Organise your own fundraiser
Fancy joining the thousands of Oxfam fundraisers that are helping people all around the world? Read on…
Why fundraise?
Oxfam’s fundraisers play a vital role in lifiting people out of poverty, year in year out. Whatever your fundraising plans the outcome will be the same, you’ll be changing the world.
These pages will tell you everything you need to get started – tips on how to fundraise, examples of what our other fundraisers are up to, what Oxfam will be able to do with the money and how you can pay in the money you raise.
How do you want Oxfam to use your money?
You have two choices here. You can let Oxfam use the money to fund any of its projects, or you can choose to donate to a specific Oxfam project.
Regardless of how you decide your money should be used, you can be sure the money will make a difference. Here are just a few examples of what your fundraising efforts could achieve:
£100 could buy essential medicines for a whole village for 6 months.
£250 could buy 10 teaching kits providing essential educational equipment.
£500 could pay for the care of 10 orphans or vulnerable children.
£1,700 could pay for a whole classroom.
Inspiration
When it comes to deciding how to raise money for Oxfam there are really only two rules: stay safe and make sure it's legal! You can either let your imagination run wild, or let our ideas generator do the work for you.
Over the years we’ve seen countless examples of great fundraising projects. Here are a few of our favourites:
Cook up a Curry…
Tom held a stonking curry night and raised a lovely £150 for Oxfam. That must've been some incredible naan. Well done Tom!
Open your own shop…
Rebecca and her Trailwalker team did exactly that. They negotiated with an estate agent to open a shop for a one-night sale. They asked for high-quality donations from their friends and held a Ladies Luxury Shopping Night. By the time the sale had finished they’d raised an amazing £944!
Pig racing…
The Q Team, one of our Trailtrekker teams describe their Pig racing fundraiser in verse:
Fundraising is a vital part, as well as getting fit.
Pig Racing is our vehicle as my club has all the kit.
What is that? I hear you cry, Pig Racing sounds so weird!
Battery operated on a track, there’s nothing to be feared.
The Cross Key’s pub in Skipton, were our generous hosts.
With races sponsored and piggy’s sold, that was a brilliant boast. It was a fun filled night, with prizes won and bets galore. By the end we had Four Hundred pounds, a great start that’s for sure!
Sell breakfasts…
That’s what a group did in Ripon. They sold breakfasts to teachers, soldiers, ministers, police officers and the local mayor. By the time they’d finished they’d raised £600. A fantastic group effort! Thank you.
Fundraising toolkit
Download our fundraising toolkit (2MB PDF) to help you organise your fundraising event.
If you’d like a copy of our toolkit to help you get started, you can call us on 0300 200 1300, or just fill in the form below.
We also have a supply of toolkit extras. This includes posters, invitations, balloons, collection boxes and stickers. If you’d like us to send you a supply of extras please call us on 0300 200 1300.
Support
To help with your plans we've pulled together a fundraiser's 'top-7'. Regardless of whether this is your first fundraising event, or whether you're a dab hand, these tips should ensure you have a great time.
1. Get your fundraising ideas noticed
5. Representing Oxfam & using Oxfam’s logo
6. Legal
7. Staying safe
1. Get your fundraising noticed
An article in your local paper, radio station or even regional TV channel, could really help to get more people along to your event and make it easier to approach people for sponsorship:
2. Fundraise online
By setting up an online fundraising page you can be sure that the donations, and gift aid, will come directly to us, without you having to do the leg work of chasing your sponsors!
Other great benefits are that you can reach friends and family further afield, and you can keep your sponsors up to date with how your preparations are going.
Oxfam’s preferred e-fundraising site is Virgin Money Giving based on the low costs and the great support they’re offering. Oxfam can still receive donations from other sites such as JustGiving., but to ensure that your fundraising goes further we recommend that you use use Virgin Money Giving page to promote your fundraising.
Don’t forget to spread the word:
Start a Facebook group/tell all your Facebook friends
Keep everyone up-to-date with your plans
3. Remember to ask for Gift Aid
Encourage people to tick the Gift Aid box when they sponsor you and the value of their gift can be increased by nearly a third at no extra cost to them! You’ll find a Gift Aid box on our sponsor form.
Make sure they complete the sponsor form in full – to claim Gift Aid we must have their first name (or initials), last name, and full home address including their postcode.
4. Tell us what you're up to
Let us know what you did and send us pics, we’d love to share these with other fundraisers. You can send in you details by email to events@Oxfam.org.uk, or by post to:
The Oxfam Events Team,
Oxfam House,
John Smith Drive,
Oxford, OX4 2JY
5. Representing Oxfam & using Oxfam’s logo
If you need a letter of authorisation to support your fundraising efforts, please call us with details of what you're doing on 0300 200 1300.
Details of how you should use the Oxfam logo on your promotional materials.
6. Legal
The bottom line is that we want you to stay safe and on the right side of the law when you’re fundraising. Oxfam cannot accept any liability for accidents, so please read on!
Events
Contact your local council for any necessary permissions, licensing, trading standards, and health and safety issues.
Contact the police if you are planning an event in a public place, for example, if the event is to be held on public roads and could cause traffic disruption.
Collections
You need a licence from your local authority to collect funds in the street, in any public place, or house-to-house – otherwise it is illegal. Most authorities have details of how to apply for a licence on their website, but you should allow at least two months for it to come though.
If you are collecting on private property e.g. a pub or supermarket, you must obtain written permission from the owner or manager, and when collecting you must always have a copy of this permission with you.
Anyone collecting money in public, must be over 16.
Raffles and lotteries
These are subject to very strict and complex laws – therefore you must consult The Institute of Fundraising Laws, before organising a raffle or lottery.
We also recommend that you get a copy of Lotteries and the Law, from the Gaming Board of Great Britain. In Northern Ireland contact the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action for a copy of their booklet Lotteries: A Guide for Voluntary Groups.
7. Staying safe
Any activity must comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and all other relevant legislation – and remember – the Act applies to volunteers as well as to employees.
If you are carrying money around, always consider personal security – use a safe route, be accompanied if possible, or carry a personal alarm.
Make sure that no-one is fundraising, working or spectating in an unsafe environment.
If using sub-contractors or facilities e.g. portaloos, bouncy castles etc. make sure that the they have the requisite experience and insurance cover.
Think about first aid requirements and fire safety – contact your local St John’s Ambulance and Fire Station respectively for advice and help.
You can get free health and safety advice from The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), it is worthwhile checking their ‘five steps to a risk assessment’ before putting on an event.
Money
This page is all about the nuts and bolts of fundraising; how to collect money and how to pay it in to Oxfam.
Collecting donations
When it comes to collecting donations, you’ve got two routes open to you, online or offline.
E-fundraising is quick, efficient, and cost-effective. Not only can you pay in money as you go, but online sponsors tend to give more.
E-fundraising is also one of the safest ways to make a donation, and all online payments go through the highest possible security protocols to protect against fraud.
The beauty of this approach is that you don’t have to collect the money, its all done online!
If you’d prefer to collect money ‘offline’, then you’ll need to download a sponsorship form.
Paying in
If you collect money offline, once you’ve collected all of your sponsorship money you can:
Pay online
You can pay in a lump sum for Oxfam to use on any of its projects or you can find details of the specfic projects you can support.
Pay by phone
To pay your sponsorship money in over the phone please call us on 0300 200 1300.
Pay by post
If you’d like to send your money in this way, please send your cheque, made payable to ‘Oxfam’ with a Paying in form and all your sponsorship forms. If you'd like to support a specific project please state this. Please send eveything to:
The Oxfam Events Team,
Oxfam House,
John Smith Drive,
Oxford, OX4 2JY.
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Toolkit extras
Download your toolkit extras
email: events@oxfam.org.uk or call: 0300 200 1244 to get the extras posted to you.
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Contact us
If you have any questions about fundraising, please get in touch. By email to events@oxfam.org.uk , or by phone on 0300 200 1300.
