The Society of Research Software Engineering exists for its members and to serve the RSE community. It generates income to ensure that it can fulfil its aims, which can include corporate partnerships and sponsorship agreements. This income allows the Society to run the annual RSECon conference and support community activity throughout the year, including its mentoring scheme and its Events & Initiatives grants scheme. In particular, registration fees only cover around half of the costs of RSECon, and it would simply not be possible to run the conference at its current scale without the financial support of sponsors.

The Society aims to be sensitive to the concerns of its members regarding ethical issues of fundraising. We recognise the need to conduct fundraising responsibly, mitigating potential risks (reputational, financial or otherwise) from opportunities. Accordingly, we carried out a membership consultation in 2025-2026 to define the areas for exclusion. This document outlines the Society’s policy for accepting gifts, sponsorships & partnerships, and managing the associated risks. 

Key definitions (from the Cambridge Dictionary)

The policy subscribes to the following definitions, for avoidance of doubt:

• Sponsorship: Money that is given, usually by a company, to support a person, organisation or activity.
• Partnership: An agreement between organisations, people, etc. to work together.
• Exhibitor: A person or company that shows their work or products at an exhibition [or, in the Society of RSE’s case, an event].
• Gifts: To give something in an official or formal way.
• Bequests: The money or property that someone, after death, gives to someone else.

Parameters of the policy

This policy is designed to address sponsorship, partnerships, exhibitors, gifts or bequests from organisations or individuals. This policy applies to all cash and in-kind offers over £100 in value. This does not apply to voluntary involvement of individuals in SocRSE events and activities.

The Society’s trustees are lawfully required to make decisions, whether to accept or refuse these opportunities, in the best interest of the charity. Trustees must not allow individual or collective views on political or ethical issues, not directly related to the aims of the charity, to affect their judgements when making decisions. The Society should maintain its independence and not allow any external agreements to bring the name of the Society of Research Software Engineering into disrepute.

Areas of Exclusion:

Partnerships, sponsorships, exhibitors, gifts or bequests from any organisation which has a core business function in the following areas will be avoided. The areas for exclusion are limited to those required by law as a charity:

• Tobacco products
• Political parties

Gifts and donations

The conflicts of interest policy covers resolving conflicts of interest, but does not cover limitations on gifts or donations. 

Trustees and staff of the Society will not give or receive cash, cheque or bank transfers considered to be bribery, tax avoidance, failure in financial reporting or a combination of these. This excludes payment for activity relating to the work of the Society of Research Software Engineering, such as remuneration for paid work, expenses for activity relating to the work of the Society, such as travel, accommodation or food. 

Any gifts under £100 will be publicly declared as a potential conflict of interest as per the conflicts of interest policy, and gifts of £100 and over will be declined. Gifts or bequests to the Society can be made as long as the avoidance criteria are not met. 

Making changes to this policy

Any changes to the avoidance criteria in this policy must be ratified by a members’ vote at an Extraordinary General Meeting or Annual General Meeting. Other changes can be made by a trustee vote, though if there are any concerns around controversial changes, then these should also be passed via a members’ vote.