Street collections

Any association, society, or committee may apply for a permit to conduct a street collection. The Department does not issue permits to individuals.

The Street Collections (Regulation) Act 1940 only allows for fifty days to be allocated each year for street appeals. The Department traditionally only allows appeals to be conducted on Fridays.

The Department allows up to three organisations to conduct appeals on the same Friday. This means 150 organisations are able to conduct appeals each year.

A street appeal may occasionally be allowed on a day other than a Friday for a National day or a special event. However, due to the limited number of days available for collections this can only be approved if less than 50 days have been allocated for the year.  

Due to the limited number of days allocated for street collections generally only one appeal is allowed for each applicant per year.

There is no charge for applying for a street collection permit.

The Department requires two weeks’ notice to issue a street collection permit.

A street collection permit gives the holder the right to collect money from the public in any street, roadway, mall or lane in the Perth metropolitan area.

The permit does not cover collecting on private property, such as shopping centres. In these cases, approval must be obtained from the owner or shopping centre manager to collect on their premises.

Please note that you also need to obtain permission from the local council for the area that you intend to collect in.

People who collect on behalf of organisations must wear identification badges which show the name of the organisation. This helps prevent fraudulent operators from collecting money and also protects the reputations of legitimate non-profit organisations.

Collectors participating in a collection are not allowed to obstruct a public street or annoy any person using a public street.

Under no circumstances are collectors allowed to be paid during a street appeal.

Collection boxes must:

• be securely sealed so that they cannot be opened or have money removed without the seal being broken;
• have the name of the organisation and the date of the collection clearly displayed on the collection box;
• be consecutively numbered, and a record must be kept of which boxes are issued to each collector.

Only children over 16 are allowed to collect during a street appeal. However, an application can be made in writing to the Charitable Collections Advisory Committee to use secondary school-aged children to collect during an appeal. Approval will only be given on the condition that such children operate in pairs, under adult supervision and they do not collect after 6pm.

Approval will not be given for primary school-aged children to participate in a street appeal.

Street collection permits are issued for the hours between 7.00am and 9.00pm to allow organisations to take advantage of Friday late night trading in the Perth and Fremantle CBDs.

After the street collection has been undertaken the permit holder is required to lodge a Street Collections Statement setting out the amount of money raised, and the expenses incurred. This statement must be lodged within 30 days.

Local authorities

If your organisation wants to set up a stall during its street collection, approval must be sought from the local authority in that locality.

Organisations that want to use the undercroft of the Perth Town Hall as a meeting or coordinating place for collectors need to book the undercroft with the Perth City Council. They can do this by ringing +61 8 9461 3145.