Event parking, gate or marshalling crew

Outdoor: weather matters

Your group supplies a team to run car parking, gates, marshalling or litter at an A&P show, festival, race or marathon, and the organiser pays the group an hourly rate or a share of takings.

Typically raises

$2,000

$500–6,000 per eventest.

About $143 per organiser hour

Based on one show gate or parking crew

Is it right for us?

Money: $2,000–10,000
Work: A few evenings
Helpers: 16–40 people
Lead time: 1–2 months
Red tape: Some

Fairly common: a known earner around big events and A&P shows

People: 10-40 across shifts, depending on how many gates or car parks (Wānaka example: 38 people)
Organiser time: 8-20 hours incl. negotiating the deal, roster, briefing and on-day supervision (estimate)
Lead time: 1-4 months; organisers lock in their volunteer groups well before the event (estimate)
Up-front cost: Nothing up front. Usually nothing: organisers normally supply hi-vis, radios and cash floats (estimate). Confirm in writing.
Risk: None to low: you are paid for hours worked. If paid a share of parking takings, wet weather cuts the crowd.

Suits: Scouts or Guides, Sports club or team

Less usual for: Primary or intermediate school, High school, Team going to a tournament or tour, Community group, marae or service club

When: Summer (Dec–Feb), Autumn (Mar–May), Spring (Sep–Nov)

How big a job: A few evenings, 16–40 people

How it works

The money, as an example sum

Nothing to pay up front, and the typical result for one show gate or parking crew is about $2,000 per event.

From the typical figure on this page. Your result will differ.

Where the money figure comes from

Wānaka A&P Show pays an hourly rate per person to groups running its seven gates; the Rotary Club of Wānaka filled 162 hours with 38 volunteers over two days and raised about $4,000 (Wānaka App, via search results). At Southern Field Days Lions and Rotary run car parking and schools are paid to pick up litter and manage gates (Community Trust South). Rally New Zealand donates 50% of spectator ticket income to a community group, which also keeps car-parking donations (Autotrader). Tennis NZ suggests clubs direct event parking for a percentage of fees (Tennis NZ). Typical figure is an estimate.

Last checked October 2026. Ran this? Tell us what you raised and we’ll use real results to improve the figures.

Step by step

List big events within an hour: A&P shows, field days, marathons, festivals, race meetings, concerts.
Email each organiser's volunteer or operations manager offering a reliable crew and asking how they pay community groups.
Agree the deal in writing: rate per person-hour or share of takings, number of people, shifts, minimum ages.
Ask what roles are on roads and whether the organiser's traffic management plan covers them.
Build a roster with names and phone numbers; add 10-15% reserves for no-shows.
Brief your team on the event's safety plan, radio use and cash procedures.
On the day, have one group captain sign people in and out so hours are recorded.
Invoice or confirm hours the week after, and ask to be booked again.

Getting the word out

Even a well-run plan fails if nobody hears about it. There are two asks, and the first one goes out first.

Ask for help: Members to take a shift, and someone with the gear or the site.
Ask people to buy: People to come along, or book, and pay on the day.
When to start: Ask for helpers first, as soon as the date is set. Start the public ask about 3–4 weeks out, and book newsletter and paper notices before that: small newsletters close early.

Where to put it

School, club and church newslettersYour own newsletter is free and read by the families most likely to say yes. Check when it closes.
Local Facebook pages and community groupsPost in your town’s community page and local groups (check their rules), and share from your group’s own page.
Facebook events and what’s-on listingsMake a Facebook event people can say they’re going to, and list it on your council’s or town’s what’s-on page.
Community newsletters and magazinesResidents’ newsletters, village magazines and other churches’ bulletins often run community notices free. Small ones close early.
Other groups sharing itAsk the school, kindy, church, sports club or marae down the road to share it in their newsletter or page. Offer to share theirs back.

The full guide to getting the word out: every channel from flyers to the evening news, with lead times and costs.

What you’ll need

Place: Not neededNone needed
Landowner’s permission: Not needed
Council permit: Not needed
Food rules: Not neededNo food sold
Alcohol: Not neededNo alcohol sold
Gambling rules: Not neededNot gambling
Traffic management: NeededA council road-closure application (often 3 months ahead) and a traffic management plan from a qualified traffic management company
Health and safety: CheckA simple risk check and briefing
Insurance: CheckCheck your cover

The organiser holds the permits; any role on or beside a road must sit under its NZGTTM traffic management plan. Some roles have minimum ages (e.g. Wellington Marathon marshals 17+).

Make more from it

Run a food stall at the same event
often $500-2,000 (estimate)
you already have people on site all day

Stack it: on its own, about $2,000. With the add-on above, roughly

$3,300est.

What you can get donated

Not needed; the income is a fee from the organiser.

Tips

Reliability is the product: a group that turns up in full gets invited back every year, as the Wānaka gate groups are (Wānaka App).
Offer the organiser a single contact and a full roster two weeks out.
Senior students and adult members suit gate and parking work; keep younger members on litter and stall roles.

Watch out for

Putting untrained volunteers in live traffic without a traffic management plan.
No-shows: if the deal is paid per person-hour, every empty shift is lost income and goodwill.
Vague deals: agree the rate before the day, not after.

Free tools for this

Cash float and takings counterCount takings in pairs and bank the same day.
Checklist for any ideaBefore, on the day and after, built from this idea’s own steps and rules.

Typical rules

Working on or beside a road needs traffic management under NZTA's New Zealand Guide to Temporary Traffic Management (NZGTTM), which replaced CoPTTM; councils now require TTM plans on the new guide (Nelson City Council; Tauranga). Stay off-road unless the organiser's traffic management plan covers your people and roles.
The event organiser is usually the PCBU; get a safety briefing, hi-vis and clear instructions; minimum ages apply for some roles (Wellington Marathon marshals 17+, drink stations 16+, per Floorball NZ).
Agree in writing whether money is a payment for services or a donation; a payment to the group can be taxable business income, while a registered charity's income is generally exempt (estimate; check with IRD or your accountant).
Handling gate or parking cash: agree float, count and handover procedures with the organiser.

Check the details

Events and permits · Example council page: Selwyn District Council, event permit

Sources

Researched October 2026. All fundraising ideas

* General fundraising information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Money figures are examples and estimates, not promises. Check current official requirements before you commit. About this guide