Charities & Fundraising

For some time I worked in various departments of a global charity here in London. One of my roles was working in the Fundraising Department. This department is the one which deals with raising money for any appeals. With Major charities, appeals occur on a regular basis and some appeals can last for a long time.

Regular Givings

Most charities have several types of fundraising strategies, including major donations (this is when people give large amounts of money in thousands and millions of pounds), and regular givings (this is the one we all hear about). Regular givings mean you give a set amount, for example £3 to £20 per month; you could do this by doing a direct debit. These are the most commonly used and many charities prefer this form of fundraising. This is because they get a regular amount coming in. People can also send a cheque through the post with a slip or letter saying the amount sent and their name.

On the other side, you can end up getting put on their ‘direct mailing list’. This means that they will send you letters for every appeal that comes along. You can tell if you are getting any more mail for appeals by looking at any small eight to ten digits near your address. To stop them from sending any further mail contact the fundraising department and ask them to take your name off their mailing list. You may wish to send them an email or a letter. They can not keep your name on their list if you ask to be withdrawn.

Most major charities have a way of receiving donations via legacy. In short, this means asking elderly citizens to leave an amount of money or something in their will. It has been known for people to leave their own properties to their favourite charities. When this occurs, the charity in question has to keep the property for at least 18 months. These properties can be used in any way they want, unless the will says otherwise.

TV advertising

Another form of getting more money is through TV donations. I’m sure you’ll all know the adverts that show people or animals in harm. You could call this ‘appealing to your conscience’ or a ‘guilt trip’.  These are carried out by major charities so that they can generate more donations for that particular appeal. 

They are advertised in away to show people in well off conditions how bad the conditions other people or animals live in. By law, they have to get permission from the Charity Commission or the DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee) to advertise on TV. One condition is it has to be a serious event or urgent. There are times when they allow charities to show less serious events. Some charities use international and less mainstream channels to advertise their appeals. The main reason for this is that it would cost less to advertise on foreign or less popular channels, compared to a popular or terrestrial channel. By law, any funds generated by these television appeals have to go to that specific appeal.

Physical donation

This type of donations occurs when charities use their staff, volunteers and temp workers to go on to the streets to collect donations. There are basically three types of physical donations: 1. Door-to-door donations, where a person from the charity goes around houses to get people to sign up for donations; 2. Groups of people trying to attract donations at public areas like malls, shopping areas, etc.; 3. Collecting, where you shake a pot or a bucket at a local shop or a station.