Street or Tube Collections

Street or Tube Collections

Bucket collections on King’s or KCLSU property are relatively simple to arrange, please read our guidance below. Students can only organise bucket collections to fundraise for charities, you cannot bucket collect for your society. 

Applications for bucket collections on the street or tube stations are slightly more complicated and can take between two to three months’ to plan, so please give yourself plenty of time in advance to prepare. Get in touch with the Volunteer team if you have any questions at volunteering@kclsu.org. 

Read this page to find out how to plan a collection in the following locations:

• KCL or KCLSU property
• London boroughs
• TfL

Planning a collection on KCL or KCLSU property 

1. You must obtain and submit a charity authorisation letter from the charity you are supporting as part of your fundraising form. 

2. Write a risk assessment for your event. Please note how you will keep the fundraising buckets safe throughout. 

3. You must inform the Volunteering Team of your collection by completing the fundraising form and submitting your risk assessment and charity authorisation form. You can request a specific number of buckets at this time. If your collection is taking place out-of-hours, please remember to request an alternative procedure to return buckets after the hub’s desks have closed.  

4. Once your form has been approved the Volunteering team will put you in touch with the location you chose to host the collection in. It is the student’s responsibility to finalise the location and date. Please keep us informed if you change your date/venue. 

KCL venues include:  

• Strand Campus – The Old Entrance Hall, The Quad and Bush House Courtyard/Pavilion Desk 
• Guy’s Campus – The Memorial Gardens 
• Waterloo Campus – The Library Alcove, The Ground Floor Registration Desk 

KCLSU venues include:

• Café and bar spaces
• Activity rooms

Planning a street collection in City of London Borough 

1. The City of London only issues fundraising permits for charities for Tuesdays or Fridays on a first come, first served basis. Charities are only permitted to hold one collection per year in the City of London Borough. For this reason, we ask students to get in touch with their chosen charity and ask the charity to organise the permit. 

2. Once your chosen charity has organised the permit for you, please complete our fundraising form. You must include a risk assessment, charity authorisation letter and your fundraising permit. 

Planning a street collection in all other boroughs 

All planning for street collections in all other London Boroughs, excluding City of London, must go through Metropolitan Police.  

1. View the available street collection dates and find one that suits you and your volunteers.  

2. Complete the Met Police application form. Please note that they require applications by the first day of the month before your chosen collection date. For example, if you’re planning to collect on 20 September we need to receive your application no later than 1 August. 

3. Once you have received confirmation from the Met Police.  Please complete our fundraising form. You must include a risk assessment, charity authorisation letter and your fundraising permit. 

Planning a tube collection 

1. TfL require all applications to bucket collect to be made by the charity. Therefore, students must get in touch with their chosen charity and ask them to organise the permit. The TfL require that all volunteers have a DBS processed by the charity that they are fundraising for. The charities must ensure that all student volunteers hold a DBS. 

2. Once your chosen charity has organised the permit for you, please complete our fundraising form. You must include a risk assessment, charity authorisation letter and your fundraising permit. 

Collecting your buckets and cash float on-the-day 

1. You will go to the Hubs desk that you chose on your fundraising form to collect your buckets and float, if requested. Bring a piece of photo ID. This will be used as a deposit and will be returned to you once you return your bucket/float. Only Society Committee Members can collect the bucket, so make sure your committee list is up to date with Activities and that a Committee member will be attending the event 

2. Buckets must be returned sealed, and the float must be returned in full. 

3. After the fundraiser, return the bucket/float to the Hubs desk. The Hubs staff member will instruct you on how to count and bank your money – please allow 30 minutes for this and do so before the Hubs desk closes. (If you are unable to return the buckets by the deadline, you will have arranged an alternative in advance with the Volunteering Team via volunteering@kclsu.org).

After your collection 

1. The funds will be held in your society’s charity account. You can check this using the ‘Activity Group and Society Current Year Accounts [relevant year]’ found under ‘Key Finance Documents’ on this page.  

2. To send funds to your chosen charity, fill out a Payment Request Form with the bank details of the charity and notify the KCLSU Finance Team at finance@kclsu.org – more in-depth finance information is also available on your PAT training through KEATS. The money will be sent by the Finance Team to the relevant charity fortnightly, you can check whether this has taken place using the ‘Activity Group and Society Current Year Accounts [relevant year]’ found under ‘Key Finance Documents’ on this page. 

3. Complete our 3-question evaluation survey to let us know how your fundraiser went. This helps us to improve the student experience. 

Collection Top Tips

Read our tips on how to maximise donations. If you have any tips of your own, please share with us at volunteering@kclsu.org and we will upload them here!

1. To really boost your engagement you could give out a freebie for each donation you receive! 

2. Create some signage or even wear a costume to capture the public's attention.?

3. Smile and make eye contact with passers-by!?