You can do almost anything to raise money for charity, and the Students’ Union is here to help.
We love to support our students to do things that make a difference, whether that’s on your campus, in your local community, or even further afield. You don’t have to be raising cold, hard cash to make a difference; holding a food drive for the Students’ Union FoodHub or supporting the Great Donate is just as good.
Unlike lots of other Students’ Unions, we don’t have one single group of students dedicated to raising money for a specific charity throughout the year at Staffs. Instead, we work to support students to make a change alongside a few key fundraising events each year.
For more information on Staffs RAG or, if you've got an amazing idea to support a good cause, email Student Engagement at studentengagement@staffs.ac.uk.
Tell us about your fundraising
Together we can celebrate the great work done by our caring, sharing community, and by recording our successes all in one place, we can all see the true value and achievements of our student groups and teams. If you have done any charity fundraising - Please let us know what you have done and how much you have raised by completing this short form.
#proudtobetstaffs
How can we help you?
There are lots of ways we can support you, but our main role is making sure that your events are compliant and in line with charity law. As the Students’ Union is a charity, we need to make sure that everything we do complies with our legal obligations, so please talk to us before holding any charitable events.
We can:
- Provide you with collection tins and buckets;
- A safe place to store your fundraising items and any cash collected;
- Help with ideas for fundraising. You can find some ideas here;
- Promote your event on the Union website, in our newsletters and on our TV screens;
- Support you in obtaining collection permits and permission to collect.
We can’t:
- Provide staff to run fundraising activities;
- Directly donate money from Students’ Union funds to another charity;
- Underwrite losses from events and activities aimed at raising money for charity- basically, if you overspend, we can’t bail you out;
- Use an event that would normally raise money for the SU to raise money for another purpose. So the proceeds from Gobble, which usually raises money for the Students' Union’s core activities, cannot be used to fundraise other money. Occasionally, we might be able to charge an optional donation as an extra cost for entry to a night at the Union, but these must be assessed on a case-by-case basis;
- Anything that is Ultra Vires- more on this below.
It must be students, not the Students’ Union, which organises events and activities that fundraise for charity.
Ultra Vires
The Students’ Union is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), and so we are affected by The Charities Act and Education Act (1994). All student groups are legally part of the Students’ Union, and so the laws regarding charitable activities also apply to student groups and affect what activities the Union and groups can do and what they can spend their money on.
‘Ultra Vires’ is a phrase used legally to mean anything beyond our stated aims – both of the Union and of student groups. Legally we are not allowed to make any ‘ultra vires’ payments, so we cannot spend money on things that are not achieving the stated aims of the Union and the student group.
This is why all expenditure needs to be confirmed with the Student Engagement Team before any money is spent or promised to be spent.
Any donations are also affected by the legal rules on charities – in the most basic form, this means we cannot donate money to other charities unless we follow some very specific rules about donating solely for profit. Because of this, if you are planning to do anything that involves donating money or resources to a charity, then please get in touch with the Student Engagement Team to ask for more details and guidance.
Resources
Our friends at NUS have got a handy fundraising guide to help you out with other ideas and guidance. For some more information on the law and things, you need to know, read this legal briefing from the National Student Fundraising Association (NaSFA).
