Fundraising around Anzac Day

Planning guide

Treat Anzac Day as a day of remembrance. Check restrictions and permissions before planning a collection, sale or use of protected names.

Make a plan

  1. Read the existing source notes below and check current official guidance before committing.
  2. Ask the event organiser or landowner about permission.
  3. For a baking fundraiser, use the bake sale method and check timing and naming first.

Ideas to use

  • Bake sale

    Families bake at home and the group sells slices, biscuits and cakes at school, an event or outside a store.

Details for your plan

These notes and sources were checked in October 2026. Check current costs, eligibility and official rules before committing money.

Anzac Day: what your group can and cannot do

Anzac Day is a commemoration, not a fundraising theme: volunteer as Poppy Day collectors for the RSA, and if you sell, keep to an Anzac biscuit stall within the law.

  1. Decide what you are doing: helping the RSA (poppies), or a small group fundraiser (biscuits). Keep them separate.
  2. For poppies, contact your local RSA early; 'Local RSAs are always looking for volunteers... especially collecting on Poppy Day' (RSA).
  3. Roster collectors in pairs, with a parent for under-18s, at the sites the RSA gives you.
  4. Hand every tin back sealed to the RSA; your group keeps nothing.
  5. For a biscuit stall, bake traditional Anzac biscuits and label them 'Anzac biscuits'.
  6. Hold the stall after the dawn and civic services, or after 1pm on 25 April if it sells anything other than food ready to eat (Employment New Zealand).
  7. Do not call your event 'Anzac Fun Run', 'Anzac Raffle' or similar; ask the Ministry (national.symbols@mch.govt.nz) if unsure (Marketing Association guidance).
  8. Consider giving part of the biscuit takings to the RSA; it reads better and fits the day (estimate).
  9. Thank the RSA publicly and share photos of your collectors.

Tips

  • Volunteering for Poppy Day earns goodwill with the RSA, which often has halls and community networks your group can use later (estimate).
  • 'Anzac Day' is fine for an event held on 25 April or the days around it; 'Anzac' alone is not (Ministry for Culture and Heritage).
  • Most RSAs had a mix of old plastic and new paper poppies in 2026 (RNZRSA).

Watch out for

  • Using 'Anzac' in a product or event name other than biscuits can bring fines (Ministry for Culture and Heritage).
  • A stall selling general goods on the morning of 25 April breaks shop trading rules (Employment New Zealand).
  • Being seen to profit from Anzac Day can damage your group's reputation; keep it modest.

Rules and permissions

  • The word 'Anzac' is protected: section 17 of the Flags, Emblems, and Names Protection Act 1981 lets the Governor-General ban its use in trade or business, and 1916 Gazette notices did so (Ministry for Culture and Heritage).
  • Allowed without asking: 'Anzac biscuits' that follow the traditional recipe and shape (not cookies, slices, loaves or muesli bars), and 'Anzac Day' for an event held on or around 25 April. An 'Anzac Day sale' is fine; an 'Anzac Sale' is an offence (Ministry for Culture and Heritage).
  • Other uses need guidance from the Ministry, which weighs commemorative link, RSA views and charitable purpose. Fines up to $5,000 for an individual and $50,000 for a body corporate (Ministry for Culture and Heritage).
  • Poppy Day collecting is the RSA's appeal: money goes to the RSA. Poppies are 'gifted in return for a donation of any size' (RSA). Do not make or sell your own poppies or raise money for your group under the poppy (estimate).
  • Shop Trading Hours Act 1990: shops, including stalls and markets, cannot open before 1pm on 25 April unless exempt; selling food ready to eat is one exemption. The restriction stays on the actual date even if it falls on a weekend (Employment New Zealand).
  • Food sold at a stall is covered by the Food Act 2014 fundraising exemption if you sell fewer than 20 times a year (MPI).

Sources: mch.govt.nz, marketing.org.nz, rsa.org.nz, rsa.org.nz, rsa.org.nz, employment.govt.nz, employment.govt.nz

Promote it and collect the money

Getting the word out helps you ask for helpers and reach buyers. Use Taking the money to plan payments and safe counting.

* 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