RESOURCES: Quick guide to ... raising money for charity

Rattle that tin and collect that envelope, it's fund-raising time. Aid agencies and charities are now gearing up for their major moneymaking drives of the year. During the next few weeks, they will be urging their supporters to back stunts, events and house and street collections. Some effort is put into raising awareness.

But the main focus is separating the public from their spare cash in the nicest possible way. Young people might want to join in. Work through the issues with the quick guide.

1. Choose a charity that means something to young people. Is the charity working in an area the young people have links with? Is there someone with a disability or medical condition that young people feel strongly about helping? Such links can help further exploration.

2. The public has a right to know where charitable funds are being spent. But some charities like to keep it fuzzy. Encourage young people to ask where the money is likely to be used. Don't accept vague and inaccurate responses such as "it's for cancer". It is certainly not for cancer. But is it money for research? And if so, what sort? Or is it for a charity that provides care for those affected? If a charity seems evasive or dismissive of such questions, you might want to look elsewhere.

3. Charities prefer to have non-earmarked cash. This is money they can put in their general funds and use for any charitable purpose that their rules permit. These can often be very broad. Promoting religion is a charitable purpose, for example. So if you do a 24-hour fast, you might think you are raising money for famine relief. But you might actually be raising money to buy bibles. If you care, find out.

4. Don't be too trusting and don't expect others to trust you. In a survey by the Charity Commission, one in three people said they give without checking whether a collection is legitimate. The main reason given was that "everyone trusts charity collectors". This is very nice of them and also completely nuts. Encourage young people to check the ID of anyone they give money to. That means insisting that anyone collecting has ID or knows who has, and knows who has a licence to collect, what the charity registration number is and that the collecting boxes are sealed.

5. Stick to the law. If you are on the streets with a collecting tin, you must be stationary and 25 metres away from other collectors, although two of you can be together. Collectors must be aged 16 or above, although this may be reduced to 14 in London, with permission. These laws don't apply to private property, so if you are in a privately owned shopping mall or supermarket, you might be OK to dance around a bit - with the owner's permission.

6. Fundraising can be excellent education and a lot of fun. Young people can practise skills, take responsibility and feel good about helping. But never lose sight of the dignity of those being collected for. How would you feel if your vital services were delivered courtesy of a three-legged pub-crawl where people spent more on beer than they raised in funds?