Major events & festivals charity partnership

All respondents will be assessed in line with the following evaluation criteria:

• be an official registered charity or public benevolent institution and have no religious affiliation
• undertake work which produces significant benefit to our communities
• have an organisational focus that aligns with the City of Sydney’s values and explain how these are important for our events
• hold the insurances reasonably required by the City of Sydney.

Further evaluation criteria for each event are specified below.

Sydney Christmas includes events, concerts, decorative installations and activations from 25 November to 25 December 2023.

In 2023, we’ll create interactive paid activations as part of the event program, which provide a significant fundraising and profile building opportunity. 

In addition to the above criteria, the following evaluation criteria will also apply to Sydney Christmas:

• be able to provide and manage employees and volunteers to operate an interactive paid activation on site (minimum of 2 employees or volunteers per activation) at each of the Christmas concert events outlined above. 

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 a charity partner logo and approved copy for use in event collateral
• acknowledge the City of Sydney in all Sydney Christmas marketing collateral. We must approve all materials acknowledging the City of Sydney
• only issue Sydney Christmas media releases with our 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 at our Christmas concerts and Christmas in the City event 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 34,000 subscribers. 

Previous charity partners include: The Kids Cancer Project (2021–2022), 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 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 the 9pm Calling Country fireworks, midnight fireworks and live broadcast.

We’ll work with the charity partner to assist with fundraising and profile building opportunities as part of Sydney New Year’s Eve.

In addition to the above, the following evaluation criteria apply to Sydney New Year’s Eve. Please change to read: In addition to the above criteria, the following evaluation criteria will also apply to Sydney New Year’s Eve: 

• demonstrated previous experience in successful online fundraising.

The Sydney New Year’s Eve charity partner will also:

• provide its 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 approval.

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
• fundraising opportunities subject to approval
• 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: The Smith Family (2021–2022), 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 is a celebration of the Lunar New Year. 2024 will mark the 28th anniversary of the festival and will celebrate the Year of the Dragon.

Sydney Lunar Festival includes decorative installations, performances and activations.