Autism Bedfordshire
an independent charity providing practical and emotional support for
children, young people and adults with Autistic Spectrum Conditions
and their families throughout Bedfordshire and Luton
How you can make a difference to people’s lives by supporting our charity
How to Organise Fundraising Activities or Events
You may already have an idea of what you want to do but if you’re not sure, take a look
at some of the suggestions in our Fundraising Ideas pack. Ok. So you now know what
you want to do but how do you go about it? Here are a few things to consider:
1. Decide when and where to do it
Choose a date/time and check it doesn’t clash with a major sporting
event or any other charity fundraisers. Select a venue and book it if
you need to. Give yourself plenty of time to organise the event and plan
what needs to be done. Get friends, family, colleagues to help out.
2. Consider the cost
How much will it cost to hire a venue if you need to? Do you need
to print posters or tickets? Will you have to pay for performers,
activities or materials? Do you need insurance? You will need to
ensure that the amount you hope to raise through your ticket
sales or anticipated donations/sponsorship will cover this and
more. Where possible, try to get people to donate their services,
time, raffle prizes or premises for free.
3. Who is likely to take part or come along?
Your activity/event needs to be something that you and other
people will enjoy taking part in. Are your plans suitable for them
in terms of day, time, activities, cost of taking part? Do you
have to ask permission for people to take part? (e.g. from an
employer or school)
4. Have a back up plan
Consider what could go wrong and try to plan alternative solutions.
Possible glitches include bad weather, venue being double booked,
performers not turning up, equipment failure, too many or not
enough people turn up. What could you do in these situations?
Autism Bedfordshire is a Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England No. 4632497
Registered Office: St. Mark’s Church Community Centre, Calder Rise, Bedford MK41 7UY
Registered Charity No. 1100722
5. Promoting your activity or event
To make your event as successful as possible, you need to publicise it as widely as
you can to your target audience. Consider:
•
Making posters and flyers to distribute in local shops, pubs, at your place of
work, school or club.
•
E-mailing your friends, family, workmates, classmates.
•
Using Facebook or other social networking sites.
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Promoting the event in the local press or radio (check out the cost, first).
•
Asking us to advertise your event in our newsletter and on our website.
6. Get sponsored
If your event is one that people can sponsor, there are two main ways you can do this:
•
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Setting up an online fundraising page. If you use
100% of all the
donations made are passed directly to us - nothing is taken out for fees or costs! Just
go to their website: www.mycharitypage.com, click on the ‘start fundraising’ link and
follow the instructions. It’s simple! Then just e-mail the link to your friends, family
or colleagues. It’s quick and easy for them to make a secure donation online and it
saves you a lot of time collecting the money in afterwards.
Use a good old fashioned sponsorship form. You can design your own or download one
from the fundraising page of our website, www.autismbeds.org. Sponsor forms should
include information about you, your event (date, time etc), a brief description of
Autism Bedfordshire, and then a table for your sponsors’ details: their name, address
(including house number and post code), the total amount or amount per unit (e.g. per
mile etc), and a Gift Aid tick box. This means that if they are a UK taxpayer, we can
claim an extra 25p from HMRC for every £1 they donate, at no cost to them.
7. Raffles/Lotteries
Raffles are a very popular means of raising funds for charity and for good reason: they
are fun, fairly easy to organise, and inexpensive to put on. However, there are some
important regulations that apply to the holding of raffles and lotteries:
•
Private lotteries - if you hold a raffle at your workplace or
club, you don’t need a licence. But, it must be promoted by
someone within the organisation and can only be advertised on
the premises. Tickets must be printed with the price, the name
and address of the promoter and who is eligible to participate.
•
•
Small lotteries - when a raffle is part of, but not the focus of, a
larger event, you don’t need a licence and cloakroom tickets can be used.
You can’t have cash prizes, and the tickets must be sold and the raffle
drawn/announced at the event. Tickets should be no more than £1 each
and always the same price. No more than £500 can be spent on prizes.
Society lotteries - a large raffle that is open to all members of the public and will be sold
over a number of days and locations, must be registered with your local authority. Tickets
must be printed and there must be a named promoter. If ticket sales are likely to exceed
£20,000 you must register your raffle with The Gambling Commission.
8. Keep safe and legal
It is important that fundraising events and activities are run safely and legally and it is
the responsibility of the organisers to ensure that they are.
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•
•
•
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Only collect sponsorship or donations
from people you know or trust. Children
under 16 should not collect money
without adult supervision.
Make sure no one is fundraising in an
unsafe environment.
•
•
Be careful about carrying money around
and pay it in to us as soon as possible.
Consider the first aid
requirements for your event.
For advice or assistance,
contact your local branch of
St. John’s Ambulance or the
Red Cross.
Check you have the right insurance
cover as we can’t accept any liability for
your event. For further advice, talk to
the owners of the venue or an insurance
broker.
•
Collections in public places, on public
streets or house-to-house are illegal
unless you have obtained a licence from
the local authority.
To collect on private property, e.g. in a
shopping centre, you need permission
from the owners beforehand. They will
also be able to advise if you need a local
authority license to do so.
If you are holding an event in a public
place that includes music, singing or
dancing, you may need a Public
Entertainments Licence. To
sell alcohol, you need a Liquor
Licence. Check if the venue
already has these licences
and, if not, you may need to
apply for them. Contact your
Local Authority Licensing Unit for more
information.
Please state clearly in any publicity or promotional materials that:
“All proceeds will go to Autism Bedfordshire, Registered Charity No. 1100722”.
Keep in touch - we’re here to help:
01234 214871
[email protected]
Whatever you do, good luck! We
know you’ll be brilliant and all the
cash you raise will help people with
autism in Bedfordshire enjoy a
better quality of life.
Autism Bedfordshire,
St. Mark’s Church Community
Centre, Calder Rise, Bedford MK41 7UY
On their behalf, thank
you.
Finish the Job
Hopefully, by now, you are basking in the glory of having organised a successful and
enjoyable fundraising event. Congratulations! But there are still a couple more things to
do...
Thank the people who helped you
It’s so important to thank everyone involved in your fundraising efforts
- volunteers, people donating services, goods or prizes, venue providers,
sponsors and guests. Many of these people help simply out of goodwill
but a heartfelt ’thank you’ afterwards makes it even more worthwhile
(and they will be more likely to help out again in the future!).
Let them know how much their efforts raised and how much it was
appreciated by Autism Bedfordshire.
If you provide us with details of those who helped you, we can send a letter of thanks or
even a certificate from us.
Paying in your money
Collect in the money you have raised and send it to Autism Bedfordshire as soon as you
can so we can start putting it to good use! You can get your money to us through the
following ways:
By post
Send us a cheque or postal order, made payable to Autism Bedfordshire, to:
Autism Bedfordshire
St. Mark’s Church Community Centre
Calder Rise
Bedford
MK41 7UY
Please enclose a letter or note explaining what your event was, when it was held, and who
was involved. Remember to include your name and address so we can write and thank
you! If you did a sponsored event, please enclose all your sponsorship forms so we can
claim Gift Aid for those who agreed to it.
In person
You can call in at our office to hand over the money (especially if it is in cash). We are
open Monday to Friday 9am til 5pm.
Online
You can bank the money you have raised and use a credit card or your PayPal account to
make a secure payment to us via our website. Go to www.autismbeds.org and click on the
button and follow the instructions.