  Only use the ECT name for funding purposes.  Provide a report at the end of the year re: your activities that have been supported by funds received via the ECT.  Keep proper accounts, and submit an annual financial report to us of ECT funds raised.  Ensure all monies that require our ECT charitable status, enter the ECT account.  Inform us of any change of address, phone or email details.  Contact us as soon as you know funds are being sent.  When you receive funds via ECT, you are for the purposes of the Charity Commission part of our charity and you are required to state that clearly to your funder(s). This is a legal requirement, similar to that for companies.  On documentation, please use the following wording:

[YOUR NAME] is in partnership with the Earth Community Trust, UK Registered Charity 1143660.

It is always inspiring for other people to read about what you are doing, so please let us know about your successes so we can share them out on social media.

Our responsibilities

 Honesty and integrity.  When we receive your application form, we will respond within 2 weeks.  When funds are received for you, funds shall be transferred to your account within 2 weeks, or as soon as the deposit has been cleared by our bank.  Make visible your profile as an ECT Voice for the Earth on our website.  Inform the Charity Commission in our Annual Report with an end of year account for the ECT funds received and a report of how your ECT channelled funds were distributed.

We are accountable to the Charity Commission for England and Wales. We have a responsibility to them to account for how channelled funds are distributed, in alignment our Objects and Purpose.

Office contact details

Email: [email protected] Website: www.earthcommunitytrust.org

Any other questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you.

Earth Community Trust, UK registered Charity 1143660, Voices for the Earth Guidance Notes 03.17 5