WHAT is the event going to be?

Race Night? Ceilidh? Bingo? Quiz? 

Not sure….? Have a look here for some inspiration:

• Hold a karaoke night in your local pub 
• Car boot sales (get your family and friends to have a clear out!)
• Ask your local school to hold a non-uniform day
• Take part in a local sponsored walk or fun run or maybe even organise your own with friends and family
• Hold a quiz night with a raffle
• Dinner party or barbecue for 15 friends who each pay £10
• Collect at a local football ground or supermarket (get permission!)
• Ask friends and family for sponsorship money instead of Birthday/Christmas presents

WHO will be involved in organising it?

Getting some people to help is always a good idea. This can be a formal committee, or an informal group of friends that you’ve convinced to help out – someone to look after the money, someone to organise publicity, etc.

WHERE will it be?

Make sure that you have a suitable venue for your event. You’ll need to book the venue, make sure it has all the facilities you need, and that it will be accessible to everyone who wants to come along. 

WHEN will it be?

Give yourself enough time to organise everything, but also check that your event doesn’t clash with any other big events, i.e. big sports events on TV. 

HOW much do you want to raise?

Set a target. Be realistic, but plan on the basis of the minimum you expect to make – everything else is then a bonus. There are lots of ways to boost your fundraising total, for example, a raffle or auction of items you’ve had donated.

Make a simple budget so you know exactly how much everything is going to cost, and how much you’re going to or hope to make back.

HOW will you let people know about your event?

You need to make sure people know your event is happening. Tell your family, friends, colleagues, neighbours – tell everybody! Use Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Put posters up in as many shops as possible, and also at your workplace. Get the local media involved – we can help you write a press release. 

Other Things to Remember

• Don’t be embarrassed to ask for things for free (i.e. your venue). They can only say no, but might reduce costs for a charity event.
• Lists and / or spreadsheets are very useful for keeping you organised. Often there will be many little things that will need doing – and it’s very easy to forget them!

No matter what fundraising activities you decide to embark on we will give you as much support as possible. We can provide help and advice as well as more practical things like:

• Branded Balloons
• T-Shirts – S, M, L, XL
• Collecting cans
• Collecting buckets – complete with seals
• Lapel stickers and badges
• Fundraising posters
• Sponsorship forms – which can be personalised for you
• Information leaflets – About MND and the work of MND Scotland
• Letters of Authorisation – for council permits
• ID Badges – for collections
• Gift Aid forms

All of these items are provided free of charge. Please let us you think your event will need, and return any items which are unused.

Please contact the Fundraising Team on 0141 332 3903 or email fundraising@mndscotland.org.uk to see how we can help you..

There are a few issues that you may need to consider when organising your own fundraising event. We are happy to help, so if you have any queries, you can contact us on 0141-332-3903 or at fundraising@mndscotland.org.uk. 

Legal

• Public bucket or can collections (those done in the street as opposed to a can in your local shop or pub) require a permit from your local council. Please don’t engage in a public collection unless you have a permit, and we can advise on how to get one.
• Lotteries and raffles, where you sell tickets in advance of the event, as opposed to just on the day, require a gaming licence. We can organise this for you, just email us or give us a call.
• Please do check if you need any kind of special license – especially where relating to alcohol, entertainment and gambling.

Insurance

For any event where the public are involved, you must have public liability insurance. We have a policy that covers our volunteers, however it is always advisable to check with us whether our insurance would apply to your event.

Safety

• Anyone under the age of 18 needs to be accompanied by an adult if doing any sort of charity work. Children shouldn’t engage in public collections unsupervised.
• Please ensure that your event is organised safely and efficiently. It’s probably a good idea to carry out a Risk Assessment for your event. Some venues might require that you do one- we can help you with this.
• You should make sure that participants are properly briefed e.g. don’t go up Ben Nevis without the proper equipment.
• Make sure that your event is properly and appropriately supervised. This is particularly important where children are concerned.

Money

• Keep records of all money donated, and all money spent on your event.
• Where possible, please get donors to sign up to Gift Aid! We get an extra 25% on top of their donation. We can provide sponsor forms with gift aid sections, gift aid envelopes, and gift aid declaration forms.
• Please try and get the funds you’ve raised to us as soon as possible after the event. We can provide you our bank account details, or you can send us a cheque made payable to ‘MND Scotland’ or pay over the phone on 0141 332 3903, or online on our donations page here.

You are doing something really quite amazing, and helping to make a real difference to the lives of people affected by MND.

You're also helping to find a cure.

Make sure you tell EVERYONE what you're doing - social media is the perfect way to let everyone know. Why not tell your local newspaper/radio station too? We can help you write a press release.

We can also help publicise your event, so please get in touch about this. However, due to the number of events taking place across Scotland we're not able to post them to the MND Scotland Facebook page but we can promote your event on Twitter and our website.