Do you need public liability insurance for a charity event?

When organising a charity fundraising event, paying out extra money for insurance can seem counter-intuitive. After all, the aim of your event is to raise money, rather than spending it. However, a fundraiser without insurance can do the charity efforts more harm than good if things go wrong.

Taking public liability insurance for a one off charity event doesn’t cost much and is well worth the expenditure. There are a number of things that could occur which means claims of thousands of pounds. Without event insurance in place for your fundraiser this can be devastating.

What could lead to a claim?

There are two main aspects of public liability insurance anyone organising a charity event should be aware of.

Personal injury

The first is the protection it offers against personal injury caused to a third party attending your event. If you’re organising a table-top sale this could be something as seemingly minor as a visitor tripping over a table leg. But it could be as serious as part of the staging or lighting falling onto visitors if you are operating a larger-scale event.

In either of these instances, injuries caused to a visitor could lead to legal action. Despite the fact the event is a charity function, we are living in a no-win no-fee environment where individuals are more willing to put forward a claim.

If this were to happen, having public liability insurance in place for your event will protect you. You will be covered for the legal costs of defending you and your event. This includes any settlement should the accident be deemed your fault. It may also be a good idea to ask anyone selling or exhibiting at your event to have their own Stallholder Insurance in place too.

Property Damage

It’s likely that you’ll be hosting your charity fundraiser at a third-party venue. This could be a council-owned facility or one that is privately owned.

In either case it’s like that the venue owner will require you to hold public liability insurance for your event. As well as injury to attendees, this cover will protect you if property damage is caused on the day.

This could range from marks left on the walls of a village hall when setting up tables, to damage caused to a hired-out field if your event happens to be outside.

Public liability claims could also materialise from damage to smaller items, belonging to both the venue owners and your visitors. From smashed windows, to broken personal items, if the event is deemed to be at fault, legal action could ensue. The only way to ensure that you are fully protected in this instance is by having Event Insurance to protect your fundraiser.

Having charity event insurance in place is more than just public liability cover, with other benefits available. But by making sure the basics are covered you can put your full effort into raising money for good causes.