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Fundraising info for young people

WaterAid Australia is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and/or young people who may come in contact with WaterAid Australia and its representatives. We support the rights of the child and will act to ensure a child safe environment is maintained. We encourage our staff, partners and volunteers to actively participate in building and maintaining a child safe environment.

This commitment is applicable to not only our international programmatic work, but our fundraising and advocacy activities as well.

Fundraising for WaterAid

It’s very important to us that that young people participating in our fundraising events are able to do so in a safe and secure way. In accordance with the law, people under the age of 16 must receive permission from their parents or a guardian before creating a fundraising profile for WaterAid. We also recommend they read through the below guidelines on this page.

Information for people 15 years or under

Thanks for choosing to fundraise for WaterAid! Fundraising can be fun, but it’s important to be safe when asking for donations. Here are a few ways to stay safe:

  • Do not collect donations by door-knocking
  • Do not collect donations in public without adult supervision
  • Always let your parent/guardian/teacher know what fundraising activities you intend to do
  • Please ask your parents or teachers for help when handling cash donations

Please be careful when fundraising online as well. Here are a few guidelines for staying safe online:

  • Do not give our your personal information (such as your address and telephone number) without your parents’ permission
  • Keep your username and password in a safe place
  • Check with your parents or a guardian before uploading a photo of yourself onto our website or any social media channels
  • Ask an adult to supervise you while posting content (such as blogs) to our website or social media
  • Do not start a conversation with anybody you don’t know. If you receive a message from anybody you don’t know, please notify your parent or a guardian.
  • If you receive a message or come across any content that makes you feel uncomfortable, make sure you let your parents or a guardian know
  • In order to stay healthy, we recommend you don’t spend too long on the computer. It’s important to rest your eyes and stretch your legs every now and then!
  • Do not download any files without checking with your parents or a guardian first
  • Be respectful of others

Information for supervising adults

Please encourage young people to be safe when using the internet, and to be careful when uploading photos and other personal information online. If the young person under your supervision is collecting, handling and banking donations, please ensure they are acting safely and responsibly.

For more resources on how to encourage young people to be safe when using the internet and social media, we recommend you visit the following websites:

  • ThinkUKnow is a free, evidence-based cyber safety program that provides presentations to Australian parents, carers and teachers and students. It provides information on the technologies young people use, the challenges they may face, and importantly, how they can be overcome.
  • The Office of the Children’s eSafety Commisioner has resources available for schools and classrooms to assist with cybser safety and cyberbullying.
  • The DFAT website contains links to other organisations committed to children’s rights and internet safety

Laws relating to fundraising

Each Australian state and territory has different laws relating to young people participating in fundraising activities. These can be found at the following links:

For a summary of these laws, you can access the following resources:

Use of photography

We advise our supporters to think carefully before using images of children when promoting their participation in our fundraising events. It is important to us that we protect the dignity and pride of the people featured in our photographs, and this is especially true of children. Our projects enable people to help themselves and our photographs should represent this sense of strength and self reliance.