Organising a charity event properly

Charity events answer to a harder metric than fun: what percentage of money raised actually reached the cause. Every organisational choice — venue, tickets, raffle mechanics — is upstream of that number.

Get the structure right first

• Fundraising for a charity? Get their fundraising agreement/materials — using a charity number needs their consent, and 'in aid of' vs 'official event' wording matters legally.
• Raffles and auctions: small raffles at the event (tickets sold on the night, drawn on the night) sit inside exemptions; selling raffle tickets in advance triggers lottery licensing via the council. Check before printing books.
• Alcohol/entertainment outside a licensed venue → TEN (£21, min 10 working days, in practice apply a month out).

The cost-ratio discipline

Donors judge charity events on the split. Keep total costs under 30% of expected gross (established galas run 25–50%; under 30% is defensible everywhere), publish the split afterwards, and treat every cost line as a donation you're spending. That explicitly includes ticket fees: 6.95% + 59p on 300 £20 tickets is £594 that visibly didn't reach the cause — zero-fee ticketing is worth disproportionate goodwill here, and several platforms (Humanitix, TicketSource, Tickts) have charity-friendly structures. Compare specifically.

Gift Aid: the free 25%

1. Tickets (payment for admission) are not Gift-Aidable; voluntary donations on top are — keep them separate and labelled at checkout (see donation options).
2. Capture declarations properly (name, home address, postcode, taxpayer confirmation) or the claim fails audit.
3. Auctions and raffles aren't Gift-Aidable (something's received in return). Pure pledges and round-ups are.

Raise more per head

• Sponsorship first: a venue/bar/print sponsor moves your cost ratio more than any night-of mechanic.
• One big auction lot beats twenty small ones; one well-told beneficiary story beats both.
• Follow up within 48h with the total raised and the split — this year's transparency is next year's ticket sales.