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Public Donations

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Your community group may be considering raising at least some of the income it needs by public donation.

Fundraising by public donation can include the relatively small scale use of collection tins by a local charity or postal requests, or it can be more large scale including the use of digital media or – for even larger charities – television campaigns for disaster appeals.

Why consider raising income by Public Donation?

Diversifying your groups approach to income generation is often the best way to approach fundraising.  It is not best practice to rely on just one source of income in case this fails and leaves you fighting a financial crisis. Adding public donations to the mix will give you another fundraising option.

There are many positive reasons for considering this form of income generation, including:-

  • public donation from your community (particularly for many small groups) is often an excellent means of gauging local support for your group’s purposes – if people are supportive they are much more likely to donate
  • if the local community are willing and able to put their money into the cause, this sends a positive message to other potential supporters including funders
  • building up a positive relationship with your donors can mean that they will continue to support and donate for many years – giving your group some degree of financial security to plan ahead
  • your donors may also consider a bequest in their will leaving your charity with a financial legacy

Benevolent Fundraising 

All these forms of fundraising are collectively referred to in legal terms as ‘Benevolent Fundraising’ or ”the process of seeking money (or the promise of money) for the benefit of benevolent bodies (or companies associated with them) or for general charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes”

Benevolent fundraising – of any kind- is subject to The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and The Charities and Benevolent Fundraising (Scotland) Regulations 2009.  Compliance is regulated by Local Authorities and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator  (OSCR)

In these terms, a benevolent body does not have to be a registered charity, but it does need to be an organisation set up with purposes which are specifically:-

  • charitable
  • benevolent
  • philanthropic

Any person associated with the benevolent body is referred to in the legislation as the ‘benevolent fundraiser’.  This includes charity trading arms.

The legislation sets out specific requirements concerning:-

  • formal fundraising agreements between benevolent bodies and some types of fundraiser
  • information which must be provided to potential donors when funds are being sought for benevolent bodies
  • conditions attached to donors’ rights to cancel or get a refund of their donations
  • the prevention of unauthorised fundraising

OSCR’s website includes detailed guidance on these requirements (contact details below).

Making the most of fundraising by Public Donations

Raising funds by donations can be a powerful source of income for your community group, as long as you consider all the ways in which you can maximise its potential:-

  • make sure that you look after the people who are pledging and donating their money (the donors).  Consider the support you give, the information you provide and the follow up that your give them
  • do not forget Gift Aid which will make the donation income go further
  • keep trying to reach new people – consider using all forms of digital media – explore online fundraising options
  • make sure that the people you are asking understand exactly where their money will be going 
  • if you are lucky enough to have staff or volunteers dedicated to the task of fundraising – look after them
  • monitor your fundraising – analyse which methods give you the best return

Contact the Community Toolkit Editor

Conditions of Use
Last Updated 14/10/2011 15:21

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Contact the Community Toolkit Editor

Conditions of Use
Last Updated 14/10/2011 15:21

_uacct = “UA-829849-2″;urchinTracker();

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