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Fundraising ideas

Fire Service Charity Fundraiser Ideas: 35 Ideas for UK Stations and Firefighters' Charities (2026)

July 10, 2026
TL;DR — The Short Answer

Fire-service-linked charities in the UK have more fundraising options than ever, and the best ones cost almost nothing to start.

  • UK fire and rescue services are statutory bodies: frontline gear is funded by council tax precept. What charities fund is welfare, mental health support, rehabilitation, bereaved-family grants, cadet units and community equipment.
  • Pick one community event per year your volunteers can actually staff, one always-on regular giving programme, and a digital route to donations beyond your immediate area.
  • Claim Gift Aid on every eligible donation: for every £1 a UK taxpayer gives, HMRC returns 25p to your charity at no cost to the donor.
  • Street bucket collections need a Public Charitable Collections licence from your local council. Tap-to-pay at a station open day sidesteps this entirely.
  • Run everything on Zeffy and keep 100% of every pound raised: no platform fee, no transaction fee, no card fee. Ever.

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Tucker Volunteer Fire Department - Blue Collar C10 Truck Raffle

In this article:

Why fire-service charities need creative fundraising

UK fire and rescue services are statutory bodies, funded by council tax precept and central government grant. Frontline operational equipment, personal protective equipment and appliances are provided by the fire and rescue service, not fundraised by station crews. This is a fundamental difference from the US model, and it matters: when a UK fire-service charity fundraises, the money does not pay for turnout gear.

What it does fund is often more urgent and less visible. The Fire Fighters Charity (registered charity 1093387 in England and Wales; SC040096 in Scotland) exists to support the physical, mental and financial wellbeing of serving and retired firefighters and their families. County firefighters' benevolent and welfare funds support colleagues in hardship. Retained Firefighters' Union welfare activities reach the roughly 11,000 retained (on-call) firefighters who are often the only cover in rural areas. Station social and welfare funds, fire-cadet units, and community groups running appeals for a colleague's family or a local defibrillator all operate in this space.

For these charities and supporter groups, fundraising is not a side project. It is what keeps welfare grants flowing, rehabilitation breaks available, and cadet units equipped. The same pressures that make fundraising hard everywhere apply here: limited volunteer capacity, donor fatigue, and the rising cost of everything from printing to postage.

For a small fire-service charity or station fund: Pick one annual community event your trustees and volunteers can staff properly, one always-on regular giving programme, and a digital giving route that reaches donors beyond your immediate area. Three things, not eight.

Low-cost fundraising ideas (under £100 to start)

These ideas have the lowest cash outlay and the smallest volunteer footprint. Good starting points if you are rebuilding momentum or testing a new fundraiser.

1. Bake sale at the station

Startup cost: Under £50 (paper goods, signage). Revenue range: £300 to £1,500. Tip: Tie it to a Saturday morning station open day so foot traffic comes to you.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

2. Car wash

Startup cost: Under £100 (soap, hoses, signage). Revenue range: £500 to £2,500 in a day. Tip: Firefighters in uniform at the entrance is the whole marketing plan. Run it on a suggested-donation basis rather than a fixed price.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

3. Community pasta or chilli dinner

Startup cost: £75 to £150 (ingredients, often donated by a local grocer). Revenue range: £800 to £3,000. Tip: Sell tickets in advance online so you know how much to cook and you collect the money before the event.

Fit: Works with a dedicated kitchen lead.

4. Yard sale or station clearout

Startup cost: £0 (you already own the items). Revenue range: £400 to £1,200. Tip: Promote it as a station open day too, so visitors meet the crew while they browse.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

5. Online raffle

Startup cost: The prize, often donated. Revenue range: £1,000 to £10,000 depending on the prize and your reach. Tip: Popular prizes for UK fire-service charity raffles include a car or caravan break, a luxury hamper, a case of whisky or gin, a hotel weekend, or festival tickets. Check your small society lottery registration requirements before selling a single ticket (see the callout below). You can host a free online raffle with no fees per ticket through Zeffy.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

Register your raffle as a small society lottery. Most fire-charity raffles where tickets are sold in advance to the public are legally small society lotteries under the Gambling Act 2005. You must register with your local licensing authority before selling tickets. Registration costs £40 initially and £20 for annual renewal. Key rules: single-lottery ticket-sales cap of £20,000; annual aggregate cap of £250,000; at least 20% of proceeds to your charitable cause; maximum single prize £25,000. Incidental non-commercial lotteries, where tickets are sold and the draw is held entirely at one event (such as a raffle at a station open day), need no registration. Important: Gift Aid does not apply to raffle ticket purchases.

6. 50/50 raffle

Startup cost: £0. Revenue range: £500 to £5,000 per event. Tip: Pair it with another event you are already running, such as a pancake breakfast or a quiz night, so you are not staffing two separate activities. See our 50/50 raffle guide for the mechanics.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

For a small fire-service charity or station fund: Start with a raffle. It has the lowest staffing load per pound raised, and the prize is usually donated.

Community event fundraisers

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Oil City Firefighters 5k
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Troop 306 Pancake Breakfast 2024

Bigger turnout, bigger revenue, more volunteers needed at check-in. These work well, but only if you can genuinely staff them.

7. Pancake breakfast

Attendance: 150 to 400. Revenue range: £1,500 to £6,000. Tip: Ask a local cafe or wholesale supplier to donate batter and syrup. Sell tickets online ahead of time so the queue at the door is not where you collect cash. You can sell pancake breakfast and community event tickets online for free on Zeffy with QR code check-in.

Fit: Needs 8 to 12 volunteers on event day.

8. BBQ or chicken dinner

Attendance: 200 to 500. Revenue range: £2,500 to £10,000. Tip: Drive-through pickup tickets are the secret. Same revenue, roughly half the volunteer hours of a sit-down dinner.

Fit: Needs a grill lead and at least 6 volunteers.

9. Station open day

Attendance: 100 to 300. Revenue range: £500 to £2,000 in donations, plus a recruiting boost. Tip: The UK fire service runs community open days, often in September and October around national fire safety awareness moments. Set up a tap-to-pay donation station with a phone or tablet so visitors can give without cash.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

10. Pizza evening at the station

Attendance: 75 to 200. Revenue range: £400 to £1,800. Tip: Add a raffle basket or a 50/50 to layer a second income stream onto the same event.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

11. Film night

Attendance: 100 to 300. Revenue range: £600 to £2,500. Tip: A drive-in style film night in the station car park needs almost no setup. Obtain a public-performance licence before you advertise the title.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

12. Community 5K

Attendance: 100 to 500. Revenue range: £3,000 to £15,000 with sponsorships. Tip: Sponsorship income from local businesses is the real revenue. Registration fees barely cover T-shirts. Our 5K organising guide walks through the timeline.

Fit: Needs a dedicated event lead and 15 or more volunteers.

13. Charity football or cricket match

Attendance: 100 to 250. Revenue range: £800 to £4,000. Tip: Firefighters versus police is a crowd favourite, and the cross-promotion doubles your reach on social media. On International Firefighters Day (4 May) or around the Firefighters Memorial Day (first Sunday in September), the built-in hook does much of your marketing for you.

Fit: Needs an event lead.

14. Quiz night

Attendance: 60 to 150. Revenue range: £500 to £2,500. Tip: A fire-safety-themed round adds a public-education angle that local press will often cover for free.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

For a small fire-service charity: One community event per year is the right ceiling. Two events is how volunteer trustees and committees burn out.

Online fundraising ideas

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Grand Valley Volunteer Fire Department - 1st Responder Cash Bash Appreciation

Online fundraising lets a small fire-service charity reach donors who do not live near the station. A retained-crew's fundraising page can pull in support from former residents, serving firefighters' friends and family, and supporters of The Fire Fighters Charity across the country, none of whom would see a poster in the station window.

A note on platform costs and Gift Aid. Many UK fundraising platforms charge a platform fee and a Gift Aid processing fee on top of card processing. JustGiving's default suggested donor tip of around 17% is the most-criticised pattern in UK fundraising press. On a £50,000 fundraising year, a 5% platform cut and Gift Aid processing charges quietly take around £2,500 out of the fund. Zeffy charges no platform fee, no transaction fee and no card fee, ever. See exactly how much other platforms cost your charity with the fee calculator.

15. Crowdfunding for a specific piece of community equipment

A campaign tied to one concrete thing, such as a community defibrillator for a rural village, a welfare-room refurbishment, or a minibus for the fire cadet unit, raises far more than a generic "support the fund" appeal. Show the price, show the equipment, show the person who will benefit.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

16. Peer-to-peer sponsored fundraising

Every trustee, volunteer or supporter gets their own fundraising page and rallies their network. Sponsored runs, cycle challenges, and "shave the chief" campaigns all work on this model. See our peer-to-peer fundraising page for setup guidance.

Fit: Works when you have 10 or more fundraisers willing to share their page.

17. Claim Gift Aid on every eligible donation

For every £1 a UK taxpayer donates to your HMRC-recognised charity, HMRC returns 25p to the charity at no extra cost to the donor. A £100 donation becomes £125. To claim, the donor signs a Gift Aid declaration (their full name, home address, your charity's name, and confirmation they want their donation treated as Gift Aid and have paid sufficient UK Income or Capital Gains Tax).

Your charity must be HMRC-recognised (a separate step from registration with the Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI yielding a Charities Reference Number). Claim Gift Aid up to four years after the end of the financial period the donation was received; keep declarations for at least six years.

The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS) lets eligible charities claim a 25% top-up on small cash and contactless donations of £30 or less, without a written declaration, up to £8,000 in eligible small donations per tax year.

Gift Aid does not apply to raffle ticket purchases, event ticket prices, auction lots at fair value, or company donations.

Fit: Realistic for any registered, HMRC-recognised charity.

18. Regular monthly giving

Always-on donations, not event-dependent. A modest base of 50 donors giving £15 a month is £9,000 a year that arrives even when you are not running an event.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

19. Matching gift drive

Add a one-line prompt on your donation form: "Does your employer offer workplace giving or Payroll Giving? Ask your HR team." Many donors do not know their employer matches charitable donations. Surface those matches and you will collect income you would otherwise leave unclaimed.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

For a small fire-service charity: Online fundraising is the simplest cost-saver on this list. Move your raffle, ticket sales and donation form to a free online fundraising platform and the fee savings alone can fund a welfare grant.

Alternatives to street bucket collections

Many charities report donor fatigue and, for street collections at busy intersections, volunteer safety concerns. The good news: the underlying idea (recognisable uniformed volunteers, in public, accepting small donations) still works well. You just need to think about location and payment method.

Public collections need a licence. Street and door-to-door cash collections in England and Wales require a Public Charitable Collections licence from your local council under the Code of Fundraising Practice. Scotland and London have their own comparable rules. Collections on private land (a supermarket forecourt, a station car park) with the landowner's permission are treated differently and may not need the same licence, though you should confirm with your local authority. As UK VoC research confirms, cash is a declining payment method for community fundraising: donors increasingly expect to tap a card or phone rather than find loose change.

20. Tap-to-pay at the station open day

Set up a donation station inside or just outside the appliance bay. Use tap-to-pay on a phone instead of a bucket at the roadside: no card reader to hire, no cash handling, no road-safety risk. Most donors who would have dropped £5 into a bucket will tap £10 or £20 instead.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

21. Supermarket partnership weekend

Set up a table outside a local Tesco, Sainsbury's or Co-op with the backing of their community champion scheme. Same uniformed presence as a street collection, off the road, on private land with permission. Tap-to-pay handles donations; printed QR codes handle the rest.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

22. Drive-through pancake breakfast

Pickup-only ticketed event in the station car park. Supporters drive through, volunteers hand out boxes, no one stands near traffic. Sell tickets online ahead of time so check-in is a QR code scan.

Fit: Needs a kitchen team.

23. Autumn fire safety digital appeal

A two-week digital campaign in September or October, timed around station open days and community fire safety awareness. Email, social media, and a donate-now page on your website. A focused digital push often outperforms a full Saturday of street collecting.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

For a small fire-service charity: Replace one street collection this year with tap-to-pay at the station open day. Same uniform, same community moment, none of the road risk and no licence paperwork for the forecourt.

Merchandise and product sales

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Elwood Fire Department's Online Shop

Merchandise works when you pre-sell to confirm demand and never carry inventory. The fire-service calendar is a classic, but it is not the only option.

24. Station calendar

Annual revenue range: £2,000 to £8,000. Partner with a local print shop, shoot photos at a single half-day session, and pre-sell through your online shop. A regional fire, ambulance and police charity calendar (combining with neighbouring blue-light services) reduces per-unit costs and broadens the audience.

Fit: Needs someone to manage the photo shoot and print run.

25. T-shirts and hoodies

Print-on-demand keeps inventory risk at zero. A clean station-logo design with a memorable line sells year-round. Note: merchandise sales may be subject to VAT; charities are not automatically VAT-exempt on all goods. The Charity Tax Group is the technical reference for VAT and charity retail questions.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

26. Challenge coins

Higher margin than T-shirts, popular with collectors, current and retired firefighters, and first-responder enthusiasts. Order in small batches to keep risk low.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

27. Candles or soaps

Partner with a local maker who shares revenue. Themed scents and pet-safe candles sell well at Christmas markets and community fairs.

Fit: Realistic if a local maker is willing to partner.

You can run all of this through a free online shop for charities with no monthly fee and no per-sale cut. Pre-sell first, collect the money, then place the print run: do not sit on boxes of unsold hoodies.

For a small fire-service charity: Pick one merchandise item and pre-sell it. Do not run three product lines at once.

Recurring giving programmes

One-off events produce spikes in income. Recurring giving produces compound growth. A regular giving base is what turns fundraising from a yearly scramble into a reliable budget line.

28. Regular giving by Direct Debit

Direct Debit accounts for around 31% of all UK charity donations and is the dominant mechanism for regular giving. Offer monthly tiers of £10, £25 and £50. Recognise regular donors with a named thank-you on the station noticeboard, a quarterly welfare-fund update, or an invitation to the annual open day. You can set up a regular giving programme on Zeffy in under an hour.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

29. Support a serving firefighter's welfare

Donors choose to support a named firefighter's welfare fund at a regular monthly amount. Funds go to welfare grants, training bursaries, or a specific need. Recognition: name on a plaque in the station community room, a quarterly email update. Gift Aid applies to these genuine donations, so a £25 monthly gift becomes £31.25 a month to your charity at no extra cost to the supporter.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

30. Adopt a station appeal

Community members or local businesses sponsor a specific station fund, community defibrillator maintenance, or a cadet unit's annual training for a year. Offer tiered levels: £50, £100 and £500. Manage sponsorship spots through your online ticketing or donation page so you have a clean record.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

31. Business sponsorship tiers

Annual sponsorships from local businesses. Suggested levels: £250 (logo on your website), £1,000 (logo on station banners and event materials), £5,000 (named sponsor of your annual event). Someone has to go and ask the businesses in person.

Fit: Needs someone willing to make the approach.

32. Payroll Giving

Firefighters and fire and rescue service staff can donate to their benevolent fund directly from their pre-tax salary via HMRC's Payroll Giving scheme. The charity receives the gross donation with no Gift Aid paperwork required. This is a genuinely underused mechanism for fire-service charities. Ask your HR or payroll lead whether your service is enrolled.

Fit: Available where the employer is enrolled in a Payroll Giving agency scheme.

33. Annual giving campaign

An end-of-year letter and email appeal to past donors. Low cost, high return on the supporters who already know and trust you.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

For a small fire-service charity: One always-on regular giving programme (a Direct Debit regular gift or a Support a Firefighter's Welfare programme) is the highest-leverage fundraiser on this list. Set it up once, promote it twice a year, and let it run.

Fundraising ideas for rural station appeals and small firefighters' charities

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Salisbury Volunteer Fire Department's 2025 Shotgun Raffle

Rural fire-service charity fundraising faces three specific constraints: a smaller donor base, fewer local businesses to approach for sponsorship, and a geographic spread that makes event turnout unpredictable. The fix is to reach beyond your parish or district and build partnerships with neighbouring stations and blue-light charities.

34. Regional raffle with an attractive prize

A high-value raffle promoted online can draw ticket sales from across the county and beyond. Popular UK prizes: a car break or caravan weekend, a luxury hamper, a case of malt whisky or artisan gin, a hotel weekend away, or tickets to a major sporting event or music festival. Register as a small society lottery with your local licensing authority before selling a single ticket (see the callout in the low-cost section above).

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

35. Joint event with a neighbouring station or blue-light charity

Two volunteer crews running one pancake breakfast pool their volunteers and their supporter lists. Split the proceeds, double the staffing, halve the burnout.

Fit: Needs coordination with the other lead.

Online campaign aimed at former residents and supporters

People who grew up in the area and moved away often want to support the fire-service charity they remember. A targeted Facebook campaign with a single donation link reaches them without any travel or event.

Fit: Realistic for a 5-volunteer crew.

County-wide blue-light charity calendar

Combine with neighbouring fire, ambulance and police charities (Police Care UK and NHS ambulance service charities are natural partners) on a single calendar. A bigger print run means a lower per-unit cost and a wider audience.

Fit: Needs an event lead across services.

District pledge drive

A peer-to-peer style campaign where every active trustee or volunteer raises pledges from 10 households in their street or village. In a 1,200-household district, a 25-person pledge drive can reach a significant share of local donors quickly.

Fit: Requires genuine buy-in from the team.

For a small rural fire-service charity: Your highest-leverage move is going online with a raffle or a regular giving programme. The donor pool inside your parish is finite; the one outside it is not.

A note on UK fire-service charities and how they fundraise

The Fire Fighters Charity (registered charity 1093387 in England and Wales; SC040096 in Scotland) is the national body most UK fire-service supporters will recognise. It runs rehabilitation centres at Jubilee House (Littlehampton), Harcombe House (Devon) and Marine Court (Ayrshire), and provides welfare grants, mental health support, and respite breaks to serving and retired firefighters and their families.

County firefighters' benevolent and welfare funds, Retained Firefighters' Union hardship activities, and station-level social funds all operate alongside the national charity. Many station welfare funds channel fundraising through an affiliated registered charity (such as the county firefighters' benevolent fund) to unlock Gift Aid and greater donor trust. If your group is not yet a registered charity, check whether you can affiliate with or fundraise in support of one that already is.

What 5 to 10% in fees actually costs your charity

Most fundraising platforms take 5% to 10% of every pound you raise. On a £50,000 fundraising year, that is roughly £2,500 leaving the fund before you spend a penny on your cause.

Here is what that £2,500 actually funds for a fire-service charity:

  • Welfare grants for injured or bereaved firefighters' families, or
  • A week's respite break for a firefighter at one of The Fire Fighters Charity's rehabilitation centres, or
  • Community defibrillators for rural locations beyond FRS coverage, or
  • A full year's uniform and training costs for a fire cadet unit, or
  • Mental health support sessions for firefighters and their families.

Zeffy is 100% free for charities: no platform fee, no transaction fee, no card fee. Ever. That £2,500 stays in your fund. See exactly how much other platforms cost your charity with the fee calculator.

100,000 charities and nonprofits run on Zeffy, and they have collectively raised over £2 billion at zero fees.

How to get started this week

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2025 EVFD Gun Raffle - Edinboro Volunteer Fire Department

You do not need a six-month plan. You need to pick one thing and start.

  • 1. Today: Pick one idea from the lists above that matches your volunteer crew and trustee capacity. If you have fewer than 10 active members, that is a raffle or a regular giving programme, not a community 5K.
  • 2. This week: Set a realistic income target. For a first online raffle with a donated prize, £1,500 to £3,000 is achievable. For a regular giving programme, aim for 20 committed monthly donors in the first three months.
  • 3. This week: Choose your fundraising platform. The cost difference between a 3% platform and a free one is the difference between a welfare grant paid and one that is not.
  • 4. Next two weeks: Promote. Your station's Facebook page, local community groups, email to past supporters, a poster at the local shop.
  • 5. Event day (or launch day): Run it. Thank donors the same day, by name.

For a small fire-service charity: Start with one thing. A second fundraiser this year is a bonus, not the plan.

Frequently asked questions

Do we need to be a registered charity to fundraise?

You can fundraise as an unincorporated community group, but registered charity status (with the Charity Commission in England and Wales, OSCR in Scotland, or CCNI in Northern Ireland) unlocks significant advantages. A registered charity that is also HMRC-recognised can claim Gift Aid, turning every £1 donated by a UK taxpayer into £1.25 at no cost to the donor. Many platforms also offer reduced fees to registered charities, and registered status increases donor trust considerably.

Many station welfare funds and supporter groups fundraise via an affiliated registered charity, such as the county firefighters' benevolent fund, rather than registering separately. If your group is not yet registered, check whether affiliation is possible before going through full registration. The "registered charity vs community group" distinction is a genuine source of confusion for many small UK organisations, and it is worth getting clear early.

Can a fire station welfare fund or firefighters' benevolent charity use Zeffy?

Yes, provided the fundraising entity is a UK registered charity recognised by the Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI, and HMRC-recognised for Gift Aid purposes. Statutory fire and rescue services themselves are not charities and do not fundraise for operational purposes, but the affiliated charitable organisations (benevolent funds, welfare funds, cadet charities, and supporter groups) that operate alongside them can use Zeffy for donations, ticket sales, raffles (small society lotteries), memberships and auctions, all at zero fees.

What is the best fundraiser for a small fire-service charity with limited volunteers?

raffle (registered as a small society lottery with your local licensing authority if tickets are sold in advance) has the lowest staffing load per pound raised. The prize is usually donated, and the draw can be promoted online to reach supporters well beyond your immediate area. Pair it with an always-on regular giving programme by Direct Debit, and you have reliable income that does not depend on event turnout.

Do we need to register our raffle?

If you sell raffle tickets to the public in advance of the draw, your raffle is legally a small society lottery under the Gambling Act 2005 and must be registered with your local licensing authority before you sell a single ticket. Registration costs £40 initially and £20 for annual renewal. The single-lottery cap is £20,000 in ticket sales; the maximum single prize is £25,000. An incidental non-commercial lottery, where tickets are sold and the draw is held entirely at one event (such as a station open day), does not require registration. Full guidance is available from the Gambling Commission.

How does Gift Aid work for fire-service charities?

For every £1 a UK taxpayer donates to your HMRC-recognised charity, HMRC returns 25p to the charity. A £100 donation becomes £125 at no cost to the donor. The donor must complete a Gift Aid declaration confirming their full name, home address, your charity's name, and that they pay sufficient UK Income or Capital Gains Tax to cover the claim. Your charity must be HMRC-recognised (separate from charity registration) to submit claims. Full guidance is on gov.uk. Gift Aid does not apply to raffle ticket purchases, event ticket prices at fair value, or company donations.

How do we move from cash-based collecting to online fundraising?

Start with one tool. Set up a free donation page on Zeffy and share the link on your station's Facebook page and in your email newsletter. Add a QR code to your next printed poster or station noticeboard that links directly to the page. At your next station open day, use tap-to-pay on a phone rather than a cash bucket: most supporters who would have given £5 in cash will tap £10 or £20 instead. Once online giving is established, add ticket sales for your next event and a regular giving option for your most loyal supporters.

Written by
Camille Duboz
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