If you run events for a school, a PTA or a charity, you can use SHOCAL to sell your tickets and we will not take a penny for it. No commission, no listing fee, nothing to pay us. Anywhere in the UK.
We already handle e-tickets for football clubs, comedy nights, bonfire displays, workshops and school film clubs. More than 30,000 tickets across 348 events have gone through SHOCAL so far. From today, schools and charities get the same platform for free.
Why we are doing it
Schools need all the support they can get at the moment, and a charity should not have to hand over a slice of a fundraiser just to sell tickets to it. The usual platforms take a cut of every ticket, or charge the buyer a booking fee, which comes to the same thing. A summer fair that raises £800 should put £800 in the fund.
So we took our cut out. Schools, PTAs and registered charities pay us nothing to run their ticketing.
What you get
Set up an event and it gets its own page, with the date, the venue on a map, and everything a parent needs to know before they buy. You can run as many ticket types as you like, so adults, children and a family ticket can all sit on the same event at different prices.
- Private events. Put a four digit code on an event and only the people you give it to can see the tickets. Useful when something is for one year group, one class, or your members only.
- Tickets that cannot be lost. Every ticket carries a QR code in the buyer's app, so nothing has to be printed or posted home in a book bag.
- A door that moves. Scan people in with a phone camera, or tick them off by name if it is easier. Both leave the same record, so two people can work the door at once.
- Numbers as they happen. See what has sold, who is still to arrive and who is already in, per event.
Your events also appear on the What's On list in the app and on this site, in front of people already shopping locally, which tends to sell a few more tickets than a poster on the school gate.
Who can use it
Schools, PTAs and parent associations, registered charities, and community groups raising money for something. If you are not sure whether you count, ask us. Independent businesses are welcome too, on our normal terms.
Schools and charities already using SHOCAL for tickets include St Marys RC School PTA, Flixton Primary School PTA, Springfield Primary School and Bishop Parker Catholic Nursery and School.
Anything you can sell a ticket to
Summer and Christmas fairs, discos, quiz nights, race nights, bonfire displays, carol concerts, film clubs, sports days, fetes, raffles and fundraising dinners. If people need a ticket to get in, we can take the money for it.
How to get set up
Email hello@shocal.org or use our contact page, and tell us who you are and what you are running. We will set your organisation up, show you how to build an event, and you can be selling the same week.
There is nothing to install for your ticket buyers beyond the SHOCAL app, which is free on iPhone and Android, and tickets can be bought on the website too.
Shop local, support local, and keep the money where it was raised.
