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, on your driveway, a hall or online, whatever suits you best. Then 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 whenever suits you best.

Sign up and we’ll send you your free fundraising pack (delivered within 14 working days) and online Coffee Morning page. You can expect your fundraising pack in the summer in plenty of time for your event.

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.

The official date for Coffee Morning this year is Friday 27 September, but you can host your event whenever suits you best.

Coffee Morning is about coming together with your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, and even new people to share food and drink, and maybe a game or two, all whilst raising money for people living with cancer.

A Coffee Morning can be whatever you want it to be. Some people choose to get together for a coffee break, whilst others might choose to organise a kitchen disco. You can hold a garden get together and throw a barbeque, or treat your colleagues to some homemade bakes, or even get together with friends for a takeaway. You can hold an event on your driveway! Whatever you choose to do will change 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:

1. Set up a Facebook event.

2. Put up our event poster.

3. Set up a WhatsApp or Facebook group.

4. Send an email to your colleagues.

You can share your online Coffee Morning page with your guests at the same time, and watch the donations roll in ahead of your event.

Look out for public coffee mornings being promoted in your local area. If someone's put up a poster, they definitely want to see you there. So go along, enjoy yourself and help your host raise as much money as possible for Macmillan.

There are lots of ways to donate to a Coffee Morning. All our hosts will have an online Coffee Morning page and we’ll give them a QR that you can scan using your mobile phone at the event. 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 easy and we’ll send you everything you need in our free fundraising kit.

Of course! Sign up and we’ll send you a downloadable Coffee Morning kit over email with a few goodies you can print off. Please note we cannot send postal kits overseas. However, you can find lots of online resources on our website to get you started.

If you wish to cancel your Coffee Morning registration this year, 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 still try and attend one in your local area instead. Look out for posters advertising public ones.

1. Members of the public are not subject to the food standards regulations or Natasha’s law (even if products were to be wrapped in cling film etc).

2. 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.

3. 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.

Once you have signed up to hold a Coffee Morning, we’ll send you your fundraising kit. You can host your event whenever suits you, but it takes 7 – 10 days from registration for your kit to arrive, so make sure you order it in time. Sign up here.

We’ve worked really hard to make sure that our kit is as responsible to the environment as possible. We’re proud to say that all the items in this kit are printed on sustainable materials. Items (including our plastic envelope and table cover) are made from 100% recycled materials and can be widely recycled depending on your local authority services. The balloons are 100% biodegradable too.

When you sign up, we’ll give you the option to choose our full kit with bunting, balloons and a tablecloth or our lighter kit with less paper and no plastic.

Download fundraising resources for your Coffee Morning to help promote your event and use on the day.

You can also shop for supplies with our range of special products from the Macmillan online shop.

If you want to order multiple packs to one address please send an email to coffeemorning@macmillan.org.uk who will help you sort it.

You can download these from our website. As well as posters, you can find a range of other downloads, everything from DIY bunting to "Coffee Morning this way" signs.

We have all the essentials to make hosting a piece of cake. There are Coffee Morning aprons, mugs, napkins, decorations and much more. Check it out for yourself.

The full kit is our complete classic pack, including bunting, balloons, a tablecloth, stickers and cake flags.

Our lighter pack has less paper and no plastic, but still includes a collection box, event posters, recipe ideas, invites, a fundraising game, cake labels and a Gift Aid form.

If you have hosted before and still have your decorations, you might want the lighter kit, whilst if it’s your first time hosting, you may prefer the full kit.

You can choose which one you’d like to receive when you sign up.

Once you sign up, we’ll send you your free fundraising pack which is full of lots of ideas to help you 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.

You will send you a link to your own online Coffee Morning fundraising page too, which you will be able to personalise, so spread the word and share your page 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. The QR code in your pack links to your Coffee Morning page too, so your guests can scan your code, or click the URL link, to donate on the day too.

Don’t be afraid to think outside the box too! 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.

If you have also registered for the event on this website, then the usual pack should be on its way to you and will arrive in the summer.

Macmillan cannot currently import the Facebook donation information into our systems due to data protection policy regulation. We are therefore unable to automatically send Facebook supporters our emails or the pack, however, if you tell us about your fundraising through a Facebook message or by email, we will happily send you your event pack.

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. To access this page, use the link in your registration e-mail.

If you’d like to personalise your page and 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. This link will also be in your registration e-mail.

Download our handy guide to using your Coffee Morning page.

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

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

You can download posters and promotional materials to put up at your work, in shops, your community or anywhere else from downloads.

Check out some hints and tips on How to host.

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

We ask our supporters to pay their money into a branch of Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Post Office 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.

You can pay in your Coffee Morning money:

- online
- over the phone at 0330 102 7890
- at the bank using your unique paying-in slip included in your fundraising kit.
- at any Post Office branch by taking in your money along with your unique paying-in slip from your Coffee Morning Kit.

Please use the pre-paid for envelope in your fundraising kit to send us your Gift Aid form once it’s filled in with all the details, then make your cheque payable to Macmillan Cancer Support (please do not send cash) to the following address:

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

Your slip will have a unique number on the bottom which relates to your registration, if you need another one you can order online, email or phone us on 0330 102 7810 and we’ll send one out to you.

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 for your Coffee Morning or make a donation.

You can:

- Make a PayPal payment on the Coffee Morning website.

- Make a donation through your online fundraising (JustGiving) page.

- Call 0300 1000 200 to speak to someone on our payment line.

- Email coffee@macmillan.org.uk to arrange a BACs payment.

This year we’ll be using the QR codes in your fundraising pack, so your guests can donate directly to you.

If you’d like to donate by text, you can use the generic donate code found on the money box in your fundraising pack.

We want to make donating as accessible and easy as possible so we’re including QR stickers in your pack. A QR code is just like a bar code. Your phone is able to scan this code (using your camera) which takes you to a landing page, meaning you can donate without needing cash.

Gift Aid is a Government scheme that enables charities to reclaim the Income and/or Capital Gains Tax that supporters have already paid. To allow us to claim this back, you must be a UK taxpayer and have paid sufficient Income and/or Capital Gains Tax to cover the amount of all Gift Aid donations made for that tax year. Donors who have not been charged sufficient tax to cover the Income Tax deducted from their Gift Aid donations are responsible for pay any difference.

Gift Aid donation, it means we can increase your guests’ donations by 25p for every £1 without costing them another penny!

Macmillan is able to reclaim tax on voluntary donations made by your guests once they have: made an individual donation, filled in all the spaces on your Gift Aid form, and ticked that all-important Gift Aid box.

Only personal donations are eligible for Gift Aid. If you’re paying in a collection, if you’ve made a purchase or if you’ve had a chance to win a prize, this amount is not eligible for Gift Aid.

Please note that Gift Aid does not apply to non-UK taxpayers, Isle of Man and Channel Island residents.

If you can't find the answer to your question, give us a ring on 0330 102 7810 or email coffee@macmillan.org.uk.

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.

If you change your mind about hearing from us, you can stop receiving our updates at any time by emailing contact@macmillan.org.uk or calling 0330 102 7866. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

Macmillan’s Coffee Morning is Macmillan’s biggest annual fundraiser. Coffee Morning is about coming together with your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, and even new people to share food and drink, and maybe a game or two, all whilst raising money for people living with cancer.

A Coffee Morning can be whatever you want it to be. Whatever you choose to do will change the lives of people living with cancer by raising money for Macmillan.