Student Group Fundraising Guide 2017/18 STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 2
CONTENTS Introduction Fundraising for your society Corporate Sponsorship Event Fundraising Alumni Network Individual donations Trust funds Fundraising for an external charity Event Fundraising Fundraising Ideas STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 3
Introduction Societies usually fundraise for two different reasons: either raising funds to support your own society or to support your chosen charity. There are many ways in which you can find money for both; it just takes a little work and creativity! This guide will give you an introduction to fundraising and then it s up to you and your society members. Fundraising is really easy when you know how, but planning and organisation are crucial in order to get the most out of fundraising projects. The committee should be responsible for planning and running fundraising activities, but you need to get all society members involved, whether that is thinking of ideas or helping run/organise the activity. You might want to create a fundraising team who work with the treasurer. Together they could create a fundraising strategy for your society for the academic year. This will also help society members get involved, learn new skills, and maybe encourage them to become committee members. Sponsorship Restrictions STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 4
Fundraising for your group Most groups will probably do some sort of fundraising during the year in order to help subsidise the cost of events for their members, or just to boost their funds for future plans. There are five different ways in which you could raise funds for your group: corporate sponsorship, event fundraising, utilising your alumni network, individual donations, and trust funds. If you have any questions or concerns please get in contact with either Union Activities, unionactivities@le.ac.uk or with our RAG co-ordinator, su-community@le.ac.uk Corporate Sponsorship What is sponsorship? A commercial partnership between two parties with different interests who come together to support a particular activity. Sponsorship will help build a sustainable fund for your fundraising accounts and is a great way to finance some of the activities or events that your group is involved in. Sponsorship can also offer products and services, such as discounts on products or even free goods. Companies may also offer skill exchanges, employability workshops and mentoring as forms of sponsorship. Sponsorship opportunities can vary, and might include: Sponsoring the whole group Any publications that you may produce Publicity information Clothing (t-shirts, hoodies, sports kit) Equipment or resources Receiving discounts on services or products Events (debates, balls, training, competitions, tours) Competitions (get companies to donate prizes) Transport costs Websites Please refer to our sponsorship guidelines for more details. STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 5
Event Fundraising See Fundraising for charity as many of the same things apply. Please note that as you are fundraising for your student group, you DO NOT need to submit a Charity Fundraising form. Alumni Networks Keep your Alumni involved in your society by contacting them for one-off/monthly financial donations or maybe even some work experience. In return you can keep them updated with what your society is up to through a newsletter, networking events, and opportunities for them to come to annual events with VIP benefits. If you do not have a current record of your alumni, try using social media to reach out to them as well as using current members who may know someone who knows someone.. Individual Donations If you have an event you wish to subsidise funds for, why not try getting individual donations? This could occur in many forms such as bag packing and sponsored events, but you could also set up a Just- Giving page for your group and use social media to your advantage. Another option could be to use a website such as www.easyfundraising.org.uk to try and earn funds whilst you shop! Get all of your society signed up and using it, who knows how much money you could raise? Trust Funds There are many grant giving bodies that could offer money to your project or society meets their aims and objectives. If you have found an organisation which could help you, please get in touch with us as we can look over your application to enable you have the best possible chance of securing funding. We also offer grants to groups. For more information see here. STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 6
Fundraising for Charity If you re not looking to fundraise for your group, chances are you are looking to help an external charity. This section will deal with all of the different stages of planning and holding a fundraising event but if you still have any questions or queries please get in contact with either Union Activities, unionactivities@le.ac.uk or with our RAG co-ordinator, su-community@le.ac.uk. Event Fundraising Planning in advance Discussion of fundraising activity You could discuss different ideas for fundraising in a committee meeting and then consult with the rest of the society before reaching a final decision, or you could involve the whole society from the beginning. Here are some important questions you will need to ask yourselves before you commit to a particular fundraising plan. How long do you need to plan the event properly? o Be realistic with your plans and don t rush them. If you have an amazing plan, but don t have time to carry it out straight away, either adjust your plan to make it more feasible or remember to factor that in to your planning. When and where will you hold event? o Think carefully when choosing a time and location. Try to avoid times that clash with preplanned events and university deadlines as this may impact both room availability and the number of people coming to your event! Who is your target audience? How will you promote your event? o If you are aiming at including the wider student body and members of the public, you will need to promote it differently than if it were just your members. How much do you hope to raise? o Setting a target will hopefully help encourage your efforts, as well as the people supporting your event. It can also help with deciding if it is worth the cost to run will the funds raised cover the cost of the event and will the profit justify it? If you need support running your event, please get in touch with Union Activities, unionactivities@le.ac.uk. You could also look further afield at either the University or external businesses which could help, but remember to do it in enough time! STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 7
Forms Just like any other event you do with your society, you will need to submit an event notification form alongside any guest speakers, food notifications and changes to the risk assessments, following the usual guidelines. However you will also need to complete the Charity Fundraising form as all funds raised by student groups for charity need to be processed through RAG. This is due to the SU being a charity itself and as your group is within this, charity law requires us to oversee funds raised to other charities. It also means that the funds raised are insured. After the fundraising event Once you have completed your event and need to pay the money in - please fill out this specific donation form, made so that it is easier for you to donate the money to charity - Charity Donation Form. This form joins together the paying in and out of the money you wish to donate. The first page is the money you are paying in - simply count this and fill out the section as you would a normal paying in form. Please ensure all the details on the form are filled in. The second page is the donation page - please fill this out in full. For this you need to fill in everything, leaving only the RAG representative section empty. Once RAG has looked over the donation they will sign it off and your money will be paid. Donating to multiple charities If you are donating to multiple charities - complete the charity donation form as normal, but separate out your donations across the withdrawal sections and include an extra page for the other donations you wish to make. If you have any issues or concerns get in touch with our RAG Representative, su-rag@le.ac.uk STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 8
Fundraising Ideas Deciding how to fundraise can be difficult, so here is a list of ideas to get you started! They are listed in 8 different categories: Getting Active Food Glorious Food Sell, Sell, Sell We ve Got Talent In an evening Outside involvement Cash in hand/sponsored events Endurance and athons When thinking about how you will fundraise, consider what your USP (Unique Selling Point) is. Coming up with something creative and different will help give your fundraising an edge and stand out! Getting Active Sports matches You could do lecturers vs students matches or just team up with another society and play against them. If you want to make it last longer, why not make it a tournament? Halfy Half Match up two teams and play each other s sport. Barn dance/ceilidh Find a venue, find a band and have a dance! Most bands come with a speaker who will lead the dancing for the evening. Fun run Organise a fun run around Victoria Park and get people to come in fancy dress! Laser quest night Hire out the venue and charge a little bit extra to raise some money Monopoly Run Use the Leicester Monopoly Game as the basis for a team monopoly challenge around the city. Travel from Land s End to John O Groats If you re feeling particularly keen, you could cycle the route. Alternatively you could cycle the distance in a cycleathon. Three Peaks Challenge o Why not tackle the three highest peaks in Britain and get friends and family to sponsor you? o There is also the three peaks in Yorkshire and Wales. Follow the link for more information: https://www.threepeakschallenge.uk/ Bungee jump Sky diving STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 9
Food Glorious Food Bake Off Evening o Encourage people to show off their baking skills by having a baking competition and then judging the winners Cake sale o The classic fundraiser bake some cakes and then sell them in the SU! Coffee morning o Why not go one step beyond a cake sale and have a coffee morning instead? This way you can raise more money by charging for drinks as well as cake! Come Dine With Me o Invite some friends over and wow them with your cooking skills whilst raising some money for charity! Safari Supper o Choose 3-6 restaurants and have a course in each. If it s ticketed you can easily make a profit! Memory meal o Pick a decade, dress up in that style & cook some dishes from that time! Alice in Wonderland Tea Party o Make the treats found in Wonderland and charge small fee for entry or food/drink. As well as providing refreshments you could also run croquet games! Wine tasting evening o Maybe you could go one step further and make it a wine and cheese evening? Eating competition o Pick a food and encourage people to sign up and pay a small fee to get involved. Guess how many. o Guess how many sweets in the jar, balloons in the car The options are endless! Charge 50p a go. You could also do guess the weight of cake and the winner gets to take home the cake Sell, sell, sell! If you re feeling ambitious a lot of the suggestions below could be run as part of a fete in one large fundraising effort. Duck race Guess how many o Guess how many sweets in the jar, balloons in the car The options are endless! Charge 50p a go. Sponge/gunge event o Find some willing volunteers who don t mind getting a little bit wet and throw sponges at them. If you re doing it for the right cause, the sabs or maybe even lecturers might get involved! Face painting/henna Christmas hamper raffle it off? STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 10
Fun day o You could hold a children s fun day aimed staff/students with children as well as inviting students. Book sale o Encourage members to donate books they no longer want and if there are any leftover after your event, you can donate them to a charity shop. Jumble sale Unwanted gift sale o Great one to do after Christmas We ve Got Talent! Leicester s Got Talent Comedy evening Charity concert Disco Battle of the Bands Showcase o Whatever your talent is, there will be a way to show it! Carol singing Masterclasses o Everyone has a skill so why not put that to good use and run session to teach people the basics of your skill. Murder mystery evening Jewellery making/personalised gifts. Karaoke night Knitting evening Christmas present wrapping o Because we all have that one friend who isn t very good! STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 11
In an evening Charity Ball o Why not try inviting some local dignitaries and university staff to see if they will support your cause? Film nights o You could use the Film Theatre for free and sell some snacks to make some money University Challenge Evening o Go head to head against other societies and/or departments. Why not get staff involved as well? Pub Quiz night Pub games evening Bingo evening Speed dating Outside Involvement Charity lecture Caption competition o Have a photo and ask people to submit a caption for 1. If their caption wins, they can win a split of the proceeds! Penny Mile o Have a competition with other student groups to see who can make the longest line of pennies! Bag packing Endurance and athons Anything that can be done can be done for a long amount of time! Whatever it is you enjoy, why not make it last 24 hours and get other groups involved to make it more of a competition? Here are a couple of ideas. Rowathon Cycleathons Swimathons Dance-athons 24 hour Board game marathon Comedy marathon Film marathon STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 12
Cash in hand/sponsored events Treasure hunts o Have a treasure hunt around campus, charge people entry and maybe have some donated prizes for the most successful hunter! Sponsored events o Be it waxing, a head shave or fancy dress, someone will be prepared to sponsor it! Auction of promises Yes Day o Say yes to people s reasonable requests, like household chores or cooking, for a day and have them give you 1 for completion. Fancy dress Pyjama day Grow a beard/moustache o This could even be done outside of Movember! STUDENT GROUP FUNDRAISING GUIDE 17/18 13