World Vision fundraising guidelines

Individuals and groups: If you are an individual or a group and have questions which are not covered by these guidelines, please get in touch with our contact centre on 13 32 40. 

Businesses: If you are planning to fundraise through your business, please call us (on the above number) as these guidelines only cover non-business fundraising activities. 

Churches: If your church is planning to organise a fundraising activity, please call us (on the above number) and ask to speak to someone from our Church Relationships Team in your state.

Your fundraising activity will not be an official World Vision activity. 

We cannot formally authorise you to act as a World Vision agent and we will not be responsible for the management or conduct of your fundraising activity. 

You will need to consider key matters such as insurance, venue hire and how you will collect donations safely. We will not be able to provide direct assistance with these matters and our insurance policies will not cover your fundraising activity. 

There are different applicable laws, including specific laws about fundraising, depending on which state or territory you will be fundraising in. It is your responsibility to make sure that you comply with all applicable laws covering things such as: obtaining permits or licenses where necessary, providing accurate information to the public and ensuring that you remit funds to us promptly. 

We recommend that you take the time to read the information provided by the Australian Tax Office and that you contact relevant regulators directly with any questions you may have. 

Please note in particular: 

1. If your fundraising activity is connected with more than one state or territory, the legal requirements of each of these must be taken into account. For example, if you fundraise over the internet, then the laws of all Australian states and territories may be applicable. 
   
   
2. Some states and territories impose restrictions on children being involved in collecting funds.
   
   
3. Some municipal and shire councils impose local government requirements (for example, on door-to-door or street collections) which may be relevant if your fundraising activity takes place within their municipal areas.
   
   
4. If you are planning a raffle, lottery, competition or similar gaming activity, there are state and territory gaming laws that you will need to consider.
   
   
5. There are restrictions on the tax deductibility of donations associated with the supply of goods or services, including charity auctions and ticketed events. See the ATO website about this. 

You can use our name by stating that the proceeds from your fundraising activity will be going to “World Vision Australia”. 

There are also some resources available on our website. For example, if you have a webpage, you can create a link from your webpage to our website. (Please note that we do not create links from our website to websites of members of the public fundraising for us). 

Where you use images sourced from other locations, you must only use photos and graphics as legally permitted and you should name the source of your images. You must also include a statement that these images are not endorsed by World Vision. Such a statement can be as follows:

“This picture is sourced from [insert source, eg. the Reuters website], on [insert date] and is not endorsed by World Vision”. 

We recommend that all of your communications (such as flyers, brochures, letters, media releases, etc) about your fundraising activity clearly specify:

1. The purpose of the fundraising activity, including the World Vision appeal towards which donations will be attributed (eg. an emergency appeal or the multiplying gift appeal). Alternatively, where you are not fundraising for a particular World Vision appeal, you should state that “proceeds will be donated to World Vision Australia, for its work”; and
   
   
2. the amount of funds raised that will be donated to World Vision Australia (for example, “all proceeds after payment of costs of this event”). 

Some states have legal requirements about what information must be disclosed to prospective donors. Please refer to the information provided by the relevant regulator. 

Please also clearly state that World Vision is not involved in the organisation of your fundraising activity by including the following statement: 

[Your name] supports the work of World Vision Australia [by raising funds for name of appeal]. World Vision is grateful for the support of [your name] but is not involved in this fundraising initiative. 

We aren't able to provide cash tins for your fundraising activity. 

If a donor wishes to receive a tax deductible receipt from us, we recommend that you advise them to make their donation directly to us via our website or by calling us on 13 32 40. However, please note that some state and territory fundraising laws also require you to issue a general receipt to the donor at the time you receive the funds. 

We recommend that you carefully consider the risks associated with collecting cash and, where possible, enable people to donate directly to us online by, for example, having a laptop set up at your fundraising event or asking people to write you a cheque instead.

Where you do receive cash, we recommend that you convert it to a bank cheque or money order as soon as possible.

Please do not bank it into your own bank account, as this is prohibited by fundraising laws in a number of jurisdictions.

You should remit funds raised to us as soon as practicable. If you are fundraising in Western Australia, this must be no more than 14 days from the date you receive funds. 

Please securely post cheques, bank cheques and money orders to 1 Vision Drive, Burwood East, Victoria, 3151, with details of the appeal for which the funds were raised and your contact details (in case we need to call you to clarify anything).