Fundraising event cancelled? Four steps for your donors
An event cancellation can turn a clear fundraising plan into a stream of donor questions. Your first job is to give people accurate information quickly.
Public guidance from the Charity Commission and Fundraising Regulator, published in June 2026, says people who organise fundraising are responsible for it. For challenges, it asks fundraisers to explain in advance what will happen if they cannot complete the activity.1
1. Confirm exactly what has changed
Check the organiser's message before contacting donors. Find out whether the event is cancelled, postponed or moved, whether a replacement date is confirmed and whether participants need to take any action.
Then contact the charity you are supporting. Ask whether it has a standard message for participants and who should answer questions about donations. Keep the organiser's and charity's wording to hand so every update gives the same facts.
2. Check the promise you made
Read your fundraising page, social posts and messages. Look for any sentence that made the donation conditional on completing a particular event, distance or date.
The public guidance gives challenge fundraisers two choices to explain up front: donations will pass to the charity whether the challenge is completed, or each donation will be returned. It also says that if you do not complete the activity and had not already told donors their money would still pass to the charity, you must refund each donation.1
The Code of Fundraising Practice applies directly to charitable institutions and third-party fundraisers. Its event standards require procedures for telling and refunding sponsors when a participation condition is missed or an event is cancelled. The Code also says that sponsorship given without participation conditions may be impossible to refund.2
Your original words matter. Copy them into your notes before asking anyone to decide what happens next.
3. Agree how questions will be handled
Speak to the charity before promising a refund or a replacement challenge. Share the exact condition you gave donors and ask who will manage any requests.
Wonderful.org says donations pass directly from the donor's bank account to the charity's bank account.3 Ask the charity and Wonderful support how a refund request should be handled before giving a donor a timetable.
Keep event entry fees separate from charitable donations. The organiser's terms may govern an entry fee, while the charity and fundraising arrangement govern the donation. Send each question to the right organisation.
4. Give donors one clear update
Post an update as soon as the facts and contact route are confirmed. Wonderful fundraisers can add or edit public updates from the dashboard for their fundraising page.4 Use the same wording wherever you shared the appeal.
A useful update can be three sentences:
Sunday's 10 km walk has been cancelled because the route is unsafe. I am speaking to the charity about the donations already made and will update this page by Friday. Please message me if you have a question about your donation.
If you choose a replacement challenge, confirm the new plan with the charity first. Give donors the new date, activity and any change to the original conditions. Our five checks before sharing a fundraising page can help you make the revised promise clear.
Update your page now
Open your fundraising page and copy the organiser's confirmed status into a three-sentence update. Add the date of your next update and the contact route for donation questions.
This article provides general information for fundraisers. It does not provide legal advice. Fundraising rules and refund rights depend on the circumstances, so check the linked guidance and speak to the charity you support.
Footnotes
- Charity Commission and Fundraising Regulator, public guidance for people raising money for charity, published 12 June 2026. Read the guidance.
- Fundraising Regulator, Code of Fundraising Practice, section 10.3 on sponsorship conditions and cancelled events, effective 1 November 2025. Read the event standards.
- Wonderful.org, current information on how donations reach charities. Read the fees and charges page.
- Wonderful support, instructions for posting fundraising-page updates. Read the product guide.