Emergency appeal: what the rules ask and what to prepare before the day

The Charity Commission's guidance on emergency appeals, known as CC40, starts from 1 rule: "You can only raise funds for your charity’s purposes" (Charity Commission, CC40). Your purposes are written in your governing document: the constitution, trust deed or articles that say what your charity is for. A local charity whose purposes cover 1 county may not appeal for a flood in another country.

If the emergency does not fit, you can still help: CC40 describes directing donors to the appeals of charities whose purposes do. You may also ask for your work in general rather than 1 emergency. The Commission's guide to trustees' duties in fundraising, known as CC20, says: "If your charity wishes to spend the funds raised on any or all of your charity’s purposes, say that in your appeal wording" (Charity Commission, CC20).

In our view, that is the line for a local emergency that hits your own charity, such as a flooded building or a sudden rise in the people you serve. In our view, an appeal for your work, with the extra costs named as examples, keeps the money usable when the full costs are not yet known.

CC40 and CC20 cover England and Wales; Scotland has its own charity regulator, OSCR, and Northern Ireland its own Charity Commission.

CC40 sets out the wording: your appeal must say what you are fundraising for and what you will do with the money you raise (Charity Commission, CC40). It should also be "as clear and transparent as possible", "say how you will report back on success", and carry a closing date: "Include closure dates in your appeal where possible." CC40 adds that a charity "should register with the Fundraising Regulator", the body that sets fundraising standards.

CC20 adds the lines a donor may look for:

• That you are a registered charity. "If your charity’s income in its last financial year was over £10,000 you must state in your fundraising documents or materials that it is a registered charity." A charity that is also a company gives its company number too.

• What fundraising costs take. Say "whether any of the funds raised will be used for fundraising costs, and if so how much or what proportion".
• Gift Aid, the tax a charity reclaims on a UK taxpayer's gift: "You must declare if you are claiming Gift Aid."
• Short posts. "If you use social media to fundraise, make sure people can access the detailed information not included in the social media post."

CC40 adds that appeal money is usually restricted, and a restricted fund is shown separately in your accounts.

CC40 has a heading for it: "Include a secondary purpose in your appeal." It explains that a secondary purpose says what you will do with the appeal funds if you have money left over, if you do not raise enough money to carry out the work set out in your appeal, or if you cannot spend the funds as you intended.

CC20 is plain: "you should include a secondary purpose". It is a "should", not a "must", and it is often skipped: of 15 emergency appeal pages for UK donors that we read in September 2026 (1 of them as an archived copy), only 3 said what would happen to money left over.

Leaving it out has a cost. CC20 explains why the line matters: money raised for a named aim must be spent only on that aim, and "If you cannot, you must comply with certain legal requirements which will involve extra work and costs for your charity" (Charity Commission, CC20). In our view, 1 sentence agreed by your trustees now saves that: if we raise more than this emergency needs, or cannot use it as planned, we will spend it on our nearest work of the same kind.

The DEC "brings together 15 leading UK aid charities to raise funds quickly and efficiently at times of humanitarian crisis overseas" (DEC). It opens a joint appeal only when the disaster's scale, its members' capacity and public support all justify such an appeal. The third test reads: "There must be reasonable grounds for concluding that a public appeal would be successful" (DEC).

Its members can act quickly: they "don't have to submit plans or applications before using DEC funds" (DEC).

The DEC also says: "There are many disasters that the DEC does not launch appeals for" (DEC). In our view, plan your own response without counting on such an appeal. CC40 names a relevant DEC appeal as 1 place a charity may pass its own appeal money. Passing it anywhere brings a duty: "You must ensure that other organisations, including other charities, are suitable to receive your appeal funds."

CC40 calls these checks due diligence and says: "Keep a record of your approach to due diligence and the checks you decided to make." For a charity thinking of sending goods, CC40 lists "fraud and theft risks" among the risks to manage on an aid convoy, and adds: "It is usually more effective to transfer money rather than goods to an area affected by an emergency."

For a disaster in the UK, the national channel is the National Emergencies Trust. It was "set up in November 2019, just four months before it activated its Coronavirus Appeal, to provide the UK with one trusted place to give during domestic disasters" (Civil Society, 18 March 2021). That appeal raised nearly £100m in its first year. "A total of £76.5m in funding has been distributed through UK Community Foundations and its network of 47 community foundations across the UK".

A community foundation is a local charity that pools gifts for its area and hands them out as grants. In a local emergency it often opens a fund: its national network says "community foundations use local expertise and connections to get emergency support out quickly" (UK Community Foundations), and the Trust's money went through them "to enable local charities and groups to respond to urgent needs".

So a community foundation's emergency fund can reach local charities like yours, as well as being a place to send donors. CC40 lists community foundations, the National Emergencies Trust and charities with expertise in the area as places you can consider passing appeal money for a UK emergency. In our view, call yours on the first day whether or not you run your own appeal, so local donors are not asked twice; how to research a funder shows how to read its past grants.