How to choose a beneficiary or charity for your Bingo Night

When you’re organising a Bingo Night, past choosing the type of bingo you're going to play, for charity the most important thing to know is what beneficiary or charity you’re supporting. There are many different types of charity you could fundraise for, but if you don’t already have one in mind we’ve put together this guide to help you choose.

What do you want to support?

There are various types of charities to choose from. These range from animal welfare charities, environmental action groups, human services such as homeless charities and food banks to international NGO’s. And of course, you could support a local beneficiary, such as your local sports club, scouts group, or church or other place of religious worship. You can use the official government website to help you find registered charities and their websites.

You could start by identifying causes that are close to you. Perhaps you know someone who was helped greatly by a charity and want to give back, maybe you have a particular passion for the arts or animals, maybe you want to support medical studies or world relief. 

Whatever it is, figuring out what is important to you is the key to finding the cause you want to support. From there, you can find charities that support these causes and research their values, whether they’re non-profit, and what the money you raise for them will go towards.

You should also consider whether you want to raise money for a big, national charity or a smaller local charity. Checking which projects charities are currently supporting could help you make this decision, or again, it could be a charity you are familiar with, either through personal experience or from someone in your community. 

How to find a charity to support

When deciding to support a local cause, you should start by contacting your local council directly and seeing if they have any projects or organisations in need of extra funding. They can also direct you towards local charities or groups looking for donations, such as local sports clubs and schools.

If you are supporting your local sports club or other local establishment you should get in contact with them directly before organising your event, as they may be able to advise you on what projects of theirs need extra funding. They may also be able to help you out with organising or advertising your event. If you don't know any local charities but still want to raise money for causes at a local level, sites like neighbourly.com can help you search your area to find projects that need extra funding, or use charitychoice.co.uk to find registered charities near you.

When fundraising for a larger charity you should contact them directly through the official website. You can find the official website just by searching online for the charity’s website, or by using a site like CharityChoice.

What kind of charity should you look for?

Once you’ve figured out what type of charity you’re going to support with your fundraising efforts from your bingo night, it is time to start searching for your beneficiary. If you’re choosing to support a local sports club or group, you’re all set to move onto the next step. If not, here are some things to look out for:

1. You probably want to choose a tax exempt charity, as this will make sure all of your donations are received by the organisation

2. Make sure to choose a transparent charity, one which reveals where donor money goes and how much of a cut, if any, the organisation takes. You don’t want to raise lots of money just for it to go to an unethically run charity. 

3. You might also want to make sure that the charity you are planning to donate your fundraising proceeds to is viable enough to complete projects

Now, you can start researching organisations, reading reviews and official websites. Make sure to do your research before donating the money you raised from fundraising to make sure you are supporting a reputable charity. GiveWell is a site that provides free, unbiased information on charities, allowing you to get the clear picture on how a charity operates. You can also search the government's register of charities to find information such as who the trustees of a charity are, incomes and expenditures, and if there have been any actions taken against the charity.

How to find other beneficiaries

If you've decided to support a local sports club, community centres, schools or religious places of worship, but you don't know where to start, try your local council who can direct you to registered groups. Speaking to your local council will also help you find any local places of worship and inform you of any specific events they are holding soon

You can even search on the government website to help you find local community centres to help you get connected and fundraising for them. 

It may also be that you're supporting your local scout hut. If you have you can check on their official website to find the group closest to you, and from there you can contact them directly and discuss what projects of their you can support or whether they would prefer to just accept donations to fund their meetings. 

Now you know how to find the right charity or beneficiary to raise money for with your charity bingo night, it's time to start planning your fundraiser. But do you need a gambling licence to host a bingo night?

Check out the previous article in the series: Why run a bingo night? Visit the hub page and read our entire 12-part guide to organising a bingo night fundraiser here!