Vi samlar in pengar för att överskottet ska gå till välgörenheten.

In Swedish, pengar is the normal everyday word for money, and it is grammatically plural.

• pengar = money
• en peng = a coin / a small amount of money

So even though English treats money as uncountable singular, Swedish usually uses the plural form pengar. That is why samla in pengar is the natural expression.

samla in is a particle verb. That means the verb consists of a main verb plus a small particle:

• samla = gather, collect
• in = in

Together, samla in means collect, especially in the sense of collecting money, information, signatures, and so on.

In the sentence, samlar is the present tense form, so:

• samla in = to collect
• samlar in = collect / are collecting

This is very common in Swedish.

Yes, you often can. samla pengar is very common and sounds natural.

The version with in often gives a slightly clearer sense of collecting in money from people or from different sources, which fits fundraising especially well.

So:

• Vi samlar pengar = We’re collecting money
• Vi samlar in pengar = We’re collecting money / gathering money in

Both work, but samlar in is a very good choice here.

Here för att introduces a purpose: it tells you why the money is being collected.

So the structure is:

• Vi samlar in pengar = main action
• för att ... = purpose: in order to / so that

A natural English way to think about it is:

• for the purpose that
• so that
• in order for

In this sentence, för att connects the fundraising to the intended result.

Sometimes, yes, but för att is the more straightforward choice for purpose here.

A useful rough distinction is:

• för att = in order to / for the purpose of
• så att = so that / with the result that

In real Swedish, they can overlap, but in this sentence the idea is clearly purpose, so för att sounds especially natural.

Because att introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses in Swedish normally have the subject before the finite verb.

So you get:

• att överskottet ska gå ...

not

• att ska överskottet gå ...

This is different from main clause word order, where Swedish often uses verb-second order.

A useful clue is negation:

• att överskottet inte ska gå ... = correct
• att överskottet ska inte gå ... = incorrect

That shows clearly that this is subordinate-clause word order.

Not exactly. Here ska is not just a neutral future marker. It expresses intention, plan, or intended outcome.

So överskottet ska gå till välgörenheten means something like:

• the surplus is intended to go to charity
• the surplus is supposed to go to charity
• the surplus will go to charity

In English, we often translate it with will, but the Swedish ska adds the idea that this is the planned destination of the money.

Because överskott is an ett-word, and -et is the definite singular ending for many ett nouns.

So:

• ett överskott = a surplus
• överskottet = the surplus

The sentence is talking about the specific surplus created by this fundraising effort, so the definite form is natural.

In this context, överskottet can often be understood as the surplus / the proceeds.

Here gå till is an idiomatic expression meaning:

• go to
• be allocated to
• be used for
• be donated to

So this is not about literal movement. It is a very common way to talk about where money ends up.

For example:

• Pengarna går till forskning. = The money goes to research.
• Överskottet går till välgörenhet. = The surplus goes to charity.

välgörenhet is an en-word, so:

• välgörenhet = charity
• välgörenheten = the charity / charity as a known institution or cause

In this sentence, välgörenheten makes the destination sound more definite or established.

That said, gå till välgörenhet is also very common in Swedish and often sounds slightly more general, like go to charity in English.

So:

• gå till välgörenheten = grammatical and natural
• gå till välgörenhet = also common in similar contexts

Not in this purpose meaning. After för att in a sentence like this, ska is very natural because it marks the intended result.

• för att överskottet ska gå till välgörenheten = so that the surplus will/is intended to go to charity

If you use just går, it sounds more like a plain factual statement, and it does not fit as well with the idea of purpose.

Compare:

• Överskottet går till välgörenheten. = The surplus goes to charity.
  This works as a separate factual statement.

But inside this purpose clause, ska is the idiomatic choice.