Coffee Mornings are a great way to bring friends, family, work colleagues and neighbours together, whilst helping raise money for a chosen charity.

Traditionally, Coffee Mornings involve volunteers baking delicious cakes to be sold during the charity event. The cakes are sold by the slice with a cup of coffee (or tea) at a small cost. The money raised will be donated to the charity of the hosts’ choice.

Coffee Mornings have been around for 28 years. Back in 1990, a local fundraising team hosted a Coffee Morning and donated the cost of the coffee sold to Macmillan Cancer Support. The following year, it became more of a nationwide event. 2,600 volunteers and supporters of the Macmillan Cancer Support charity got involved. It has since become one of the most recognised charity events in the UK. In fact, the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning is the longest-standing and biggest fundraising event in the UK.

Over the years, Coffee Mornings have grown in popularity; it has become a more varied charity event with a selection of delicious sweet and savoury foods. Coffee Mornings can be hosted almost everywhere and not just at home, school or in your office – In Cornwall, a Coffee Morning was once held 100 feet underground in a Poldark mine.

If you’re interested in hosting a Coffee Morning for a charity close to your heart, here are some helpful tips to get you started:

1. Talk to friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues to get them on board. They can help with the planning, spread the word and bake some scrumptious treats.
2. If you’re thinking of hosting the event at your work, have a chat with your boss. This isn’t to convince your boss, it’s to help organise a date where everyone is available. The same applies to any event venue (outside of your home). Your boss might be able to help with the organising and offer support.
3. Get a date in the diary and start planning. Be creative and get in touch with the charity so they can send you a fundraiser pack – you’ll want to have as much charity branding and information about the cause as possible to help spread awareness.
4. Get as many people as possible involved with the baking and make sure they tell you what speciality they’re bringing along. This will help with your planning and ensure that there aren’t too many of the same treats on offer. Try to keep it varied to gain attraction.
5. Include other fun activities to further support the cause. This can include ‘guess the weight of the cake’.
6. Have reasonable prices available for the baked goodies, drinks (teas, coffees etc.) and for other games, i.e. ‘guess the weight of the cake’.
7. Spread the word and invite as many people as possible along. If you’re hosting the Coffee Morning at work, invite neighbouring offices or put a poster up in the office building with the date, time and the charity.
8. Raise as much money as possible and enjoy it!

Make sure you have the following for your charity Coffee Morning:

• Invites – this can be delivered by person or create an invite via Facebook. Be sure to include relevant information
• Fundraising pack from the charity
• Charity branding
• List of volunteers and their task
• List of baked treats
• Any other fun activities
• Most importantly, the donation box

Take lots of photos of the event to share. Photos are great for sharing across social networking sites and to help promote upcoming fundraising events. If you choose to share your photos and fundraising activity on social media, don’t forget to tag those who took part (if possible) and the charity. This will further promote your Coffee Morning, whilst spreading awareness for the charity you’re supporting.

And finally, enjoy it. You’re not only organising an event that brings people together, but you’re also supporting a cause close to your heart.

If you’re looking for some more inspiration on supporting a charity, read our blog on Ways to donate to charity.