Charity Fundraising and Collecting

North East Derbyshire District Council is responsible for the regulation of 3 types of charity fund raising activities: Lotteries & Raffles, House to House Collections and Street Collections.

House to House Collections

Societies that wish to carry out house to house collections to raise funds must obtain a licence from the Council. This generally means collecting door to door in a residential area, although the House to House Collections Act 1939 states that ‘house’ can also include places of business, so visits to pubs and shops would also need to be licensed. Some larger organisations such as charities may be exempt from this, a list of exempt organisations is available from the Council.

The Council will grant a licence to cover the period over which the collection is being made and, although there is no charge for this, the application must be made at least 28 days in advance of the proposed collection.

Street Collections

Organisations wishing to raise funds by collecting in the street must first obtain a licence from the Council. These types of activities are regulated under the Police, Factories etc. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916. The society must inform the Council of the date and place of the proposed collection and how many people will be collecting. It is worth knowing that the licence only applies to collections in streets or public places, it does not extend to such places as the inside of private Shopping Arcades and Supermarkets.

There is no charge for a street collection licence, but please make your application well in advance of when you want to carry out your collection.

Guidance notes and an application form are available to download below, however you can’t yet submit your application online.

To apply for a licence for any of these types of fundraising events, or for more information please, contact the Licensing Section.

To get more information about fundraising activities and how to go about them take a look at the Charity Commission website or complete the online Fund Raising Licence Enquiry Form.