Schools and colleges fundraising

Many of our fundraisers are young people wishing to support their fellow teenage students, friends and family members.

At Teenage Cancer Trust we love the fact that our young fundraisers are so active. That’s why we have put together a few guidelines to ensure you receive maximum support from us whilst maintaining your safety and the charities legal requirements.

Fundraise at your School

We have an Education Team that would love to come and talk to the students about Teenage Cancer Trust in your PSHE lessons. The talks are free of charge and very inspiring. Please contact us for more information.

If you are fundraising at your school please make sure your Head Teacher is aware and fully supportive of your activities.

Ideas

• Battle of the Bands
• Our School’s got talent
• Summer Ball, disco or Music Festival
• Teachers in the Blocks
• Swear Box
• Valentines delivery service – deliver that rose with a kiss!
• Catwalk Fashion Show
• Cookie and Smoothie sale
• Head Shaving or wax the boys legs!
• Teacher vs. Student Sports Match
• International Food Day
• Pie-eating competition
• Song Writing Competition
• Design a Skate Park and hold a Skating Competition.

Putting on an Event

Some of our most imaginative events come from young people so we encourage your creative ideas and would love to hear all about them.

• The first step is to register your event with us. We can then support you, answer any questions and we are happy to send you some materials to help with your promotion.
• If you are under 18 we will need you to ask a parent, teacher or guardian over 18 years to sign the fundraising registration form because it is a legal document, and we need to know that you have support from an adult.
• If you are holding a sponsored event such as a head shave or a banana eating competition you can obtain personalised sponsorship forms from our head office.
• If under 18’s are invited to your event you will have to ban any alcohol drinking. Plenty of time for that when you’re older!
• Feel free to contact your local regional fundraising manager or our fundraising department if you have any queries.

Promoting Your Event

• If you are designing a poster for an event please send the design to our fundraising team at head office to approve BEFORE you print. We are happy to provide a logo when requested, and please make sure you include our charity registration number with it.
• We are also happy to help with your poster design. Sending out group emails to all your contacts is a great way to publicise your event.
• Visiting classes at school/college to announce your event will encourage them to come along and support.
• You can create an event on Facebook or MySpace to invite people or raise awareness.
• For any fun events you could post them onto YouTube but please always get approval from Teenage Cancer Trust first.
• If you have a school paper or radio station, try to get an article/advert arranged before your event.
• If you know a computer whiz, get them to create a website for the event.
• Be creative and different as this will attract more attention.

Getting your event sponsored

If you are approaching local businesses or trusts for sponsorship of parts of your event, or you are asking for donated raffle/auction prizes please contact us and we can supply you with a letter of authorization to encourage donors.

When you are writing your letter to companies remember the following points.

• Include your name age and where you are from
• State clearly your activity and your aim
• Keep the letter short and simple
• Explain the cause (we can offer you a paragraph or find out facts from our website)
• Remember to include all your contact details
• State clearly what you are asking from them
• Find out the name and job title of the person you are writing to
• Always make a follow up phone call a few days after writing the letter.
• Keep going! – Not every ‘ask’ will have a positive result. Try not to be discouraged when that happens and keep persevering!

Collections and handling money

Collections

Door-to-door collecting and approaching strangers is against the law for under 18’s. Some areas allow for 16 + year olds to collect but you will need to check with your Local Authority. They will usually advise you to approach only friends and families for donations.

Handling Money

• Always ensure that an adult or teacher is present when money is being collected.
• When counting cash after your event, two responsible people will need to complete the task together.
• Always keep a record of the amount of money you are handling.
• If you need to spend money for your event always consult your teacher or parent supporting you and keep a record of all your receipts.
• Choose a team to help run your event and appoint one member as a treasurer so that they can be responsible for all funds.

• We can’t accept cash in the post so you will need to send a cheque. If you are under 18 please ask an adult (parent/teacher) supporting you to cash the money and write you a cheque or set up a bank account.

• If your event is large, you are over 18 and you want to set up a bank account, you will need to approach your local bank and they will be happy to help. Please set up the account in the name of the event, “…in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust”, for example:

“Andy’s Cheese Throwing Event in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.”

Data Protection

Please do not collect and store any personal data (such as emails and addresses) from your fellow students or friends for fundraising purposes. This is so that you do not breach any data protection laws.

If your friends or colleagues would like more information on the charity please tell them to contact us directly or check out the information provided on this website.