Fundraising in Your Own Time: What Charities Need You to Ask First

There is a short answer about community fundraising permissions and a useful one, and they are not the same. What follows is the useful one.

Why the charity wants to know

An organisation is responsible for how its name is used, and an event run badly under its branding damages it whether or not it authorised anything. Regulators in several jurisdictions expect charities to have oversight of fundraising carried out in their name, including by volunteers. There are also practical reasons: the charity may already have an event that weekend, or a relationship with the business you are about to approach.

Most organisations have a community fundraising contact whose job is to say yes and then help, rather than to say no. Telling them costs one email and unlocks materials, permissions and often an existing supplier discount.

Name, logo and the authorisation letter

Using a registered charity's logo generally requires written permission, and organisations grant it routinely to supporters who ask. The letter also serves as proof for venues, licensing bodies and the public that the collection is genuine. Anyone collecting money in public should carry something demonstrating authority, since unauthorised collection is an offence in many places.

Wording matters too: raising money for a charity is different in law from raising money as one, and the distinction affects what you may claim. Describing yourself as an official representative when you are not is the mistake that causes the most difficulty.

Insurance and liability

A charity's public liability policy typically covers its own activities and rarely extends automatically to an independent event a supporter organises. That leaves the organiser personally exposed unless separate cover is arranged, which is usually inexpensive for a one-off event.

On the shop floor, venues frequently require evidence of cover before confirming a booking, and discovering this late can lose a deposit. Activities involving food, children, animals, water, height or vehicles carry higher requirements and sometimes need specific policies. Ask the charity what its policy covers rather than assuming, since the answer differs between organisations and between countries.

Handling the money

Getting donations paid directly to the charity through an official online page removes almost every accounting and security problem at once. Cash you hold personally has to be counted, secured, banked and reconciled, and any discrepancy becomes your problem to explain. It may also affect the charity's ability to reclaim tax on donations, where such a scheme exists, because the donor record is lost.

If cash is unavoidable, count it with two people present, record the total on the spot and bank it as quickly as possible.

Never pass donated cash through a personal account if any alternative exists, because it looks exactly like something it is not.

Permissions beyond the charity

Public collections, raffles, alcohol, food sales, amplified music and street closures all have their own licensing requirements in most jurisdictions. These are owed to local authorities and regulators rather than to the charity, and the charity cannot grant them on your behalf. Requirements vary enough between regions that asking your own local authority directly is faster than researching general guidance.

From the receiving end, applications frequently have lead times of weeks, which is the most common reason a well-planned community event has to be scaled back. Start with the permissions and build the event around them rather than the other way round.

Making it easy for the charity

Tell them the date, the format, the expected total and how the money will reach them, which is all the information they need. Ask what materials they can supply, since most have collection tins, banners, T-shirts and printed information ready to send. Send the money promptly with a clear breakdown, because reconciling an unexplained deposit consumes finance time disproportionate to its size.

From the receiving end, send photographs and the total afterwards, which the organisation can use and which costs you nothing. Supporters who do these things get asked back, which is generally what they wanted anyway.

The takeaway

One email to the community fundraising contact prevents almost every problem on this list.

Unrestricted money is the most useful gift and the least satisfying to make.