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How to organise a charity event

How to organise a charity event is how you would organise any event, with careful planning.

Firstly, which charity? Lets say you want to do your bit for one of your favourite charities and organise an event which will raise them a decent amount of money.

So, you pick your charity and the first thing you do is contact them, and ask if they have any support material that will help: posters, pens, stickers, or flyers would be a good start.

Then think about what kind of event you’d like to organise, with a theme that hopefully matches the aspirations of the charity concerned. Lets say you’d like to support a children’s charity, so you’d need to attract a family audience to a suitable venue, such as a church hall.

Right, so you pick a date (do a little research first to ensure that the church hall down the road is not holding the same kind of event), and book the hall with plenty of time to get things organised. Now, it’s more than likely you’re not working alone, so you would find it easier if you had a group of people to help.

Then, in time honoured British fashion, you could form a committee and appoint people you’d like to appoint to the keys positions of Treasurer, Secretary etc (you being Chairman of course) and appoint those you don’t like to be in charge of the washing-up.

So, you’ve organised your helpers, picked the charity, agreed a date and organised the venue. A great start. Now comes the tricky part, funding.

It’s a charity event, so costs should not be high, but there will be costs, such as the room hire. Decide firstly what the event is going to cost and how much you therefore need to make to cover those costs, and calculate what you hope to achieve over and above that, the difference being your contribution to the charity.

Once the costs are sorted, start to promote your event. Tell the local newspaper, maybe even get a slot on local radio and start spreading the word.

And as it’s a charity event, you can start blagging things from local stores and businesses, to raffle and auction. These two methods are the accepted techniques of raising money. It’s the way you ‘dress-up’ these methods that’s important. How many creative ways can you think of parting the people that visit the hall from their money? Create the entertainment and the ways to haul in the cash.

Now, a word of caution here. Although this event does not have to have a legal status, there are things you can’t do. Starting a book on a cockroach racing across the floor for the fathers would officially be seen as gambling and you’re not allowed to do that, unless you have a gaming licence. Nor can you bring cheap booze from the supermarket and sell it on at a nice mark-up to those parents who just can’t stand the thought of seeing another Punch & Judy show. Selling alcohol without a licence is also against the law.

Other boring consideration includes insurance liabilities. Are you covered by the venue’s insurance if Granny Penny breaks a leg, or Jonny gets his head stuck in the railings? Or should you get a policy of your own?

One of the best ways to raise money is maybe charge an entrance fee which covers inside entertainment – say the magician – but does not cover the purchase of tea, coffee and cakes, or a go at the lucky dip.

One word of warning though. Resist the temptation to provide food. Biscuits and cakes are fine, a fine piece of venison with game sauce, is not. Not only is organising catering a very hard job, there’s also a raft of legislation about what you can serve people given the facilities you have.

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