Fundraising advice

katmum

We want to start some local fundraising to help pay for some therapy for my daughter at the Boabath Centre (centre for cerebral palsy children). I have a few questions before starting fundraising.

I'm worried any money we raise will affect our family tax credit/Child tax credit payments. We really rely on these as a family to help pay essential bills so can not afford to lose any money from tax credits. Will any fundraising we do be seen as income which might affect these tax payments to us?

Can I open a bank account in my child's name and be in control of it? (take money out when we want to help pay for therapy.) I'd prefer if any money we raise goes into an independent bank account rather than my main bank account.

Someone has told me I can not register our fundraising for charity status as it will only benefit one person but think we can register it as a non-charitable trust. How do I go about this and what would be the benfits of doing this?

Any help on the above questions or any advice from anyone who has been through fundraising efforts already would be great.

Thanks.

Owain_Moneysaver

katmum wrote: »

We want to start some local fundraising to help pay for some therapy for my daughter at the Boabath Centre (centre for cerebral palsy children). I have a few questions before starting fundraising.

I'm worried any money we raise will affect our family tax credit/Child tax credit payments. We really rely on these as a family to help pay essential bills so can not afford to lose any money from tax credits. Will any fundraising we do be seen as income which might affect these tax payments to us? .

If you will be receiving this income, yes. And you would also be liable for income tax on it.

If you fundraise for the Bobath charity, and your receiving services from the charity is not conditional on your fundraising, then no. Note that if you fundraise for the charity and receive services from them that are conditional upon your fundraising then it's possible that both the benefits agency and HMRC would regard this as income in kind.

katmum wrote: »

Can I open a bank account in my child's name and be in control of it? (take money out when we want to help pay for therapy.) I'd prefer if any money we raise goes into an independent bank account rather than my main bank account.

You can open a second bank account in your name if you want. This would be safer than opening an account in the child's name which could give rise to questions over the actual ownership of the funds therein. However you would not be able to claim you were fundraising for the charity if you use this money for your own benefit (which includes paying for services from a charity).

katmum wrote: »

Someone has told me I can not register our fundraising for charity status as it will only benefit one person but think we can register it as a non-charitable trust. How do I go about this and what would be the benfits of doing this?

You would need expert legal advice on this. Generally it is not permitted for trustees to receive any benefit from the trust. Your child receiving treatment for which you would otherwise have to pay would certainly be regarded as you receiving a benefit.

Savvy_Sue

Would it be worth asking the entre for advice? Sound advice from Owain, btw.