Fundraising

It is important that each member of the team raises a minimum of £100.00 for the Prince's Trust Scotland.

Online fundraising - Participants can create an online fundraising page with The Prince's Trust name & logo and e-mail it to everyone they know at http://www.justgiving.com/ Friends, family and colleagues donate by credit or debit and leave words of encourgament. Just Giving automatically reclaim the Gift Aid and charge a 5% transaction fee on this *new total*. The donation & remaining Gift Aid is paid directly in The Prince's Trust bank account without any chasing on your part. Prince's trust get almost £12 for every £10 donation

Justgiving page

Justgiving.com is the leading charity fundraising website.  Money rasied through Justgiving is automatically transferred to The Prince's Trust.

To create your page, go to www.justgiving.com and select "Make your page" to create an account.  On the "Let us know what you're doing" page select an organised event and if it's not listed on the first page, search for your company name where you can build your page. 

Justgiving charge charities a 5% handling fee, but we have found that using this method effectively will increase your fundraising so much that the fee becomes negligible compared to how much extra you will raise.

Gift Aid

What is Gift Aid?

Gift Aid allows us to claim an extra 28% from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on doncations from individuals, at no extra cost to you or your sponsors.  This means that for every £1 you raise The Prince's Trust can potentially claim 28p direct from HMRC.

Who is eligible?

UK taxpayers who have paid (or are going to pay) the government as much income or capital gains tax as The Prince's Trust are claiming back (currently 25p for every £1 donated).  The Government will also add an extra 3p, so The Prince's Trust will receive 28p for every £1 donated.

What do I need to do?

If your sponsors are donating via Justgiving you don't need to do anything! If however, your sponsors are giving you cash or a cheque you and your sponsors must complete a sponsorship form.

Dowload your sponsor form here

Cheque Payments  - In addition you can use the sponsorship forms in the participants pack & submit them regularly to the Prince's Trust with the appropriate cheques. Please make cheques payable to "The Prince's Trust" and send to

Nicola Burns
The Prince's Trust,
1st  Floor, The Guildhall, 
57 Queen Street, 
Glasgow, G1 3EN

Top Tips for fundraising success

General Advice

Brainstorm ideas with team mats and consider the costs, time and resources available.  Please read the fundraising rules and regulations section of this pack before deciding on your fundraising activity.

Allocate tasks beteween team members.  Not only does this spread the workload, but you can also draw on all your combined strengths and skills.

Budget

This should be one of the first things that you do.  Take into account all your costs and what you hope to raise - be realistic about how many people you expect to take part.

You need to be confident you can raise substantially more than you are planning to spend.

Try to source anything you need (i.e. prizes or auction lots) freely or cheaply by telling suppliers, clients or local businesses that you are organising a fundraising event for charity.  Offer to give them recognition on your publicity materials, or at the event, in exchange for generous support.  The Prince's Trust can provide you with an official letter of authorisation to fundraise, so businesses know you are officially fundraising for us.

Timing

Work out the best time for your activity and target audience.  You need to be sure people are going to get behind it so don't pick a time that clashes with other charity events or major sporting occasions.

Don't start until you are ready - you don't want to dilute the impact of the launch!

Try to ensure that you have enought time to prepare for your event to be certain of a good turn out.

Charity fundraising fatigue

If your company already has a lot of charitable activity taking place there may be some fundraising fatigue lurking and little enthusiasm for your activity.... "not anoher dress down day". If this is the case look to fundraise outside the workplace by focusing your efforts on your contact, friends, family and the community rather than work colleagues.

Successful fundraising activities are thos ewhere the donar gets something in return e.g. charity pub quiz = fun night out.

Check whether there are other events taking place around the same time as this may affect the success of your event/activity.

Venue

If you need a venue, book it in advance.  Ask the venue manager if there are any concessions available for charity events.  Check if they can provide any equipment and if there is any  help they can give you with publicity.

Publicise It

Send emails, put up posters, use intranets, internal newsletters, Facebook and any other medium available to promote the event.

Think about  who else you can involve with your fundraising activity, for example other offices or sites within your organisation or even from other organisations (clients, suppliers, competitors, other local companies).

Positive Stories

To help gain support, use case studies and videos of young people.  The Trust has supported. Go to www.princes-trust.org.uk/support_us.aspx and select the region you live in to hear about young people in your area.

Thank everybody!

It is important to thank everyone who was involved or helped.

The Prince's Trust can provide template letters or certificates for those you especially want to thank..