Taking part in a fundraising event or challenge can be hugely rewarding for a child or young person. It’s an opportunity to make a difference in the world whilst learning new skills. In many cases, this will be their first experience of charitable giving and has the potential to inspire a life-long commitment to supporting good causes.
Charities and fundraisers play a key role in giving children and young people the right experience. They need to consider what activities would be suitable and safe for children and young people during events and when they are volunteering, both face-to-face and online.
You will notice Safeguarding Checklists throughout this guidance which highlight key questions you can ask yourself when carrying out different kinds of fundraising. Although these look at some of the core considerations for fundraisers, they do not account for every possible scenario and fundraisers should always take time to think about the law, relevant regulations, and the best interests of the children and young people they are working with. When in doubt, you should check-in with a safeguarding professional.
So much of the advice in this guidance can help you demonstrate the core competencies and behaviors of our Competence Framework, look out for how your fundraising can be compliant, ethical, innovative, inclusive and empathetic.
As a fundraiser working at a charity that has children and young people at the heart of everything we do, working with young volunteers and fundraisers provides us with a constant flow of inspiration. Managing activities appropriately and having consistent, relevant policies enables young people and their families to get involved and support the charity – a mutually rewarding experience. Cath Harding, Head of Community Fundraising at Alder Hey Children's Charity
As a fundraiser working at a charity that has children and young people at the heart of everything we do, working with young volunteers and fundraisers provides us with a constant flow of inspiration. Managing activities appropriately and having consistent, relevant policies enables young people and their families to get involved and support the charity – a mutually rewarding experience.
Cath Harding, Head of Community Fundraising at Alder Hey Children's Charity
Protecting children’s safety and wellbeing when they are fundraising should be every charity’s number one priority. Any safeguarding approach should be based on what is the best interests of children and young people, whilst also considering the organisation’s charitable objectives and relevant laws and regulations.
To make sure fundraisers, other charity staff and volunteers have the tools to get this right, it is important to have clear and consistent policies and procedures that are regularly reviewed to make sure they are in-line with the law and in the best interests of children and young people. Whether it is a well-established activity or a new project, fundraisers should conduct a risk assessment, consulting their organisation’s policies, colleagues or a safeguarding professional when necessary.
This section will look at some of the questions integral to any safeguarding approach, including the role of the responsible adult, key areas of consent, data and risk management. If you want to know more about the relevant regulations regarding children, including requirements for DBS checks, you can find them in the section What do the rules say about fundraising with children and young people?
Keeping children and young people safe when fundraising is one of the core ethical behaviours in our Competence Framework.
Fundraising with children is one of the most enjoyable parts of my role. It’s important for children to learn about charities and those less fortunate, from an early age. We have done a variety of events from elephant walks to cycle rides and safeguarding of children is at the forefront of all we do. We build great relationships with parents who can then support their child whilst they are having a great time raising money for our charity. Rhian Manning, CEO and Founder, 2wish
Fundraising with children is one of the most enjoyable parts of my role. It’s important for children to learn about charities and those less fortunate, from an early age. We have done a variety of events from elephant walks to cycle rides and safeguarding of children is at the forefront of all we do. We build great relationships with parents who can then support their child whilst they are having a great time raising money for our charity.
Rhian Manning, CEO and Founder, 2wish
A responsible adult is a parent, guardian, social worker or someone in a position of responsibility who is over 18, such as a teacher. They have a duty to protect the best interests of the child taking part in fundraising activities.
In cases where the responsible adult has parental responsibility or authorisation from someone with parental responsibility, they might act on a child’s behalf, such as signing consent forms or liaising with the fundraising team directly. Alternatively, they might take on an advisory or support role to help the child carry out fundraising activity, such as asking for donations from the public.
When undertaking any fundraising activity, the role of the responsible adult should be included in risk mitigation plans. Alongside this, fundraisers should take steps to make sure that everyone involved, charity staff, volunteers and responsible adults are clear on their role to keep children safe and know what steps to take should they have any concerns. This will often be informed by the charity’s overarching safeguarding policy. You can read more about this in the section What should be our approach to risk management?
To determine what age a child can give informed consent to take part in an activity, it’s important to remember the legal definition of a child in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is someone under 18. The Charity Commissions also uses this definition in their guidance Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees.
Alongside this, the age of consent in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is 16. This law has also been used as a basis for other activities that children can do, including work, live independently and have their own children, although this varies from nation to nation.
With this in mind, some charities might ask a responsible adult to consent on behalf of anyone under the age of 18, while others might consider 16 more appropriate, particularly if their supporters are well known to the organisation.
Although age is a good indicator of being able to provide informed consent, it is important to consider the child’s level of maturity. Fundraisers could therefore use the Gillick competency and Fraser guidelines to help assess this.
When deciding what approach would work best for the child or children taking part in fundraising activities, charities could consider:
The kind of fundraising or activity they are signing up to - where possible, fundraisers should conduct a risk assessment to take measures to stay safe, you can read more about this in the section How do we carry out risk assessments?
The organisation’s charitable objectives
The communities they work with
How the child or children are connected to the charity
The purpose and role of the child or children in the fundraising activity
The relevant laws and regulations, including age restrictions for activities, licenses and regulations on recording personal information
If you want more information on the different age limits for activities children and young people can take part in are Childline’s resource Your Rights and Young Scot’s What can you do at what age?
Developing sound practices around this and other areas below will demonstrate how you meet the Governance and compliance competence, read more about this in our Competence Framework.
Much like informed consent to take part in a fundraising activity, some charities might decide that a responsible adult must be present when accepting money from anyone under the age of 18, whilst others might think 16 is acceptable.
If the money has been raised through a partnership with a school, there should be a teacher present when the students give the money to the fundraiser, you can read more about this in the section Schools programmes.
Under UK Data Regulations, only children aged 13 or over can consent to having their personal data processed and stored. For children aged 12 and under, charities must get permission from whoever holds parental responsibility. There are also special protections for children when using their personal data.
When managing a child’s data, a charity will need to consider how they ask for consent to process this data, as well as storing and presenting information safely, including:
Recording and storing written consent
Records on the CRM
Recording special category data
Recording and storing photographs, drawings, videos and audio recordings - you can read more about this in the next section At what age can a child consent to have their photograph taken?
The ICO’s guidance What should our general approach to processing children’s personal data be? and ICO children’s code- appropriate age application provide more advice on how to manage children’s data.
The Code requires fundraisers to obtain permission from a parent or guardian to take and publish photographs of children under 13. If the child is over 13 years old, they can give this permission themselves, although a charity might decide that they want to set a higher limit of 16 or 18.
NSPCC’s guidance Photography and sharing images provides an overview of the steps you should take to ask for consent, and how to properly store and share images.
Any photo of a child would need to be processed in accordance with ICO regulations, you can read more about this in the section How should we process children’s data?
If you are planning to share images of children in fundraising materials, there are other factors to consider which you can read more about in our guidance Sharing stories and images of children in fundraising.
Risk assessments help identify potential and actual risks. They should be accompanied by a risk mitigation plan to reduce the potential for these risks and identify the best way to respond to situations that are in-line with the law and prioritise the child’s best interest. Often these will be informed by the charity’s overarching safeguarding policy. You can read more about this in the Charity Commission’s guidance Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees.
When planning any fundraising activity, fundraisers should be managing risk throughout and adapting their approach to keep children and young people safe. This will involve regularly revisiting your risk management framework and considering the following:
External events e.g. fire, extreme weather conditions
Physical and emotional risks to children e.g. slips and falls or equipment related accidents
Physical and emotional risks to adults e.g. alcohol, food poisoning
Physical and emotional risk to volunteers e.g. are cheer points in safe locations?
Identifying the appropriate licenses for the activities involved - you should contact your local council to check which licenses are necessary
Identifying activities children will not be able to do e.g. drink alcohol or gamble
Physical and emotional risks to charity staff e.g. travelling to the event
Risks of children experience exploitation or abuse e.g. sexual grooming
Due diligence and reputational risks to the charity e.g. are activities aligned with the charity’s values?
When working with volunteer fundraisers, the charity’s responsibility for their activities varies depending on if they are an ‘in-aid of’ or ‘on-behalf of’ volunteer. You can read more about this in our guidance Working with volunteer fundraisers.
There are many kinds of fundraising events that children and their families can enjoy, from high energy challenges events like fun runs, to more relaxed quizzes. Often these will be a child’s first experience of giving or fundraising and a great supporter experience could lead to life-long donors.
Alongside creating a fun event, charities need to make sure events are appropriate for children. When deciding the best way to approach this, fundraisers could ask themselves the following questions, although not every question will be relevant to every event:
Are the activities age appropriate?
Are the activities safe for children of that age group?
Can young people be involved in shaping the event, such as youth ambassadors for the charity?
How will giving and fundraising be encouraged either before or during the event?
Who will be handling the any money raised? - the Code does not permit children under the age of 16 to have overall responsibility for counting or collecting money
Will you change the way you talk about the charity and fundraising to children? - this is particularly important for younger children
Will young people be volunteering at the event?
Will there be photography or video taken at the event? You can read more about this in the section At what age can a child consent to have their photograph taken?
How will young people be involved in the evaluation of the event?
How are you thanking young people after the event?
Developing fundraising events for children is one way to demonstrate the ethical and innovative behaviours outlined in our Competence framework.
When working on one of our annual fundraisers, The Valentine’s Party, we would always keep in mind that as well as hosting a fun and unique family fundraising event, it was also an opportunity to introduce children to GOSH Charity. We would make sure that there were fundraising mechanisms that involved children such as a ‘scratch card raffle’ and that when we were choosing the funding option, it was relatable to the children. For example, one year we looked at funding new play spaces and the play team at the hospital so that children attending the event would be able to easily understand what the money raised was going towards. Freya Hill, Senior Events Manager, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity
When working on one of our annual fundraisers, The Valentine’s Party, we would always keep in mind that as well as hosting a fun and unique family fundraising event, it was also an opportunity to introduce children to GOSH Charity. We would make sure that there were fundraising mechanisms that involved children such as a ‘scratch card raffle’ and that when we were choosing the funding option, it was relatable to the children. For example, one year we looked at funding new play spaces and the play team at the hospital so that children attending the event would be able to easily understand what the money raised was going towards.
Freya Hill, Senior Events Manager, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity
As well as being event participants, children can volunteer at events, such as cheering at cheer points, or asking for donations from participants. Fundraisers need to make sure the activities they are being asked to carry out are suitable and any risks are managed, you can read more about this in the section Giving young volunteers the right experience.
It’s important to remember that under the Code children under 16 cannot have overall responsibility of handling money, you can read more about this in the section What do the rules say about fundraising with children and young people? And Safeguarding young volunteer fundraisers.
Most events will require a risk assessment and risk mitigation plan, you can read more about this in the section What should be our approach to risk management?
The risk assessment and risk mitigation plan will inform each other. Below is a safeguarding checklist with key factors to consider:
Who has access to the event and how will they come into contact with children?
Are staff and volunteers DBS checked? Remember: a DBS check is a useful tool but does not guarantee an attendee does not pose a risk to children and young people. Event managers should also consider areas where adults might come into contact with children alone and take steps to mitigate this, e.g. the toilets.
Are staff appropriately trained to respond to an incident, e.g. first aid?
Do you have the appropriate signed permission slips from adults? This can include consent to participate in the event and consent to photography. You can read more about this in the section Keeping children and young people safe when fundraising.
Are children volunteering? If so, who will be responsible for them?
Will the event include an overnight stay? Who will be the responsible adults in this circumstance?
What are the children to charity staff/volunteer ratios?
How will you report safeguarding incidents? This should be connected to your organisation’s wider safeguarding policy.
Do you have the appropriate licenses for the event?
How will data be processed in line with ICO guidance? You can read more about this in the section Processing children’s data
Developing your approach to Risk Assessments will demonstrate how you meet the Monitoring and Evaluating competence in the Chatered Institute's Competence Framework
Taking on a challenge, activity or project to raise money for charity can give children and young people a sense of accomplishment, help them develop new skills and understand the importance of supporting good causes. There are many ways they can fundraise:
Taking on an individual challenge or project
Fundraising with family and friends
As part of a local group
Volunteering at an event
The kind of activity they do will affect how fundraisers should support them, for example, a young fundraiser taking on a project alone will likely need more hands-on stewardship than a community group as a responsible adult will be their main point of contact. Similarly, young volunteers at events might need similar procedures to event participants, you can read more about this in the section Organising children and family events.
There are several considerations when recruiting and managing volunteer fundraisers of all ages, including when they can use the charity’s insurance for their event or if the fundraiser is responsible for carrying out a risk assessment. You can read about in our guidance Working with volunteer fundraisers and NSPCC’s guidance Working with Young Volunteers.
There are many reasons why a young person would want to fundraise. For example, they could be committed to the cause or already be known to the charity. Giving them the right supporter experience is vital to nurturing this passion whilst keeping their best interests at heart.
Some charities might have a range of opportunities for young people to volunteer, such as youth ambassadors or event fundraising volunteer roles. In other cases, children and young people might want to take on their own project and need some inspiration. It could be a good idea to create a fundraising pack with age-appropriate activities, you can find some great examples from Save the Children’s A-Z Fundraising ideas.
If a child or young person has their own fundraising idea, which the charity is aware of, fundraisers should take time to get to know them to confirm their plans are suitable and they have the support they need. In some circumstances, it might be necessary to adapt the activity, fundraising plans or manage the young person’s expectations.
When deciding if a volunteering activity is appropriate for a group of young people or an individual, fundraisers should ask themselves:
About the young person or group of young people:
How old are they?
Are they already known to the charity?
How much do they know about fundraising and have they fundraised before?
How much do they know about the charity and cause? What additional information can you give them?
Why do they want to fundraise?
Who is their support network and how will they help them through the process?
About the activity and their fundraising:
Is this activity appropriate for the age and skills of the child?
Who will be doing the activity with them?
How will they fundraise?
Does a responsible adult need oversight over their fundraising?
If the fundraising activity permitted under the Code? You can read more about this in the section What do the rules say about fundraising with children and young people?
What contact will they have with donors?
What kind of questions will they be asked about the charity or the cause?
What materials do they need to be able to answer questions about the charity or cause?
Giving children and young volunteers the right experience is one way demonstrate you can build relationships, one of the core competencies Competence framework.
Although fundraisers must take steps to support the child’s safety and wellbeing, it is important not to come across as condescending or dampen their enthusiasm. You can find some ideas on how to do this in UNICEF's guidance Communicating with children.
Children and young people can be the most creative and passionate fundraisers. When working with children it is important to ensure everything is legal and safe whilst not dampening a child’s enthusiasm. We hope this guidance will provide food for thought and reassurance. Chloe Edwards, Senior Partnerships Manager and Anna Bevis, Partnerships Manager – Education, The Children's Trust
Children and young people can be the most creative and passionate fundraisers. When working with children it is important to ensure everything is legal and safe whilst not dampening a child’s enthusiasm. We hope this guidance will provide food for thought and reassurance.
Chloe Edwards, Senior Partnerships Manager and Anna Bevis, Partnerships Manager – Education, The Children's Trust
As the young person will come into contact with the public to ask for donations, the charity needs to think about how this might impact their safety and wellbeing.
When asking for donations in person, the Code does not permit children under the age of 16 to take overall responsibility for handling money, you can read more about this in the section What do the rules say? Fundraisers should therefore confirm if there will be a responsible adult present when asking for donations and provide them with support on how to appropriately ask for and accept donations.
Often the young person will use online platforms to share their story and collect donations. Each platform will have their own minimum age limitations which the young person should adhere to. You can read more about some platforms age requirements below:
Just Giving’s Terms of Service
Facebook’s Terms of Service
When fundraising online through social media, there is a risk of attracting negative attention. Fundraisers should consider what the risks are and steps to avoid them. You can read more about this in the section Safeguarding young fundraisers online.
Fundraisers should consider the following:
Are fundraisers working with children and families DBS checked? - this is a requirement of the code, you can read more in What do the rules say?
Does the charity have the appropriate parental consent?
What contact will charity staff have with the young person? How can we make sure this is safe?
Is the activity appropriate for the young person’s age and skills? - the fundraiser will likely need to carry out a risk assessment, you can read more about this in the section What should be our approach to risk management?
Who will be coming into contact with the child whilst they are fundraising or carrying out their activity? Will a responsible adult be present?
How will you report safeguarding incidents? This should be connected to your organisation’s wider safeguarding policy
Thanks to online platforms and social media, an event or challenge no longer has to take place in-person. A young person can take on a marathon streaming session, quickly set up a birthday fundraiser or attend a quiz hosted by the charity. Although a charity might not ever meet them face-to-face, they still need to have the necessary procedures in place to protect their safety and wellbeing.
This is still a relatively new area of fundraising, and as technologies and regulations evolve, so will charity's approaches. Currently, two popular ways for charities to fundraise online with children and young people are:
Hosting their own live event through a meeting platform e.g. a virtual quiz
Holding a virtual challenge that children can do in their own time e.g. streaming
Creating online fundraising opportunities for children and young people is one way to enhance the knowledge and skills of digital integration outlined in our Competence Framework.
Shaping online events requires a similar approach to face-to-face events. Activities should be engaging and appropriate for children, you can read more about this in the section Organising events for children and their families.
There are a number of challenges specific to live digital events that need to be considered:
The ICO has regulations regarding processing children’s data which you can find out more about in the section Processing children’s data.
At the point of sign-up, charities should make sure a responsible adult is signing up with a child under the age of 13, and all children’s data is processed in-line with the charity’s data protection policies. This age limit might differ from the age limit for the child to consent to the activity, you can read more about this in the section At what age should we seek informed consent from a responsible adult for a child to take part in a fundraising activity?
Charities should obtain permission to record and share event recordings, you can read more about this in the section At what age can a child consent to have their photograph taken?
If the event is a performance, there are additional considerations which you can read more about in Safety and Security Online’s guidance Online Performances.
As participants are accessing the event remotely, it is harder for charities to manage inappropriate behavior. This should be factored into a risk assessment and risk mitigation plan so fundraisers can select a platform that will allow you to remove participants or control their cameras.
Depending on the audience, it might be necessary to have subtitles or BSL interpreters at the event so everyone can take part. You can find ideas on how to do this in Respect Ability’s guidance Ensuring Virtual Events Are Accessible for All.
Fundraisers should carry out a risk assessment and create a risk mitigation plan to make sure the event is safe, you can read more about this and download a risk assessment template in the section How do we carry out risk assessments?
As the event is not in-person, there are some additional considerations fundraisers need to factor in:
Will this event be broadcasted, and if so, who will be able to access it?
Are staff and volunteers DBS checked, if legally required? - this is a requirement of the Code, which you can read more about in What do the rules say?
How will staff respond to inappropriate behaviour? Does the chosen platform have the functionality to facilitate this?
Do you have the appropriate signed permission slips from adults? -this can include consent to participate in the event and consent to recording the event. You can read more about this in the section Keeping children and young people safe when fundraising
Is the platform accessible for the audience?
Can the platform be hacked or accessed by uninvited participants? How will this be avoided?
How will you report safeguarding incidents? - this should be connected to your organisation’s wider safeguarding policy
How will data be processed in line with ICO guidance? - you can read more about this in the section Processing children’s data
The inclusion of donate buttons and fundraising features on social media platforms has made it easier for young people to fundraise online in their own time, in the way that works best for them. Although this is a fantastic way to make giving more accessible, there are several factors charities need to consider to keep young people safe:
For some virtual challenges, charities can have their own sign-up process, hosted on their own webpage or a micro-site, asking an adult to sign-up on behalf of the child or young person.
In other cases, charities might receive data from third-party platforms, meaning they will need to identify and appropriately process the data of anyone under the age of 18 and cannot process the data of anyone under the age of 13 without parental consent.
Although platforms will have minimum age requirements, it is still possible for a young person to use that platform, making it hard for charities to verify the age of the person fundraising for them. This is an area that is evolving quickly, however, one approach is to encourage young people to identify themselves to the charity by including messages in communications at the point of signup and throughout the supporter journey.
If a young person has identified themselves to a charity, it might be necessary to ask for consent from a responsible adult before they can start fundraising or have their data processed, you can read more about this in the section At what age should we ask a child (rather than their responsible adult) for consent to take part in an activity?
Doing this remotely can be challenging and can lead to relatively high drop-off rates if the child and their family do not respond. Whilst this is hard to control, engaging and clear communications throughout the welcome journey can help.
Young people will usually use a variety of platforms to collect money, promote their fundraiser, update supporters on their progress, and might even live stream their activity to a large audience. As a result, any fundraiser has the potential to reach many people. This is perhaps one of the greatest strengths of digital fundraising, however, it also means there are unique safety risks, including:
Direct messaging and comment sections can attract unwanted attention, including online trolls.
Young fundraisers being exposed to content they will find emotionally distressing
‘Going viral’ and attracting large amounts of media and public attention
Images or video of the young person can be misused
Fundraisers should consider risk assessing platforms and deciding what will work best for them and their young fundraisers. ESafety Educations’ guidance on Risk assessment for new technologies and online platforms provides an overview of key considerations on data and harm online.
Although online fundraising is an excellent way to raise awareness of a cause, there are a number of digital-specific safeguarding questions fundraisers need to ask themselves:
Are staff and volunteers DBS checked? - this is a requirement of the Code, you can read more in What do the rules say?
How many people could view this fundraiser?
Could this fundraiser attract negative attention? From who and why?
What platform will they use and does this need to be risk assessed?
Who can contact the young person during the fundraiser?
Should a responsible adult have oversight of the fundraising activity?
What can the charity do to support the young person should they receive negative attention online?
How will you report safeguarding incidents? - this should connected to your organisation’s wider safeguarding policy
Over the past three years Mind has seen an increase in Children and Young people (CYP) fundraising for us. This may be in line with Mind expanding its service offer to cover children and young people, or the rise in awareness of mental health problems among children and young people.
This presented two key challenges for the fundraising team at Mind – how can we ensure CYP are safe while they fundraise for us? How can we process their data compliantly?
Our first step was to agree that CYP should be able to fundraise for Mind. We believe that fundraising can be an amazing entry point for young people to talk about mental health, and great fundraising experiences for young people could create life-long supporters for Mind. Having this as principle helped bring momentum to deal with some of the challenging parts of this project.
Starting with safety, we decided that parental consent to take part in an activity was the primary way we would be able to keep CYP safe. Given the volume of supporters we have doing their own thing, risk assessing each activity wasn’t feasible, so we ask caregivers to give their agreement, knowing that an adult has had oversight of the young person’s plans for fundraising.
Gathering this consent then became our next challenge, and planning how to communicate with a young person until that consent was given. We’ve had to make decisions about how long we might wait to receive consent, if we should communicate with a young person in the meantime, what we should do if we don’t receive consent and what if funds are received when consent wasn’t given.
Aside from existing legal parameters our north star was making the experience safe and easy for children and young people who want to support Mind.
Putting this into action practically is an ongoing process. Manually collecting consent has proved inefficient so we’re now building a digital solution.
This will involve directing anyone who identifies as a young person when registering to a separate registration form that asks for their parents contact details. A series of triggered emails will be sent to the young person and the parent, asking for the parent’s consent. This would include reminders and notifications for the young person too.
Using data tools, once the consent has been given, the child or young person would automatically be registered fully and stewardship would begin as usual.
We’re currently scoping the best providers to help us build this journey from a comms and data point of view but we’re excited to have designed a process that will help us empower more children and young people to fundraise.
Vicky Urqhart, Products Fundraising Manager, Mind
Fundraising in schools is a valuable way to show children how coming together to raise money for a cause can make a difference in the world. Every school will have a different approach to working with charities depending on their resources and the point of contact will vary from school to school.
Giving at school can help bring children together and show them why fundraising is important. Every child must therefore be able to get involved and activities should be appropriate for students of different backgrounds. Similarly, some children at the school might receive support from the charity, meaning they will have a different experience and of the cause and reasons for fundraising. To make sure everyone is capable and comfortable to take part, fundraisers should take time to research the school, such as pupil premium eligibility, and speak to teachers to decide the best way to approach the activities.
There is no exact list of activities that will or won’t work for a particular school. It's therefore a good idea to have a few options to discuss with a teacher. It might also be possible to adapt activities to be more inclusive, such as asking students to bring money in a sealed envelope or avoid giving money to teachers in front of the class.
Child Poverty Action Group and Children North East’s report The Cost of Having Fun at School highlights some of the challenges that children and families face when asked to donate money at school, including guidance for charities.
Fundraising and charity events at school are often occasions that many children look forward to. However, for some pupils, these activities can be stressful and leave them feeling left out if they don’t have enough money to take part. By working with school-communities and reviewing their own approaches, fundraisers and charities can play an important role in ensuring these activities can be enjoyed by everyone and don’t exclude or increase pressures on struggling families. Kate Anstey, UK Cost of the School Day Project Lead, Child Poverty Action Group
Fundraising and charity events at school are often occasions that many children look forward to. However, for some pupils, these activities can be stressful and leave them feeling left out if they don’t have enough money to take part. By working with school-communities and reviewing their own approaches, fundraisers and charities can play an important role in ensuring these activities can be enjoyed by everyone and don’t exclude or increase pressures on struggling families.
Kate Anstey, UK Cost of the School Day Project Lead, Child Poverty Action Group
The NSPCC have been fundraising in schools for over 40 years with a variety of events, activities and resources on offer.
Primary schools have always been the NSPCC’s main focus for schools fundraising and this activity has been a natural add on for schools who are accessing the free Speak Out Stay Safe programme.
Speak Out Stay Safe is a safeguarding programme for children aged 5-11 years old. It is available to all primary schools in the UK and Channel Islands. The programme helps children to understand abuse in all of its forms, that abuse is never a child’s fault and they have the right to be safe. Children are also empowered to know where to turn if they are worried or concerned with services such as Childline highlighted.
This programme is delivered free of charge to schools and in order to keep providing this essential service schools can see the benefit and necessity of supporting the NSPCC through a fundraising event.
The services of the NSPCC that schools can relate to doesn’t stop with Speak Out Stay Safe, there is also Childline, the adult Helpline and the services that operate from the regional hubs such as Letting the Future in, Domestic Abuse: Recovery together (DART) and Baby steps to name but a few.
This is not to say though that it is only primaries that fundraise, secondary schools have either supported through the national events or have been creative with their own fundraising ideas. We have also seen an increase in the number of early year establishments taking part in fundraising events.
Over the years schools have supported the NSPCC through sponsored events such as Buddy’s Big Workout, our flagship school fundraising product Number Day and national fundraising events such as Childhood Day and Walk for Children.
The NSPCC’s relationship throughout the fundraising journey is with the school and it will have been a member of staff that signed up for an event and ultimately runs it within their educational setting. They are provided with everything they need to make their event a success and digitally stewarded through the process.
Katie Fudge, Schools Fundraising Development Manager, NSPCC
The Code requires fundraisers to have the approval of the head teacher or chosen member of staff before reaching out to any children onsite and following their safeguarding procedures, you can read more about this in What do the rules say? Usually, this will require the fundraiser to be accompanied by a responsible adult when on the school site or with children on a trip.
Schools can be very busy, and teachers might not be used to working with fundraisers, it is therefore a good idea to have any safeguarding procedures agreed in writing.
Are fundraisers DBS checked? - this is a requirement under the Code
Do you have head teacher or nominated teacher’s approval to fundraise?
Do you have a written agreement with the school outlining the role and responsibilities of charity staff and teachers in keeping children safe? E.g. agreeing there will be a teacher present at all times
Who will be considered a responsible adult? What is their relationship to the children and are they aware of the wishes of the child’s parents or guardians?
When receiving any money raised by the children, who is the responsible adult present?
Were photos of the activity taken and do you have the school’s and parent’s consent to use them? - you can read more about this in How should we ask for consent to photography and sharing images of children and young people?
The Code of Fundraising Practice (the Code), held by the Fundraising Regulator, sets out rules and requirements to make sure fundraising is legal, honest, open and respectful. It sets the standards for fundraising across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, fundraising is overseen by the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel, in line with the Code.
Section 6 Fundraising involving children sets out the following requirements:
6.1.1. You must keep to any relevant age limits set by law when organising fundraising activities.
6.1.2. You must make sure that your staff understand their responsibilities and what they must do in relation to activity organisers, the children taking part, and the parents or guardians of those children.
6.1.3. You must give the children or young people taking part, and their parents or guardians, guidance on how to carry out fundraising safely and legally.
6.1.4. You must not give children under 16 overall responsibility for handling money or responsibility for counting collected money.
6.1.5. You must use the Disclosure and Barring Service (in England and Wales), Disclosure Scotland (in Scotland) and Access NI (in Northern Ireland) to carry out checks on any adults working with children, if the law says you must do this.
6.1.6. You must only contact children on school premises if you have the approval of the head teacher or a member of the school’s staff chosen by the head teacher, and you must follow any procedures you have agreed with them.
6.1.7. You must get permission before taking or publishing photographs of children. If the child is over 13 years old they can give this permission themselves. If they are under 13, you must get permission from their parent or guardian.
6.2.1. If you rely on consent as the lawful basis for processing a child’s data, you must get their parent’s or guardian’s consent for this until the child is able to give informed consent themselves.
6.2.2. You must not share any data you collect from anyone aged under 14 without consent from their parent or guardian, unless you have to do so by law (for example, during a police investigation).
Under UK Data Regulations, only children aged 13 or over can consent to having their personal data processed. For children aged 12 and under, charities must get permission from whoever holds parental responsibility.
There are also special protections for children when using their personal data. When processing a child’s data, a charity will need to consider how they record, store and present information safely.
You can read more about how to do this in the section How should we process children’s data? As well as the ICO’s guidance What should our general approach to processing children’s personal data be? and ICO children’s code- appropriate age application.
Charities have a responsibility to keep anyone whom they come into contact with safe, including service users, staff and volunteers.
As part of this, when working with anyone under the age of 18, the Charity Commission’s guidance Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees states charities should follow NSPCC standards for safeguarding children.
It also outlines additional provisions that organisations should have in place:
establish appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures that all trustees, staff and volunteers follow, which fit with the policies and procedures of your local authority safeguarding partnership, or safeguarding children or adults board
make sure all staff and volunteers receive regular training on child protection or working with adults at risk
appoint a safeguarding lead to work with your local authority safeguarding partnerships or boards and/or create a plan for responding to concerns overseas
manage concerns, complaints, whistleblowing and allegations relating to child protection or adults at risk effectively
have clear policies when DBS checks are required, how you assess the level of check needed and how you handle the information
You can read more about how to create a safeguarding policy in NCVO’s guidance Policy and Procedures.
Under 18s cannot take part in society lotteries, this is regulated by The Gambling Commission.
To hold a lottery or raffle at an event, fundraisers usually need to obtain a license from their local council to hold a raffle or lottery at an event, you can read more about this in our Lotteries and Raffles guidance.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regulates advertising, which includes fundraising materials, across the England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They oversee the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code) which applies to all TV, Radio as well as the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising (CAP Code) which applies to all other advertising methods, including direct mail, online and newspaper advertisements. Each code sets out specific rules relating to charities and advertising relating to children:
Section 16 Charities outlines standards relating to how charities should promote their activities, including the following requirements regarding children:
16.3 Advertisements seeking donations for, or promoting the needs or objectives of a charitable body must not:
16.3.4 address fund-raising messages to children or likely to be of particular interest to them.
Section 05 Children outlines standards relating to advertisements addressing children under the age of 16. Below are some key standards to take into consideration:
5.1 Marketing communications addressed to, targeted directly at or featuring children must contain nothing that is likely to result in their physical, mental or moral harm
5.3 Marketing communications addressed to or targeted directly at children:
5.3.2 must not exploit children's susceptibility to charitable appeals and must explain the extent to which their participation will help in any charity-linked promotions.
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