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Fundraising Dos and Don'ts

General Fundraising Dos and Don'ts

If you are fundraising for Red Nose Day 2011, please make sure you stay legal – and take a moment to read the following guidelines and information before you start:

  • Please make sure your fundraising materials (e.g. posters) include the line: ‘In support of Comic Relief, registered charity 326568 (England/Wales); SC039730 (Scotland)’.
  • Your fundraising materials must not suggest that you represent the charity, only that you are fundraising in support of us.
  • If you are a business and you are fundraising by selling goods or services, or by running an event or promotion, the law requires you to have a Fundraising Agreement with us. You may also need a Fundraising Agreement if you are a member of the public and you are deducting any amounts (e.g. costs or expenses) from your fundraising. You can enquire about getting a Fundraising Agreement by emailing fundraising@rednoseday.com or by writing to us at ‘Comic Relief, The Fundraising Team, 1st Floor, 89 Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7TP’.
  • We don’t advise you to collect money in a public place or door to door. If you do choose to do so, you’ll need your own licence from your local authority (you should find details about this on your local authority’s website).
  • If children (under 16) are involved in fundraising in any way, please make sure that they have permission from their parent or guardian, and are properly supervised by a responsible adult. Children should never approach strangers about fundraising. There are more Safety Tips for Parents set our below.  
  • If you are planning any type of lottery (such as a raffle, tombola or sweepstake), please be aware that there are strict rules about what you can do. For England, Wales and Scotland, the Gambling Commission publishes useful guidance on lotteries at www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk. In Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action publishes a good practice guide at www.nicva.org.
  • You should always consider whether you need appropriate insurance cover for your fundraising activity. If necessary, carry out a risk assessment and make sure participants are fully briefed about the activity.
  • For more information on fundraising please see the Institute of Fundraising website, www.how2fundraise.org.

Disclaimer – please read!

  • Please be safe! Whilst we really appreciate your support, Comic Relief is not responsible for organising, supervising or hosting your Red Nose Day activity. All activities, and participation in them, are at the organisers’ and participants’ own risk.
  • Comic Relief does not accept responsibility or liability for any loss or damage, or for any death or personal injury, arising out of any fundraising activity including liability as a result of negligence (except death or personal injury caused by Comic Relief’s negligence).
  • If you wish to donate to Comic Relief or sponsor anyone for Red Nose Day 2011, please note that your donation or sponsorship payment is non-refundable. If you sponsor someone to attempt any activity in support of Comic Relief, your sponsorship is not conditional on the activity being completed.

Safety Tips for Parents

If you are thinking of letting you child get involved in fundraising, whether it’s selling cakes, washing cars, or asking you to sponsor them to do their homework, here are a few safety tips to keep in mind while they do something funny for money:

  • Please make sure your children understand that they need your permission before they start any fundraising.
  • We recommend that children under the age of 16 who are involved in fundraising are properly supervised by a responsible adult.
  • We recommend that children don’t approach strangers to ask them for money or to get involved in their fundraising activity.
  • Please always take care when publishing any information about children, in particular their surname, school name, home address, or photo.
  • Always check with other parents before you involve their children in fundraising, especially if their activity is being photographed or filmed.
  • We recommend that an adult looks after any money that is collected, and is responsible for paying the money to us. We don’t recommend that children pay us money directly or send us their details.
  • The Red Nose Day Giving Pages are only for fundraisers aged 16 or over. You can set up a page on behalf of your children, but please enter an adult’s details. Always consider what personal details you make available online. Please see our Online Safety Tips below for more details.
  • Please read our privacy policy for information on how we take care of personal details.

Online Safety Tips

  • Please give careful consideration before posting any personal details, such as your full name, address, phone number, or photographs as they may be visible to all users.
  • You should not post personal information about anyone else without their permission. This includes photographs or films of other people.  
  • Please give special consideration before posting information, photographs or films of children. You should have the express permission of their parent or guardian, and should consider whether it’s appropriate to post the material at all. See our Safety Tips for Parents for more details.
  • A good password is an important part of staying safe online. It prevents others from using your account. Choose a password that is hard to guess but easy to remember.
  • If you see any material on the Giving Pages or Fundraiser Showcase which you find offensive, please contact us, and we will investigate it.

Rules for Using the Giving Pages and Fundraiser Showcase

In addition to the Terms of Use for this site, you must follow these rules when you use the Red Nose Day Giving Pages or the Fundraiser Showcase pages:

  • You may only use the pages to fundraise for Comic Relief. 
  • You may not advertise, sell anything or promote a business.
  • Anything you post must be civil, polite, tasteful and appropriate.
  • Anything you post must not be unlawful, inappropriate or objectionable - this includes anything obscene (e.g. violent or sexually explicit), defamatory, or that someone else might find offensive, upsetting, abusive, or threatening. 
  • You must not behave disruptively, offensively or abusively – this includes threatening, bullying, harassing or revealing personal details about someone else without their permission.
  • Please make sure you have permission from everybody appearing in pictures or videos that you post.  This is especially important for children under 16 – you should have the express permission of their parent or guardian, and should consider whether it’s appropriate to post the material at all.
  • Please do not post anything which is copyrighted, such as music videos or TV shows, and which you don’t have permission to use.
  • The Red Nose Day Giving Pages and the Fundraiser Showcase are only for use by supporters aged 16 and over.  You can set up a page on behalf of your children, but please enter an adult’s details, and read our Safety Tips for Parents, for more details.
  • You must not use inappropriate user names, passwords or page names.
  • The views expressed on the Red Nose Day Giving Pages and the Fundraiser Showcase pages are those of members of the public, and not necessarily those of Comic Relief.