Organise Charity Fundraising

This guide is linked from our core how-to guides on Organising Activities & Events and Raising, Spending & Managing Money.

Students' Union UCL, and therefore your club or society, is a charity. It is against the law for charities to donate money directly to other charities straight from your Club or Society account. However, you can raise money for a charity through an event and this how to guide explains how you go about doing that.

Before you begin fundraising, you must ensure that the charity you wish to fundraise for has a registered UK Charity Number and is listed on the Charity Commission Website. Please note, the Union does not allow fundraising for non-UK registered charities.

Charity Permission Letter

Ask the charity you want to raise money for to write you a letter explaining that they give you permission to fundraise for them.

This letter of permission must be from the beneficiary organisation (on headed paper) permitting your club/society (clearly named) to fundraise on their behalf, and confirming the organisation’s full name, charity number and bank details for payment.

You will need to submit this through the Activity Registration Form for the event/collection that you wish to hold.

Fundraising Events

If you are holding a fundraising event you will need to submit an Activity Registration Form within the appropriate deadlines.

• Make sure the venue you are holding the event is booked.
• For more information on event planning and requirements, please visit our 'Organising Activities & Events' core how-to guide.

If you are holding a fundraising collection (fundraising on the street or in a public space) you must obtain a licence from the local council prior to the event date. 

• You can apply for this on the first day of the month before the collection is due to take place.
• In most cases, the charity will help you, so ask if they can.
• If you are raising money on private property (e.g. on the underground or in a supermarket) you must ask the company/owners directly for permission.
• For more information on this please contact us at su.activities@ucl.ac.uk. 

All publicity and/or tickets should clearly state on them who you are fundraising for.

Cash Collection

Most charities should provide with buckets and collection tins. If your charity does not, the Student Activities Finance Team have buckets and tins available. You should ask for these in advance of the event (at least one week). 

When collecting money - ensure you have the charity name/sticker clearly written on any buckets or tins. Although it makes it more fun to do collections in fancy dress etc, a maximum of 10% of the total collection can be spent on expenses such as costumes.

There are also further limitations on what you can do when fundraising on the street:

• Each collector must be 25m apart.
• Collectors cannot walk up and down the street
• You cannot have animals with you
• You may not shake or rattle the tins

You must ensure that you bring all money that has been raised at the event to the Student Activities Reception to be banked on the next working day. For more information on depositing cash, please review the 'Income' section of our 'Raising, Spending & Managing Money' core how-to guide.

Once you have banked all the donations into your club or society account, please submit a Purchase Request Form with the charity's details on it and the money will be paid to them directly via a BACS Transfer.

JustGiving

You can also set up a JustGiving page via the Union. 

To create a fundraising page, first submit your Activity Registration Form, and email our Student Activities Finance team at su.finance-activities@ucl.ac.uk. We will review the details and set up the page for you.

If you have any questions, feedback, or concerns about the contents of this guide, please email us at su.activities@ucl.ac.uk.