If you’re planning to hold an event or you need others to get involved, you will need to think about when and where your fundraising activity will take place.

Where? Perhaps you could hold it at home, in the garden, or at work. You could also ask about using a local hall, park or sports venue, or ask your local public house or favourite restaurant to help out.

When? You need to decide if you want a weekday or weekend event. Do you want it to be daytime or evening? Is it seasonal, e.g. Easter, Halloween, Valentine’s, Mother’s Day/Father’s Day, or Christmas? 

Who? Think about who you want to invite, does it clash with any other events locally (you might have to do a bit of research here), or does it coincide with school holidays or sporting calendars? You also need to decide if this is going to be a ‘by invite only’ event with just your friends, family and colleagues, or whether you’re going to open it out to the public and let anyone come.

You will also need to think through how the event will meet your target. For example, a music event with paid-for tickets will be limited by the capacity of the venue, so how many tickets would you need to sell, and at what price to raise your target? What price do you think people would pay for a ticket?

Many hands make light work

If you’re asking for help from friends and family, be clear what you need them to help with. Make a list of things that need doing and get them to help before, during and after the event. Why not get them to help with things like:

• making decorations/posters/banners for the event
• doing a leaflet drop in their neighbourhood or to the local high street
• setting up the venue on the day
• finding raffle prizes
• manning stalls and activities on the day
• designing posters
• social media promotion or 
• making cakes.

You also might like to approach local businesses for sponsorship or raffle prizes (see our section on keeping raffles legal). We can provide you with a Letter of Authority to take to businesses - just email [email protected] and we'll be able to send this over to you.

If you know someone who works at a business, it might be better to get them to help you ask for prizes by talking to the right people for you, companies will often support employees who want to raise money.

Increasing your fundraising

While you are making your plans, bear in mind that you might be able to increase your fundraising without any extra work. 

Gift Aid

If your supporters are UK taxpayers and their donation is totally voluntary, i.e. it’s a donation and not payment for an event ticket or a raffle ticket, they can add 25% to their donation at no extra cost to them. This really makes a big difference, so please make sure your UK tax-paying donors fill in their details on your sponsorship form and agree to Gift Aid processing on your fundraising page. 

Matched Giving

Lots of companies operate Matched Giving schemes that could potentially double the amount of money you raise. Find out if your employer operates such a scheme, and if they’ll match what you raise. Remind them that it’s tax efficient for them and that it benefits Katharine House.

If they are able to match your fundraising, don’t forget to let us know so that we can look out for their contribution and match it up to your fundraising records. We may also need to provide them with a letter confirming how much you’ve raised.

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