Smaller, local and non-household name charities attract most of their donations through carrying out community fundraising activities — see our overview ‘Fundraising Activities and Events’ for more on these. As well as raising valuable funds, these activities are a great way to involve more people and raise the profile of your group and your cause with the wider community. However, perhaps even more than other fundraising methods, these activities need careful thought and planning as it is easy to damage the reputation of your group through inappropriate requests for funds.

Donations are about people and relationships, whatever methods are used to attract them. The relationship needs to be mutually beneficial for it to work. The donor needs to feel good about giving and the organisation — and the people representing it — need to feel good about receiving. Finding ways to say thank you and to publicise what was achieved with the money raised can make a real difference to future donations.

Asking people for money is a sensitive area and thought needs to be given to how it will work in practice. People might need training and guidance before going out and asking for donations. If you are using people who are not your regular staff and volunteers you should seek references and Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks before allowing someone to go out and ask for money in your name.

If you are planning a street collection, or a collection in another public place — or if you are running a lottery or a raffle — you may need a licence. Check with your local authority licensing department.

If you are developing this form of fundraising as a significant activity for your organisation — rather than just the occasional one-off event — you need to think about it more carefully. The Institute of Fundraising produce a range of codes of practice and guidance for fundraisers. Details are provided at the end of this overview.

Collecting money from the public

• check if you need a licence
• provide training and guidelines for people doing the collecting
• provide secure collection methods like sealed boxes
• provide ID and authorisation for the people collecting the money
• provide information on what the money will be spent on. Donations must be used for the purpose they were given — so you need to make sure that what you tell people is accurate and allows for some flexibility in case things change
• find ways of saying thank you and publicising what was achieved with the money raised

Donations can also come from companies. Companies donate because it can improve their image, develop relationships with local communities, contribute to staff good will and because donations can be deducted from profits before tax. Local community and voluntary groups generally don’t attract large scale company donations but they do attract regular help and valuable ‘without strings’ cash and resources from companies. So, local shops might donate a raffle prize, a local company might provide their car park for a Sunday car boot sale or staff from a local firm might help organise an event or collect money.