Frequently Asked Questions

You can hold your Coffee Morning however you like, so start by deciding where you want to host. It could be at home, in your workplace, school or a local community venue, whatever suits you best.

Next, choose a date and time and invite your guests. The official date of Coffee Morning this year is Friday 27 September, but you can host your event at any time.

After you sign up, we’ll send you your free fundraising kit and personal fundraising page details. Each kit includes recipes, a collection box, event posters and a game for your event! You can choose from the complete full kit with bunting, balloons and a tablecloth, or our lighter kit with less paper and no plastic.

For more guidance, visit our How to host page.

Coffee Morning is about coming together with your friends, family, colleagues and community. It's a chance to share food and drink, and maybe a game or two, all whilst raising money for people living with cancer.

Some people choose to get together for a coffee break, while others might organise a kitchen disco or a chai afternoon. You can hold a garden party or throw a barbeque, do a bake off with your colleagues, share a takeaway with friends or hold a cake-away on your driveway!

Whatever you choose to do, you will be changing the lives of people living with cancer by raising money for Macmillan.

There are many ways to invite your guests, here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Set up a Facebook event.
• Put up our event poster and send out invitations. Visit our fundraising resources page to view our Coffee Morning themed ones. You'll also find these in your fundraising kit.
• Set up a WhatsApp or Facebook group.
• Send an email to your colleagues, customers and clients.

You can share your personal Coffee Morning fundraising page at the same time - it's a great way for people to donate if they can't come along on the day.

Look out for public Coffee Mornings being promoted in your local area and on social media. If someone's put up a poster, they definitely want to see you there. So go along, have fun and help your host raise as much money as possible to support people living with cancer.

There are lots of ways to donate to a Coffee Morning. All our hosts will have an online Coffee Morning fundraising page and a QR code that you can scan to make a donation at the event using your mobile phone. You can also text to donate or make sure you have some money ready to pop in a donation box.

If you can’t find an event, why not host your own? It's a great way to get people together and we’ll send you everything you need in our free fundraising kit.

Of course! Please note we can’t send postal kits overseas. However, you can find lots of fundraising resources that are free to download on our website to help with your planning and fundraising.

If you wish to cancel your Coffee Morning registration, please send an email to coffee@macmillan.org.uk explaining that you would like to cancel, including the address that you registered with.

If you can’t host a Coffee Morning yourself this year, you can make a donation to Coffee Morning on our website or attend one in your local area instead. Look out for posters advertising public ones and on local social media pages.

Once you sign up, we'll send you your free fundraising kit which is full of ideas to help make your event a success. We've also included a fundraising game and a Gift Aid sheet in your kit to help you raise even more money at your Coffee Morning.

We will also send you a link to your own online Coffee Morning fundraising page. Personalise your page, then share it to spread the word far and wide.

You can also use the QR code stickers in your pack for people to scan and donate to your Coffee Morning on the day. Your QR code will also be emailed to you, so you will be able to share that too.

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box! There are tons of other ideas to help you to raise a little extra money at your event. Why not get your guests involved with a fun sweepstake? For example, how many hundreds and thousands are on the cake?

You could ask your guests to make a donation when they guess. If you need a little more inspiration, you can find tips, recipes and ideas in your fundraising kit and on our website too.

Macmillan are unable to automatically send fundraising packs to Facebook supporters due to data protection policy regulations.

In order to receive your kit, please sign up on our website.

Once you’ve registered to host a Coffee Morning, a fundraising page will automatically be set up for you, so you can start fundraising straight away. The URL for your fundraising page can be found in your registration email.

If you’d like to personalise your page, you can add a photo, a fundraising target and update your bio with more details about your event. You can do this quickly and easily by creating an account. The link to personalise your page will also be in your registration e-mail.

Download our handy guide to using your Coffee Morning fundraising page.

If you can’t find the link to your page, please send an email to coffee@macmillan.org.uk - the team will help you sort it.

Why not put up your QR sticker in a communal space or a window at home. This will encourage people to donate with their phone and let your friends and family know that you’re still fundraising.

You can also make a personal donation towards Coffee Morning on our website.

Matched funding is where a company offers to give a certain amount of money to your fundraising efforts. This can either ‘match’ the amount that you’re able to raise or a fixed amount agreed up front.

See our matched giving form.

There are several benefits for companies, including helping them achieve their Corporate Social Responsibility targets and potentially reducing the amount of corporate tax they pay.

You can pay in your Coffee Morning money:

• Online
• Over the phone at 0330 102 7890
• At a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, or Ulster Bank, using your unique paying-in (bank giro credit) slip included in your fundraising kit
• At any Post Office branch by taking in your money along with your unique paying-in (bank giro credit) slip from your Coffee Morning kit.

Donations received through your Coffee Morning fundraising page are automatically sent to us. PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay etc may be subject to charges.

Everything you need to know about using your fundraising page can be found in our fundraising page guide.

We ask our supporters to pay their money into a branch of Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest or Ulster Bank. Other banks might charge a processing fee and using them means that we won't be able to trace the payment to you and send you your well-deserved thank you and personalised certificate.

You can also pay in at any Post Office branch.

Please use the freepost envelope in your fundraising kit to send us your cheques and Gift Aid form, once it’s filled in with all the details.

Cheques should be made payable to Macmillan Cancer Support (please do not send cash) and don’t forget to include your name and address so we can make sure the money goes to your Coffee Morning total.

If you do not have your freepost envelope, please send your cheques and Gift Aid forms to:

Freepost RTLS-JTZR-RYAZ
Macmillan Coffee Morning
PO BOX 4240
Bracknell
RG42 9QL

Your unique paying-in (bank giro credit) slips are attached to the letter in your fundraising kit. If you are unable to find yours, you can order a replacement on our website.

If you are abroad but have a bank card registered in the UK, you can still make a card payment on the Coffee Morning website.

If you don’t have a bank card registered in the UK, don’t worry – it’s still possible to pay in the money you have raised or make a personal donation.

You can:

• Make a PayPal payment on the Coffee Morning website.
• Make a donation through your online fundraising page.
• Call +44 330 102 7890 to speak to someone on our payment line.
• Email coffee@macmillan.org.uk to arrange a BACs payment.

• Members of the public are not subject to the food standards regulations or the UK Food Information Amendment, also known as Natasha's law (even if products were to be wrapped in cling film etc).
• Where a school or organisation is "hosting" the Coffee Morning and inviting the public to donate goods, again they would not be subject to this regulation.
• If a school or organisation is a registered food business and supplies their own products they would be subject to the regulation (as for any products they produce).

It is considered best practice to list allergens where possible, but as above not a legal requirement for the public.

For more information please visit the Food Standards Agency (FSA) website.