Charities and Raffles

Fundraising is a common method of raising money for charities. There are many different ways that charitable collections can be gathered. Each of these has a different set of rules. The most common forms of collection are listed below.

Street Collection

View more information on street collections.

House-to-house Collection

House-to-house collection (going from door-to-door collecting money or items) requires a licence from us. If a Home Office Exemption Order has been granted then you won’t need a licence.

An application for a licence to make a house to house collection [pdf] 93KB must be made at least four weeks before the proposed date of the collection.

The licence will be valid to make collections for no more than one calendar year.

Many collections are carried out by regional or national charitable organisations. These are often under the authority of a Home Office exemption.

After the collection has been held, a house to house return form [pdf] 70KB has to be submitted.

For further information contact the Licensing team.

Direct Debit Fundraising

Fundraising by direct debit is not currently licensable, but a diary is held by us for Tenterden town centre. The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA) hold the diary for Ashford town centre. The PFRA can be contacted on 0207 401 8452.

Private Collection

You must get permission from a landowner or manager if collecting money on private property. Shopping centres would fall under this category. You may also be asked to obtain a street collection permit from us.

Lotteries/Raffles

If you wish to apply for a new registration, you need to complete an application form for registration of non-commercial society [pdf] 686KB. There is an initial fee of £40.00. An annual fee of £20.00 is then payable every year.

You can register to run a small lottery if it is:

for charitable purposes
for the purpose of enabling participation in, or supporting, sport, athletics or a cultural activity
for any other non-commercial purpose other than that of private gain

After each draw a lottery return form [pdf] 528KB must be completed and submitted within three months. See our Lotteries FAQs below for more information.

Applications may be submitted to Licensing following which you will be asked to make payment by phone.