How to organise a charity event

Follow these tips to make orgainsing your charity fundraising event easy. And don’t forget we’re here to help, so contact us if you need anything.

Tip 1 Planning your charity event

Start thinking about the questions below: 

Decide what type of fundraising event you want to do.

If you are doing a sports fundraiser, such as a run, triathlon, walk or skydive you will need to complete our Doing your own Challenge form

For all other fundraising activities please complete our general registration form

Who can help you with organising a charity event?

Your friends and family are bound to want to help so rope them in. You might even want to consider setting up a fundraising group.

How much do you want to raise at your charity event?

Keep costs to a minimum by getting as many aspects of your event donated, sponsored or at cost. 

What additional fundraising could you do at your event?

Think about raffles, bucket collections or other fun stuff that could raise extra funds - often the simpler the idea the more they raise. Remember to consider how you’ll store any donations you are given, as you might not be able to get to bank on the day of the event.

When is your charity event taking place?

If your event is outdoors beware of the unpredictable UK weather and avoid dates when other local or national events are taking place. It’s always a good idea to have a contingency plan for bad weather.

Choose your venue for the event

Use the list below to guide you:

  • Check accessibility for parking, wheelchairs, toilets etc.
  • What is the venue’s maximum capacity?
  • What are the minimum numbers you are contracted to?
  • Are there room hire charges?
  • What is their cancellation policy?
  • Will they allow you to provide your own food or drink?
  • Will they allow band/DJ?
  • Do they have public liability insurance – request a copy for your files
  • Do they have an entertainment licence – request a copy for your files
  • What time can you access to set up?

Will there be catering at the event?

  • Will you be supplying food and drink within the ticket price?
  • Can you get these costs sponsored?
  • If you have food vendors on site will they give you a percentage of their revenue?
  • Are there any special dietary needs?
  • Are you following all health and safety requirements? 

Get some help with the event

Meet regularly and delegate – friends and family love to get involved, so ask!

Download our fundraising tools and assets

Free download

Tip 2 Promoting your charity event

  • Use the Teenage Cancer Trust ‘in aid of’ logo on all publicity materials
  • You also need to add the following text to the bottom of any publicity materials: Teenage Cancer Trust is a registered charity: 1062559 (England & Wales), SC039757 (Scotland)
  • Always make it clear to donors what their money is going towards. For example, if you’re holding an event and using a percentage of what you raise to cover your costs, you must tell donors that in advance and make it clear on all promotional materials (e.g. “100% of proceeds will go to Teenage Cancer Trust”).
  • Social media – promote your event on Facebook, Twitter and any other social media sites you use
  • Send us your story so that we can share it on our website
  • Local media – speak to our team in your area and we’ll put together a press release and send it to our local media contacts. After your event send us a follow up story to share how well it went.
  • Keep advertising costs to a minimum
  • Selling advertising space within brochures can often cover all your printing costs.
  • Contact your local Fundraising team for help

Tip 3 Staying safe and legal at your event

Everyone wants to have fun at their fundraising event, and that’s great! But it’s essential that you consider and assess any potential risks. We’ve put some information below to help you get started.

Carry out a risk assessment

Even if your event is small, a risk assessment is important to show that you have taken steps to ensure the safety of your event.

Often your local authority and/or emergency services will ask for a copy of your risk assessment when considering licences for your event.

How to carry out a risk assessment for a charity event

Risk assessments may sound scary, but when it comes down to it you are simply identifying all the hazards that might cause harm to yourself and/or others and taking action to remove or control those hazards.

  • Make sure the person carrying out the risk assessment is over 18 and signs and dates it at the end. 
  • Go through your event step by step, from the first person arriving (including you and your helpers!) to the last person leaving considering if there is anything that could injure or make someone ill at each stage.
  • Prioritise these risks as low, medium or high.
  • Record what actions you need to take to remove or control those hazards
  • Carry out your actions prior to your event
  • Review your assessment continually throughout your planning and during the event itself, circumstances can change quickly.

Health and Safety at your charity event – things to consider

The venue

  • Do I know the capacity of my venue and am I keeping to it?
  • Do you have permission from the council or owner?
  • Will all the fire exits be clear of obstructions at all times?
  • Do I need marshalls to help with some aspects of my event (e.g. car parking, directing to exits in case of emergency)

Equipment

  • Ensure all equipment is safe to use and is only operated by people who are competent to use it.
  • Avoid trailing cables and local electrical equipment safely.
  • Avoid lifting heavy loads – provide trollies where appropriate.

Emergency measures

  • Do you need to let the local emergency services know about your event?
  • Do you have adequate first aid supplies at the event? 
  • Do you have qualified first aiders at the event?
  • Have you left space for an evacuation if necessary?

Helpers

Have you got enough volunteers to help you in case of emergency?
Have you put together a list of key contact numbers in case of an incident?
Have you provided helpers with a full briefing including details of the risk assessment?

Insurance at your charity event

We strongly recommend that you check that you have adequate insurance (e.g. Public Liability Insurance) and that you take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of all concerned.

Licences and permissions

For some aspects of your fundraising activity, you might need licences and/or permission to carry them out. Some of the main ones are listed below.

Raffles and Lotteries 
Raffles and lotteries have important rules and regulations around their organisation which you must adhere to. More details can be found on our raffles and lotteries page.

Collecting money with tins and buckets

  • On public land you must get permission from the local authority or local police (depending on your area) before embarking on your fundraising.
  • On private land, you must get permission from the landowner or manager e.g. supermarket collection.
  • We ask that you do not carry out house to house collections in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.

Find out more on our Bucket collections page.

Food and drink

  • There are many regulations governing the use of food, even for one off events which you must comply with. 
  • Anyone involved in the preparation and serving of food to the public must have a basic understanding of food hygiene and work to basic rules for safe preparation, storage, display and cooking.
  • We recommend that you contact your local authority to discuss with them your plans before embarking on any event which will involve food.

Entertainment

  • If you have some form of entertainment in a venue which does not already hold a Public Entertainment Licence, you will need to get one.
  • Contact your local authority for details

Teenage Cancer Trust accepts no liability for third party events. The advice given is not exhaustive, and is intended to provide general guidance only to help you organise your event. Please consider other potential risks and seek further advice where required.

Resources

Help for how to complete a risk assessment can be found at the Health and Safety Executive.

A Food Standards Agency booklet ‘Preventing Food Poisoning - Good hygiene at home can be downloaded from the Food Standards Agency.

To find out how to contact your local authority, check out the Direct Gov website.

Tip 4 After your event

  • Remember to thank all those involved including volunteers and sponsors
  • Let everyone know how much you’ve raised by posting your success on social media and sending a follow up article to your local press
  • Give yourself a huge pat on the back!

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