Tag: community

Charity Fundraising Appeals: Appeal Wording and Record Keeping

Getting your appeal wording right

Charities often run appeals for specific purposes or projects. If you are planning to do that, think carefully about how you word that appeal.

Donations to an appeal for a specific purpose (or purposes) must be used only for that purpose (or purposes).

Include a ‘secondary purpose’

If you are fundraising for a specific purpose, think about including a secondary purpose or purposes in your appeal wording. This says how you will use donations if you raise too much or too little, or the charity cannot use the donations as intended.

Keeping donor and appeal information

Plan how you will keep donor and appeal information before you start your appeal.

Information you should keep:

  • donor name, contact details, amount and date received
  • how the payment was made, for example, via text or online (if you use an online platform make sure you can contact those donors if necessary)
  • letters, emails or other information you collected with the donation
  • your appeal literature including any changes made
  • any Gift Aid you claim on donations, as you may need to contact HM Revenue and Customs if you return donations
  • any conditions attached to a donation (if the donation was not given as an outright gift)

Understand your data protection responsibilities under GDPR.

You will also need this information to follow the required process, detailed in the guidance below, if you are unable to use your appeal donations as intended.

What to do if you are unable to use donations as intended

If you did not include a secondary purpose, you must take specific steps before you can use donations for new purposes. The steps required are set out in our guidance:

Charity types: how to choose a structure

Types of charity structure

There are four main types of charity structure:

  • charitable incorporated organisation (CIO)
  • charitable company (limited by guarantee)
  • unincorporated association
  • trust

Your charity structure is defined by its ‘governing document’ (the legal document that creates the charity and says how it should be run).

The type of structure you choose affects how your charity will operate, such as:

  • who will run it and whether it will have a wider membership
  • whether it can enter into contracts or employ staff in its own name
  • whether the trustees will be personally liable for what the charity does

About corporate structures

Some charity structures are corporate bodies. If you choose a structure that forms a corporate body, the law considers your charity to be a person in the same way as an individual.

About charities with a wider membership

Some charity structures have a wider membership. If you set up a charity with a wider membership, it can have members who vote on important decisions (usually at AGMs).

Charities without a corporate structure: which type to choose

With wider membership

Set up an unincorporated association if you want your charity to have a wider membership but it doesn’t need a corporate structure (for example, if it will be relatively small in terms of assets). Choose a constitution as your governing document.

Without wider membership

Set up a trust if your charity doesn’t need a corporate structure or a wider membership.

Choose a trust deed as your governing document. It must specify a sum of money, land or some other assets that your charity will start with (it doesn’t matter how much). Otherwise you won’t be able to register it with the commission.

More detailed information about charity structures can be found here