Your fundraising tipsand ideas guideThe Silver Line is a registered charity in the UK. Registered Charity No. in England & Wales 1147330. Registered Charity No. in Scotland. SCO44467. Company No. 8000807

2Your fundraising tips and ideas guide

Your fundraising tips and ideas guideThank you so much for deciding to raise money for The Silver Line.

The great thing about fundraising for The

Silver Line is that it can be as simple or as

elaborate as you wish and whether you raise

£5 or £500, every penny really does count.

Whatever you decide to do we hope you will

have fun. And we would love to hear about it,

so please do let us know how your event goes.

Our callers have said:“I have no family at all. I have one nice friend who washes my hair. The Silver Line is wonderful – now I have two hands to hold.”

“After using The Silver Line I felt so much better. I felt as if years had been taken off me. I’d never felt like that before.”

One million people in the UK are suffering

the pain of loneliness. Friends and family may

have died or moved away, or they may be

caring for a partner. Loneliness can be a shock

that few of us anticipate, intensely painful,

and as damaging as smoking or obesity.

Until only a year ago, older people had

nowhere to turn if they felt frightened or

isolated. Now there’s the “ChildLine for

older people” available 24 hours a day,

every day of the year. The Silver Line

is a confidential, free helpline offering information, friendship and advice. Since our

national launch in November 2013, we have

answered more than 275,000 calls from older

people and currently receive more than 1000

a day. We have recruited and trained around

850 volunteers, known as Silver Line Friends,

who call more than 1200 older people every

week for a chat, which generally lasts up to

an hour. Silver Circles, or group conference

calls, is a new area of our work which enables

several older people to socialise in a group.

“It’s the first time in years that I’ve been able to enjoy the company of several friends at the same time…..a sense of camaraderie and group support, and the happiest I’ve been for years.”

The difference your fundraising will make

£5 will pay for a call with an older

person who may not have spoken

to another human being all week

£50 will pay to recruit and

train a volunteer to become

a Silver Line Friend

£100 will pay for one caller

to be befriended for one year

£250 will pay for one caller to be

supported by the helpline and their

own Silver Line Friend for one year

3Your fundraising tips and ideas guide

Getting startedThere are plenty of fun ways to raise money, your imagination is the only limit!

Decide what to do Have a look at a few of our fundraising

ideas to help you on your way if you

haven’t already got an event in mind.

Set a date and locationDecide when and where the activity is going to

take place. You could hold it at home, in a local

pub, a restaurant, or perhaps a local business

could help you out. Check the availability,

capacity, toilet facilities and things like access

and parking. If you let the owners know it’s a

charity event, they might even let you hold it

for free. Is it a public place or private – do you

need to apply for any licences? See section

on page 5 “Have fun and stay safe”. And if it’s

an outdoor event don’t forget to have a Plan

B just in case the weather isn’t cooperative.

Set yourself a fundraising target Let everyone know how much money you

are hoping to raise and why The Silver Line

is important to you. A goal always helps to

keep you motivated and people will be more

inclined to donate to help you reach it.

SponsorshipIf you would prefer to have a paper sponsorship

form, you can download one: Click Here.

Set the bar high and try and make sure the

first person on the form to sponsor you is someone who will donate a larger amount,

hopefully then others will follow their lead.

Fundraising materialsWe can send you collecting tins, and buckets (if

it’s a big event), balloons, t-shirts, posters and

leaflets on The Silver Line.

Email Fundraising@thesilverline.org.uk or

call 020 7224 2020 to order materials.

Shout about itIt’s fantastic that you’re raising vital funds

for The Silver Line, so don’t be shy in telling

people! Send out invites and emails with

a link to your fundraising page, put up

posters (where you have permission to do

so), post on Facebook and Twitter, or even

approach your local newspaper or radio

station. Ask friends to share it with their

networks too. It sounds obvious but the more

people who know about your fundraising,

the more successful you are likely to be.

Set up an online fundraising pageAn online fundraising page only takes a few

minutes to set up and it’s quick and easy to

share with friends. Plus any money donated

comes directly and safely to us so you

don’t need to worry about collecting it.

MyDonate mydonate.bt.com/charities/

thesilverlinehelpline

JustGiving www.justgiving.com/silverline/

Virgin Money Giving uk.virginmoneygiving.com

Search: The Silver Line

4Your fundraising tips and ideas guide

Collect your sponsorship Don’t be afraid of reminding people that they

have sponsored you, and try to collect the

money as soon as possible after the event.

Ask your employer about matched givingFind out whether your company has a

matched giving scheme. For every pound

you raise, they might donate a pound too!

Using our logo We want people to know why you are

fundraising and would be pleased to offer

guidance on how and where to use our logo.

We would like to approve materials where

our logo is included prior to use please.

Say “Thank you”Saying thank you not only shows the people

who helped you raise the funds how much

you appreciate their help, they might want

to get involved again if you decide to do

some more fundraising in the future.

PhotographsWe love to see photographs from our

fundraisers’ events and, with your permission,

to share them with our supporters on Facebook

and Twitter. You may motivate someone else

to do some fundraising for The Silver Line.

RecycleWherever possible, please arrange for

rubbish to be recycled after your event.

Fundraising ideas to get you startedQuick and easy• Save your Silver – you’ll be

amazed at how quickly your

loose change mounts up.

• Give something up - chocolate,

smoking, tea, coffee, wine - get

sponsored or simply put aside the

amount you would have spent.

• Donations instead of birthday presents.

• Bring and buy book sale.

• Theme some fundraising around

existing events e.g. a Halloween event

or Pancake Party on Shrove Tuesday.

Fundraise with friends • Karaoke night / Pub quiz / Musical Bingo.

• Come Dine With Me – ask your friends to

pay a fee to enter and everyone brings

a course. You get to enjoy the food

and judge who becomes the winner.

• Do a good deed – offer to do

errands in exchange for donations.

• Cleaning – you could do your friend’s

cleaning and charge a fee.

• Car boot sale – once you’ve

done all your friends’ clear outs

you can take their unwanted

possessions to a car boot sale.

• Donate your skills – are you a

hairdresser, mechanic, cook? Do what

you do best in exchange for a donation.

More fundraising ideas to get you startedAt work• Hold a silver themed cake sale or bake

off – nominate your very own Mary

Berry or Paul Hollywood to judge.

• Ask the boss to donate an extra day’s

holiday and hold a raffle to win it.• Put a collection box in the kitchen for

a month and charge people for each

cup of tea or coffee they drink.

• Encourage staff to donate an hour’s

salary and ask your employer to match it.

• Hold an auction of promises – how

high will people go for a week’s

worth of tea making or taking

over their early morning shift?

• Office Olympics – who’s the fastest typist? Quickest with

a calculator? Charge an entry

fee and crown the winner.

Paying in your donationsOnce you have raised your donation for The Silver Line, it is easy to get the money to us.

OnlineThe fast and secure way to pay

in your fundraising. Visit: www.

thesilverline.org.uk/donate

By phoneIf you would prefer to pay over the

phone using a debit or credit card,

please call us on 020 7224 2020.

Paying in chequesSend a cheque made payable to “The Silver Line” to Minerva House, 42 Wigmore Street,

London W1U 2RY. Please remember to

include a cover note making reference to

your event and telling us how much you have

raised in total as we would like to thank you.

Paying in cashWe can send you a paying-in slip to pay

donations directly to into our bank account

at your local Barclays branch. Other banks

may charge you a small fee. Please note

that for payment directly into the bank we

may have difficulty linking the payment to you and thanking you. Please do contact

the fundraising team if you would like to

be thanked on 020 7224 2020 or email

fundraising@thesilverline.org.uk.

Please remember to return all tins and

buckets to us as they can be used by other

supporters, which helps us to save money.

Your fundraising tips and ideas guide 5

6Your fundraising tips and ideas guide

Have fun and stay safeThere are laws governing all charity fundraising. Whatever you decide to do, please do it safely.

The Silver Line cannot accept liability for

any loss, damage or injury as a result of

fundraising for us. It’s essential you make

sure your event is safe for all concerned and

if you have any questions or want to check

on anything, please do get in touch.

• Conduct a risk assessment to ensure you

have planned for the safety of participants.

There’s further information from the Health

and Safety Executive at www.hse.gov.uk

• Participants should be fully briefed

about the event, including (where

relevant) any risks, fitness requirements, special equipment or clothing and

standards of behaviour expected.

• Please take extra time to plan fundraising

activities involving children. This

includes providing adult supervision,

permission from the child’s parents/

guardians for the child to take part and

background checks where adults are to

have unsupervised access to children.

• You may need insurance cover for your

event – for example, public liability

insurance. This type of insurance

protects you from unexpected financial loss like accidents or injuries.

Raffles and lotteriesA raffle is an easy and effective way to raise money as part of your fundraising.

However depending on the type of

raffle you may need a licence.

You don’t need a licence when a raffle is not the main focus of your event. The ticket sales

and announcement of the results must be

carried out during the event. No more than

£500 can be spent on buying prizes, although

there is no limit on the value of donated prizes,

and no more than £100 can be deducted

from ticket sales to cover overheads.

If you hold a larger raffle where, for example, tickets are sold over a period of time before

the draw takes place, the raffle must be registered with the local authority. If ticket

sales exceed £20,000 you must register with

the Gambling Commission. As lotteries are

governed by many rules, we recommend

you speak to your local Licensing Authority

for advice before organising one.

CollectionsPlease do not do house-to-house or street

collections without permission from your local

authority. If you plan to collect on private

property (including shops, pubs etc.) you

must have the permission of the owner.

Food hygieneMake sure food is stored, prepared

and cooked hygienically. Visit www.

food.gov.uk for further guidance.

AlcoholIf you want to sell alcohol at your event

you will need a licence. If the venue

already has a licence, then you will

covered, but please do check.

7Your fundraising tips and ideas guide

Thank you so much for all your hard work

and generosity. The Silver Line relies

entirely on voluntary donations and we

would not be able to support vulnerable

older people without people like you.

Your donations will help us continue to be there for everyone who needs us.

Facebook

www.facebook.com/thesilverlineuk

Twitter

twitter.com/TheSilverLineUK

Google+

Search: 104746814556882154426

YouTube

Search: The Silver Line YouTube

How we can help youThis pack is intended as a resource for

basic tips. We have kept it brief so that

we do not overload you with information.

We would be delighted to help you

throughout your fundraising with advice,

signposting, materials and expertise, so

please do call or email at any time for help

or with any questions that you may have.

Phone the fundraising team

on 020 224 2020 or email

fundraising@thesilverline.org.uk

Thank you Our callers have said:“The hours are so long in the night – sometimes I’m frightened, sometimes unwell, so it’s always nice to know someone is there to give some sort of human contact.”

“The Silver Line is a marvellous thing. If you’re not joining clubs and activities, all you have left is talking. Talking is so important.”

The Silver Line is a registered charity in the UK. Registered Charity No. in England & Wales 1147330. Registered Charity No. in Scotland. SCO44467. Company No. 8000807