How to organise a store collection

Collections at supermarkets, can be a very easy way to raise funds and awareness for Assistance Dogs NI.

They usually involve 2 volunteers at a time standing outside, or in the foyer of a store using collection boxes to collect money. They can be made more successful if you have someone willing to wear one of our animal costumes and carrying a collecting bucket, or by taking along suitably assessed dogs.

Download  your store collection checklist   Checklist

Plan in advance:

• 1. Most store collections can be booked directly with the local store.
  • You can find application forms on line for some stores or they might have a particular team member to contact.
  • Some stores such as Tesco have a company that organise charity store collections for them and some are booked at head office rather than locally.
  • Details will be available online and instore
• 2. Plan in advance
  • Dates for charity collections tend to get booked up well in advance so plan them in plenty of time
  • They will need to be covered at all times so ensure you have plenty of volunteers well in advance
  • Ensure you have plenty of collection boxes, stickers and leaflets – order more if needed
  • Do a risk assessment
  • Do you have a volunteer willing to wear a dog costume?
• 3. Some stores will allow you to have an information stall
  • check in advance because this is well worth while
  • if you are planning a stall ensure that you have enough tables, table cloths, leaflets and collection boxes for it
• 4. Fundraising dogs
  • Some stores will allow you to take a dog along (usually depending on whether you will be standing in or outside the store). Always check with the appropriate person in advance if you are planning to take a dog
  • Any dogs that attend events must have passed an assessment
• 5. Ensure you have enough volunteers
  • You will need plenty of volunteers to man the collection
  • Also organise volunteers willing to transport everything there, set up the stall and volunteers to pack it down and return everything to the centre/hospital afterwards
  • Collections are quite tiring and 2 hours per shift is usually adequate.
  • It is also advisable to have 2 volunteers per shift.
  • Make sure volunteers arrive promptly and all shifts are filled because you won’t be able to leave full collection boxes unattended if there is a gap between volunteers leaving and arriving
• 6. Money must be returned directly to the centre following the event
  • It can be stored in the safe there until it is counted and banked
• 7. Ensure that you have organised transport to and from the collection
  • Book out the centre van or organise a volunteer willing to transport the goods to and from the event in their own car
  • Check provisions for parking at the event – is free parking available for your volunteers? If not, you might need to provide money for parking from petty cash
• 8. Ensure you have the equipment you need
  • Make sure you have plenty of collection boxes and that they all have fresh seals and numbers
  • If you’re also having a stall, decide what literature you will have on it
  • If you do not have boxes already set up with items for events, check that you have everything required in plenty of time allowing time for more to be ordered if needed
• 9. Follow the correct procedures for cash handling and collection boxes
  • Collection boxes must all be numbered, and a record kept of which box is used by which volunteer
  • Amounts raised in each box should be recorded for auditing.
• 10. It might be useful to use the two attached checklists
  • for organising the event
  • for loading the van