Three UK charities, Macmillan Cancer Support, Save the Children UK and the British Heart Foundation (BHF), publish step-by-step guides for people running a fundraising quiz. They are written for charity events, so their advice on donations and raffles is about fundraising, and this guide concentrates on their notes about rounds, marking and keeping the evening fair. Where the three differ, it says so rather than choosing a winner, and it follows the order in which a host meets each task.
Weeks ahead: the date, the room and the teams
All three advise checking the calendar. Macmillan says to avoid clashes with other major events or occasions and with other quizzes in the area; BHF mentions major sports or cultural events. Lead times differ: Macmillan says a host needs to allow a few weeks to plan, a bit less for a virtual quiz, while Save the Children says to give at least 6 to 8 weeks to promote it.
On venues, BHF lists pubs, community centres, sports halls and church halls, and notes that some venues hire space free or at a reduced rate for charity. Save the Children also lists school or village halls and a virtual quiz run over platforms such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Macmillan says to note how many teams the venue can hold and to keep count as bookings come in, and suggests teams of up to, say, six people.
Setting the questions
The guides agree on mixing difficulty. Save the Children says to include a range of easy, medium and hard questions for a mixed crowd and to avoid anything too obscure. BHF says a mix of easy and hard lets everyone get involved, and Macmillan says not to make it too hard and to add easier questions here and there.
The guides give different pictures of length. Save the Children suggests 6 to 8 rounds of 10 questions each, plus a tiebreaker, with each round about 10 minutes. BHF gives no round count. Macmillan links to a virtual-quiz guide that includes a set of five rounds of questions of varying difficulty. All three suggest themed rounds; BHF lists general knowledge, TV and movies, music, sport, popular culture, current affairs, history and geography, and also names picture rounds, riddles, anagrams, “name the song” and “guess the logo”. For spare ideas, see this site’s solar system facts that trip up quiz players.
Macmillan adds two checks for the host: read through the questions and answers in advance, ideally with a volunteer who will not be playing, and double-check answers and be ready to reference sources if one is challenged.
Running the evening, round by round
- Ask each team to choose a team name and note down every team at the start (Macmillan).
- Announce a strict ban on mobile phones during rounds; Macmillan suggests volunteers to monitor the tables.
- At the end of each round, ask if anyone needs a question repeated, then have teams swap papers with a neighbouring table to mark (Macmillan).
- Read the answers out clearly, collect the sheets and have a trusted volunteer keep a running total (Macmillan).
- Keep a tiebreaker ready; Save the Children suggests a question where the closest guess wins.
Macmillan suggests allowing a 30-minute refreshment break that can be cut short if the quiz is running over, and using it to reveal the front runners. Save the Children lists optional extras such as “joker” rounds in which teams can double their points. Macmillan says to announce third, second and first place only once the scores have been counted and triple-checked.
Licences, food and fees
BHF and Save the Children advise checking the licences the event needs, particularly where alcohol or music is involved. These charity guides are not a licensing guide: ask the venue and the relevant licensing bodies what is already covered and what additional permission is needed, as exemptions and requirements depend on the event and the jurisdiction. On food, BHF says to label any allergens clearly and points to the Food Standards Agency for advice, and Save the Children says to label allergens clearly, especially nuts, gluten and dairy.
The fee examples are charity-specific. Save the Children says entry fees typically range from £5 to £10 per person or £20 to £40 per team; BHF suggests an entry fee such as £5 or £10 per person; Macmillan suggests a donation per person or per team, for example £5 to £10.
Two quick questions
Does the host have to ask the questions?
Macmillan says the host may read the questions or ask a friend or family member to be the compere.
Can a quiz be held online?
Yes: Macmillan describes hosting a quiz virtually, and Save the Children lists a virtual quiz among its options, naming Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
The bottom line
The three guides share two points: a date that avoids clashes and themed rounds with a mix of easy and hard questions. Macmillan adds the phone ban, papers swapped between neighbouring tables and a trusted scorer, and Save the Children adds a ready tiebreaker. They differ on timings, round counts and fees, which they present as examples for their own charity events.
Sources
- Organise a charity quiz night (macmillan.org.uk)
- Guide to Organising a Charity Fundraising Quiz (savethechildren.org.uk)
- How to organise a charity quiz night (bhf.org.uk)
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