Fundraising pack

Thank you!Thank you so much for choosing to fundraise for The Haven. It really does mean so much to us

that you have chosen to support our charity in this way.

We have pulled together this fundraising pack which is full of inspiring ideas and will help and guide

you through your chosen event or activity.

If there is anything at all we can help you with or if you have any questions then please don’t

hesitate to get in touch with our fundraising team on 01698 727505 or email

events@thehavencentre.com.

Thanks again for caring and happy fundraising!

The Fundraising Team The Haven

Why we need your help to fundraiseA diagnosis of a life limiting illness can be a traumatic and life changing event, not just for the

person living with the illness but for their entire family.

Our Haven Centres provide practical and emotional support to complement medical treatment

provided through statutory services. Our centres are welcoming, comfortable and calm places for

our clients to escape the stress and anxiety of living with a life limiting illness. We aim to alleviate

physical and emotional distress by supporting clients and their families to live life positively with

hope, by providing information and support at all stages of illness.

Clients can talk to our specialist nurses, access our range of therapies, engage with our peer

support volunteers or they can simply find a quiet space to reflect.

Every year we support over 1,000 clients across our three centres. To keep our services going and

to ensure we continue to support families who are going through an extremely difficult time we

need you.

Every year we need to raise £800,000 to run our three Haven centres and we rely heavily on

donations, fundraising events, sponsored challenges and support at our Haven events in order to

do this.

Through fundraising for The Haven you can help families affected by life limiting illness to live life

positively and with hope.

The following guide is designed to help you run and organise the event of your choice and make it

as successful as possible.

Nine steps to organising your own fundraising event

1/ Decide what to do

Once you have decided to fundraise for The Haven the next step would be to decide what you

would like to do! Check out our A to Z of Fundraising Ideas for some of the weird and wonderful

ideas that our supporters have been inspiring us with over the years including lots of new ideas to

help with your own fundraising.

2/ The plan

Decide where and when it’s going to take place. If you need to book a venue it’s worth checking

availability, capacity, toilet facilities and things like access and parking. If you let them know it’s a

charity event, the venue owners may be able to offer you a reduced rate.

3/ Set a fundraising target

It’s a good idea to set a fundraising target so that people know how much you want to raise and how

that would help support families affected by life limiting illness.

4/ Set up a JustGiving Page

One of the best things you can do is to set up a JustGiving (www.justgiving.com) page for your

event/activity. Not only does this provide a quick and safe way for people to donate online, pages

like these are perfect to share on your social media. Make the most of your JustGiving page by:

• Telling your story: Why are you supporting The Haven? Personal stories can really help to

capture the imagination of people and encourage them to support you.

• Uploading photos: Using pictures can bring your page to life and make it much more

interesting.

• Sharing the link: Sharing the link on Facebook can help people to easily find your page and find

out more information about what you are doing.

5/ Get the word out

Check out our ‘Promoting Your Event’ top tips on how to get the word out there about your event/

activity. When referring to how you are supporting The Haven please always refer to the fact that it

is ‘in aid of The Haven’.

6/ Stay ‘safe and legal’

It is important when organising an event that you make sure you stay safe. There are some laws

that govern all charity fundraising. Check out our ‘Safe and Legal’ section for more information

on things that may be relevant to you. If you would like to ask more information then please don’t

hesitate to get in touch with our events team, our contact details are at the end of this pack.

7/ Collect your sponsorship

Don’t be afraid of reminding people who have said they will sponsor you and try to collect the

money as soon as possible after the event.

8/ Ask your Employer about Matched Funding

Find out whether the company you, or anyone else helping to organise the event, works for offers a

matched giving scheme where they match the total you raise.

9/ Hand in your donation

Please complete our ‘Funds Return Form’ below and hand your donation in to your nearest Haven

Centre.

A-Z of fundraising ideas

A Abseil; Afternoon Tea; Art Exhibition; Anniversary Celebration; Auction of Promises

B Bric a Brac sale; Brunch Party; Bag Packing; Book Sale; Beauty Night; Bingo; Barbeque Party; Ball; Barn

Dance; Balloon Race; Burns Night; Bonfire Party; Battle of the Bands; Bowls Tournament; Birthday

Celebration; Bike Ride; Boxing Challenge

C Cake Sale; Cocktail Party; Cinema Night; Coffee Morning; Car Rally; Champagne Breakfast; Car Boot

Sale; Car Wash; Carol Singing; Collection Boxes; Craft Fair; Concert; Cycle Ride; ‘Come Dine with

Me’; Christmas Card Sale; Casino Night; Cheese and Wine evening; Choir Evening; Challenge Events;

Calendar Girls; Curry and Comedy Nights; Coin Boxes

D Dog Walk; Dinner Dance; Disco; Donations in lieu of Gifts; Dog Show; Darts Competition; Doughnut

Eating Competition; Direct Debit; Dress Down/Dress Up day; Dance-a-thon;

E eBay for Charity; Eighties Night; Easter Egg Hunt; Egg Painting Competition; Exercise Bike Challenge

F Fantasy Football; Fashion Show; Film Evening; Firework Display; Football Tournament; Fancy Dress

Party; Food Hamper Raffle; Fun Run

G Gift Aid; Golfathon; Garden Party; Guess the Number of Sweets in the Jar; Go-Karting; Greetings

Card Sale; Grass Cutting; Gig Night; Give up Alcohol or Chocolate for One Month; Grow a Beard or

Moustache

H Hideous Hair Day; Head Shave; Hanging Basket Sales; Halloween Night; Horse Riding; Happy Hour;

Hook a Duck; Hoopla

I It’s a Knockout; Ice Cream Party; Invite your Friends for Dinner; Ice Skating

J Jazz night; Jumble Sale; Jewellery Making; Jeans Day at Work; Junk Food Challenge (give it up for a

week!); Juggle-a-thon

K Kick a Bad Habit; Karaoke Night; Kids Colouring Competition; Knit-a-thon; Keep Fit Class

L Lunch party; Line Dancing; London to Paris Cycle; Lollipop Hunt; Leg Wax; Limbo competition; Lent

M Matched Giving by Employer; Murder Mystery; Masked Ball; Musical Recital; May Day Celebration;

Makeover Day; Mountain Climb; Marathon; Monte Carlo Car Trek

N New Year’s Resolution; Non-Uniform Day; Name the Teddy; No TV for a Week; Nineties Party

O Open Garden; One Day Fast; Orienteering Race; Open Mic Night; Online Fundraising; Outward Bound;

Overseas Challenge Events

P Pamper Day; Plant Sale; Pantomime; Pub Games; Pool Party; Paintballing; Pub Crawl; Pogo Stick

Hopathon; Pool Tournament; Pyjama Party; Parachute Jump; Poker Night

Q Quiz Night; Quit Smoking; Quilt Auction; QI Night; Quad Bike Racing

R Reflexology Party; Raffle; Rock’n’Roll Night; Running; Race Night; Read-a-thon; Rowing Event; Regatta;

Record breaking; Recipe swap/book; Reindeer Food; Rowing Machine Challenge

S Street Party; Summer Ball; Sailing; Skydive; Silent Auction; Strawberry Tea; Salsa Night; Swear Box;

Sports Day; Sponsored Silence/Swim/Walk; Sportsman’s Dinner; Spiritualist Evening; Sweepstake;

Supermarket Collection; Sunflower Competition; Space Hopper Race; Sprout Eating Competition;

School Fete; Santa Run; Silent Auction, St Andrews Night; Standing Order

T Tribute Band Night; Therapy Taster Day; Talent Competition; Teddy Bear’s Picnic; Treasure Hunt; Tug

of War; Triathlon; Tombola; Toy Stall; Three Legged Race; Team Building; Tuck Shop at School/Work;

Treadmill Challenge

U USA Themed Party; Unwanted Gift swap; University Challenge

V Valentine’s Day Ball; Vegetable Sale; Video Night; Variety Show

W Weight Loss Challenge; West Highland Way; Wine Tasting Evening; Welly Throwing; Wimbledon Party;

‘Wearing Your Wedding Dress’ Party; Wall of Shame (vote for the most embarrassing photo!); White

Water Rafting; Wear a Wig to Work Day; Wii competition; Wine’n’Dine Night

X Xmas Craft Fayre; X-Factor Competition; Xmas Ball; X-box Game-athon

Y You’ve Been Framed

Z Zodiac party; Zumba-thon; Zany Clothes/Hair day; Zip slide

Here are some of the many weird and wonderful ways that our supporters have inspired us

with over the years – including lots of new ideas to help with your own fundraising.

Local media

If you are holding an event your local newspaper or radio station would be interested to hear about

this in advance. We would recommend sending them a press release with all the information and

any pictures if you have them. The best person to email the press release to would be someone in

the ‘news’ team, you can usually find their details on the publication or radio station’s website. If

you can’t find any details just give reception a call and they should be able to advise you.

When writing a press release it is important to include the following:

• What the event/activity consists of

• Why it is taking place

• Time/date

• Where it is taking place

• Who is involved

• How people can get involved

On the next page is a template press release that you may find useful.

Online media

Social media is a fantastic way to promote your event. This can be done through your own social

media pages but please also get in touch with the events team (our contact details are on the last

page) as we will also promote on The Haven social media.

Posters and flyers

You can either make up some posters to distribute around your local community or we can make

these up for you. If you would like support on this then please get in touch, our contact details are

on the back page. Local businesses might be keen to display these for you but always go in and ask

first before putting any posters up.

Promoting your Event Promoting your event or activity can help you to raise more money and more awareness of The

Haven to other people in your local community. You can do this in a number of ways.

Press release templateHeadline: This should be catchy and include the name of your town to catch the attention of the journalist.

First paragraph: Summarise the key facts of your story (who, what, where, when and why) in about 50

words. When referring to how you are supporting The Haven please always refer to it as ‘in aid of The

Haven’.

Second paragraph: Use the second paragraph to explain more about why you are holding the event and

the details around the event.

Third paragraph: It is a good idea to use a quote from yourself or from someone else who is helping to

organise the event. This could be used in your third paragraph.

Fourth/last paragraph: Your final paragraph should provide more information on how people can get

involved, get more information, sponsor you etc.

ENDS: Add the word ‘ENDS’ to the end of your release to indicate that the release has finished.

Contact details: Add your contact details so that the journalist can get in touch with you if they need more

information.

About The Haven: This section is good to include to provide the journalist with more information on The

Haven. We use the standard points below in our press releases:

• The Haven provides support to people affected by a range of life limiting illnesses and to their family

members and carers

• The Haven offers a programme of support designed to help individuals cope with the physical, emotional

and practical aspects of their illness

• Support is provided for people at all stages of their illness from the point of diagnosis onwards and is

specifically tailored to meet the needs of the individual

• Support is offered to people of all ages and to all the family members and carers

• The Haven programme is provided by a multidisciplinary team of nurses, therapists and volunteers who

work closely together to ensure the highest standard of care

• The Haven operates a drop in centre with no need for medical referral and all services are provided free of

charge

• The Haven is a place of emotional and spiritual calm: a healing sanctuary for the body, mind and soul

• The Haven aims to support the quality of life of its clients, supporting them to live life positively and with

hope

Keep it legal, keep it safeTell us about your fundraising – once you have put together your fundraising plan, get in touch

with our Fundraising Team to let them know what you have planned. We will then be able to

send you a Fundraising Agreement form to complete and return to us and also to provide any

support request letters for your use.

Charity fundraising is regulated by law. The guidelines below will help to ensure your fundraising is

both safe and legal. In addition, full guidelines are available from the Institute of Fundraising

(www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk).

Collections

If you plan to hold a collection on private property, such as a pub or shopping centre, you need to

gain permission from the manager. If you are collecting on the street you need to gain permission

from the local authority.

Public Liability Insurance

If your event involves the public you will need to have Public Liability Insurance. Please check what

Public Liability Insurance your venue has before your event. The Haven cannot accept liability for a

fundraising activity or event you undertake in aid of us.

Money

• Where possible have two people present when money is being collected and counted

• Collect cash using a secure container for a collection or a secure cash box for change

• Bank the money collected as soon as possible after the event

Food

If you are providing food, you need to follow the simple guidelines for preparing, handling and

cooking food set out by the Food Standards Agency. Visit food.gov.uk for more details. If you have

asked a caterer to come to the event you must ensure they provide you with a copy of their food

hygiene certificate and public liability insurance.

Health and Safety

Ensure you have adequate first aid cover available for your event – take advice from a voluntary

first aid organisation such as St John Ambulance or the British Red Cross when deciding the type of

cover you will need.

Returning funds to usYour fundraiser is over: it’s time to get those all-important funds to us. You should aim to get

your fundraising money to us within a month of your event. Please see instructions below to

complete and return the ‘Funds Return Form’ in this document.

You can use this form to send us your donation by cheque, or to let us know that you have paid the

money by bank transfer or our JustGiving page. Please do not send cash – it’s much safer to use one

of the payment methods below. If the methods below are not suitable we can accept cash at any of

our three Haven Centres.

Unfortunately we cannot accept payments over the phone using any credit or debit card. Payments

can be made by cheque and by completing and returning the ‘Funds Return Form’ in this

document. Cheques should be made payable to ‘The Haven’ and sent to the office address on the

form. Please include the ‘Funds Return Form’ in this document.

Online

You can pay your fundraising total to us directly through our JustGiving page at

www.justgiving.com/thehaven. Please also give us a call, or send us the Funds Return Form in this

document, to let us know what your payment was for.

Bank payments

Alternatively, any money collected can be paid directly into our bank account using the following

details:

• The Haven Caring Counselling Communication Centre

• Royal Bank of Scotland

• Sort Code: 83-16-15

• Account Number: 00201738

Please also give us a call, or send us the Funds Return Form in this document, to let us know you

have made the payment.

Send us your sponsorship forms

If you’ve collected offline sponsorship, or have a Gift Aid form completed for any of your donations,

please return them to our office address in the Funds Return Form.

Returning funds to us Whatever you raise, Gift Aid it!

Gift Aid makes donations to registered charities worth more by allowing them to claim 25p from

the government for every £1 donated, substantially boosting your fundraising total. Gift Aid can

be applied to any donation from a UK tax payer, as long as the amount claimed is no more than the

tax paid that financial year. When collecting donations or sponsorship, make sure to ask whether

the supporter would like Gift Aid applied. All we require for Gift Aid to be applied is a full name

and address, including a postcode. For more information on Gift Aid please visit

www.gov.uk/donating-to-charity/gift-aid.

Say thank you

Fundraising relies on people to make it work. Make sure you let everyone who donates, sponsors

you or is otherwise involved in your event know how vital their support has been.

Funds return formWhatever you raise, please aim to have sponsorship and donations collected within a month

of your event. Use this form to send us your donation by bank transfer or cheque, or to let us

know that you have paid the money through our JustGiving page. Please do not send cash –

it’s much safer to use one of the payment methods below.

1/ Your details (Please complete using BLOCK CAPITALS)

Title …………………………………..

First name ………………………………….. Surname …………………………………..

Address …...........................................................................................……………………………….....

................................................................ Postcode …………………………………..

Tel (landline) ………………………………….. Mobile …………………………………..

Email ……………………………………………………………....................................…………………………

I wish to opt in to receive news about fundraising initiatives from The Haven by email

2/ Payment methods

Cheque

Please find enclosed a cheque payable to ‘The Haven’

Bank payment

The money from my event was paid into your account using the details below

Bank name ………………………………….. Account no …………………………………..

Sort code ………………………………….. Date paid …………………………………..

Reference ……………………………………………………………....................................…………………………

Online

The money from my event was paid to you via JustGiving

Amount £………………………………….. Date paid …………………………………..

continued over …

3/ Other information

Please find enclosed sponsorship forms

Please find enclosed Gift Aid forms

4/ Your story

We’d love to hear how your event went. What was your favourite part? And what advice would you

give to anyone else raising money for The Haven?

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Please return this completed form to The Haven, Blantyre Health Centre, Victoria Street,

Blantyre, G72 0BS. The Haven cannot achieve all that it does without the support of wonderful

fundraisers like you. Thank you!

Thank you and good luck!

Contact detailsIf you have any questions around your event or you would like any support then please don’t

hesitate to get in touch with the events team.

Our contact details are:

E/ events@thehavencentre.com

T/ 01698 727505

Registered Charity SC032130 thehavencentre.com