Ways to Raise Money, Easy Ways of Raising Money
WAYS TO
RAISE MONEY
Whether you
want to raise money to help the environment, animals, homeless children,
or hungry families, here are a number of ideas. There are many fun ways to
raise money for you and your organization or group. When you are considering
ideas, think about your organization and the donors you are trying to attract.
What is fun for a group of five year old may not be fun for a group of retirees.
You might ask your target demographic about some of your ideas and see which
ones they like. Get creative when thinking of raising money and don't be
afraid to try something new. Innovative ideas to raise money will keep
everyone interested in participating and will increase the publicity for you and
your group.
Create an Online Fundraising Page. Create a web page,
send the link to your family, friends, co-workers, parishioners, teammates, etc.
and collect donations via credit cards online. It is easy and simple and
eliminates spending a lot of time sending letters, calling people, and
organizing big events.
Ask families, friends and community businesses to donate
their specialties including skills to be auctioned off. Be creative! Some
teachers and students have had themselves auctioned for a day of baby-sitting,
or a day of museum-gazing with a small child, etc. Teachers have made videos of
their classroom over the course of the year and auctioned them off to parents.
Restaurant and theater owners can donate dinners and seats to shows. This takes
some organizing but can raise lots of money for your cause and will alert the
community and get everyone involved as well. Students can create posters, canvas
the neighborhood for donations, etc.
Hold drawings for a day off with pay, romantic weekend getaways, golf
foursomes, restaurant gift certificates, etc.
Have an "empty your pockets" day or week and collect all
the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters from everyone in the office or school.
Have a
talent show: this
works especially well if you have a number of creative people in your group.
Have people pay to enter and to attend. Ask local businesses to donate prizes.
You can also sell refreshments and food.
Encourage employees
to write a check
in memory or honor
of a special person.
Host a "building competition." Limit construction material to cans or non-perishable
food only. Departments or floors must pay to enter.
Host a Silent
Auction, Bowling Tournament, Casino Night, Tennis Classic, Used Book Sale,
Poinsettias sale, Bake Sale and Cake Walk.
Sell Cookbooks of
recipes from
employees/members of your organization. Have a Potluck Lunch and charge.
Host a
'carnival' complete with dunking booths, caramel apples, penny throwing, pie
throwing and hot dogs.
Have an art/craft/hobby show featuring individual "works of art." Sell t-shirts or
sweatshirts for employees to wear during the week of the
drive.
Hold
a summer picnic in
your garden and ask people to bring food and a cash donation, perhaps for a
particular garden plant or bench, a walk or structure.
Hold a winter
potluck and ask
people to bring food and a cash donation.
Hold an old-fashioned pie
supper or cake walk, get the food donated and have people bid for the pies/cakes that
they buy, etc.
Hold a weekend car-wash to raise money or make yourself (and friends)
available to run errands, do yard work, or walk dogs. Make up fliers to
advertise your services and explain where the money will go that is
earned.
Dress down days. Get colleagues involved by asking them to pay to wear something
different to work for a day.
Organise just one night or a whole series of
quizzes in your
local pub or social club. You can charge entry for each team and get prizes
donated. Many pubs or social clubs will be happy to support you as the event
will bring them extra customers.
Sponsorship. Can you face 24 hours of not swearing, smoking or
speaking? If you can, get sponsored for it! Or why not try sporting ventures
such as swimming, cycling or running, and get fit at the same time. There are
plenty of things you can get sponsored for - from giving up chocolate for a
month to having your beard/hair shaved off.
Plan an
entertainment event in your garden and charge a small admission or ask for the
donation of a specific tool, package of seeds, etc. (music, poetry reading and
other entertainment by children is always a great draw).
Host a themed party where participants pay a
certain amount to attend or participate. You could have a casino night.
Encourage individuals to dress up according to the theme.
Throw a carnival or
festival include
games and activities for different age groups. For example, you could have a
fortune teller, face painter, and puppet show, to name a few
activities.
Get someone to do something for donations. This works great if you can
get a local celebrity or someone well-known to the organization. Have them
volunteer to do something like spend time in "jail," shave their head, or any
other embarrassing activity if donations exceed a certain amount.
Plan
an excursion and
collect a participation fee. Make sure that the fee covers all activities and
supplies for each individual and makes the organization a little extra donation.
You could have a scavenger hunt at a local park or take the group to a museum or
amusement park.
Host a walk, run, or marathon and collect phones instead of cash from sponsors OR
set up contests and provide incentives to see who can collect the most phones.
Costume Ball. Hold this event around Halloween or New Years. Sell tickets or
charge admission at the door.
Organize social event. Hold a party, BBQ or coffee
morning. Charge people to attend and organise a raffle. Everyone will have a
great time and the money raised will make a real difference to the Red
Cross.
Feeling adventurous? You could take on the challenge of a
lifetime - from abseiling down a building to running a marathon - and you can
ask people to
sponsor you for
your efforts.
Organise sporting event. If you are part of a sports club, golf club or fitness
centre, you could organise a charity football match, golf day or fancy dress
sports challenge. Maybe your club has one already and you could nominate the Red
Cross to be the benefiting charity!
Collections. Get permission to collect from
your local supermarket, pub, football club, train station, theatre, cinema or
shopping centre. Ask volunteers to set up collection boxes at their individual
workplaces.
Dinner party. Cook a meal and invite your friends - for a price! You could also
run a mini-raffle or auction during dinner to provide additional entertainment
and raise money.
Do odd jobs. Help a neighbour or member of your family by taking their dog for
a walk, doing their shopping or cleaning up the garden in exchange for a small
donation. It soon adds up.
Auction of promises. Auction lots could range from
two hours of dog walking to theatre tickets, meals in local restaurants or
mowing your neighbour's lawn. You could even auction someone's skills - e.g.
decorating. You could hold it at home or in a local venue and charge a small
entrance fee. Make sure you have got plenty of lots to auction and get local
publicity to encourage people to attend.
Ask local merchants to donate
products or services and then auction them off as a fund-raiser.
