November 2015
Guidance notes on organising fundraising events
The document contains guidance for Berkeley staff organising or participating in a fundraising event on behalf of the Berkeley Foundation or its partner charities. This guidance aims to ensure that all fundraising activities are carried out in a safe and compliant manner.
Event organisers should read this guidance and ensure that participants are fully informed of the issues relevant to their event.
Please complete an Event Registration Form and return this to the Foundation in advance of any fundraising event.
Contents
1.Practical points for organising events
General points
Pre-event planning
On the day
After the event
Large outdoor events
2.Office Lotteries
3.Incidental Non-Commercial Lotteries
4.Collections
5.Avoiding Fraud
6.Fundraising as an individual
7.Fundraising materials
1.Practical points for organising events
General points
Organisers should consider the following general points:
a)Licencing: If an event is being organised the premises may need to be licensed under the Licensing Act 2003. Depending on the event to be run, organisers may also need to consider contacting the local authority, police or local ambulance service.
b)Health and safety: Organisers should carry out a health and safety risk assessment before the event. The premises should be fully accessible to all. It is useful to compile a checklist of relevant matters.
c)Food and drink: food supplied must comply with the Food Safety Act 1990, the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995 and other regulations. All food should be labelled and an ingredients list should be displayed to assist people with allergies. Organisers may also wish to check that their catering company’s insurance policy covers food poisoning.
Pre-event planning
a)Organisers should ensure that the proposed event fits within the Berkeley Foundation’s charitable and strategic objectives. Organisers should also establish a clear budget and consider any reputational risks.
b)The venue should be carefully chosen to ensure that it is fully accessible, complies with health and safety regulations, is suitable in terms of size and capacity and has adequate parking and vehicular access.
c)Organisers should ensure that there is a written contract in place with the owner of the venue setting out services to be provided (if any), who is responsible for insurance, deposits, costs and VAT, cancellation and termination rights and any penalties as well as limitations on liability.
d)Decisions should be made on promotional materials to be circulated before and after the event. This should be carefully drafted in line with guidance below.
e)A procedure for cancellation should be provided to guests and participants, who should be made aware of any resulting financial penalties. A contingency plan should be formulated in the event that the event is cancelled, or plans of how this eventuality should be dealt with.
f)If attendees of the event will also be participants in an activity at the event (e.g. a sponsored run), then the terms and conditions of their participation should be clearly documented and provided at or before the time they agree to participate.
On the day
Organisers should ensure that appropriate preparations and checks are carried out, including (but not limited to) ensuring that:
a)fire exits are well lit and clear;
b)any necessary first aid is in place;
c)signs and directions are in place;
d)all marketing/written materials are on hand; and
e)volunteers are fully briefed on their roles.
After the event
The venue should be cleared in accordance with the terms of the agreement with the venue’s owner.Monies collected should be counted (with two volunteers present), recorded and banked as soon as possible. Any outstanding monies due should be collected as soon as possible and passed to Berkeley Foundation or the relevant partner charity, as applicable.
Don’t forget to thank the staff, contractors, family and friends who have contributed to your event!
Large outdoor events
This includes large outdoor sporting events or other types of challenge involving many people, e.g. mountain or hill climbing challenges.
a)Licences may be required under the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 (as amended) if the Berkeley Foundation is putting on an outdoors challenge for which participants must pay/contribute to the costs, the cost of which includes two or more of the following:
- travel;
- accommodation; or
- other tourist services.
b)When considering a venue the following should be consulted:
- Local authorities;
- Rights of way and Countryside departments within local authorities;
- Landowners/managers or representative bodies of land on which the event will be situated;
- Local police.
c)The impact of the event on the surrounding land should be considered. Organisers should also consider whether it will be necessary to provide water and toilet facilities.
d)There will be other considerations to take into account, such as health and safety and contingency planning. Advice or further guidance on these should be sought if large outdoor events are being staged.
- Office Lotteries
Office Lotteries and sweepstakes cannot be held as fundraising events and must not be promoted using the name or logo of the Berkeley Foundation or our partner charities. To promote or facilitate such an event is an offence under the Gambling Act 2005. More detailed information on this is provided below.
Fundraising activities which involve payment to enter; prizes being awarded to one or more of a class of people; and where prizes are allocated based on chance, will be ‘lotteries’ for the purposes of the Gambling Act 2005 and will be subject to additional licensing requirements. This will include activities such as raffles, sweepstakes and tombolas.
It is an offence to promote or facilitate a lottery unless it either falls within a specific exemption within the Act, or the individual is licensed. For office based lotteries it is possible to make use of the ‘work lottery’ exemption if you adhere to the following guidance:
a)The sweepstake cannot be used for charitable purposes. This means that branding the lotteries with the Berkeley Foundation name or logo must be avoided. They should not be marketed as fundraising events;
b)All proceeds must be paid out as prizes, although winners may choose to donate their winnings to charity;
c)There must not be a rollover element to the lottery;
d)The lottery must happen on a single set of premises;
e)Each person to whom a ticket is sold must work on the single set of premises on which the lottery takes place;
f)The price for each ticket must be the same and must be paid for the organisers before receipt of the ticket;
g)The tickets must only be sold by or on behalf of the organisers;
h)Tickets must take the form of a document and state:
- the name and address of the promoter;
- the group of people who are eligible to buy tickets;
- that the ticket (and the right to any winnings) is not transferrable; and
- the price of the ticket.
3.Incidental Non-Commercial Lotteries
An incidental non-commercial lottery is one that is incidental to a non-commercial event. Examples may include a lottery held at a school fete or at a social event such as a dinner dance.
An event is non-commercial if all the money raised (proceeds) at the event including entrance fees, sales of food and drink and so on, goes entirely to purposes that are not for private gain: therefore a fundraising social event with an entrance fee would be non-commercial if the monies raised went to a society but would not be non-commercial if the monies were retained by the organiser for private gain.
However, money raised by third parties will not form part of the proceeds of the event and so may be appropriated for private gain. An example of this would be refreshments or entertainment provided at the event by an independent third party.
Gambling Act 2005 Requirements and Restrictions:
a)The promoters of the lottery may not deduct more than £100 from the proceeds in respect of the expenses incurred in organising the lottery, such as the cost of printing tickets, hire of equipment and so on.
b)Not more than £500 can be spent on prizes (but other prizes may be donated to the lottery).
c)The lottery cannot involve a rollover of prizes from one lottery to another.
d)All tickets must be sold at the location of the event and during the event, and the result made public while the event takes place.
- Collections
If organising collections of cash, you should be aware of the following issues:
a)Collecting cash on the street (e.g. in buckets) should be avoided as a permit must first be obtained from the local authority.
b)Collections on private property (e.g. shops or train stations) are possible with the permission of the landowner or manager.
c)If using collecting buckets or other containers these should be properly secured. This prevents accidental loss or theft by other individuals and exposing volunteers to temptation.
d)The Metropolitan Police guidance states that collections should not be carried out in such a manner as to cause, or be likely to cause, danger, obstruction, inconvenience or annoyance to any person. This means that more aggressive or intrusive collecting techniques should be avoided (e.g. rattling collecting buckets/boxes).
e)If collecting in public, employees and volunteers should display a badge or tag setting out details of their licence/authorisation (if any), and the name(s) of the charity or charities in aid of which the collection is being made.
f)Children aged under 16 should not be involved in collecting donations unless special consent is received from their parent or guardian and if so should be at least 14.
- Avoiding Fraud
a)Volunteers receiving cash intended for THE BERKELEY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION or its partner charities should log this properly, usually by issuing a receipt.
b)The following financial controls should be implemented by employees:
- At least two people should be responsible for receiving and handling donations;
- Collection boxes and buckets should be numbered and employees should record when these are issued and received;
- After collections have finished buckets and boxes should be sealed;
- Funds should be counted in the presence of the person who collected them;
- Employees should pass the amounts to the Berkeley Charitable Foundation or the charity they are raising money for as soon as possible after the collection.
c)Where an employee or volunteer is involved in a ticketed event, employees/volunteers should ensure that records of tickets sellers are kept, as well as of tickets sold and unsold.
- Fundraising as an individual
This section is relevant to employees undertaking fundraising on their own initiative, who are intending to raise funds for the Berkeley Charitable Foundation or its partner charities.
a)Employees should not undertake inherently risky activities such as bungee jumping, sky diving or abseiling. They should ensure that the fundraising activities undertaken are safe for somebody of their age and fitness levels. They should also:
- Ensure that they and those supporting them and participating the event stay safe and well;
- If doing something unusual or challenging, prepare well and get help from experts and experienced organisers;
- Use reputable providers and check providers’ safety records;
- Consider the relevant health and safety legislation and ensure that they have sufficient direction to enable compliance;
b)Employees should also be advised that, where they are covered by life insurance, undertaking risky activities could mean that they are in contravention of their policy. Any such plans should be discussed with their employer.
c)Employees fundraising under their own initiative must complete an Event Registration Form and return this to the Berkeley Foundation in advance of the event.
- Fundraising materials
Fundraising materials to be distributed internally and externally should be carefully drafted so as to avoid creating restricted funds that may only be spent on the named cause; or misleading recipients as to the levels that will be donated to the charity.
For events where funds are being raised for one of the Berkeley Foundation’s partner charities, please liaise with the charity regarding the wording of your marketing materials.
For events where funds are being raised for the Berkeley Charitable Foundation:
a)Fundraisers should “aim to” raise a level of funds rather than stating it “will” raise a certain amount.
b)Materials should state that the Foundation “plans” to spend a certain amount on a particular cause and not that it “will”.
c)Fundraisers should avoid stating that funds will go towards a specific beneficiary where they may be applied in a more general way.
d)If fundraising is carried out in aid of a specific beneficiary, and a target is specified, then the materials should state that in the event that funds raised are more or less than the target they may be used for other purposes.
e)If a fundraising activity includes a “prize” element to be funded from monies raised, this should be made clear on fundraising materials and generally to donors.
f)Similarly, if any money raised is to be partly used to cover fundraising costs, communications should avoid stating that “all” of the donations will go to the cause.
g)All communications on which there is a request for a donation should state the name of THE BERKELEY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, that it is registered in England and Wales and provide its charity registration number (1152596 ). All communications should also state that it is a registered company, the company number (8548 400) and registered office (19 Portsmouth Road, Cobham, Surrey, KT11 1JG)
h)Fundraisers should be aware that they should not verbally or on printed materials:
- criticise or negatively refer to other organisations;
- give inaccurate or exaggerated facts about the beneficiaries;
- make unsubstantiated claims of any kind;
- use overly distressing graphics, images or text.