Audit
The first audit by the European Donations Seal will take place as soon as possible after the proposal has been accepted. Further audits are performed annually. The dates of these follow-up audits are determined by the date of the first audit. This is why delays of more than two months are to be avoided. Changes to the constitution and to the staff of the responsible persons are to be reported to the European Donations Seal immediately.
Requests / Applications All organizations recognized as charitable, benevolent and/or clerical within by and within the European Union may apply for the European Donations Seal.
A) Requests The request for an application has to be in writing and does not have to follow a specific form. The following documents have to be enclosed:
- The constitution
- The notice of exemption by the financial authorities
- The entry at the local court (if available)
- The last two annual accounts
- The activities reports of the last two years
- An audit report if available
- The names and private addresses of the persons in charge.
The first audit report can be compiled by an audit firm of choice. For follow-up audits, the audit has to be performed by an independent audit firm chosen by the European Donations Seal. For now, the business language is German. English and French versions are in preparation.
B) Applications Depending on the results of the audit of the request, the European Donations Seal sends out an application form to apply for the seal.
C) Fees
- Request- and handling fee (once): 180,- €
- Annual fees equal 0,05% of the fund raising earnings of the last financial year.
- The fees amount annually to at least 420,- € up to a maximum of 5.400,- €.
- These fees are net prices. They are increase by the current VAT.
- In countries of the EU other than Germany, the VAT will be omitted.
D) Fees for the Audit Fees and costs for the audit reports, related expenditure for charges and travel cost, as well as the fees for the audit itself by an auditor are defrayed by the applicant.
E) Commission: European Transparency Code (ETC) The European Donations Seal congregates the Commission ETC which develops suggestions for the ETC. The commission is run by the European Donations Seal. The Commission is expected to regard the different aspects of organizations of varying sizes. The consulting members are:
- 2 representatives of large NPOs (rotating)
- 2 representatives of medium-sized NPOs (rotating)
- 2 representatives of small NPOs (rotating)
- representatives of NPOs from the European Union if necessary (rotating)
- representatives of professional associations if necessary (rotating)
F) Awarding of the Seal
- The Seal is only awarded after Application and positive audit result.
- The Seal can be awarded as a special award in certain, justified cases.
- The seal can be awareded as „provisionally certified“ in certain, justified cases.
The Seal will be awarded as a certificate, as well as the seal as a data file in a common data format. Bearers of the Seal by the European Donations Seal agree that basic data (Name of the nonprofit-organization and a weblink) may be shared on the Webpage of the European Donations Seal.
G) Use of the Seal The Sealbearers may use the Seal for all their electronic and media publications. For this purpose, the use of the Seal must be appropriate regarding manner and size.
