Fundraising

Fundraising for YAC HQ at the CBA and for your own funds

Fundraising can be a fun part of a YAC’s activities and we would encourage you to build an annual fundraising drive into your programme. This can be both to raise money for your branch, and to support the whole YAC network. Supporting YAC costs the CBA around £80,000 a year: CBA staff work to bring in income from a range of sources to be able to afford this, including building CBA membership, applying for grants, and taking part in sponsored activities. However, the support of every branch is very important if we are to secure the future of YAC.

For example, it costs YAC and the CBA:    

• £20 to provide one of our volunteer leaders with basic child protection training.
• £200 to allow us to recruit a new volunteer
• £160 to cover the cost of first aid training for a volunteer
• £800 to help us set up a new YAC club and support it for a year
• £6,000 to cover the cost of our annual residential weekend bringing together our YAC leaders so they can learn from each other and share good practice 

We are currently supporting more than 75 YACs and around 450 volunteers, so your YAC branch’s help in fundraising really is important. If each YAC member in every YAC branch raised £5 to support the CBA, this would help to cover around 9% of our running costs.

Sponsored events

If you wish to fundraise for YAC and/or for your own YAC branch, there are many things you can do. To fundraise small amounts, you might like to consider running a sponsored event. You can download a YAC sponsorship form from the website.

The following are examples of things you can do:

• Sponsored trails – preparing a trail with questions dotted around some specific sites is great day out. The trail can be run as your usual monthly YAC meeting, with friends and families sponsoring YAC members to complete the trail
• Sponsored walks – you could even consider dressing up. YAC and CBA staff undertook a sponsored walk around York’s City Walls… in full Roman costume!
• Bag packing at a local supermarket
• Bake sales
• Join up with your CBA regional group and/or other local YAC branches to put on a public event where you encourage people to donate
• A clever YAC Leader even used her pregnancy to great effect, with a ‘guess the baby’s weight’ competition and JustGiving page!

There are a few types of fundraising you should not do, to comply with charity regulations:

• House-to-house collections
• Raffles or tombolas (there are exceptions to this, get in touch with YAC HQ for more info)
• Street collections

Collecting the money

Cash – simply collect any donations or sponsorship monies and deposit them into your YAC branch’s bank account. There is a sponsorship form template available in the Leaders’ Area. Once you have collected your sponsorship money, please forward any donations to central YAC funds to the CBA at our usual address. Cheques should be made payable to ‘Council for British Archaeology’ – please mark that the money is a donation to YAC to ensure that the amount is allocated to the YAC budget to help with our central costs for providing training and support to the YAC network. You will receive a receipt from the CBA for your records.

JustGiving – if you wish to fundraise through the JustGiving website, you can easily set up a page using the CBA Charity number (England and Wales (287815) and in Scotland (SC041971). Please note, however that the CBA finance team will not be notified that the donation is for YAC funds when it is received from JustGiving. Simply notify us directly of how much your fundraising generated, and we will ensure that the money is corrected allocated to central YAC funds. Only use JustGiving to collect sponsorship if you are planning to donate the whole amount raised to YAC HQ at the CBA. If you wish to keep some of the money towards your own branch’s sessions and materials, JustGiving is not appropriate, and you should collect sponsorship monies as cash or cheques made out to your own club’s bank account.

Top tips for fundraising

North Wiltshire YAC raised £1000 with a sponsored walk. Their Leader, Katy, had these five Top Tips to share:

1. Set up a page with JustGiving to tie to the CBA’s account: it’s really convenient for your adult supporters to donate to you, to get the gift aid and manage the cash donations automatically. Don’t be phased by JustGiving, it’s not hugely user-friendly but it really does work!
2. Use social media to tell people that you are fundraising: we had some very generous donations from complete strangers who nevertheless support CBA/YAC aims.
3. Keep telling people what you are doing: this is also very easy via social media, and you can maintain interest by posting different things, e.g. new photos with your requests for sponsorship.
4. Think up a name or tag line for your activity: we came up with “YAC North Wiltshire 6k6k” for our walk (6000 years in 6000 metres, that is, archaeology from the Neolithic onwards over a four mile walk). This caught the imagination of the adults who did most of the sponsoring!
5. Think up a different idea for next time… we want to avoid “sponsorship fatigue” (asking our friends and family yet again for sponsorship) so maybe we’ll take a few loads to a car boot, or try to do a bag pack at our local supermarket.

Approaching local businesses

If you are wishing to acquire a specific piece of equipment, cover the costs of an expensive trip, or even if you want to replenish your stationery supplies, you might like to consider writing to local organisations or businesses. Many supermarkets, for example, have ‘community champions’ who liaise with local community groups and are available to assist with fundraising or donations of materials. If you do opt to approach businesses or organisations, please adhere to the following:

Write your letter on headed paper; if you are a traditional YAC branch ensure that this includes the YAC and CBA logos and the CBA’s charity numbers. You can download a letterhead template from the Leaders’ Area to use. If your branch is an affiliated YAC, please use your organisation’s own headed paper, and include the following statement:

**** YAC an affiliated branch of the Council for British Archaeology’s Young Archaeologists’ Club. The CBA is a registered charity in England and Wales (287815) and a charity registered in Scotland (SCO41971).

• Clearly explain what the donated money or items will be used for.
• Ensure that you include local contact details for your own branch.
• Remember to thank any businesses or organisations that do support your fundraising. Mentions on social media are a good idea! If their help has enabled your members to undertake a specific activity, you might like to send them some photographs after it has taken place.

Applying for grant funding or to charitable trusts

YAC branches are encouraged to apply to charitable trusts and/or for grant funding for specific projects or activities. There are a range of different opportunities and sources of funding, including the Heritage Lottery Fund, that are appropriate for you to approach. Your local library may have a directory of bodies that award grants in your area. The Heritage Lottery Fund website introduces their range of funding opportunities.

If you are considering making an application to a charitable trust or grant-giving body, please contact us before you start your application. We will be able to advise you on the process, and assist your application with supporting documents and statements.

Important: If your branch is a traditional YAC (rather than an affiliated YAC), the CBA may need to make the application on your branch’s behalf, as your branch falls under our charitable status and number. Grant funding may then need to be awarded to the CBA in the first instance, and then forwarded onto your branch to cover the costs of the project or activity for which it was secured. 

Good luck with your fundraising and grant applications! Do remember that we’re available on the end of the phone or email if you need any help or support. And please remember to contact us before beginning any grant applications!