Planning
When - Choose a date, giving yourself and
your helpers enough time to organise everything. Make sure it
doesn't clash with any other local events.
Where - choose a
venue, making sure it is large enough and has all necessary
facilities. Make sure you have the owner's permission to fundraise
if you are fundraising on private property. If your event involves
the sale of alcohol and/or live or recorded music, dancing, showing
of a film or performance of a play, an indoor sporting event, or
any entertainment of a similar nature, you may need a license.
Liaise with your local authority, the police and other relevant
parties as necessary.
Costs - work out a budget for all
expenditure required for your event and theamount you expect to
raise. What equipment do you need? Can you get companies to donate
some of the things that you would otherwise need to buy?
Publicity - Make sure you advertise your
event well locally, including fliers on notice boards and roadside
boards. Ensure your event is clearly signposted on the day.
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust can help you with local media such as
newspapers, radio and TV. We can also help with a range of
supporting materials such as tshirts, posters etc. Please make it
clear that you are fundraising for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust but
that you do not represent Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. All
publicity needs to state 'All proceeds will go to Warwickshire
Wildlife Trust, registered charity 209200'.
Online donations - We've teamed up with
JustGiving so you can donate and raise funds for us online. Using
JustGiving saves us costs and reduces our admin burden. JustGiving
reclaims Gift Aid automatically and pays donations to us directly
at the end of every week. The site is 100% secure. Visit our
charity pages at www.justgiving.com/wkwt.
You can create your own online fundraising page on JustGiving. It
takes just a few minutes and you can collect donations for any
sponsored event or appeal. Just go to: www.justgiving.com/wkwt/raisemoney.
Fundraising pages are just like paper sponsorship forms, except
they're online, so you don't have to spend time collecting cash and
cheques. Just personalise your page with a photo and message and
email the web address to all your contacts. Then your friends,
family, colleagues and anyone else can make a donation through your
page from anywhere in the world.
Helpers
- Make sure you have enough people to help set up before your
event, help out during your event and clear up at the end.
Contingency plans - Don't forget the
British weather and have a contingency plan in place should the
heavens open if you are organising an outdoor event such as a
garden party. There maybe a village hall where the event could be
held instead. Have you extra help you can call on if someone is ill
on the day?
Consider the environment - it sounds
obvious but it can be easy to forget. Please recycle where
possible, and provide recycling facilities for drinks cans etc
where possible. Ask any food suppliers what containers they will be
using and whether they can be recycled. Try to avoid the use of
plastic bags as these can have an adverse effect on wildlife and
the environment.
Transport - How will people travel to your
event? Can you encourage people to walk or cycle? Is there
sufficient car parking space available near your venue? If not is
there a field nearby that can be used with the owner's
permission?
Double your money - If you are fundraising
at work, ask if your company will match the amount raised by
staff.
Gift Aid - If appropriate, ask donors to
gift aid their donation and the government will donate 25p for
every £1 raised. Gift aid can only be given by UK taxpayers. A
full name, address and postcode will also be required.