There are various things to consider when organising a fundraiser to make sure that it is all above board - make sure you're in the know.
The Cabinet office has some useful guidance of what to consider when organising a voluntary event. Read their ‘Can do guide to organising and running voluntary and community events.’
Use of Save the Children name and logo
When you promote your fundraiser, make sure you make clear that you are fundraising ‘in aid of’ Save the Children and not on behalf of. Our Registered Charity No. is 213890 (England & Wales), SC039570 (Scotland) and IOM (199) – please include this on all your printed fundraising literature.
When promoting your fundraising activity, you must only use our ‘in aid of Save the Children’ logo. Please email [email protected] to request this.
Gift Aid
Is your donation eligible for Gift Aid?
Gift Aid is an arrangement that allows charities to reclaim tax on a donation made by a UK taxpayer, which means your donations will be worth 25% more to us at no extra cost to you.
Whether you pay online, by phone or post please make sure that you send all your filled-out sponsorship forms to Save the Children. You can find a sponsorship form in your Save the Children fundraising pack.
If we don't receive your forms, Save the Children won't be able to claim Gift Aid.
Under UK law, certain donations are not eligible for Gift Aid. If your donation falls into any of the following categories, Gift Aid shouldn’t be claimed:
- Donations made by anyone who is not a UK taxpayer.*
- Donations made on behalf of someone else or a group of people – For example, you collect money from your friends and family and then made a bulk donation. Even if they are UK taxpayers, the donation is not eligible. HMRC needs a Gift Aid declaration from each of the donors contributing to the collection.
- Donations made in return for something. For example, you are making a donation in return for a ticket to attend an event, most purchases of goods at an auction, a cake sale donation, or buying a raffle ticket.
- Donations made on behalf of a company (however, the company can claim tax relief on the donation when donating directly to the charity).
*NOTE: If you are either not a UK taxpayer, or if you pay less income tax and/or Capital Gains Tax in the current tax year than the amount claimed on all your donations, HMRC may require you to pay the difference, minimising risk.
Health and Safety
See the Health and Safety Executive website for advice about running events safely.
If necessary, carry out a risk assessment of your activity to ensure it is a safe.
As you are organising your own fundraiser for Save the Children, you are personally responsible for ensuring that your event is covered by the appropriate insurance. Save the Children will not be held liable.
Food hygiene
If you are serving food at your event, please read guidance to ensure that you comply with the requirement to serve safe food. You will need to make considerations around the law, good hygiene and allergens.
Visit the Food standards Agency website for guidance.
NHS website for food hygiene guidance.
Alcohol licensing
If you are intending on serving alcohol at your event, you will need to check whether you require a license and what type of license.
Make sure you put in place the relevant measures to not serve alcohol to anyone under the age of 18.
Raffles and Sweepstakes (lotteries)
There are strict guidelines when it comes to organising a raffle or sweepstake, also known as a lottery. Visit the gambling commission website for guidance if you’re planning one for England, Scotland and Wales. For Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action publishes a good practice guide at nicva.org.
Children
Fundraising for Save the Children
If the fundraiser is aged under 18, then their parent of guardian will need to register their fundraising with Save the Children on their behalf.
At events
The age at which children may engage in fundraising activities may vary by type of activity, geographic location and law.
Save the Children would always recommend that parents/guardians have agreed to their child partaking in the fundraising activity and that adults are present at all events where children are the fundraisers.
Collecting money and handling donations
You must ensure that all money collected for Save the Children is sent to Save the Children without deducting expenses Please email us at [email protected] if you have any questions about this.
If you are intending on carrying out a public or private collection, then you must secure the appropriate license/permissions.
If you receive donations in a collection tin, envelope or any other container you must ensure it is sealed correctly, and that this is kept in a safe and secure location.
Fundraising by doing a sponsored walk, marathon or other event
You can sign up to one of our upcoming events. If you have a specific question about a run, walk or another event, feel free to get in touch. Or, read our challenge and race-specific FAQs here
Restricting your fundraising to an appeal
Where we have a live public appeal, it is possible to restrict your fundraising but you’ll need to let us know this is what you would like to do and communicate this clearly with your donors when you are fundraising.
Firstly, check which appeals you can fundraise for. You can find out about which emergency appeals you can restrict your donations to on our website here. You can also fundraise for our UK work specifically.
Secondly, let us know what appeal you’d like to fundraise for through any of the channels below:
- Fundraising through JustGiving: If you are fundraising on JustGiving, you will need to select the appeal when you set up your page. If you cannot see this option, please get in touch with us. We are not alerted to restrict donations if you simply write this on your fundraising page. If you send in any offline donations you will need to notify us separately that you’d like these donations restricted.
- Other online fundraising platforms: If you are fundraising through another online fundraising platform, please get in touch as soon as you have set up your page to let us know, so that we can apply the restriction to donations from your fundraising page. If you send in any offline donations you will need to notify us separately that you’d like these donations restricted.
- Donating through a Save the Children online form: If you are donating online through a Save the Children form, you will need to find the specific appeal form on our website and select ‘I am paying in money from a fundraising event’ when prompted.
- By post or phone: If you are sending donations through the post by cheque or calling to make a card payment, please make it clear in written communications or over the phone that you have fundraised for a specific appeal. Please use a paying in form when sending cheques through the post.
You can contact us by emailing [email protected] or calling 020 7012 6400.
Promoting your fundraiser on Save the Children's Social Channels
We aren’t able to promote events before they’ve happened – but we do use our social media platforms to celebrate fundraising successes. Email us on [email protected] if you'd like to request a social media post- we can't guarantee one but it's worth an ask! We'll need a photo, your social media handle and a brief summary of your fundraiser. If you're under 18, we'll need a parent / guardian over 18 to email us.
Spreading the word about your fundraising is much more successful when it comes from you, so we’ve created a handy guide to using social media to help you. Click here to see it.
