Helpful things to know

Legal requirements

Licences and permissions

For some aspects of your fundraising activity, you might need licences and/or permission to carry them out. Some of the main ones are listed below.

If you have any questions about how to carry out the below activities please contact our fundraising team.

Raffles and Lotteries

Raffles and lotteries have important rules and regulations around their organisation which you must adhere to. To find out more please read this simple guide.

Collecting money with tins/buckets

On public land you must get permission from the local authority or local police (depending on your area) before embarking on your fundraising.
On private land, you must get permission from the landowner or manager e.g. supermarket collection.
We ask that you do not carry out house to house collections in aid of ECHO.

Food and drink

There are many regulations governing the use of food, even for one-off events which you must comply with.
Anyone involved in the preparation and serving of food to the public must have a basic understanding of food hygiene and work to basic rules for safe preparation, storage, display and cooking.
We recommend that you contact your local authority or the venue to discuss with them your plans before embarking on any event which will involve food.

Entertainment

If you have some form of entertainment in a venue which does not already hold a Public Entertainment Licence, you will need to get one.
Contact your local authority for details.

ECHO accepts no liability for third party events. The advice given is not exhaustive, and is intended to provide general guidance only to help you organise your event. Please consider other potential risks and seek further advice where required.

Insurance

We strongly recommend that you check that you have adequate insurance (e.g. Public Liability Insurance) and that you take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of all concerned.

That means that, should something unexpected and untoward occur (damage or injury), adequate insurance is in place.

ECHO accepts no liability for third party events.

Health and Safety

When organising or hosting a fundraising event is essential that you consider and assess any potential risks. We’ve put some information below to help you get started.

Carry out a risk assessment

Even if your event is small, a risk assessment is important to show that you have taken steps to ensure the safety of your event. Often your local authority and/or emergency services will ask for a copy of your risk assessment when considering licences for your event.

How?

Risk assessments may sound difficult, but when it comes down to it you are simply identifying all the hazards that might cause harm to yourself and/or others and taking action to remove or control those hazards.

Make sure the person carrying out the risk assessment is over 18 and signs and dates it at the end.
Go through your event step by step, from the first person arriving (including you and your helpers!) to the last person leaving -considering if there is anything that could injure or make someone ill at each stage.
Prioritise these risks as low, medium or high.
Record what actions you need to take to remove or control those hazards
Carry out your actions prior to your event
Review your assessment continually throughout your planning and during the event itself, circumstances can change quickly.

Health and Safety – things to consider

The venue

Do I know the capacity of my venue and am I keeping to it?
Do you have permission from the council or owner?
Will all the fire exits be clear of obstructions at all times?
Do I need marshalls to help with some aspects of my event (e.g. car parking, directing to exits in case of emergency)

Equipment

Ensure all equipment is safe to use and is only operated by people who are competent to use it.
Avoid trailing cables and local electrical equipment safely.
Avoid lifting heavy loads – provide trollies where appropriate.

Emergency measures

Do you need to let the local emergency services know about your event?
Do you have adequate first aid supplies at the event?
Do you have qualified first aiders at the event?
Have you left space for an evacuation if necessary?

Helpers

Have you got enough volunteers to help you in case of emergency?
Have you put together a list of key contact numbers in case of an incident?
Have you provided helpers with a full briefing including details of the risk assessment?

Sponsored challenges

Naturally it seems that the more extreme or tough a challenge is, the more likely participants are to raise lots of money from sponsors, but extreme shouldn’t mean risky!
All sponsored events and challenges which we promote as official ECHO events are organised in collaboration with professional, experienced and trained companies so that we can ensure that not only are adequate Risk Assessments carried out but that all risk is kept to an absolute minimum, so that participants can enjoy the challenge and push themselves to their particular limit safe in the knowledge that they are safe and protected.
If you are considering a sponsored challenge or sports event that is not organised by ECHO, please make sure that it is well organised and run by an accredited professional organisation.
If you are considering setting up a sponsored event yourself, please do consider all the potential risks in advance and carry out a detailed Risk Assessment – if you need our assistance in any way please contact our fundraising team.