Have you ever thought of organising a “fund-raiser”? Whether you intend arranging a black-tie dinner, a rock or classical concert (or any other kind of musical genre for that matter), a sponsored run, swim or other endurance event, we would be delighted if you would do so on our behalf!
Please email the Chair to discuss your ideas and how we can help.
“Are you able to claim Gift Aid?”
Although we are eligible, we have not so far found it cost effective to go through the approval process and start to reclaim tax on donations.
This is partly because of the detailed record keeping required and partly because the majority of our donations received would not actually be eligible for Gift Aid.
We keep this situation under review and, if a significant change happened, we may well do so in the future.
UPDATE: 08/11/2012 – At the AGM today, it was agreed that we would recruit a suitably qualified volunteer to manage the Gift Aid process. In anticipation of this, a standard Gift Aid Declaration form can be downloaded HERE. If you are making a personal donation and are a UK tax payer, please download the form, read the notes, and if appropriate complete and return the form. Many thanks.
“Why can’t I donate online?”
The same cost argument applies. Typical fees from Just Giving, and the Charities Aid Foundation, outweigh the Gift Aid that we would be able to recover. Thus for the first £1000 raised roughly £250 is charged by these organisations. If you think this is unfair to smaller charities – then please write to your MP.
Even a straightforward donation made through PayPal (which a number of people have suggested) attracts a fee of around 3.4% and doesn’t have the benefit of allowing the Gift Aid to be reclaimed.
You can always make a donation using electronic (online or digital) banking from your own account. Simply transfer your donation to Sort code: 40-52-40 Account number: 00015853. PLEASE make sure that you mark the Reference Field with your name and (if appropriate) the Responder Group you wish to benefit. It is very helpful, if you can send us an email with the details and date of the transfer so that we can reconcile the accounts.
“We are going to collect money in the street. Is that OK?”
YES, however you need to make sure that you comply with both national and local bye-laws, and also with any rules imposed by the owner of the land on which you are collecting. Your first port-of-call should be the land owner – if Waitrose, for example, have already told the Sea Cadets that they can collect on the weekend on which you intended collecting then there’s not a lot of point going any further.
Then you need to check with the local authority – licence requirements are usually fairly consistent but there can be local variations, such as where land appears to be public but actually belongs to someone or has specific covenants.
Depending on the venue, and type of collection, you may also consider advising the police. For example, some well intentioned, and properly licenced, fire-fighters got into trouble a little while ago for setting up a voluntary toll along a road outside a fire-station.
Comply carefully with any terms of your licence – dates and times are obvious ones, but there may be a need for all collectors to have a badge, for all collecting equipment to be marked, a maximum number of collectors at any one time, for an additional permission to be obtained and so on.
“Don’t you have a street licence for all of us?”
SCALOF covers a territory from North Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and even a bit of Hampshire. Street Collecting licences are issued by local District Councils. Therefore it is not practical for us to apply for licences for every Responder Group or community project. We are not able to apply for one all encompassing licence and even very large charities like the RNLI and RBL have a team of people dedicated to the process for weeks before their annual fundraising events.
We are VERY HAPPY to help if a Responder needs specific information, (though most of this is in the space to the right hand side of this paragraph) and can arrange for a trustee to sign the necessary forms if a particular local authority has a very unusual requirement.
Most years, we are told by a Responder that the rules have changed and we can apply for a global licence. Sadly, this has never proved to be the case and a lot of time has been spent checking. Usually, the individual has got the local authority clerk confused and they have given misleading information back. Resolving these debates takes a lot of time.
“I want to raise money through a sponsored event – do you have the forms?”
We can send you a sample form, but you are going to have to produce your own version with the details of your event and efforts. We don’t have photocopying and printing facilities – however, for a particularly large event we would be able to make an advance towards publicity costs.
“Can I have a collecting tin for the local pub?”
YES. Just ask your local Responder Manager and they will issue them to you. We are required by law to keep a record of the serial numbers of all tins issued and they have to be opened centrally and resealed with an official seal. Sorry that is the law and we can’t get around it.
