2. Contact the charity to check that they are happy with the planned collection. They may be able to help you with t-shirts and promotional material. You should have an understanding of what you are collecting for and what the charity actually does – if you are able to inform individuals of how their donations will be used, this will have a positive impact on how much you are able to collect.
3. Submit a Charity Collections form (see below) to charity@sunion.warwick.ac.uk at least two weeks before the event to inform CAP of your collection. This isn’t just bureaucracy, this is so that if there are any problems with your plans, they can be ironed out before you’d like to collect. Someone will be in touch with you as soon as possible to make any necessary arrangements. If resources are needed, you must liaise with the assigned CAP member and arrange a time and meeting place to collect the resources. If the Finance Office is closed at the end of your collection and you need the money to be held in a safe overnight, you must also arrange a time to hand over the money and a time to collect it at the next available opportunity.
4. Read the Charity Collections Regulations (see below) carefully, taking particular notice of part 3. This contains important legal information surrounding collections and publicity. You, as the organiser of the event, are responsible for making sure that these are adhered to. This ties into...
5. Ensure that the collection and publicity follows legal requirements. When collecting money, you must ensure that:
- all buckets, money boxes and tickets are labelled clearly with the charity name and registered charity number
- all buckets are sealed in accordance with CAP procedure
- the aforementioned legal, publicity-related and Union requirements are carried out, as outlined in the Charity Collections Regulations
6. Follow the correct procedures for depositing the money:
- if you finish collecting and counting the money on a Weekday before 4pm (3pm on a Friday), deposit the money into the assigned account in the Finance Office.
- if you finish collecting between 4pm and 9pm (Weekdays) or before 9pm (Weekends), liaise with CAP to have the money stored in a safe until it can be collected to be counted and deposited into the bank account with the Finance Office.
- if you finish collecting at the end of an event, bring the money to the Cloakroom (Union South), where the Cloakroom Coordinator will put it in a safe until the next morning. Someone from CAP will get it to you the next day so you can count it and deposit into the relevant bank account with the Finance Office.
You must not carry large amounts of money home with you – you are vulnerable and personally liable if anything happens to it. It is in your interests to keep money within the Union.
7. After the collection, inform CAP of how much money was raised so it can go on into the database and can be used to publicise both your club/society and the Students’ Union.
Other Important Points
1. If you’re conducting a Top Banana collection, then there are no provisions set-up for you to get into the event free. If you would like to persue this avenue, enquire to hmyers@sunion.warwick.ac.uk.
2. If you’d like to collect for a non-UK-registered charity, then make sure you apply to the Panel well in advance so that the special measures can be taken to make sure the project you’re collecting for is a valid one. This will include compiling a pack to present to the CAP Coordinator proving the validity and charitable nature of the cause. The onus is on you to prove the worth of your cause, not for CAP to have to investigate on your behalf.