Charities play a key part when an emergency arises. In many cases of emergency, charities step in to support and help those impacted. Whether this be at home or overseas, charities often help by providing relief to targeted areas and help raise money to help the affected areas.
As a charity, it is important to understand what your charity can and cannot do. You may need to know if your charity can fundraise for a particular emergency or what options are available to use the funds you have raised.
Before launching charity emergency fundraising, you must first be sure that you are able to do so. A key part of fundraising for your charity is your charitable purpose. You should consider whether the emergency you wish to fundraise for is in line with your charitable purposes.
The charitable purposes of a charity usually set out the mission or objective of the charity. It often sets a scope and limits:
- What your charity can do to help carry out its purposes;
- Who it can support; and
- Where it can operate.
If you determine that your charity emergency fundraising is appropriate for your organisation, you must ensure that:
- Your charity’s work helps carry out its purpose and not any other purpose;
- Complies with the law and follows the Code of Fundraising Practice; and
- You make decisions only in the best interest of your charity.
In the case of an emergency, this may include the charity carrying out emergency relief work.
If your charity plans to deliver emergency relief work, the following should be considered:
- The nature, scale and location of the emergency;
- If you have the right experience and capacity to respond safely and effectively;
- If you know what is needed and what other organisations are providing so that you can avoid duplication;
- If you have enough money, time and other resources;
- What the risks are and how you will address them; and
- If it would be more effective to pass the appeal funds to another charity or organisation that is responding to the emergency.
You will also need to consider how long the fundraising and appeal will go on for. This includes the period in which people can make donations, the cost and benefits of running it and why and how will it be closed.
The above-mentioned points are just a few of the things that will need to be considered by a charity before deciding whether to fundraise for an emergency. If you are a charity considering what to do and are unsure where to start, it is important to seek guidance on the options and whether it is something you can be involved in. If you fail to consider the position and act appropriately, it could result in issued arising for the charity.
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Contact usIf this article relates to a specific case/cases, please note that the facts of this case/cases are correct at the time of writing.