Keeping safe and legal

Here are some things to think about to ensure that everything goes smoothly. Contact us with any questions at support@maudsleycharity.org.

Venue

• Ensure you have permission from the owner. If it’s a public area, you’ll need to get permission from the local council
• Ensure the venue is suitable for your event and it is accessible to all

Food & Drink

• Make sure you have all the relevant permissions from your local council if you are planning to serve alcohol at your event, or that your venue is already covered to do this.
• Wherever you are serving food or drink, make sure you list all ingredients in each recipe so any guests with allergies are able to make an informed choice.

Risk assessment

• Carry out a risk assessment in order to consider all the risks associated with your event and what measures you need to put in place to look after people and property. Don’t forget to make sure you think about how people will be able to socially distance and how you can ventilate any indoor spaces.

Children

• Do not allow unsupervised children under 16 to collect money from the public
• Ensure children are supervised at all times

Money matters

• Keep money and fundraising equipment in a lockable box
• Take care of your personal security when carrying money

Insurance

• We strongly recommend checking you have adequate insurance (e.g., public liability insurance)
• Check that any vendors coming to your event and the venue itself all have public liability insurance

First aid and emergency measures

• Ensure you have adequate first aid and emergency procedures for your type of event

Personal data

• Personal data is information that can be used to identify someone, such as their name, address, and email
• Make sure you communicate to people why you need their data, how you will be storing it and how long you will keep it
• Do not use data for any other purposes other than the reasons you have stated
• If you’re taking photos of people as part of your fundraising, make sure you have their permission to post these photos online or share them in other ways

For more information about fundraising guidelines in the UK please visit www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk

Note: Be aware of Special Category (sensitive) Data. This is personal data that relates to someone’s physical or mental health; religion; ethnicity; political views; trade unions membership; sexual life or criminal history.

In most cases, you shouldn’t need to collect or store this type of information for fundraising.