Safe + Legal

Charity fundraising is regulated by law. Below are some guidelines to ensure your fundraising is both safe and legal. Full guidelines are available from the Institute of Fundraising  or you can contact our Fundraising Team for further support and advice.

Collecting money

Collecting money in a public place requires permission from the local council. If you are fundraising on private property, such as a community centre or supermarket, ensure you have the owner’s permission. Check that you have a secure container to keep money in and somewhere safe to store it during and after the event. You can obtain collections tins, buckets and security labels are available at request. Sealed collection tins and buckets are to be opened only by a designated person in the presence of a witness.

Health and safety

If you are organising an event that involves members of the public you will need to have Public Liability Insurance. Check whether the venue has this level of insurance and the cover extends to your event. Unfortunately, if it is not an event run by Turning Tides we cannot accept liability for a fundraising activity or event someone undertakes in support of our charity. 

You should carry out any necessary risk assessments. You can find out more information about running events from the Health And Safety Executive

First Aid

You can find guidance on the level of First Aid required at an event from St John Ambulance

Alcohol licences

You must ensure measures are put in place so that under 18’s are not served. For guidance on when you require an alcoholic license you can find more from GOV.UK

Raffles

You can find guidance on organising a raffle or lottery from the Gambling Commission

Food

Guidance on food hygiene such as to how best prepare and store food can be found on the Food Standards Agency

Tips + Tricks

Here are some of the tips and tricks you may need to help your event become a success. Preparation is key – as are supportive helpers. Fundraising really is easy and great fun!

• Weather: if your event is outside, think of an alternative venue as back up.
• Helpers: it is always better to have too many than too few, plan for back up helpers just in case someone is not able to come on the day.
• What if?: playing the what if game and think of worse case scenarios for everything, then you can feel confident your event can go well no matter what happens.
• Equipment: write a list of everything you need from cutlery to stationery, tables to tools.
• Contact numbers: make sure you know everyone’s contact details in case you have to cancel or move venue.
• Promotion: we can often supply you with promotional material – make sure you share across social media.
• Forms: we can provide you with forms to collect gift aid, contact details etc
• Competition: everyone loves a competition, so whether you have a prize or it is just for fun, make it competitive.
• Merchandise: we have loads of branded items to help your event from T-shirts to collection buckets, leaflets to badges, tabbards to balloons!
• Sponsorship: make sure you give people a deadline but don’t fret, 25% of sponsorships come in after the event.

When you promote your fundraising, make sure that you fundraise ‘in aid of’ Turning Tides and not ‘on behalf of’.  Our registered charity number is: 1027832 – please include this on all printed literature.

If you would like our logo for promotional purposes please send us a request

Getting money to us

Don’t forget to send us all those donations you have worked hard to raise!

You can do this in a variety of ways:

• Pay by card over the phone: call Fundraising Team on 01903 680740
• Donate by BACS to our bank: please let us know when you have done this and supply a reference so we know who to thank! Our Account is: Turning Tides Homelessness, Account Sort Code: 40-47-23 Account No: 31498959
• Post a cheque to us: complete the form here and post a cheque made payable to ‘Turning Tides’ to: Fundraising Department, Town Hall, Chapel Road, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 1HA
• Bring money to our office: you can bring cash or a cheque to our office in the Town Hall in Worthing.

PLEASE NOTE OUR OFFICE IS CLOSED DUE TO THE COVID19 CRISIS.

Other Ways To make a difference