Fundraising Ideas
If you are stuck for ideas for your fundraising endeavours, then you could check out our A-Z of fundraising ideas below.
Art exhibition: Put on an exhibition for artists in your area. Charge for entry and take a commission on any paintings sold.
Arts and crafts fair: Get creative and sell your works of art at a fair.
Auction: Organise or take part in a charity auction. You can sell your wares or services to make money for a good cause.
Bake off: Get busy in the kitchen and challenge your friends and family to see who can make the best cake or other goodies. You can sell anything left over after the judges have named the winner and even auction off the winning cake.
Battle of the bands: Put on a battle of the bands to raise money for charity and to find out who is truly the best band in your local area.
Bike ride: Organise a sponsored bike ride to promote health and exercise whilst also raising money for a good cause.
Bingo: Get your friends and family in to a venue and get calling those numbers. Charge per go and offer a prize to the winner.
Boat race: Get out and about on the local river. Build your own vessel to see who can reach the end the quickest. You can charge for entry and entrants can raise sponsorship money.
Car wash: Charge your work colleagues, friends and family for a high quality hand car wash.
Casino evening: Set-up tables for blackjack, roulette and poker and put on an evening of extravagance. Charge for entry and use play money for the games. You could offer a prize to the player with the most chips at the end of the night.
Chocolate ban: Give up chocolate for a set amount of time; a day, a week or maybe even a whole month. You could donate the money you save to charity or maybe even convince some people to sponsor you for it.
Dress down day: Have a sponsored dress down day at work, we all deserve to be comfy at work sometimes.
Dance: Why not organise a dance and charge an entry fee to see who can set the dance-floor on fire?
Dog show: Arrange a dog show for friends, family and colleagues and their best friends. You don’t need to bring a pedigree and you can have easy to take part in competitions like who looks most like their dog or who has the cutest puppy.
Duck race: Sell off numbered plastic ducks to the highest bidders. Launch them all down the river and see whose reaches the end first.
Easter egg hunt: Arrange a fun day for the kids hunting for Easter eggs. Ask for a small donation from the parents to take part and ask local businesses to donate the eggs.
Eco day: Help the world be a better place by litter picking, recycling or planting greenery around your local area.
Egg and spoon race: Put your skills to the test. Organise a race for your friends and family to raise money for charity.
Fancy dress: Design and wear your most ridiculous outfit ever. Arrange donations for participation and organise prizes for the “best” costume.
Film night: Put on a cinema evening for work colleagues, family and friends with a classic film. You can charge for entry as well as popcorn and drinks.
Fun run: You can either organise a run yourself or join one of many around the country. Don’t forget to get sponsorship.
Garage sale: Get rid of your old belongings, cleaning up your house and raising money for charity at the same time. Invite all of your friends and make sure to advertise to get as many people to come as possible.
Give it up: Give up something you love or something you spend too much doing; e.g. give up using your phone for a day, watching TV for a week or eating cakes for a month. Donate all the money you save to a worthy cause.
Guess the…: Challenge your friends to guess the number of sweets in a jar or the weight of a cake and give the item in question to the closest guess. Make sure to charge people per guess.
Head shave: Cut it all off for charity! Ask for sponsorship from work colleagues and family to raise as much money as possible.
Hula hoop contest: Who can spin a hula hoop the longest? Get sponsored for how many spins you can do.
International evening: Hold an extravagant dinner with decorations from all around the world. You can dine on a menu of delicious food from all over the globe whilst relaxing to world music. Charge an entry fee to raise money.
It’s a Knockout: Put on an ‘It’s a Knockout’ competition; a great, fun day for all. You could make all the games pay-to-play.
Jumble sale: A great way to clear out some of the unneeded clutter from your house or place of work and to raise some money for charity.
Karaoke: Show everyone how good you are at singing, or not! Pay to have a go or get sponsored for how many songs you can do.
Knitting competition: You can challenge your friends to make a woolly jumper. Either get sponsorship or auction off what you make.
Line dancing: Organise a line dancing event and invite one-and-all to join you. Ask for a fee from all who want to join in on the fun.
Litter picking: Help the environment and, with a bit of sponsorship, help out Buckinghamshire Mind too.
Loud tie day: See who can wear the most ridiculous tie to work, you have to pay to take part.
Mini Olympics: Organise a track day for those budding athletes at your school (or your child’s school).
Murder Mystery Night: Arrange a night of murder and mystery and charge an entry fee. You could enlist the help of a local amateur dramatics group.
Name the teddy: You can charge a fee to choose a name for your mascot or other cuddly friend. You could even auction off the teddy at the end.
Netball tournament: Challenge your local area to a netball tournament, collecting money for charity in the process. You could even add to the fun by doing it in fancy dress.
Obstacle course: Having a sponsored obstacle course will add some fun (and dirt) to your fundraising day.
Odd job day: Make a few bob doing those jobs that never seem to get done otherwise.
Office collection: Simply place a collection tin on your desk at work and put up a sign saying you are raising money for Buckinghamshire Mind.
Penalty shoot-out: Get sponsorship for how many goals you can score (or save) as you compete with your friends in a football-themed fundraiser.
Pin the tail on the donkey: Blindfold your friends and challenge them to pin the tail on the donkey. Don’t forget to charge per go.
Poetry reading: Organise an evening of poetry with recitals of your own work or maybe the work of your favourite poet. Get sponsored for how many lines you can recite from memory.
Quilt competition: See who can show off the most impressive quilt.
Quizzes: Hold a quiz night and charge entry. You can set a theme or have a pub quiz with rounds on different subjects.
Race night: A night at the horses with play money (the person who wins the most can win a prize). Charge an entry fee.
Raffle: Ask around for donations of prizes from businesses, friends and colleagues and raffle them off to raise funds.
Read-a-thon: Get sponsored per book read as you challenge yourself to read as much as you can in a short period of time.
Soak the teacher/leader: Can you convince your teacher or other youth leader to get in the stocks and get soaked for charity? Charge per wet sponge.
Students vs staff tug-of-war: Challenge the teachers at your school to a tug of war. Both teams should pay a fee to raise money.
Swim-a-thon: Get sponsorship per length of the pool (or per mile, if you are brave) as you swim for charity.
Ten-pin bowling: Can you get a strike? Invite friends and family to an evening of bowling, charge an entry fee and award a prize to the player who gets the top score.
Tombola: Ask for donations from friends or local businesses for prizes and charge a fee per go.
Treasure hunt: Challenge your friends to find all of the goodies you have hidden. Charge for a go or include it as part of an entire afternoon of fun.
‘Ugly’ face competition: Award a prize for the most ridiculous face pulled, don’t forget to get photographic evidence!
Vehicle rally: Are you part of a bike or car group? Organise a rally and get sponsorship from friends and family.
Walking: Why not organise a sponsored walk and raise money for charity whilst improving your own wellbeing?
Welly throwing competition: Who can fling their boot the furthest? Organise as part of a fun afternoon and charge per go.
X-Factor: Create your own singing completion or talent show. Invite friends, family and all who are interested. You can charge people to attend and also to leave if the acts are not to their liking!
Yo-yo competition: Show all your work colleagues how to walk the dog! Get sponsored for the length of time you can keep going.
Zodiac evening: Organise an evening of horoscope readings. Charge per reading.
Zumba: Dance yourself fit! Get sponsored for the amount of time you can keep going or maybe even do it over a month and get sponsored for every pound you lose.