Fundraising ideas

This lecture has 118 ideas. Some you will use for your fundraising pack sent out to your supporters and some you may consider running from head office. Not all will do both and you may consider some will do neither.

The key to fundraising is to lead people by giving them the confidence to believe that they can fundraise. The second thing is to make it as easy and straight forward as possible.

This involves giving them advice at all stages. Make them take it slowly. Tell them to start small and get bigger the next time. If a person organises an event that has been challenging but not caused them excess stress, they will probably do it again, because it is fun to achieve things. If they have felt that your input was important to them they will probably do it again for YOU and your organisation.

MAKE SURE THAT THEY FEEL THAT THEY CAN CONTACT YOU AT ANY TIME TO ASK YOUR ADVICE. YOU ARE THE PROFESSIONAL. In my experience most people just need to have someone to bounce ideas off. Be clear about what you can do and what you can't. Don't make promises you can't keep.

The best fundraising for a member of the public is to change something they already do into a fundraising event. This means, usually, their hobbies, like, going to leisure centres, if they are pub goers, if they have things they do regularly with their children e.g. ballet classes, football classes; get the mums together and do a treasure hunt, get their daughter's ballet school to go to an old people's home and do a show for a donation etc etc.

From seeds do oak trees grow...................

As already mentioned these are ideas to include in your pack that is sent out. It is perhaps then necessary for the individual to ring you for a checklist on each of the subjects. We hope to be drawing checklists for each idea.

Note: before you go any further you will need to find out what happens when someone calls your organisation. For example when they call up are they asked if they are interested purely in information or in something that includes fundraising or information that only talks about volunteering.

The reason I ask this is I have rung up several of the UK's larger charities and was sent out too much information. I really suggest that the less information that is sent out the simpler it is to understand. See lecture on Fundraising Pack.

In brief someone who is interested in fundraising needs to speak to your fundraisers so they can send out what is appropriate. Someone who wishes to volunteer for fundraising, again needs to speak to a fundraiser to establish exactly what they are looking for and what commitment the organisation is looking for (look at lecture on Volunteer Fundraising).

It is up to you to tailor the following information but the main points are not to overload the individual and to appear in your information that you are able to support them. This does not mean that you do not have your limits but, it in fact sets your limits for you. It is ALWAYS all right to tell people that unfortunately you are unable to do certain things. I think that as long as you are clear then people cannot be disappointed.

A - Z on fundraising ideas

A

Auctions

Athletic Races

Aerobic Events

Assault Course

B

Baby ShowBaby

picture quiz (at work?)

Badminton Competition

Ball (fancy dress; Halloween)

Balloon Race

Barn Dance

BBQBingo

Book Sale

Bowling Competition

Bridge Evening

Bring and Buy Sale

Busking (outside your company dining room?)

Ballet class show for parents

Bike Race

C

Cake day (bake a cake)

Car Boot SaleCarol Concert

Charity T-shirt day (perhaps designed by a celebrity?)

Children's party

Coffee Morning

Cooking Competition

Cycle Ride

Christmas Card Sales

Craft Show

D

Darts evening

Dinner/dance

Dog Show

Dance Marathon

E

Easter Egg

Raffle

Essay Writing Competition

Exhibition

Expedition

Exercise bike race

F

Fashion Show

Fete

Fishing Competition

Football Match (e.g. teachers vs parents?)

Forum/Debate

Fancy Dress Party

G

Go-carting

Garden Party

Golf Tournament

Gymnastics Display

Gym Challenge

Graduation Party

Guess the weight of your head teacher!

H

Halloween Party

Horse Show

I

Indoor GamesIt's A Knockout

J

Jam Making

Juggling Competition

Jumble Sale

K

Kite Flying Competition

Knitting competition/auction

Karoke theme competition

Knobbly Knees competition (guess your partner competition)

L

Lawn Mowing competition/sponsored event

Log Throwing

M

Mini marathon

Midsummer Party

Mastermind Event

Mufti Day

N

Nice to Your Neighbour Day

O

Old time Music Hall evening

Opera evening

P

Pantomime

Parachute Jump

Party!Party

Pet Show

Pub Quiz

Penny Race

Pub Crawl

Q

Quiz

Queue-a-thon

R

Racing Night

Raffle

Rag Week

Riding Competition

Rowing Competition (your gym/local river)

Running competition

S

Swimming Gala

Squash Tournament

Sponsored anything-a-thon

Swim-a-thon

Swear Box

Stars in Their Eyes competition

Sports Match

School Quiz

Selling refreshments at any do

Selling charity merchandise

School Play

T

Tennis competition

Treasure Hunt

Toothpick Bake Bean-a-thon

Tombola

Tea dance

Teddy Bear Raffle

U

Underwear party?!!

V

Volley Ball competition

Vintage Car Day

Vintage Wine Tasting

W

Window cleaning

Washing Cars

Wine Tasting Evening

Walking on Broken Glass

Waxing event - wax your hairy chest!

Weight - Guess the weight competition

X

X!X!X!X!

Y

Youth Club Disco

Your Ideas!

Z

Zany zany zany Ideas?

Let me know anything else that you can add to that.

Top ten tips on organising an event
(The following is what I have sent out to members of the public as a check list when they are interested in fundraising.)

F
 

Find and organise a charity committee of not more than 5-10 people
(the fewer people you require the easier it will be to organise a committee).

U
 

Unite to discuss the responsibilities of each individual or team. e.g
Venue,Media, Refreshments, Posters, Programme, Special Equipment

Setting up/Clearing Up, Book keeping, Sponsorship money

N
 

Nominate a time and place to arrange regular meetings

D
Decide on what the estimates will be

How much money is it likely to cost?

How much time will it take to organise?

How much do you think it will raise (if you haven't done this before, look closely at the costs. Fundraising is not an exact science.

R
 

Resources. Draw up a budget and work out how to reduce and meet

costs. If you have specific costs e.g. printing tickets etc see if you can get something donated or sponsored.

Discuss how costs can be met:

A
 

Advertise. Tell your friends, colleagues and relatives

Send a simple press release 2/3 weeks before your activity

Make a list of local newspapers, magazines and radio stations

(Press Guides will be available in your local library). This should be

typed and one side only, preferably on your headed paper. Give your

press release a catchy title.

Remember what the press need to know: who, where, what, why, when and how!

Give a contact name and telephone number.

I
 

Inform. Be sure that you explain to other people on any printed

material why you want to raise money and why they should support

you.

S
 

Suggest clever ideas that you think will make the event more

successful. Use your imagination, think creatively.

E
 

Engage the help of others. Contact (the charity contact and number).

The charity is available to give you professional advice on how to make the

most of your event. Draw on the expertise of the people around you.

R
 

Relax and enjoy the day and remember your efforts are really helping

(charity cause) and that we are grateful for your support.

Conclusion

Use the above to help you develop a fundraising pack to get the individual donors to become active. You can only do this by making fundraising seem simple. Focussing on what the individual already does and supporting them to change this into a simple fundraising event will allow more chances of success and therefore continued support.
 
 
 

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