Collections at funerals or memorial services

Collections at funerals or memorial services

Many people specify in their will or final wishes that they would prefer their family and friends to make donations to a particular charity instead of flowers at their funeral or memorial service. Or you may choose this option to raise funds for Vista if we supported your loved one during their life, or if our work is important to you or your family.

There are several easy ways to collect funds for Vista’s work at a funeral or memorial service.

For cash collections, Vista can provide you with either:

• Branded donation envelopes to distribute amongst family and friends. These include the option to Gift Aid each donation, which increases the value of each donation to Vista’s work by 25% at no extra cost to each person who donates.

• Branded, sealed collection boxes. These can be put on tables, passed along during a service, or made available on entry and leaving a venue. Please note that Vista cannot claim Gift Aid on donations collected in this way.

If you would like either collection envelopes or secure collection boxes, please call us on 0116 249 8801 or email fundraising@vistablind.org.uk.

Pre-sealed collection boxes and Gift Aid envelopes will need to be returned to:

Fundraising team, Vista Head Office, Provincial House, 37 New Walk, Leicester, LE1 6T3.  

For any other cash collections:

Pay the amount collected into your bank account and make a payment equal to the amount collected to Vista from your account via one of these methods:

• Via Vista’s JustGiving charity page.

• By cheque, made payable to Vista, sent to the address above.

• By card, or bank transfer, by calling Vista on 0116 249 8801.

Please let us know when funds are from a collection and not a personal donation from you so we know not to apply Gift Aid.

Collecting donations online:

You can also set up a JustGiving fundraising page to collect donations to Vista in memory of someone and share the page with family and friends in the order of service, by text, WhatsApp, or on social media.

JustGiving has instructions for how to set your fundraising page up, or call Vista on 0116 249 8801 if you need any help and we can talk you through the process.

Once you’ve set your fundraising page up, you can get a QR code to help you share it with family and friends by going to your page and adding '/qrcode' to the end of the URL. For example, if your page is www.justgiving.com/page/JimSmith add /qrcode at the end and click enter. Then you can:

• Add the QR code to the order of service, or a poster, so people can scan the code and donate directly to the remembrance fundraising page you created.

• Screenshot your QR code on a smartphone, so you can show it to people easily on your phone screen.

Your funeral director should also be able to help you collect donations. They might forward donations to Vista on your behalf. Some funeral directors offer an online obituary via Funeral Guide, which can be connected easily with JustGiving and will display a total raised on the obituary page for the person you are remembering or honouring.