Fundraising Ideas
Your creativity is one of the most valuable resources in developing a successful fundraiser. The more interesting, unique and interactive your fundraiser is, the more likely people will be to participate and contribute.
To jumpstart your brainstorming, below are some popular fundraisers:
Marathons of all kinds: Walk-a-Thons, Bike-a-Thons, Dance-a-Thons or Bowl-a-Thons. Favorite sports or hobbies provide participants with a great opportunity to test their endurance while collecting pledges for specified lengths of time, repetitions or skills.
Sales and Games: Bake Sales, Barbecue Contests, Rummage Sales, Baby and Kids Clothing Resales, Yard/Parking Lot Sales, Board Game Tournaments, Book Club Fundraisers, Brown Bag Lunch Days, Premium Parking Space or Jewelry/Candle Parties.
Sports Competitions: Golf Tournaments, 5K Fun Runs, Softball Tournaments, Tug-of-War contests, etc.
Cooking Competitions: Cook/Bake-Offs to determine the best chili, ribs, brownies, pie, cookies, etc.
Paper Icon Sales: Suggested donations are $1, $5 or $10. Display in a visible location.
Change for Children: Collect change at a register or from a fountain. This creates awareness for GKTW as well.
Auctions: Live, silent or eBay. Art Auctions.
Celebrity/Sports Star Autograph Signing Party
Workplace Giving: GKTW is a member of America’s Charities but can participate in other campaigns. In most instances, employees can “write in” GKTW on workplace giving pledge forms.
Holiday Costume or Decorating Contest
Employer Matching Gifts: Ask at work if your company donates money to match your volunteer hours or donations
Dress Down Days: Offer employees the opportunity to wear casual clothing in exchange for a donation to GKTW.
Wish List Item Drive: Select an item or items from the GKTW Wish List and ask donors to provide these gifts (toys, fabric for pillow cases, candy, etc.).
Charity Night at a Local Restaurant: Donate a portion of sales or ask diners to round up their bill to an even amount with excess benefitting GKTW.
Employee Barbecue/Picnic Family Fun Day: Solicit vendors to donate food items and door prizes. All meal and ticket sales go to GKTW.
Potluck breakfast, lunch or dinner
Theme Nights
To enhance the success of your program, consider integrating online and social media fundraising. Promote your fundraiser by creating an “event” on Facebook, tweeting about it on Twitter or creating a mini-campaign online.