The Bungay Folk Festival (BFF) Friends scheme is about asking our supporters to become Friends of the festival by making a financial donation. We need these donations because, as you are likely aware, Bungay Folk Festival’s ethos is to make as much festival content available for free as we possibly can. Remember that you don’t buy a ticket to come “on site” at Bungay Festival. We have achieved this in our first two years, due in considerable part to some grant funding that we have been able to access. In order to continue providing free content into the future, we need to look for additional ways to raise funds – and our new BFF Friends scheme is one of those.

A donation of £50 will make you a friend of BFF for a year – running to the end of the next festival after you join. As an added bonus for becoming a friend at the start, anyone signing up now will be a friend until the end of our 2026 festival. If you are able to do this to help us, then many, many thanks. We can accept bank transfers or cheques. If you are in a position to do a yearly standing order then that would be most generous, and you’ll be a festival friend for as long as that continues. In return for becoming a friend, you’ll get the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped the festival happen. In addition you’ll be entered in our Easter raffle.

Prizes from the raffle will include tickets for some of the ticketed events at the next festival and also some vouchers to use at the food and drink stalls at the next festival. We will keep your contact details on file so that we can tell you if you have won a raffle prize, or if there is other important news relating to the festival that we need to communicate.

Becoming a Friend Section.

It’s very easy – please send us an email to bungayfolk@gmail.com

including….

1) Your name, address, email address and (optionally) phone number

2) The amount you wish to donate. £50 to be a friend for one year or perhaps a one off donation.

3) Whether you will pay by bank transfer (which is preferable please) or cheque We’ll reply to your email and provide you with a BFF Friend number; Our bank details to which you can send a bank transfer (our preference) and an address to which you could post or hand deliver a cheque. If you’d prefer to do monthly bank transfers, then that’s fine too; please can you make those out for £5 a month. Please then -: Either make an online payment – using the BFF Friend number we gave you as the payment reference – eg “BFFF042”. Or post us a cheque – with the BFF Friend number we gave you written on the back of the cheque. Quoting your BFF friend number is really important ( for us ! ) as it allows us to tie up payments whether online or by cheque with who you actually are. We’ll acknowledge once the payment has been received. FAQs Section

Why are you asking for money ?

To attend most other festivals you have to buy a ticket to get into the festival site. We are different because most of our events ( 80% - is that fair Pete? ) are free. The money we take from ticket sales does not cover the cost of the festival – which is whywe rely on grants, sponsorships & donations to make up the short fall. The festival friends scheme is a way of trying to organise donations from those of you generous enough to make them into a quantifiable regular income.

Are you asking local businesses for donations ?

Yes, we are, but it is a different scheme to the festival friends. Festival Friends is for individuals who have donated money to support the festival. If you know a business who might like to sponsor the festival – please refer to {insert URL of the bit of our web page that talks about company sponsorship}

Why does the festival need money ?

First off to pay the performers. These are professional musicians & performers who need to be paid for their work. Also, we have to pay to hire venues around the town and pay to hire PA and pay the technicians to operate it. We also have to pay for PRS licenses, First aiders, Printing etc

How would my money be used ?

The festival is not run for profit, and the organising team are not paid. All donations will go directly towards putting on the festival. Typically 60% of our income goes to hiring bands, 20% to hire venues, 15% to hire PA equipment and technicians and 5% on the rest – you happy with this Pete ? ( first aiders, PRS, publicity, web site etc )

Can I gift aid ?

Sadly no, the festival is not a charity, so this is not possible

How much money are you asking for ?

A donation of £50 will make you a festival friend for a year – running to the end of the festival when you made the donation. Make sure you sign up as a friend before Easter – otherwise you’ll miss being entered in the year’s raffle. If you would like to donate more than £50 then we’d be very grateful, and this will set you up as a festival friend for as many years as it covers. If you’d like to do a standing order for an annual £50 then that’d really help us in future years.

I can’t afford to donate money – is there another way I could help?

You might consider whether you could volunteer some time to help as a festival volunteer – have a look at the festival volunteers web page {insert URL for the bit of our website that talks about volunteering}

I would like to give you some money – but £50 is too much

Understood. We’ll have collection buckets at the festival, many thanks for anything you can afford to give us.

What happens if you stop running the festival?

If this happens, then we’ll be in touch to advise as soon as we know. This is one of the reasons we need to have your contact details on file. If you have given us money to be a friend to support a festival that will not go ahead, then we will return your donation. OK with this Pete ? NB – if we launch the friends scheme prior in summer 2025 ie prior to the 2025 festival, then note that these people will be friends for the 2026 festival – and would be entitled to their money back ( as per above ) if we don’t do one. You’ll need to cancel any bank standing orders you may have set up. Any donations made to cover future years of friends membership will be refunded.