Celebration Day Event Toolkit 2018 Why run an event? Small Charity Week is closing with Celebration Day, a day that acknowledges and celebrates the work and impact of small charities in the UK and across the globe. It is the perfect chance to shout about and demonstrate your impact in any way that you want. This Toolkit gives you options to think about and ways to raise funds - the opportunities are endless. If you decide to run your own event don t forget to let us know so that we can publicise your event on the Small Chartity Week website www.smallcharityweek.com
Why run an event on celebration day? Before you start Forward planning will help your event to run as smoothly and safely as possible. Take time now to tick all the boxes when it comes to legal and health and safety considerations, and you ll be glad you did when your big day arrives. Health and Safety Guidance If you are organising a fundraising event or activity your first consideration should always be to ensure the safety of everyone involved. As the organiser of an event, you may be held responsible if someone suffers personal injury or loss as a result of you not taking reasonable care to safeguard their health and safety. When organising an activity it is important to assess any potential risks involved and take clear action to avoid any mishaps. It is not as difficult as it might sound. We do this constantly in our everyday lives without even realising i.e. when crossing the road, cooking or doing DIY. Dont Forget It is vital to always ensure that children are safe. Do not allow them to solicit for money or to collect money alone without an adult. Assess the risks involved and make sure that they are eliminated or minimised to an acceptable level, for instance ensure that any equipment in use has been tested and mainted to the required safety level. If money is being carried around take extra care with personal security. Always use a safe route and always be accompanied and/or carry a personal alarm. Make sure that no-one is fundraising, working or spectating in an unsafe environment. If you are organising a large event or one that involves physical activity, your local St. John Amulance service may be able to help. Be clear and take expert health and safety guidance. Keep it Legal Of course normal laws of the land apply when running an event but there are also some specific laws which cover fundraising activites. If your event involves collecting money or selling goods in a public place then you need to obtain permission and a licence from the local authority. Where events take place on private property you must obtain permission from the owner or manager. Small raffles are fine so long as they don t contain cash prizes and are part of the larger event i.e. the tickets for the raffle are sold at the event itself. You may need a public entertainments licence if you are planning to sell tickets to an event involving dancing, singing etc. Most venues and open spaces for hire will already have one of these you might need to apply for one. Small Charity Week (or the FSI) cannot accept responsibility for any accidents or incidents that result from your negligence. It is therefore essential to ensure that you have the appropriate public liability insurance to cover your event.
Celebrate Any excuse to celebrate! Get a little help by joining with other charities or with the local community, family or friends to celebrate the amazing achievements of small charities across the globe. Once you have decided what type of event you want to organise, you need to start planning how, when and where it s going to happen. Inside or outside? Do you need to hire equipment? Are you going to work with others? Who will help you make this happen? There is a lot to think about, but most events are simple to organise. Invite Everyone How many people are you going to invite to join you or is it an open to the public event? In either case, how will you get the word out, in the press, through social media, the opportunities are endless but you do need to consider how you get your audience to come and join in. I m hungry When it comes to feeding those attending and those helping you need to work out how to do this. Will you get them to bring their own picnic or will you get professionals to provide the food or invite stall holders to take a spot (could earn income for you). Whatever way you feed your fellow celebrators and helpers you need to think about this logistical activity early on in the planning of your event. All Aboard How will people get to your event? By car, by public transport? Find out how your audience will get to you and make sure your event is accessible and that you are giving them all of the information they need to find you. Get Volunteers What can you do yourself, what will you need others to do for you - think about all of the jobs that require doing both before, during and after the event and start recruiting volunteers. From where? Local businesses, volunteer bureau, via social media. But before you put the word out there make sure you have a volunteer policy, relevant job descriptions and the means to support volunteers. Right on Time Before you settle on the exact date - although we would encourage you to hold your event in Small Charity Week (18th - 23rd June 2018) and especially if you could hold the event on Celebration Day which is the 23rd June 2018, you should check out what else is happening in your area. What might divert attention away from your event and how will you plan to make sure that it s your event that attracts the audience. Find a Friend Have you considered banding together with other small charities? An event halved, quartered or more is a more trouble free event. Just the ticket How much are you going to charge, if you are, for entry? If you ask too much people won t come and if you ask too little you may not cover costs or derive a surplus. Who will help you sell tickets? How will ticket sales be managed? Do you need to sell tickets at all? What ll it cost? You may need to spend money before the event (e.g. buying materials, or hiring equipment), so estimate now what you think you ll spend and make sure you stick to your budget. On the map Where will you hold this event? In a public space, playing field, garden, church hall? If you need permission, or to hire a building, find out a.s.a.p if it ll be availabe for your chosen date. Need help? The FSI can offer advice about most things to do with the planing of your event. Drop us an e-mail on info@smallcharity week.com and we will do our best to give you answers to your questions.
Get the Creative Juices Started You ve made the decision to have an event. Perhaps you ve found the PERFECT PARTNER OR PARTNERS to help organise it? Now it s time to GO EVENT PLANNING... Here are a few ideas to get you started... A Anything Goes, when you are looking for a great event idea, from a festival to a garden party or an arts and crafts fair - as long as you can pull the audience, draw the crowds and celebrate small charities and all they do that s all that matters. What about a Barn Dance and don t forget a great way to feed the hoards is a BBQ. If you intend to have a Bungee Jump though make sure you have all of your insurances covered. Blog - blog - and blog again about the impact you make. B C D Craft Stalls - you can charge for those stalls, provide food and get other small charities to take stalls to demonstrate their value to the community. Don t forget those great competitions that can be run on the day, nothing like announcing winners over the PA system to get that audience going. Dance Marathon or Down Under dress competition - get your village dressed up and dancing to celebrate the power of small charities. E F G Outdoors - running a fair - what about an Egg & Spoon Race. Inside organsing a disco? What about staging the Eurovision Song Contest? Or let the audience do the hard work and put on an Eighties Night or Day. Face Painting - now what fair would be complete without lots of children running around painted like flowers and cats? What about that Food Hamper Raffle? Or maybe if you have enough space a Friendly Football Tournament for the children? Or what about organising a flash mob in your local area - that would make the news. Green Fingers - how about getting those local gardeners to have a plant sale and no charity fair would be complete without the Guess How Many in the sweetie jar - would it? H I Another great outdoor game is a giant Hoolahoop - set the challenge for the day who will keep it going for x minutes or x number of loops? And don t forget the Hoopla game, charge for a go and prizes for those who get all hoops on the la! It s a Knockout - think of some brilliantly inventive games, bungee runs, greasy poles, water slides. Advertise for teams before the event could be great fun and also a brilliant crowd puller. Or why not request an Information Stand in your local supermarket or town centre?
J K L Jelly Wellies - now that sounds like fun for the little and large people attending the event - who wouldn t pay to squelch around or run the squelchiest race ever? Kite Flying competitions or how about an outdoor Karaoke session - sound fun to you? You will be amazed how many people wll want their five minutes of fame - set out the stage and give them the real deal experience. So what s so wrong with sticking to the old favourites - who doesn t like to have a go at the Lucky Dip? M N Add a bit of magic to your event with a children s Magic Show - hire in a magician and charge to see the show - I d bet that parents are as keen to be amazed as are the children. Nice but Naughty Cakes Stall - spreading a little happiness all around. O P OK we re running out of ideas - mmmm running - what about a spot of Orienteering? Q R S T Tombola. Encourage creative competition with a spot of Plate Painting and if you want to feed all of those Orienteerers then invite a Pancake Stall to come along. We can t come up with more creative Q than a Quiz - sell the quiz sheets and draw for the winner at the end of the event. Download your free quiz pack from the Small Charity Week Website Raffles come to mind unless you want to move on from Karaoke and organise a Rapping competition - you never know what local talent might be hiding or it may just encourage everyone to make a fool of themselves and have some fun. Stalls, stalls and more stalls - the more stalls you have and the more varied they are the more the public will enjoy their time with you and the more they will spend. Use social media - post a film clip of your impact on social media sites. Tea! It s Great Britain - do make sure that this treasured refreshment is available and of course don t even try to forget the Here s agreat tip...why not tweet your impact on celebration day?
Invite the public to bring along Unwanted presents with a suggested price on them and then sell them on. What one person doesn t value, another does. Don t for get the Vegetarians - make sure there are enough stalls selling the vegetarian options so that everyone who comes along is fed, watered and goes away happy. U V W X Y Z Wishing Well or a Wishing Wall - ask everyone what they would wish for for small charities if they were granted just one wish - drop their wishes down the well or even better, post them on a Wishing Wall for everyone to see. X Marks the Spot - or tail on the donkey - I m sure you can creatively come up with an X Marks the Spot game? You will organise a great event and you will find volunteers to help and you will entice the general public to come along and support. So don t hold back get out there and celebrate the fact that you are making a real difference in the lives of so many people. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ when the event is over you can relax, you can sleep dreaming about the last thing that was said to you. THANK YOU for being part of a small charity that helps so many people. Press and PR Marketing, marketing, marketing is key to help make your event the biggest success possible, whether it s an invite only event or you re asking members of the community and your supporters to get involved, make sure you are letting everyone know it s happening. Use your website to highlight activities you have coming up. Check if your local council has a what s on website where you can publicise your event. Publicise it on the Small Charity Week website s event listing page. If you are on social media (Twitter, Facebook etc.) then use them to the maximum - between 1-2 Facebook posts a week and approximately 5 tweets a day are seen as appropriate - but make sure you put out different messages each time. You can consider sending out paper or email save the dates and invitations, or put call outs in yur newsletters asking for people to get behind you and get involved. Press releases should go out to your local press at least 7 days in advance of the event - you could also ask if they re able to offer you any leftover advertising space for free or at a very reduced rate. Don t forget about other local opportunities - posters in supermarkets or mentions in the church newletters, the more places you are able to promote your events the better.