Raising Money Without Going Crazy: The Basics of Non-Profit Fundraising

With websites like Goodshop and tools like Gumdrop, your organization can receive donations from supporters who shop using these tools. Walkathons are perfect for active supporters who like to show their passion for a cause.

Walkathons are well-suited for healthcare-related issues and causes, but they can technically be used for any type of fundraising effort! Choose a season that is a good temperature with minimal risk of rain. Make sure you have a backup location just in case! Then, send out invitations and design some merchandise like t-shirts and water bottles. Make sure you have medical and first-aid supplies nearby in the case of an accident. Set up donation boxes in front of each pot so supporters can vote by donating!

The winner can receive a small prize or trophy, and you can end up raising a lot of money for your cause!

#1: Crowdfunding (Run a Free Fundraiser For Your Cause)

Silent auctions are a fun way to get a little more face time with your donors while they bid on unique and appealing items up for grabs. Plus, if you find the right auction items, you have the potential to raise a lot of money! Ask local businesses and individuals if they would like to donate items to your silent auction. Common items include gift cards to restaurants, signed memorabilia, lessons from a professional of some kind, gift baskets, and more! You can enlist the help of a mobile bidding tool to create a tech-enhanced bidding experience for your attendees.

Mobile bidding software also makes checking in, checking out, and item monitoring easier on your auction volunteers and staff. Golf tournaments are tried and true fundraising event ideas for nonprofit organizations as well as political campaigns and school fundraisers. A leisurely golf tournament is a great way to get to know some of the movers and shakers in your community and ask for their support for your charity or cause.

Charge an entrance fee for individuals or teams. Once the tournament is over, you can give a speech or an informal talk and ask for donations or other types of support from your participants. Do you need to raise money for a project, event, or cause?

Additional Resources for your Fundraising Success

A sing-a-thon or hymnathon for churches is a singing event that helps you raise money. You can charge admission to the singing festivities and sell concessions throughout the event. A Battle of the Bands event can be an opportunity to raise money for your creative project and a chance for local talent to get their music out into the community. Create a physical and online sign up sheet for local bands who want to register.

Spread the word about your event on social media, via email, and with flyers. Charge a few dollars at the door or sell tickets online beforehand. A Serve-a-thon fundraiser helps your club or organization raise money while cleaning up your community at the same time. For example, someone might donate a dollar for every aluminum can you pick up. Holding a spring or fall carnival can be a great way to bring your community together for some fun and games while you raise money for your charity or project.

All you have to do is organize some simple but still really fun! You can even sell concessions if you want to make a little extra money throughout the afternoon or evening. You can organize a trivia night by pairing up with a local bar or restaurant. Advertise well in advance and charge an admission fee for trivia teams who want to put their knowledge to the test. You can also ask the restaurant or bar manager if they would be willing to give you a portion of the sales from the trivia night to bring in even more money for your cause.

Charge a few dollars at the door. You can also sell concessions during the event to raise extra money. Obstacle courses can be fun challenges for kids, teenagers, and adults alike. Your club or organization can set one up to raise some extra money! Create different games and obstacles that make up the larger course. Then, set up an online registration form. Give people the option to participate as individuals or in teams. Artists and entertainers of all kinds can participate.

Charge a small admission fee and sell concessions to supplement your fundraising efforts. Get as many classic cars together as you can and line them up in a common space like a parking lot or field. Then, charge admission for people to come through and view the vehicles. You can even have side events like a raffle or auction to raise even more. People vote on their favorite angel by placing money in containers underneath each one. Why not try to make some money and put them up for sale at an art auction?

Search your community for talented artists or use your own works to host an event that puts local artists in the spotlight or displays your creativity. On the day of the event, charge a few dollars for admission and set up a donation table or booth for general contributions. Students and coworkers all love bringing their own unique touches to their dorm rooms and office spaces.

You can put that creativity to use and raise some money with a dorm or office decorating contest! Spread the word a month or two in advance so that contestants have time to prepare. Whoever has the most votes at the end of the night can win a small prize or a portion of the money raised. Younger kids usually take part in a field day event in elementary school, but that event tends to get faded out as children move into middle and high school.

Charge a small admission fee or charge per game at the event. You can even sell concessions and merchandise like water bottles, t-shirts, and caps. Get 99 great fundraising ideas for all causes as a PDF for free! Print it out, or share it with your colleagues! A dog walkathon is the same thing but with adorable pooches! Of course, people can still participate, but they can bring their leashed dogs along to keep them company while they walk. You should make sure to have water stations set up for humans and pups alike, especially if you host your dog walkathon on a really hot day!

You can charge an admission fee to raise money, but you can also sell shirts, caps, water bottles, and leashes to raise more. With the proper promotion, your dog walkathon can be a major hit. Try it next summer to raise money! However, if you want to set up a smaller-scale community fundraising walk for your particular cause, you definitely can! Get in touch with friends and family members who have supported you in the past and ask if they would be willing to participate. You can also market the event to the larger community.

Charge an admission fee and sell merchandise such as t-shirts , water bottles, and hats along the walkathon route. Then, set up two stations: Have someone be in charge of explaining the prices for each wash and collecting the money from customers. Make sure that you explain where the funds are going during the car and dog wash and encourage more donations. Bingo is a fun and easy game that even the youngest children can play.

However, the majority of your proceeds will come from selling admission tickets, concessions, and products if you have them. Hosting a patriotic concert can be an excellent way to bring your community together to support an organization or cause. You can enlist the help of local artists and bands to determine the line-up.

Alternatively, you could make your concert have more of a karaoke vibe.

Amazingly Easy (And Free!) Fundraising Ideas

Either way, your community is sure to have a fun and music filled evening! Set a date and time, and then sell tickets at the door and offer concessions for a small price. A pet party can be as elegant or laid-back as you want. It could be a fancy gala-type event where pets and humans alike get all dressed up, or it could be an informal gathering at a local park on a Saturday.

Either way, you should set up a donation table so that pet owners can donate to your organization or cause. Make sure that you have plenty of bowls of food and water set up for the dogs and other pets. You can even buy or make pet-themed snacks for the pet owners to munch on while their pets play. Then you can charge a small amount and set up a fun night of food, drinks, and socializing for parents.

You can also set up a donation box for other contributions. A Family Fun Day can be an easy way to raise money for your organization or cause. Set up games, food and drink stations, and a donation table and send out invitations to your supporters. You can also hang up flyers around town to get the whole community involved! You can host your Family Fun Day during the weekend. Everyone loves a good old-fashioned barbecue. You can use your summer barbecue as a way to raise money for any organization, project, or cause.

All you have to do is advertise! You can either charge a fee for your barbecue or simply set up a donation table with a jar for change. A barter and trade fair is similar to a garage sale, but instead of purchasing items or services with money, people will trade items. Plus, you can sell snacks and drinks to raise even more! A car wash is an easy fundraising idea for nonprofit organizations and individuals because it gets everyone outside.

Plus, a car wash is an incredibly simple fundraiser to pull off.

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All you need are the suds, water, some sponges, and signs for advertising. A Dance-Off can be a great way to bring your community together and raise funds for your organization or cause! All you have to do is set up a registration process and charge a small fee for people who want to participate. You can raise more money by charging admission for attendees and selling concessions and branded sports merchandise during the event. Use these opportunities to raise money for your cause!

A Beginner’s Guide to Fundraising

The options are endless! Additionally, you can make your seasonal fundraiser as involved or hands-off as you want. The fundraising decisions are up to you! Make sure that you have lots of different designs and patterns as well as paint that is safe for children. Charge a small fee for the face painting and put out a general donation jar to raise even more money!

A multicultural fair is a great way for schools and other organizations to raise funds and showcase their diverse heritages. Student groups can perform cultural demonstrations or sell products and food. Offer an incentive to the group who raises the most money! A school picnic is a chance to get the entire student body outside for some fresh air, food, and fun. Sell picnic tickets to students and families so that they can enjoy spending a unique lunch period in the sunshine.

Alternatively, you can host your picnic on the weekend when parents are more likely to be available. All your school needs to do is choose a nice spring or fall day, set up picnic tables or blankets, and provide food and drinks to your attendees. Enlist the help of a few spooky volunteers to dress up as ghouls, goblins, witches, and zombies.

Buy some yellow rubber ducks in bulk and write numbers on the bottom of them. Then, sell tickets with the same numbers to your local supporters. Just make sure you have a way to capture all of the ducks once the event is over!

Marathons are a tried and true fundraiser for nonprofits that seek to raise awareness and get their entire communities involved for a common cause. While they can take months to plan, marathons can be excellent opportunities to generate more revenue for your nonprofit or charity to continue advancing your mission. A cultural cuisine night is perfect for the adventurous and food-loving traveler looking to raise money for a trip, an organization looking to educate supporters on diversity, and so many other causes.

Invite people to submit their unique and exotic dishes with a small donation attached. You can keep the meal specific to a country or region or just cook whatever you want. People can then vote on their favorite dishes with their dollars. Everyone gets excited about the Olympics. While it will take some planning, hosting a mock Olympic games can be great fun for the families in your local community. You can organize events like track and field races, swimming competitions, and more! You can charge a small admission fee for attendees and sell healthy concessions for when people get hungry and thirsty.

A community picnic can be an excellent opportunity to get to know your supporters better, educate them about your cause, and raise money for your nonprofit. Send out invitations a few weeks in advance and promote your picnic on social media and via email. You can either supply the food or ask people to bring covered dishes. Charge a small admission fee for the picnic and set up a general donation table or booth.

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• A Beginner’s Guide to Fundraising!

Have a staff member stationed at the table to answer any questions that attendees might have and give them more information about supporting your nonprofit and getting involved. If you have a few geography buffs in your friend group or family, you can host a game of geography bowl to put their knowledge to the test and raise money for your trip! A geography bowl is essentially a trivia night, but with only geography questions! You can host the event in your home, or you can reach out to a local restaurant or bar.

Charge a small admission fee and encourage people to make donations throughout the night. If you need to raise money for a project or cause, you can try to sell some of your gently used books for some extra cash. If you have used textbooks, you can sell them back to your college or university bookstore or to students who will need them for classes. Or you can pick a date and set up a a book sale event! If you need to raise money for an upcoming event or cause, try hosting a rockathon fundraiser with your friends and family members!

In the weeks leading up to the event, request sponsorships for your rockathon. An easy way to raise money and bring friends and family together after the passing of a loved one is to host a memorial dinner. As people eat and mingle, they can reminisce about the life of their loved one. A memorial dinner is a great way to help cover the cost of a funeral or memorial service while remembering the life of the person you care about. A potluck can be a great to enjoy food and conversation with your friends and community. However, you can have a general donation fund that people can make contributions to during the ceremony.

A lantern or balloon release can also be held in conjunction with another fundraising event, like a dinner or a walkathon. Give your supporters a central location for keeping up with your cause, making online gifts, registering for events, learning about your adventures , and more by creating a dynamic website for your cause! Organizations can work with a qualified, nonprofit-specific web design firm to design and develop an optimal site for their fundraising and marketing efforts. Text-to-give is quickly becoming a popular fundraising option for religious organizations and other nonprofits.

Invest in text-to-give software and explain to your donors how to give using mobile phones. You can even use videos and images to show supporters how it works. Not only is text-to-give incredibly easy for you to implement, but it also makes sense in our digital age. Many people forget to carry cash, but everyone has their phone on them! Peer-to-peer fundraising is a great fundraising idea for your project, cause, or event. Not only does it enable you to raise more money, it also helps you expand your existing donor base!

Then, your supporters reach out and ask for donations! Your supporters get their Amazon products and your nonprofit gets charitable donations. You also have the opportunity to form some solid business connections! Ask for charity auction items from local businesses; try to get as many items donated. That way, you can put your budget into creating a great atmosphere for your attendees.

Hire an auctioneer, send out invites, and cater in food and drinks. Make sure that everyone is aware of the rules of your charity auction beforehand. People will walk away with some unique items and experiences, and you can raise more money! Similar to the matching gift concept, you can launch a day-long matching donation campaign on social media. To host a donation match drive, you need to partner with a local business who is willing to match all donations made on a particular day. Share your fundraiser a few days before the big day, promoting the business that will be matching gifts.

Post reminders everyday leading up the event. You can create a similar online fundraiser for your cause! Your task should also be something that people will enjoy watching. Giving days work so well because they create a sense of urgency and community. Your online giving day will require a lot of online promotion to reach as many supporters as possible.

Share the details about your day via social media, in your emails, on your website, and through text messages. Supporters from all over the country or the world! A teachers in jail fundraiser is a quick and easy way to raise a lot of money. Plus, students get a little break from classes, and teachers can catch up on grading and planning. The premise is simple: The students get to hang out in the gym, on the playground, or in another communal area. The teacher simply stays in the classroom and works on planning, grading, or other tasks.

Your school stands to raise hundreds or even thousands of dollars! A Buy-a-Brick fundraiser is perfect if your organization or cause is raising money to build or renovate a community building, sidewalk, or other structure but it can work for any project! Before building commences, community members can buy a brick and have a message engraved on one side. This strategy invites supporters to share in the excitement of the project. These types of fundraisers are perfect for commemorative walkways, staircases, and archways.

They help pay for the structure while allowing people to leave their mark. You can either set up a physical store or booth, or sell things in an online storefront. Then promote your sales through social media, word-of-mouth, and flyers. Put a price tag on each item and start selling! Create simple whipped cream pies in tin foil plates and charge a few dollars per pie. This fundraising idea can go a couple of different ways. Either way, you will need to advertise your services to the community.

You can hang up flyers, take out ads in the newspaper, and spread the word with social media and emails. You can charge an admission price and ask people to make donations throughout the night. Do you remember the first time you held a tennis racket? Learn the different types of asks and what makes an effective ask. The 10 Steps to a Successful Fundraising Event — Fudraising events can be a great way to raise money. Use these ten steps to make sure your event is fun and profitable. Building Fundraising Networks — Grow your fundraising virally by building strong and sustainable fundraising networks.

Effective Fundraising by Mail -Learn how to use direct mail to raise money for your non-profit. Getting the Crowd Involved with Participatory Fundraising — Walk-a-thons, change bowls, candy sales, and other mass-fundraising efforts can pay off big for your school, church, or charity. Fundraising on the Internet — How to stay in touch with your donors over the web and raise money effectively on the Internet.

A graduate of Rutgers University, Joe and his family reside in Philadelphia. Are you an author? Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography. Learn more at Author Central. Popularity Popularity Featured Price: Low to High Price: High to Low Avg.

Available for download now. The Definitive Fundraising Guide Nov 04, Available to ship in days. The Silent Auction Handbook May 01,