Allow plenty of time to plan and organise – remember to take your own commitments, home and work, into account.

LOCATION, DATE AND TIME

Where
Think about where. Choose a venue that’s suitable for your fundraising event, whether a school, your office, a local hall or the local park. You’ll need to think about whether a venue:

   • is big enough for what you need.
   • is well known.
   • is easy to get to.
   • is accessible for people with mobility issues.
   • has any hire cost.

When
Then think about when. Choose a date that works well for you and for your supporters. Think about the time of year that will suit your type of event and if it’ll have any implications on the planning. What time of day is best to maximise attendance.

Check that other events aren’t happening at the same time. Make sure you try to avoid any big events in your local area, for example other fundraisers, or large national events that might be distracting.

BUDGET

Work out a simple budget at the start of your planning – think about what you might end up spending. Include all the costs you expect to incur and think about how you’ll raise funds on the day to cover the costs as well as meet your fundraising goal. These costs could include:

   • Venue hire.
   • Any entertainment or equipment needed.
   • Tickets, leaflets and poster printing.
   • Licenses and insurance.
   • Decorations, admin costs etc.

Think about whether you can reduce the costs through donations or sponsorship from local businesses.

PLAN THE DETAIL

Do you need some help with organising the event, doing some of the leg work and running it on the day? Ask your friends and family to help, or draw in some colleagues from work; build up a team of helpers. Do you need to do any shopping for the event or hire any equipment, entertainment or supplies?

Make sure that everyone knows what you would like them to do in the build-up and on the day of the event and recognise their contributions

Contingencies – if something was to go wrong, what could you do? You may need a back-up plan in the event of bad weather, parking problems or equipment failures.

If you plan to take photos of other people at your fundraiser, please make attendees aware.

MAKE IT SAFE AND LEGAL

These details are for guidance only and not exhaustive. We are not responsible or liable for your event or the content here. Please make your own enquiries that relate specifically to your event. 

Insurance
Check you have the right insurance. If your event involves the general public, it’s important to have Public Liability Insurance in place. Check first to see if your venue already has this (as will often be the case). If you’re holding an event at home or on private property, check your insurance covers this too.

Health and Safety
There is also general advice about running events safely on the Health and Safety Executive website

If necessary, carry out a risk assessment of your activity to ensure it is a safe. These don’t have to be complicated but you do need to consider any potential risks (such as trip hazards) and take steps to guard against them (such as taping over loose carpet).

Check out www.hse.gov.uk for guidance

Fundraising with food
If you are fundraising with food, to keep everyone safe, check the Food Standards Agency guidelines and NHS website for food hygiene guidance on preparing, handling, cooking and storing food to ensure that you comply with the requirement to serve safe food. You will need to make considerations around the law, good hygiene and allergens.

Medical cover
Depending on the size and type of your event you might need to consider first aid. If you’re holding an event involving many people, make sure that you have appropriate first aid support in place. As a basic guide, there should always be someone on hand to help for smaller events, but for larger events involving around 500 people, there should be a minimum of two qualified first-aiders on site. If your event is even bigger than this, you might want to consider contacting St John Ambulance for medical support.

You can get advice and guidance from St John Ambulance or the British Red Cross.

Children and vunerable young people
Please consider children and vulnerable young people in your planning and make sure any activity for them is supervised at all times.

You also might want to consider a lost child procedure and have a lost child point for anyone wanting to report a missing child.

Licences
If you are holding an event in a public place and it includes music, singing or dancing, you may need a public entertainments licence.

If you are intending on serving alcohol, or offering it at a prize, at your event, you will need to check whether you require a license and what type of license. Check to see if your venue already has these licences before applying for them. Make sure you put in place the relevant measures to not serve alcohol to anyone under the age of 18.

For more information, contact your local authority licensing unit or visit the Gov UK website for guidance

To collect on private property, such as in a shopping centre, you’ll need the permission of the owners beforehand. They will advise if you need a local-authority licence, too,

Collections. 
Do not collect money or sponsorship in public places, on public streets or by going house to house. Public land is governed by strict legal requirements and must be licensed by the local authority . These collections are illegal unless you have obtained a licence from the local authority.

Private premises (like pubs or supermarkets) only need the owner’s permission. No license is needed

Raffles, lotteries, prize draws                                                                                                                                                  Lotteries (also known as raffles) can be held at events (for example, fetes, fairs, fundraising dinners, exhibitions, concerts, festivals). In some cases the event may last more than a single day.

All lottery tickets must be sold at the location and during the event. The result of the lottery can be declared either at the event or after it has finished. We recommended that you make it clear to participants when the result of the lottery will be announced.

You may not deduct more than £100 for expenses and £500 for prizes from the income from lottery ticket sales. There is no monetary limit on donated prizes in this type of lottery. This type of lottery cannot involve a rollover of prizes from one lottery to another.

If you are organising a lottery it is your responsibility to ensure you are compliant with the law. There are many types of raffle and lottery each with a different set of rules. You can contact your local authority, or as raffles and lotteries are governed by the Gambling Commission, they provide comprehensive guidance on their website www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk

TECHNICAL STUFF
Liability
Please make sure that it is clear that you are fundraising ‘in aid of’ Para Dance UK and that your activities are not representing or organised by the charity. The charity cannot accept any responsibility for your event or anyone who participates in it. We advise that all fundraisers seek the relevant advise relevant to your event.

Logo use                                                                                                                                                                                         When promoting your fundraising activity, make sure you make clear that you are fundraising ‘in aid of’ Para Dance UK and you must only use our ‘in aid of Para Dance UK’ logo. Please email fundraising@paradance.org.uk  to request this.

Please state clearly in all publicity or promotional materials that ‘All proceeds will be donated to Para Dance UK. Registered Charity No. 11116988’.