societies and student groups

Charity Fundraising

Raising money for charity can be a lovely opportunity for your society to bring people together and give back to local, national or international communities.

Your society can choose what charity you would like to raise money for and get creative in the different ways you can fundraise for your chosen charities.

The Union is also a registered charity so if you would like to raise money for another charity through your society, it is important you read the information below.

Choosing a Charity

When choosing your charity, look for charities that mean the most to your members. The more invested interest your members have in a charity, the more members are likely to get involved and ultimately, the more money you are likely to raise.

Are They a Registered Charity?

Once you have decided on a cause you would like to fundraise for, check your chosen charity is registered. They should have their registered charity number at the bottom (or top) of their webpage.

Booking Your Event or Fundraising Activity

Once you have the registered charity number, make sure you include this in the event description when registering your event. It is important that you tell us you are holding a fundraising activity/ event at the beginning of your planning, so the Union can offer you specialist fundraising advice and most importantly, funds can be logged correctly as ‘charity fundraising’ when paid into the Union. When paid into the Union as ‘charity fundraising’ we bank the money in a separate budget so we can clearly show that those funds are for another charity, not your society. If it is not logged correctly, it is very difficult for us to be able to pay the charity the funds you have raised.

Ready to Get Started? Here’s Some Fundraising Ideas

There are many ways you can fundraise for charity. The most important thing to remember is that for fundraising events, the cost of the event must be covered from the money you raise. This is because as the Union is a registered charity, we cannot indirectly give money to another charity e.g. paying for an event where the proceeds go to another charity.

Therefore, you want to think of low cost-high profit activities/events.

Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing!

  • Bake Sales
  • Sponsored Group Activity e.g. walk, run, dance marathon etc.
  • Quiz Nights
  • Bucket Collections
  • Supermarket bag pack
  • Jumble Sale – this not only helps raise money for charity but is also a great re-use initiative which helps the environment!
  • Festival/Fun days