Fundraising ideas

Gather your community’s best bakers and turn their sweet creations into a fundraising feast! Ask volunteers to whip up their favorite cakes or cookies to sell at your event. 

To add some extra excitement, sell raffle tickets and offer baked goods as delicious prizes.

Invite your community to explore the world around you with an outdoor education experience. Determine your target age group(s) and create an out-of-classroom adventure they’ll treasure.

Organize an afternoon of relay races, obstacle courses, and brain teasers at your school and challenge teachers to partake. Be sure to create a fun and engaging event page where attendees can easily purchase tickets!

There’s nothing like pancakes to bring a community together. Charge an entry fee for an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, or ask a local restaurant to sponsor the event to make it even sweeter.

Invite your community members to donate gently worn or newly purchased shoes that you can sell at a pop-up shoe drive.

Make transactions easy with scan-to-donate and multiple payment options, including Venmo.

Swap your traditional auction for a silent one, where supporters or live audience members can bid any time before the auction ends. With a silent auction, your supporters are able to bid on items online or with their phones via QR code, making it easy and accessible for all.

Reach out to local businesses and ask them to donate a small number of products that you can bundle together and offer donors online. 

To attract more partnerships from businesses, create a sponsorship proposal that emphasizes the benefits for them, like free publicity and marketing opportunities.  

Find a venue, write up some icebreaker cards, and set a time limit for each date. Charge an entrance fee to this fundraising event and watch the sparks fly.

Encourage extra donations if participants find a special someone! 

Map out your fundraising run route and have supporters donate to participate. Then, use peer-to-peer and team fundraising tools that let supporters create their own donation pages, set goals, and ask friends and family to contribute!

Invite family, friends, and fans to this ultimate sports fundraising event. Participants join in a series of challenges, such as football tosses, 50-yard dashes, and obstacle courses.

Offer supporters the chance to name a bench, tree, sculpture, or pathway in recognition of their gift.

Create custom labels on your donation form for different naming tiers (e.g., $100 = named brick in a sidewalk).

Challenge your congregation to reach your fundraising goal by pledging that your pastor or ministry leader will sleep on the roof if you hit it—or until you do!

Embed a donation form on your website with a live goal bar, so your community members can see just how close you are to hitting that target.

Students make donations to buy sections of toilet paper. At the end of the fundraising period, they get to wrap their teacher with it! For a smoother process, set custom donation amounts and labels on your fundraising page or donation form.

Reserve lanes at a bowling alley, ask participants to gather pledges for an all-you-can-bowl night, and watch the donations roll in on team fundraising pages.

Offer special prizes for the team with the highest score, most creative name, or even the best uniforms.

Lock your pastor or church leader away behind closed doors and ask congregation members to donate towards their freedom. This is a fun and fast-paced way to raise funds quickly! 

Create excitement by displaying a live goal bar on your fundraising page so supporters can watch the total rise in real time. 

For National Pet Week, host a pet competition! Ask people to send in photos of their pets to be judged in categories like Funniest Pet or Most Adorable. Charge an entry fee and partner with local businesses to sponsor prizes.

Invite supporters to submit their entries via your supporter feed for an engaging way to send in photos alongside their donations.

Branded t-shirts, hoodies, totes, or water bottles are a tried-and-true way to raise money and spread the word about your organization. Set up an online store and sell merch at community events to increase visibility and donations.  

Hosting an employee appreciation day is a great opportunity for workplace giving. Let your employees know how valued they are with a special day in their honor, during which you ask for their preferred charity and make a donation on their behalf. 

Partner with a publisher or local book store and host a book sale to raise money. Sell books of all kinds or organize the event around a theme—romance novels, religious books, or children's literature—whatever will resonate with your community.

Make sure to spread the word about your sale and send reminders using free email marketing software!

Host a grand harvest or Thanksgiving dinner party for special guests. Raise money through exclusive ticket sales, and use corporate sponsorship best practices to secure a partnership with a local restaurant or catering company.

Give the traditional silent auction a dance-themed twist by selling off items, vouchers, and experiences that your dancer community would love. Make this part of a gala event and sell tickets to enter for even more fundraising opportunities.

Sell tickets for a night of performances by local drag artists and musicians (with food and drinks available, too!).

Manage your event ticketing, check in your attendees, and accept additional donations in person with easy fundraisng event software.

Organize a series of lighthearted office games like chair races or paper airplane contests. Charge a small fee (donation) for participation and award prizes to winners. Offer scan to-donate to make the process smooth and simple.