Charity Event legalities....

VintageBelle

Hello

I am hoping you can help.

I am organising a charity event in the summer but I need a bit of guidance and pointers in relation to the legal side of it. I have looked on Google and it’s a bit of minefield.

The event is quite simple – it’s a jumble trail. People hold garage/yard sales on their own property on the given date and times. They pay to register their stall which in turn will be turned into a digital and paper map. People then buy the maps and follow the trail to each location (so in essence they are paying to have their stall advertised). Stall holders keep all proceeds made on the day. The money that goes to charity is the sale of the stall registration and maps.

I am assuming what people then do on their own property is their responsibility and not that of the organisers. I will give tips and advice on health and safety though.

Firstly what I am confused about is do I need to legally register the event? I do not work for the charity but I am in communication with them. They have given me the go ahead as long as I run all materials by them first but I have their support.

Secondly where do I stand with refunding people? As all the money is going to charity and I will not profit from it in any way I would hate to end up having to give money back. Am I allowed to say no refunds once maps have been generated? Also in the event of bad weather if it has to be cancelled do I give people refunds or just offer to do it on another day? I don’t know what I would be legally entitled to do.

 

I want to ensure it's a fun day and an easy way for people to make a few quid from their old stuff as not everyone has the ability to make it to carboots etc but I want everything to be legal, safe and above board so any help that could be provided would be reallyyyyyyyy gratefully received.

Many thanks

Anna

cedrag

VintageBelle said:

Hello

I am hoping you can help.

I am organising a charity event in the summer but I need a bit of guidance and pointers in relation to the legal side of it. I have looked on Google and it’s a bit of minefield.

The event is quite simple – it’s a jumble trail. People hold garage/yard sales on their own property on the given date and times. They pay to register their stall which in turn will be turned into a digital and paper map. People then buy the maps and follow the trail to each location (so in essence they are paying to have their stall advertised). Stall holders keep all proceeds made on the day. The money that goes to charity is the sale of the stall registration and maps.

I am assuming what people then do on their own property is their responsibility and not that of the organisers. I will give tips and advice on health and safety though.

Firstly what I am confused about is do I need to legally register the event? I do not work for the charity but I am in communication with them. They have given me the go ahead as long as I run all materials by them first but I have their support.

Secondly where do I stand with refunding people? As all the money is going to charity and I will not profit from it in any way I would hate to end up having to give money back. Am I allowed to say no refunds once maps have been generated? Also in the event of bad weather if it has to be cancelled do I give people refunds or just offer to do it on another day? I don’t know what I would be legally entitled to do.

 

I want to ensure it's a fun day and an easy way for people to make a few quid from their old stuff as not everyone has the ability to make it to carboots etc but I want everything to be legal, safe and above board so any help that could be provided would be reallyyyyyyyy gratefully received.

Many thanks

Anna

I would urge you to seek professional, legal advice.
I'm sorry, but legal advice is not permitted to be provided on this forum.
In my view, if you are the organiser, you may well be held liable under certain conditions if things don't go to plan, but IANAL

Savvy_Sue

Do you have Arts Trails in your part of the world? If you do, I'd talk to one of them. I've been to quite a few and the 'hosts' have signs up to say that we are entering at our own risk. 

There is one quite different thing to think about from my experience of attending Arts Trails. The maps are provided freely, so we quite often don't pick one up until we get to the first venue. Now, in this case the maps / locations are available online, but all the venues have balloons etc outside so they're really easy to find - and presumably you'll have some 'clues' at each venue? So buyers might be able to find their way around quite a few locations without ever buying a map. 

oldbikebloke

doubtless you will raise some money for charity, but it does not sound like a great money spinner given no share of the sales proceeds from each stall.
So very simple for sellers to advertise their sale anywhere and everywhere since it is in their best interest to get max no of customers, so why would they restrict themselves to only those coming via your maps?

Undervalued

The legalities are exactly the same as if you were organising the event for your own profit. The fact that you are donating the proceeds to a charity doesn't change that. If you are doing it on the charity's behalf or with their prior agreement then they may also have a liability for which they doubtless have insurance to cover.

People who book tables may, under some circumstances, have a right to their money back. OK some may waive that right because it is for charity but they don't have to. You are encouraging people to go to particular venues so you might be taking on some duty of care? Possibly also if they were sold a dangerous item? OK, most of these risks are pretty unlikely but they do exist.

VintageBelle

oldbikebloke said:

doubtless you will raise some money for charity, but it does not sound like a great money spinner given no share of the sales proceeds from each stall.
So very simple for sellers to advertise their sale anywhere and everywhere since it is in their best interest to get max no of customers, so why would they restrict themselves to only those coming via your maps?

It's not going to be a great money spinner, I'm not expecting to raise thousands. It was going to be a free event initially but then I thought why not try to help a local cause in doing so. If people do advertise elsewhere I can't stop them as this will still be going ahead either way. I have already put feelers out there and as the charity is a foodbank it's not just money that is being donated it's food and hygiene items to.
This event is based on goodwill as I know a lot of local people support this particular charity. I know there may be a few bad eggs but generally people are fair.
It's meant to be a bit of fun too.

VintageBelle

Undervalued said:

The legalities are exactly the same as if you were organising the event for your own profit. The fact that you are donating the proceeds to a charity doesn't change that. If you are doing it on the charity's behalf or with their prior agreement then they may also have a liability for which they doubtless have insurance to cover.

People who book tables may, under some circumstances, have a right to their money back. OK some may waive that right because it is for charity but they don't have to. You are encouraging people to go to particular venues so you might be taking on some duty of care? Possibly also if they were sold a dangerous item? OK, most of these risks are pretty unlikely but they do exist.

The tricky bit I'm struggling with is finding out info that's more specific to this type of event. Most of the info I am finding relates to events based at one specific location. If that was the case I would know a lot more about what I need to do and buy public liability insurance. It's just not proving easy.
I know a lot of people run these events in other areas of the country so I might see if I can contact any of those organisers for a bit of background info based on their experiences.

lincroft1710

How will you advertise the event?

Savvy_Sue

There's a whole heap of results for Jumble Trail in Google. Possibly worth adding your county / city / town, or just looking to see if there's ever been anything local. 

VintageBelle

lincroft1710 said:

How will you advertise the event?

I will make a Facebook page, use Nextdoor, ask shops to help promote it and try and go to community meetings. Also word of mouth.

VintageBelle

Savvy_Sue said:

There's a whole heap of results for Jumble Trail in Google. Possibly worth adding your county / city / town, or just looking to see if there's ever been anything local. 

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to have been one held locally.