Major events & festivals charity partnership: register your interest
We seek charity partners for our world-renowned celebrations.
Applications are closed
We expect to make appointments for charity partners by September 2021 for 1 event season.
For further information, please contact Joanne Chan, audience manager, major events and festivals on [email protected] or 02 9265 9333.
About our charity partnerships
We produce some of Australia’s largest and most successful events and appoint charity partners for Sydney New Year’s Eve, Sydney Christmas and Sydney Lunar Festival.
We’re seeking charity partners for Sydney New Year’s Eve 2021 with the option to extend for 1 year in 2022, Sydney Christmas 2021 with the option to extend for 1 year in 2022 and Sydney Lunar Festival 2022 with the option to extend for 1 year in 2023.
Our charity partners can leverage their brand through the event while carrying out fundraising and promotion. The charity partner will be promoted through the event’s media and marketing campaigns where possible. There’ll be public speaking and promotional opportunities through our other event partners.
We encourage applications from a range of charities and may approach potential candidates as part of the expression of interest process. An evaluation panel will review all applications and present its recommendations to Council. Once selected, we’ll prepare letters of agreement.
Any appointment of a charity partner for an event is on a non-exclusive basis. We may also support an additional specified charity through an event in case of a humanitarian crisis.We reserve the right to proceed without appointing a charity partner for any of the events. We also reserve the right to not proceed with any of the events in case of a NSW Government public health order.
Selection criteria
Sydney Christmas – 27 November to 25 December 2021
Sydney Christmas consists of events, concerts, decorative installations and activations:
| Event | Date | Time | Estimated attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christmas in the City | Saturday 27 November | 6.30 to 9.30pm | 25,000 |
| Rushcutters Bay Christmas Concert | Friday 3 December | 6.30 to 8.30pm | 3,000 |
| Sydney Christmas Children’s Concert (Surry Hills) | Saturday 4 December | 6.30 to 8.30pm | 4,000 |
| Rosebery Christmas Concert | Sunday 5 December | 6.30 to 8.30pm | 4,000 |
| Green Square Christmas Fair | Friday 10 December | 6 to 10pm | 6,000 |
| Glebe Christmas Concert (NEW) | Saturday 11 December | 6.30 to 8.30pm | 3,000 |
| Alexandria Christmas Concert | Sunday 12 December | 6.30 to 8.30pm | 4,000 |
In 2021, we’ll create interactive paid activations as part of the event program, which provide a significant fundraising and profile building opportunity.
To be eligible for the role of Sydney Christmas charity partner, the organisation must:
- be an official registered charity or public benevolent institution
- be reputable
- have no religious affiliation
- undertake work which produces significant benefit to our communities
- have an operational and organisational focus that is compatible with our values and the Sydney Christmas event
- be able to provide and manage employees and volunteers to operate a minimum of 3 interactive paid activations on site (minimum of 2 employees per activation) at each of the events outlined above
- provide working with children checks for employees working at the concerts
- supply Covid-safety plans for the interactive paid activations
- have a cash handling policy
- point of sale infrastructure and floats for interactive activations.
The Sydney Christmas charity partner will also be able to undertake the following:
- recruit and coordinate employees and volunteers to operate a charity partner merchandise stall for all event sites
- provide charity partner logo and approved copy for use in event collateral
- acknowledge the City of Sydney in all marketing collateral distributed by the charity partner in relation to the Christmas events. We must approve all materials acknowledging the City of Sydney
- agree not to issue any media release concerning the Christmas events without our prior written consent.
To promote the partnership, we’ll provide the Sydney Christmas charity partner with:
- logo acknowledgment across the Sydney Christmas marketing campaign and village Christmas concerts
- the opportunity for the charity partner to fundraise in Pitt Street Mall with information about your organisation’s Christmas campaigns and digital ads included on our What’s On website
- local events included in the What’s On e-newsletter sent to 30,000 subscribers.
Previous charity partners include OzHarvest (2020), Surf Lifesaving Australia (2019), Variety – The Children’s Charity (2017–2018), Guide Dogs NSW/ACT (2015-2016) and the Australian Children’s Music Foundation (2011-2014).
Sydney New Year’s Eve – late November to end December 2021
Sydney New Year’s Eve is attended by more than 1 million people around the harbour foreshore and reaches more than 425 million people globally. The Sydney New Year’s Eve program includes a 9pm show, midnight fireworks and live broadcast on ABC.
To be eligible for the role of Sydney New Year’s Eve charity partner, the organisation must:
- be an official registered charity or public benevolent institution
- be reputable
- have no religious affiliation
- undertake work which produces significant benefit to our communities
- have an operational and organisational focus that is compatible with our values and the Sydney New Year’s Eve event
- be able to provide and manage employees or volunteers to support fundraising in the lead up to the event at 2 locations in the city centre and on the event day at up to 6 locations in the city centre with a minimum of 2 employees per location)
- provide working with children checks for employees
- have a Covid-safety plan for fundraising
- have a cash handling policy
The Sydney New Year’s Eve charity partner will also:
- provide a charity partner logo and approved copy for use in event collateral
- conduct an online campaign as the official charity partner of the event with approved activities and fundraising
- acknowledge the City of Sydney in all Sydney New Year’s Eve marketing collateral. We must approve all materials acknowledging the City of Sydney
- only issue Sydney New Year’s Eve media releases with our written consent.
To promote the partnership, we’ll provide the Sydney New Year’s Eve charity partner with:
- logo acknowledgment across the Sydney New Year’s Eve marketing campaign including website and Sydney Harbour Bridge north and south pylons (subject to approval)
- an opportunity for a charity spokesperson to speak at the event media launch
- general media opportunities relating to the event
- logo acknowledgment on a percentage of event banners throughout the city centre installed in locations around 2 to 4 weeks before the event
- acknowledgement of the charity in community service announcements subject to final confirmation.
Previous charity partners include Refugee Council of Australia (2019), UNICEF (2017-2018), Habitat for Humanity (2015-2016), Engineers Without Borders (2013-2014), the Fred Hollows Foundation (2012) and CARE Australia (2011).
Sydney Lunar Festival – February 2022
The Sydney Lunar Festival is a celebration of the Lunar New Year. 2022 will mark the 26th anniversary of the festival and will celebrate the Year of the Tiger.
Sydney Lunar Festival consists of decorative installations, performances and activations:
| Event | Date | Time | Estimated attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lunar Lanterns exhibition | Friday 28 January to Sunday 13 February 2022 | All day | 240,000 |
| Festival launch | Friday 28 January 2022 | 6pm-8pm | Approx 200 invited guests |
| Community performance program | Saturday 29 January 2022 | 10am-5pm | 750 |
| Lunar Lanes | Saturday 5 February 2022 | 5pm-10pm | 12,500 |
Eligible charity partners must:
- be an official registered charity or public benevolent institution
- be reputable
- have no religious affiliation
- undertake work which produces significant benefit to our communities
- have an operational and organisational focus that is compatible with our values and the Sydney Lunar Festival event
- provide and manage a minimum of 2 employees or volunteers to operate the on-site activation
- provide working with children checks for employees working at the concerts
- have a Covid-safety plan for the interactive paid activations
- have a cash handline policy
- provide point of sale infrastructure for the interactive activations
The Sydney Lunar Festival charity partner will also:
- provide its logo and approved copy for event collateral
- acknowledge the City of Sydney in all event marketing collateral we’ve approved
- only issue media releases with our written approval.
To promote the partnership, we’ll provide the Sydney Lunar Festival charity partner with:
- logo acknowledgment across Sydney Lunar Festival event marketing and communications, including print advertisements, event signs excluding street banners, media releases, What’s On newsletter and Sydney Lunar Festival website
- the opportunity for 1 to 2 minute speech by a representative at appropriate festival events
- fundraising opportunities subject to approval
- digital ad on the Sydney Lunar Festival website
- introductions to event sponsors including media partner
- an invitation to the media launch for questions and interview opportunities
- information in the media kit or in a media release for the media launch
- verbal acknowledgement in the Lord Mayor’s or representative’s speech at the festival launch
- opportunity to participate in the eye-dotting ceremony at festival launch to be confirmed.
Previous charity partners include OzHarvest (2021) The Fred Hollows Foundation (2020), Surf Lifesaving NSW (2019), Guide Dogs NSW/ACT (2018), Cure Brain Cancer Foundation (2016-2017), Barnardos Australia (2015), Chinese Parents Association – Children with Disabilities (2014), and Taronga Foundation (2012-2013).
