How to organise a charity fundraiser

It is a great feeling to support a charity and help other people, and raising money for charity will also help you showcase your social commitment as a business. But how do you go about organising a fundraiser?

Choose a good cause

There are lots of different charities to choose from, but your first step could be to choose between a nationwide (or international) charity like Unicef or a regional charity like a local animal shelter. Make sure the charity matches your business, your values, and your image. It should be easy for people to understand why you are supporting a charity. If you have a business in the healthcare sector, people will understand immediately why you are organising an event for ALS, Beat Batten, or the Dutch MS Society. If you are a self-employed teacher, charities like Edukans, Unicef, or Save the Children may make more sense.  Of course, you can also decide to support a charity that has nothing to do with your business but is close to you personally. If your mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, it makes sense that you want to raise money for the Dutch Cancer Society. 

If you and your brand are closely intertwined, your business should mesh with your values. This is called personal branding and is reflected in your operations and activities in many different ways, including what charity you choose to support.

Check that the charity is trustworthy

After deciding on a charity, check that it can be trusted. Credible charities are registered with CBF (in Dutch), the Dutch charity watchdog, and have a quality mark. CBF verifies that charities meet its strict quality standards, such as carefult spending, transparent finances and record-keeping, and treating donors with respect.

Find out if you need a permit

If you collect items or money for a charity, you may need a collection permit. In any case, you need a permit if the charity you work with does not have a CBF quality mark and if your collection is not yet on the CBF collection list. 

Every municipality has a general municipal by-law (APV). This states whether a permit is required. You apply for a collection permit from the municipality where you will be collecting. It differs per municipality whether or not they charge for issuing a permit. The conditions for obtaining a permit also differ per municipality.

Lotte Drieman of Stichting Opkikker (in Dutch) has noticed that you will not need a permit for most fundraisers. If you set up a campaign through a crowdfunding platform or collect money or items in your club house or student union HQ, for example, you do not need a permit. If you do need a permit for your fundraiser, Lotte has some good advice: "Reach out to the charity and ask them to apply for the permit: they will often know the right people."

Come up with an event or challenge

Fundraisers do not have to be large-scale events. You could simply put a jar on your counter to collect donations. But doing something special means you will raise more.

Entrepreneur Babiche Israel organises KerstKleedjeAan (in Dutch), a pop-up boutique with clothing and accessories for locals in the town of Culemborg  who do not have much to spend. "Everyone should be able to dress up for Christmas. People deserve to look their best. We have a tailor on site to alter the clothes from the boutique for free." Sustainability also has an important part to play in Israel’s campaign. "We connect entrepreneurs with people less fortunate by collecting items that businesses would usually throw away or send back to headquarters." All proceeds will go to a local charity.

Five other ideas to get you started:

Online shops

If you have an online shop or offer your services online, you can donate a fixed amount or fixed percentage of each order to charity. Alternatively, you can ask customers to pay €1 more as a donation to charity.

Cooperation

Join forces with other entrepreneurs near you. Agree on a date for the fundraiser together and raise awareness with banners or posters. Encourage your fellow entrepreneurs to donate a share of their profits or collect money themselves and hand it over to you at the end of the day.

Non-monetary donations

Many charities have stopped accepting donations of products but are still looking for valuable expertise. Perhaps you could donate your know-how instead? If you have an IT company, for instance, you could create a website or tool for free. If you have an accounting firm, you could loan out an accountant for one day per week or month. Law firms could do a regular session for the public offering free legal advice. 

Crazy and funny

Crazy events that make people laugh always do well. They are eye-catching and get people to loosen their purse strings. Set a fundraising goal and promise to get a small tattoo, put on a wig, or run a marathon in fancy dress if you reach the goal.

Christmas dinner

When the holidays draw near, why not organise a Christmas dinner for lonely elderly people or others lwho need a helping hand.  If you cannot organise a dinner for lots of people at once, go door to door and deliver Christmas cheer (and delicious food!). Ask customers to donate ingredients and give people a small Christmas present as icing on the cake.

Promote the fundraiser

Donating money is not something you do lightly. Whether people have a small or large budget, they choose their charities carefully. They decide based on personal stories, causes they have something to do with, or by influencers promoting a product or cause.

"It is always useful to indicate your action to the charity. In fact, many charities have an action page on their website where people can easily donate money," says Drieman. The money then often reaches the charity directly, so you don't have to transfer anything yourself afterwards. "Also, almost every charity has promotional material you can use."

Tips when promoting your charity:

• Put a banner on your website.
• Create a webpage with a personal story, photos, videos, and share regular updates.
• Make it easy for people to donate money or items. Sign up your action to a crowfunding platform, for example. In one click, people pay simply and quickly via iDeal. There are also several websites where you can create your own action for any charity. Think of geef.nl, steunactie.nl or doneeractie.nl.
• Make it easy for customers when buying online. Let them donate at the same time as they buy from you.
• Contact regional and national media. The more special your action is, the faster the media will pick up on it.
• Post your action on various social media channels.
• Enlist family, friends, and neighbours to support you as donors or promoters.
• Ask shopkeepers for help. Hang up posters and hand out flyers. Or put a donation jar by the cash register.
• Prevent your fundraiser from coming across as a marketing stunt. That will turn people off. The amount or percentage you donate should be in balance with what it brings you. You can also choose to make your own donation on top of the money raised. Or increase the amount by a certain percentage from your own funds.

Take care of admin

The campaign is done and dusted. You have raised a decent amount and are ready to present the proceeds to your chosen charity. If you got a lot of cash donations, keep the money in a safe deposit box until you take it to the bank. Berno Sauer, a tax advisor and financial planner at Flynth, recommends using a separate ledger number for all donations.

Deal with the tax authorities

Donations to charity can be tax deductible under certain conditions. Note that this only applies if the donation comes from your own resources. Sauer explains: "The condition is that the donation is made by the taxpayer." In other words, you as an entrepreneur. Suppose you choose to double the amount of your fundraiser, you can deduct your share. The tax rules for business donations to charity differ depending on the legal structure. It depends on whether you file an income tax return or pay corporate income tax for your business. Read more about taxes in our article What tax benefit do I get when giving to charity?.