Our Top Twenty proven ideas for fund raising
On-line fund-raising page with Virgin Money Giving
This is the very first thing we would recommend that you do. Virgin Money Giving even have advice, guidance and tips on how to attract donations to your Virgin money giving page once you have set it up.
Curry night
Talk to your local Indian restaurant and see if they will agree that you take over all or part of the restaurant for the evening, with them donating a share of the takings to your cause. Of course, this works with any restaurant - Indian, Italian, Chinese, Peruvian or whatever. If you are raising money for a specific Foundation project you can link the evening and the restaurant to the destination country concerned.
Wine Tasting
Your local wine merchant is probably used to this type of evening and will probably help you put the evening together. They provide the wine tasting and if your guests buy wine on the evening then the wine merchant will donate a percentage of the sales to your fund raising. A good idea is to call it an AMATEUR WINE TASTING EVENING so that anyone who knows only a little about wine wont be put off.
Pub Quiz
This is a common fund raising idea, and it's popular because it works well. Source a venue - perhaps your local pub - and then promote the evening. You could charge per person or per team, and the winning team takes a percentage of the funds raised. A pub quiz is great fun, straight forward to arrange, and quiz questions can be found on-line.
Cake or soup sale
Another popular idea. If you run a cake sale but are not a brilliant baker, then ask others to contribute the cakes. If yiu bake or are given, a large cake then run a "guess the weight" competition along with sale and raffle a large cake. If your office colleagues or friends are not cake-orientated, then offer to provide soup and a roll one lunchtime.
Dressing Up Day
This works well in an office or a school or university. Provide a theme and participants must get sponsorship for staying in fancy dress all day.
Decluttering
Collect up all those unwanted books, CDs and DVDs or clothes that you have not worn in years. If you have enough stuff sell it all at a car boot sale or on an online site such as Gumtree or eBay.
Go Giftless
At birthday, anniversary, Christmas or retirement time where you might receive a present, ask that instead a donation is made to your fund raising.
Sell off a day of your annual leave
If your boss is amenable to this idea, then auction or raffle a day of your annual leave so you work and another employee can take the day off. It costs nothing but your time. Alternatively sell your time by giving up a Saturday or Sunday to do some paid work for a neighbour or a friend.
Set up a static bike
This works well if you are a member of your local gym, provided they are agreeable with the idea. Participants get themselves sponsored by the mile or the minute. You can do this yourself or get a team together to do a 24-hour session if the gym will let you.
A raffle or an auction
These can be incorporated into any of our ideas. Local businesses are often willing to support community fund-raisers by donating a prize. If you don't ask you don't get.
Themed events
Choose a day that offers itself to a theme - Easter, Christmas, New Years Eve, Valentine's Day, Bonfire night, Halloween, Pancake day, Carnival, Burns' Night and so on. Chinese New Year is a good theme for an event. Put on a party at home, hire a village hall or work with a local restaurant as a venue and guests give a donation to attend.
Run a golf day
If you play golf, or no someone that does, then organise a golf day. Charge players, per person or per team to attend. You could provide them with a bacon roll to start the day and lunch too, if you charge enough (don't spend all the entrance fees on food and drink or you will have nothing to donate!). You could hold an auction or a raffle at lunch time, either with prizes you have persuaded local businesses to give you, or else every player brings a prize (set a maximum spend) and everyone wins a prize, for something.
Sponsored swim
You can do this at your gym, if they have a pool, or at a local swimming pool if they give permission. Every entrant can pay to enter if it is a knockout competition, or entry is free but they must raise an amount of sponsorship on a "per length" basis. A simple lunch could be included or they can pay for this separately. Prizes can be offered, depending on what you can persuade local businesses to offer, or everyone brings a prize (set a maximum spend) and everyone wins a prize for something.
Pool competition
Not a swimming pool this time, but a competition playing Pool. If you have an obliging local pub with a pool table or too, then organise a knockout pool competition. All the usual points apply - charge to enter the competition or get entrants to raise money through sponsorship, everyone brings a prize, and everyone wins a prize for something. They can buy a meal afterwards, so that the landlord is happy.
Pop-up car wash
This is most effective if you work in an office, factory, school or hospital where there are a few cars in a car park. Get a team together of five or six at best, and during the lunch-hour wash staff cars using their own buckets and sponges for a charge of £10 per car (the market rate might be as little as £6 per car, but this is for charity). You can either solicit custom before the lunch hour, or take a risk and wash as many cars as you can and ask them for the money afterwards. Most people will probably pay up. An interesting twist would be to run a competition to guess how many cars will be washed in one hour, with the nearest guess winning part of the profits, or getting their car washed for free. If this is done, then it is important to start and end exactly on the hour with a whistle.
Parachute Jump
A popular charity fund raising option, for those with the courage! A tandem jump requires no skill or experience, just a lot of nerve, and usually can be booked locally. It's a challenge for the participant but it is usually not difficult to get sponsorship for the jump, if only because people would rather pay up than have to do it themselves! You will, of course, need to pay for the cost of the jump yourself.
Dog walking
This is a simple way to raise funds. It can even be farmed out to your children if they are the right age. Taking peoples dogs for a walk is good exercise for the dog walkers and relieves people of the sometimes tiring task. The going rate seems to be around £3 - £5 per dog per walk. Friends dogs can be enlisted or an advert in a local shop window can produce results. Doing this for a week or a month can raise a sizeable sum.
Tennis or pickleball competition
Use local tennis courts or organise it through the tennis club. The relatively new sport of pickleball (Google it if you haven't heard of it yet) equally lends itself to a knockout competition if you can find a local club. Charge to enter or get everyone to raise sponsorship money. If necessary, make it clear that there will be a category for those that have hardly played, as some people might want to play but might be unsure of their ability.
Skip all the above ideas and go on holiday
Instead of organising one of the above ideas, just take a break and book a holiday, but a holiday that allows you to raise money whilst you are enjoying yourself. Click on our link to "Discover Adventure" and find out how to do it.
Keep it legal! Some fund-raising ideas will have to adhere to health and safety laws and/or food hygiene regulations. Talk to your local authority or venue provider, particularly if alcohol is involved, to make sure you are staying within the law.