Overhead Cost: $
Complexity to Plan: 1
Expected Return: $
Section off part of your parking lot (or other open space) into squares. Put donated prizes into each area and sell registration forms that can be turned into paper airplanes. Participants can toss their paper airplanes to win the prizes. For those who want another go, they can keep buying more forms, and keep making more planes!
Challenges to Consider:
Just make sure you have a wide Creative Fundraising Ideas space available and you’ve picked a day with great weather. No one wants a field full of soggy planes!
The Best Time to Do This:
This fundraising idea would work whenever the weather is nice.
Bedpan Water Race
Overhead Cost: $
Complexity to Plan: 2
Expected Return: $
Have your employees or community members create teams and pay an admission fee. Each team will race around an obstacle course with a bedpan of water and the team with the most water still in the pan at the end wins a prize.
Challenges to Consider:
Just make sure you have a wide open space available and you’ve picked a day with great weather.
The Best Time to Do This:
Do this in the spring or fall when people are ready to run outside.
Sponsoring or Partnering Organization:
This is a great fundraising idea you can use to raise money for a local hospital or nursing facility.
Penny Wars
Overhead Cost: $
Complexity to Plan: 1
Expected Return: $
Set up two teams with buckets, Creative Fundraising Ideas challenge them to collect the most pennies. To sabotage the other team, they can encourage people to add other coins to their bucket, which will count against their score. The team with the highest score wins, and your organization gets to keep the buckets of coins.
Challenges to Consider:
Set up a clear scoring system for how much each denomination is worth, and have a referee on hand to settle disputes.
The Best Time to Do This:
Anytime.
Dance-a-thon
Overhead Cost: $$
Complexity to Plan: 2
Expected Return: $$
Participants collect donations from sponsors to take part in your dance-a-thon, with the last dancer standing (or anyone who makes it through the whole 24 hours) winning a prize. You’ll need a large venue like a school hall, refreshments, a team of volunteers and maybe even a DJ!
Challenges to Consider:
Because this is a long event, it takes several volunteers to keep it running smoothly, particularly since you’ll need to ensure your dancers are sticking to the rules.
The Best Time to Do This:
Anytime.
Home Run Derby
Overhead Cost: $
Complexity to Plan: 2
Expected Return: $
Players are given a time limit to hit as many homeruns as possible. The players with the most can then be put head-to-head for a grand final. You can charge people to enter the competition, and offer a prize for the winning hitter.
Challenges to Consider:
Just make sure you have a wide open space available and you’ve picked a day with great weather.
The Best Time to Do This:
Do this in the spring or fall when people are ready to relax outdoors.
Sponsoring or Partnering Organization:
Check with a baseball stadium near you, or even a local park, to see if you can book their space. This is also a cool fundraising idea for a little league team!
Rubber Ducky Toss
Overhead Cost: $$
Complexity to Plan: 1
Expected Return: $
Find a wide open space and get hold of a vast amount of rubber ducks. You could either set up a target and award a prize to the person who manages to throw a duck to land the closest, or give an award for the duck that is thrown the furthest. Use sticky labels on the bottom of each duck to assign them a number, and note down each contestant’s name and contact details against the number of their duck.
The Best Time to Do This:
Spring or summer, when participants will be happy to stand outside and chat as they throw ducks.
Guess the Jellybeans
Overhead Cost: $
Complexity to Plan: 1
Expected Return: $
People can pay $1 to guess how many jelly beans are in a large jar, but this baby shower classic can be taken up a notch by offering a cash or donated prize to the most astute guesser.
The Best Time to Do This:
Keep this one running for a few weeks to get the most entries, or hold it during a larger event.