More than 20 large UK charities are backing a new online calendar which aims to boost the fundraising potential of events by avoiding clashes with other high profile occasions.

Due to launch on 12 May, www.calendarcheck.co.uk will be devoted to national and local charity events, and allows visitors to search for competing events and upload their own for free.

Events can be searched by date range, charity and type both nationally and by region, and the site will also include an online directory of services and product suppliers which will be regionalised to tie in with particular events.

Charities which are endorsing the site include Cancer Research UK, British Red Cross, NSPCC, Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the RNIB.

Co-founder Nick Wayne (pictured left) said: “The whole idea came from the number of times I have attended charitable committee meetings which have ground to a halt because no one could decide on a date.

“And even once a date has been agreed, there was no effective way of finding out whether it would be in competition with another event which would dilute the potential uptake of tickets and attendance.

“Naturally the more events there are on the site the more effective and useful the website becomes.

“That is why we want as many charities as possible to upload their details now before we go fully operational when we launch in May.”