Guidance

Charity fundraising appeals: using donations when you’ve raised more than you need

Published 31 October 2022

Applies to England and Wales

If your charity makes an appeal for a specific purpose or purposes, you must use the donations only for that purpose or purposes.

However, you may receive more donations than you need. For example:

• an appeal to refurbish a community café might raise more than needed for the refurbishment; that is, the café is refurbished and there is money left over

• an appeal to buy equipment for a playground might raise more than needed - all the equipment has been bought and there is money left over

If this happens, you have donations given for a particular purpose, but you cannot use them for this.

Look at your appeal wording. It may allow you to spend the donations on your charity’s other projects.

If not, you will need to follow the required process set out below to decide a new purpose for the donations, so that you can use them.

Donations to an appeal are usually money, but can be property of any kind. For example, goods.

This guidance applies to all charities except NHS charities. If you are an NHS charity, see section 6.8 of NHS charities.

There are separate rules if your appeal has not raised enough money or you cannot achieve the purpose of the appeal.

Check if your appeal has a secondary purpose

A secondary purpose is wording in your appeal that says how you will use donations if you have surplus funds (or, for example, if you have not raised enough).

If your appeal wording includes a secondary purpose, you:

• must use the donations for that secondary purpose
• do not need to contact donors or the Charity Commission

If your appeal does not include a secondary purpose, you:

• must follow the required process set out below to use these donations for other charitable purposes
• may need to ask the Commission to authorise your new purposes
• do not need to contact donors or return their donations

Choosing and agreeing new purposes for donations

You will not be able to use the surplus donations until you decide a new purpose, or purposes, for them.

When deciding on new purposes, you must have regard to:

• as far as is possible and desirable, whether the new purposes can be similar to the original ones
• the need for the new purposes to be suitable and effective in current social and economic circumstances

Keep a record of any information or evidence that you have used to make your decision.

You must be able to show and explain your reasons if you choose new purposes that are not similar to the original appeal purposes.

But your new purposes also need to be workable now and in the future. Examples of what you should think about are:

• if the needs and situation that prompted your appeal have changed since you made the appeal
• if there are new circumstances that affect who the appeal was intended to benefit
• if there are new circumstances that affect how you work with or support the people, organisations or activities that the appeal was set up for

Your new purposes must be charitable.

You must:

• make a formal decision (a resolution) to agree the new purposes for the donations
• follow the rules in your charity’s governing document to pass the resolution – you must ensure a majority of all your trustees pass the resolution
• keep a written record of your decision, for example in the minutes of your meeting, your reasons for it and any supporting evidence

If the total value of donations you would like to use for new purposes is £1,000 or less

Your resolution becomes effective on the date you pass it. You do not need to contact the Commission.

If the total value of donations you would like to use for new purposes is over £1,000

You must ask the Commission to authorise your resolution. Your resolution is effective on the date the Commission authorises it.

Email: fundraisingappeals@charitycommission.gov.uk and provide the following information:

• the charity’s name and registration number
• the details of your appeal - include your appeal literature
• why you cannot use your donations as intended
• the value of the donations you want to use for new purposes
• what your new purposes are
• why you have chosen your new purposes and how you have had regard to the 2 points mentioned above
• a copy of your resolution or minutes of the meeting where you agreed the resolution
• confirmation that you have followed the rules in your governing document to pass the resolution
• your name, contact details and role within the charity
• confirmation that you are acting on behalf of the charity

For information on how we process your personal data, read the Commission’s privacy notice.

You should be aware that it is an offence under section 60 of the Charities Act 2011 to knowingly or recklessly provide false or misleading information.

We may ask you to advertise your proposals before we consider authorising your resolution. We may also ask you for supporting evidence which you have relied on to make your decision. This is usually if, for example, your new purposes are controversial or very different from the original purposes of the appeal.

You can use our guidance about decision making principles to help you to approach your decisions in the right way.

Funds this guidance does not apply to

Sometimes, you may have funds that do not come from a charity appeal but may have restrictions on their use. Generally you do not need to contact the Commission about these.

Examples include:

• an underspend on a grant
• donations to your charity for a specific purpose where your charity did not appeal for those funds

Contact the donor to discuss next steps.

Getting your appeal wording right first time

Getting your appeal wording right, and keeping good donor and appeal records, will help you avoid difficulties if your appeal does not raise enough money, raises too much money or you are unable to use the donations as intended.

Read our guidance on Charity fundraising appeals: appeal wording and record keeping.

Legal note

These rules are from the Charities Act 2011 (as amended).

The main relevant sections of the Act are 62 and 67A.