5.Fundraising involving children and people in vulnerable circumstances
It is important to take particular care when involving children in fundraising, whether as fundraisers, volunteers or donors.
This section includes standards on minimum‑age restrictions that apply when fundraising, and standards to protect children and their personal data. There are some activities which children and young people cannot carry out. The age restriction depends on the activity and where it is carried out. These activities include:
- street collections and door-to-door collections;
- lotteries or raffles; and
- selling or handling alcohol.
When carrying out fundraising, there are some activities that young people can and cannot give consent for. You must take additional care when processing children’s personal data and consider relevant legislation and guidance across the regions where you work to make sure you are working legally and ethically.
A child is defined as someone under 18 in The Children Act 1989 (in England, Wales and Scotland) and The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (in Northern Ireland). The Charity Commission for England and Wales (CCEW) also use this definition in their guidance, Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees.
5.1 Responsibilities when involving children in fundraising
In this section, ‘you’ means a charitable institution or third-party fundraiser.
You must make sure that fundraising activities are age-appropriate.
For example, you must take reasonable steps to make sure that children under 16 are not given overall responsibility for handling or counting money.
Gambling Commission: How to run a lottery or fundraiser
GOV.UK: Alcohol and young people
In England and Wales: For house-to-house collections you must not allow anyone aged under 16 to collect money. This is in line with the House to House Collections Regulations 1947, as amended by the House to House Collections Regulations 1963.
For street collections:
- if the licensing authority has adopted the model regulations, you must not allow anyone under 16 to carry out street collections;
- if the licensing authority has not adopted the model regulations, you must keep to any age restrictions in the licensing authority’s regulations; and
- in London, you must not allow anyone under 16 to carry out street collections (unless they are doing so as part of a procession, in which case they must be at least 14 and you must have special permission from the relevant licensing authority).
In Scotland: Under The Public Charitable Collections (Scotland) Regulations 1984, you are legally forbidden from allowing children aged under 14 to take part in a street collection if it qualifies as a public charitable collection. Also, you are legally forbidden from allowing children under 16 to carry out door-to-door collections.
In Northern Ireland: Under the House to House Charitable Collections Act (Northern Ireland) 1952 and The Collections in Streets and Public Places Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1963, you are legally forbidden from allowing anyone aged under 16 to carry out door-to-door or street collections. Collectors aged 12 and over can carry out door‑to‑door collections for youth organisations which the Department for Communities has approved under an exemption order.
Licensing and the law, see section 7 Public fundraising.
You must only contact children on school premises if you have the approval of a relevant member of staff.
The relevant member of staff will usually be the head teacher, or a staff member chosen by the head teacher.
You must get appropriate permission before taking or publishing photographs of children.
For children under 13, you will need permission from a parent, guardian or responsible adult.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) provides guidance on this topic.
5.2 Safeguarding and working with people in vulnerable circumstances
In this section, ‘you’ means a charitable institution or third-party fundraiser.
You must have clear procedures in place to make sure fundraisers are aware of their safeguarding responsibilities towards themselves, potential donors and one another.
Procedures should set out how fundraisers work with everyone, including:
- the organisers of an activity;
- the children taking part in the activity;
- the parents, guardians or responsible adults of those children; and
- all potential donors, including those in vulnerable circumstances.
National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO):
You must not, at any time, take advantage of the trust, lack of knowledge, apparent need for care and support, or vulnerable circumstances of an existing or potential donor.
You must give appropriate consideration to the needs of existing or potential donors who may be in vulnerable circumstances or need extra care and support to make an informed decision. This includes:
You are not expected to assess every existing or potential donor’s capacity to make an informed decision. However, fundraisers should be alert to signs that someone lacks the capacity to make an informed decision and support them appropriately.
The Chartered Institute of Fundraising (CIoF): Treating donors fairly
You must take all reasonable steps to avoid asking for regular donations (for example, by direct debit) from anyone aged under 18.