How charities can get involved in festivals

With hundreds of festivals running over the summer months, they are a perfect platform to get your charity on more people’s radars.

 

Oxfam is recruiting campaigners for the 17 festivals it’s attending this year, giving carefully selected volunteers a chance to enjoy the festival in exchange for acting as an Oxfam ambassador. In 2023, their campaigners helped spread their message to thousands of festivalgoers, gathering an impressive 46,000 petition signatures.

 

Oxfam is a massive charity, campaigning at major festivals. But there are hundreds of smaller, local festivals that could be brilliant for signing up new supporters for your charity.

 

And raising awareness is one way that charities can make the most of the festival season. What are some of the others?

 

 

Promoting inclusion

 

The Join Together festival is showing the big players how to make festivals more inclusive and accessible. Music and crowds can be especially overwhelming for neuro-divergent festivalgoers – so the family-friendly event starts with a Quiet Hour. This hour is free of music and flashing lights, giving people with additional needs the chance to enjoy activities in a calmer, quieter way. Ear defenders are free to borrow, there are chill-out zones, therapy animals, and wheelchair user-friendly activities (including axe-throwing and archery).

 

The festival is organised by the Together Trust, and being held in Cheadle on 6 July.

  

 

Supporting communities, all year round

 

The Green Man Festival is all about opportunities and inspiring positive change – from supporting emerging artists to engaging people with science. The festival is held every August, snug in the Brecon Beacons in Wales – but its charitable arm, the Green Man Trust, makes good things happen all year round.

 

Now in its tenth year, it’s raised over £1,250,000 and helped over 12,000 people. That support has ranged from giving local community groups grants and food banks, to supporting over 5,000 emerging artists through arts development programmes. It also  partners with Oasis Cardiff to deliver a training project for refugees and asylum seekers, and with the University of South Wales to deliver a Media Training Programme. This gives students the chance to develop skills including camera operation, engineering, and video editing. 

 

 

Supporting musicians and crews

 

Festivals are a lot of fun, but they can also be frantic and overwhelming – particularly for those working backstage. That’s why since 2016, Music Support has been providing “Safe Hubs” at festivals.

 

These safe spaces give anyone working at the festival, from artist to crew, somewhere to take time to speak to a Mental Health First Aid trained volunteer. The hubs also help to raise awareness of the charity’s confidential helpline, which is run by peers with lived experience of mental ill health or addiction, and an Addiction and Recovery Awareness workshop.

 

 

Making festivals more accessible

 

Volunteer schemes make festivals more accessible – but not for everyone. Most schemes give volunteers free entry to the festival and provide meals. But that doesn’t make them free. The cost of travel expenses and camping equipment all adds up.

 

Glastonbury’s new fully funded volunteer scheme is reaching people who wouldn’t usually be able to afford to go. Ten partner charities, including the Young Women’s Trust and the Refugee Council, will bring a total of 100 people to the festival on the scheme. Young Women’s Trust volunteers will even be given a pair of wellies.

 

 

Linking volunteers, festivals, and charities

 

My Cause UK offers charities the opportunity to reach new audiences, promote their missions and receive donations. Volunteers sign up to work at festivals up and down the country – and they get to choose which charity they’d like to support.

 

My Cause UK is then paid by the festival to provide volunteer services (including training, team management and catering) and donates a share of the fee to the charities. It’s a win for everyone involved.

 

So far, they’ve donated over £200,000 to more than 700 charities chosen by volunteers – including Mind, Shelter, and War Child.

 

 

Boosting fundraising

 

There are great opportunities to raise funds at festivals. That could be by enlisting your volunteers, or by becoming a festival’s charity partner. Glastonbury, for example, has three long-standing charity partners: Oxfam, WaterAid, and Greenpeace. In 2023, the festival donated a huge £3.7 million to charitable causes and campaigns – a record amount for the festival.

 

Other festivals are set up with fundraising at their core. Carfest was created in 2012, specifically to raise funds for UK children’s charities. It’s raised £23 million for UK partner charities since it started, and this year a percentage of every ticket will go to charities including BBC Children in Need and Naomi House & Jacksplace.