Fundraising is the lifeblood of philanthropic organizations. More than half of nonprofit revenue in the United States comes from fees and sales, according to stats. That means that if you’re not regularly hosting fundraising events and selling goods and services, your supporters won’t be as motivated to show up for your cause.
Of course, not all fundraising ideas work equally well for all nonprofits. The strategy that attracts generous donations for a preschool might backfire if you’re raising cash for a food bank or an environmental charity.
In this article, we look at 45 creative online fundraising ideas geared toward different types of nonprofits so you can plan a fundraiser that resonates deeply with YOUR unique constituency.
These ideas for your non-profit fundraising campaign are all vetted, proven, and popular. We’ve gone ahead and sorted them by the type of charity they would suit best, though any idea can be adapted if you see potential in it. Each idea contains important details on fundraising experience, cost, effort, and efficiency.
For Preschools
Caring for and educating little ones isn’t cheap! Preschools often have to reach out to generous parents, volunteers, and supporters to help fund events like field trips or purchasing essentials, such as books, art supplies, and other resources. Here are a few fundraising ideas to get inspired.
1. Spelling bee
Experience: Livestreaming, a-thon, event
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 1/5
Result: 4/5
A spelling bee is a fun way to sharpen children’s minds while raising some cash! It’s super easy to host the event online using platforms like RallyUp, Zoom, or Facebook live, with contestants competing from their living rooms.
Here’s the kicker: friends and family can cheer on the little ones from wherever they are in the world! Charge an entry fee for participants (e.g. $20 per child) and ask a minimum donation from audience members (say, $5 minimum).
Then choose a list of age-appropriate words, an exciting prize, a high-energy emcee, and your spelling bee fundraiser is sure to be a big hit!
2. Handmade calendars
Experience: Sales, event
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
Kids draw all the time. Why not channel all that artistic creativity for a good cause?
Invite students to draw themed pictures for different seasons, holidays, or even days. Take snaps of each drawing, upload the photos to your computer, and use software like Adobe or Photo Calendar Creator to make your preschool’s own unique calendar.
You can either print them on glossy paper or stick to digital-only versions to keep costs extra low. Then sell the gorgeous calendars to parents, friends, and family!
3. Read-a-thon
Experience: A-thon, event
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
Read-a-thons are popular for a reason: it’s a unique way to get the kids reading, building a culture of literacy that involves the entire community.
The basic idea: parents and friends pledge a dollar amount for the number of pages or books children read. Setting it up is simple with a platform like RallyUp, which has tools dedicated specifically to pulling off seamless and successful read-a-thons at zero cost to your preschool.
For Churches
Religious organizations are often the backbone of their communities, providing essential services and inspiring others. With these nonprofit fundraising ideas for churches, your spiritual organization can plan something really special for your supporters!
4. Livestream a special event
Experience: Livestreaming, a-thon, event
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
Next time something special is happening at your church, why not set up some livestreaming action?
Not everyone can attend events like candlelit mass, evensong, or a holiday service, but they can always tune in from home! Better yet, they can share the link far and wide, picking up supporters outside your network. Simply ask for a donation from your online audience when they register for the event.
Idea #2: Sell seasonal DIY items
Survey the talents in your base of supporters. Does anyone have a talent for baking? Are there any crafts enthusiasts or folks who can knit up a storm? Put your congregation’s skills to a good cause and sell seasonally themed items online.
Think candles and pumpkin pies for autumn, wreaths and scarves for winter, and seeds and flowers for spring and summer. Unlike a one-off sales event, you can keep your online store up and running (and collecting funds!) all year long.
5. Donation page
Experience: Donation pages
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 1/5
Result: 4/5
This just might be the easiest way on the planet to raise a good chunk of change: donation pages.
Customize it with photos of your church and your community members. Get into it and really tell the story of your unique spiritual community. Then link to it on your website, newsletter, and emails, and encourage your supporters to share it across their social media channels.
For Communities and Causes
You might be looking to expand your community or grow your cause from the ground up. Whatever you are hoping to generate some extra cash for, try out the following ideas to drum up the support you need!
6. Crowdfunding
Experience: Crowdfunding, peer-to-peer fundraising, donation pages
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 1/5
Result: 4/5
The brilliant thing about crowdfunding is that you can generate support for absolutely anything that’s happening in your organization at the moment.
Growing your non profit? Expanding your outreach? Looking for alternative funds? Yep, those are all great reasons to share your story with the world and tell your supporters all about your campaign. Once you set up your customized crowdfunding page, donors from all across the globe can pitch in with their donations and help your dreams come true!
7. Social media challenge
Experience: A-thon, livestreaming
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 1/5
Result: 4/5
If you don’t have a major following online, not to worry!
Social media challenges are a fun way to spread the news about your cause beyond your immediate group of followers. The trick is to think of something creative and fun, but that doesn’t take too much effort, so it’s more likely to go viral.
For example, challenge your followers to snap a no makeup selfie or their morning latte art. It’s important to create a unique and catchy hashtag so that your fundraising goal keeps everyone on track, like #nomakeupforanimals!
8. Online class
Experience: Livestreaming, sales, event
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
What is your expertise?
Whether you play drums on the weekends, know your way around the dance floor, or can identify 14 types of sparrows, make that knowledge work for you by organizing an online class or talk and charge for attendance. Alternatively, offer your own “team talk” or seminar where you invite your supporters into learning about your important mission and cause.
If you’re a nature lover, take your audience on a gorgeous, live streamed excursion. If you whip up a beautiful summer salad, make a video of the step-by-step process.
Whatever it you do, don’t forget to promote the heck out of it on Facebook, Instagram, your website, and your fave fundraising platform.
For Housing Assistance Organizations
Housing assistance, such as homeless shelters, are an invaluable resource for folks in need. After all, homelessness can happen to anyone. We share a few ideas to help your organization raise extra funds to support your community.
9. Silent auction
Experience: Auctions, events
Cost: 2/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
One of the best ways to energize the donor base of a philanthropic organization is to bring them together for some friendly competition.
Since you already have a pretty good idea of who your audience is, you can have a blast selecting the items and services that your donors will be thrilled to bid on.
Hosting online auctions not only helps you engage more supporters, but lets you leverage digital tools that fundraising sites like RallyUp or BiddingOwl offer for free: mobile bidding, progress tracking, and live streaming. Your auction will be extra lively!
10. Stage a virtual concert
Experience: Livestreaming, sales, events
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
Plenty of orchestras, bands, and musical groups are struggling to make ends meet post pandemic, even though building community through art is both effective and nourishing.
Your organization can team up with a group of local musicians to organize a performance, tapping into multiple constituencies at once.
After you nail down a venue and start advertising, organize ticket sales to the live streamed concert. To make your musical evening extra memorable, ask the performers to stick around for a brief Q&A session with the artists.
11. Sell merch
Experience: Sales, donation pages
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 1/5
Result: 4/5
You know those iconic YMCA t-shirts or breast cancer awareness bracelets? Yep, we love ‘em, too. Merch. Swag. Regardless of what you call them, not only do they make a difference, but they look cute, too!
Whatever your logo is, you can sell branded items at an online store or at your next fundraising event. That way, your staff, volunteers, and donors can rep your nonprofit wherever they go!
Everything from coffee mugs to hair scrunchies to t-shirts will raise impressive amounts of cash and awareness. Remind your supporters that buying gifts for their loved ones from your shop instead of for-profit stores means that they’re “voting with their dollars” for a good cause.
For Clubs
Whether you’re a neighborhood tennis group or a large institution with an international membership, all social clubs need an extra boost now and again! These nonprofit fundraising ideas are easy to pull off and are guaranteed to boost engagement.
12. Email campaigns
Experience: Donor communication, donation pages
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 1/5
Result: 4/5
Whether you’re a sports team, youth organization, or university club, an effective way to raise cash is through email campaigns. Sending emails is cheap and easy, and you probably already have a solid list of addresses to get the ball rolling.
Take a minute to craft a thoughtful email with images, emotional appeal, and a clear call to action (i.e. DONATE NOW). Another tactic is to skip all the fancy hoopla and keep the email simple, human, and honest—the kind of email you would send to a friend. Experiment with both approaches and blast it out to all your supporters, encouraging them to donate and forward.
13. Peer-to-peer fundraising
Experience: Peer-to-peer, crowdfunding
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
If your club hasn’t tapped into the power of peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, prepare to be amazed. Everyone in your group already knows somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who… you get the idea.
Take advantage of that existing network by having all those contacts lend your club a hand by creating their own customized fundraising page. As their donors become your donors, you can sit back and watch the dollars roll in!
14. Virtual happy hour
Experience: Livestreaming, sales, event
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
When your club hasn’t met in months because of the pandemic, winter, or just life getting in the way, it’s time to catch up over drinks—at home!
Host a virtual happy hour on a streaming app like Zoom, Teams, or Instagram Live and invite your group members along with their pals and family, exactly like you would if it was a “real” happy hour event.
Charge an entry fee right before the event begins, then kick back and chat with drinks in hand. For younger groups, host a Cookie Hour, Lunch Break, or just a Catch Up!
For Museums
Museums are the guardians of our collective heritage, and they need all the support they can get! Inspire giving in your members, volunteers, and donors with fundraising strategies geared toward the museum lovers in your community.
15. Virtual tour
Experience: Livestreaming, event, sales
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
Whether your institution is artistic, historical, literary, or scientific, take advantage of your unique space by giving all your supporters a chance to tour it—virtually.
This is especially cool if you have a new artifact, artwork, or discovery to share. Select a few objects or galleries to focus on and ask a knowledgeable guide to walk through the museum as they address your at-home audience via livestream.
Your donors will love their private tour where they can learn something new and ask the guide questions at the end. You can even offer exclusive content for members!
16. Gift matching
Experience: Donor communication, sales
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
If your museum hasn’t entered into any corporate partnerships yet, it’s time to get a move on! Businesses like to support museums because it’s mutually beneficial: they get a branding platform from which to engage your visitors, and you get extra revenue.
An easy way to take advantage of that relationship is by organizing a special online exhibition funded in part by your sponsor. For example, the Museum of the Moving Image recently organized an innovative virtual exhibit of all the presidential campaign commercials from 1952 to 2020. Guess who helped develop and produce it? A NYC digital agency.
17. Online talk or workshop
Experience: Livestreaming, sales
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
Your museum has plenty of archivists, curators, and other experts who can share their talents and insights with your supporters. From archaeology lectures to drawing workshops, hosting a recurring event that engages online audiences is a surefire way to bring in some cash.
You can post a video interview, start a podcast, or simply host a talk via conference call and invite audiences to come armed with questions for the expert.
Pro tip: for the widest engagement, pick a time that works across as many time zones as possible.
For Hospitals
What would neighborhoods do without their local hospitals? From delivering much-needed emergency procedures to acting as a pillar in their communities, hospitals are always in need of extra funds.
18. Sweepstakes
Experience: Sweepstakes, event
Cost: 2/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
A sweepstakes fundraiser can rally your supporter base to your hospital and clinic like no other event! Why? The competitive edge and the thrill of chance build major suspense as participants give Lady Luck a shoutout.
Select impressive, high-level prizes to give away—think automobiles or homes—that will jive with your major donors. Most importantly, in the weeks leading up to the event, promote the sweepstakes on a fundraising site that helps you execute the game with ease.
19. Wine, Cheese, and News Party
Experience: Livestreaming, sales
Cost: 2/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 5/5
What’s better than a glass of red wine? A glass of red wine with cheese, of course.
For your next online fundraiser, organize a Virtual Wine, Cheese, and News Party. Major donors can enjoy an exclusive charcuterie board and wine pairing while catching up on all the latest news, trends, and gossip at your hospital or clinic.
Here’s how to pull it off:
- Step 1. Send a curated charcuterie board kit along with a bottle of wine to your donors’ homes.
- Step 2. On the day of your party, a virtual expert will show your supporters how to assemble their boards at home.
- Step 3. Your donor audience can enjoy their elevated hors d’oeuvres while your healthcare team talks them through all the happenings affecting the hospital.
20. Trivia Night
Experience: Event, sales
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 3/5
Result: 4/5
If you’re thinking that you’re a small local community clinic and your donors can’t afford fancy stuff like charcuterie boards, then look no further than a virtual trivia night.
It combines the thrill of chance with the accessibility of digital platforms to make sure that all the families in your community can participate. Invite your supporters to form and register their teams after paying an entrance fee (for example, $20 per person or $100 per team). The prize can be something families will enjoy, like a gift card to a local restaurant.
Make sure you have a fun, energetic host and questions that are general enough to give everyone a shot at winning!
For Healthcare Charities
Some folks who need medical care and advice prefer to avoid larger hospitals and work with smaller-sized healthcare charities. Unfortunately, it’s precisely those small healthcare charities that often provide critical community care on a shoestring. We share nonprofit fundraising ideas that will boost your supporter base!
21. Livestream Comedy-a-thon
Experience: Livestreaming, a-thon, event
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
Laughter makes the world go around, and these days we could all use a good laugh. Host a unique comedy-a-thon where funny people get on stage and tell jokes for as long as they can. You’ll need a live audience, a gaggle of willing amateur comedians, and community support.
This non-profit fundraising experience involves three components, selling tickets to the live event, finding comedians, and getting the community to pledge money for every joke told. Finally, you’ll livestream the event to an audience of paying donors.
Every ticket sold, pledge realized, and livestream access granted is money towards your goal. Spice up your event by inviting professional comedians from your local stand-up comedy club. At the end of the marathon comedy session, crown the highest earning comedian the winner.
22. Team-Based Scavenger Hunt
Experience: Peer-to-peer, livestreaming, event
Cost: 2/5
Effort: 2/5
Efficiency: 4/5
A scavenger hunt is a great way to get groups or teams of people involved in a fun event. They’re also quite easy to setup – all you need is a way for participants to buy tickets, and a platform that they can use to raise money for their team before the event begins.
You can make your scavenger hunt as simple or as complex as you like. Start by picking a location where the hunt will take place. Then design a map with a dynamic clue list that leads from one location to the next. Hide items for your teams to find at each stop – make them interesting!
Nonprofit fundraising ideas like the classic scavenger hunt are fun to livestream. Set up a stream at each location to film the teams as they discover your items or perform your challenges. Charge people to watch the hunt online, then edit and package the videos for sale after the hunt.
23. Community Auction
Experience: Auction, event
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 3/5
Efficiency: 4/5
Community auctions are popular with health charities because they cost almost nothing to create, and the items up for auction can be donations from the same community. Donated item auctions are easy to stage in-person or online. They simply require the right platform and a bit of promotion.
At the auction, your attendees will bid on the displayed items as they come up for sale. Set a minimum bid, and make sure that its low enough to encourage a lot of people to feel like they might get a great deal if they bid to win. Bidding competition will take care of the rest.
Successful fundraising ideas for nonprofits like the community auction will help you raise the money you need for your cause. Host regular auctions once your charity has accumulated enough donated items, or list them online for sale as an alternative. Charity shops love this type of fundraiser.
For Food Banks
From a hot meal to social support, a lot of unfortunate folks regularly rely on food banks to get through the day. We share a few ideas to help your food bank raise some extra cash.
24. Seasonal cards
Experience: Sales, donation pages
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 3/5
Result: 4/5
Make the seasons work for you by creating and selling original cards.
Take a cue from the Quartzsite Food Bank in Arizona: the food bank partnered with a local artist. Her original artwork was then photographed and turned into one-of-a-kind Christmas cards and prints sold at the food pantry, starting at $15 each.
If you don’t have a local artist to tap, simply take photos of your customers and volunteers, then transform your digital pics into cards that celebrate your food bank and community.
25. Virtual food drive
Experience: Livestreaming, sales
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 3/5
Result: 4/5
Just because an in-person food drive might be off the table doesn’t mean you still can’t collect food donations. How? Virtually!
- Set up an online store on a fundraising platform that offers all the typical products your pantry stocks, from beef stew to fresh fruit to whatever special treats your customers love.
- Your supporters can shop online, tossing items into a virtual cart and donating to your food bank without leaving their homes.
- The best part: unlike regular food drives which are limited to non-perishable goods, a virtual food drive empowers your donors to contribute fresh produce! So, go ahead and add fruit, vegetables, meats, and cheeses to your online store.
- Tip: To avoid well-intentioned but impractical supporters who want to donate one can at a time, simply set a 10 or 20 product minimum (or dollar amount minimum).
26. Essentials kit donation
Experience: Sales, donation pages
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
While food banks focus primarily on distributing food, they know better than anyone that one of the biggest challenges facing vulnerable populations is access to basics like toothpaste, toothbrushes, and sanitary items.
Your food bank can create an “essentials” kit, complete with basic supplies like toiletries and snacks that can be easily transported: granola bars, nuts, pop-open cans with spoons, and bottled water.
Encourage your supporters to purchase the kits on an online store in addition to, or in lieu of, a monetary donation (for example, $20 per kit) which you can then distribute to your constituency.
For Environmental Charities
If you’re raising money for an environmental cause, you will be concerned with climate change, pollution, wildlife conservation and educating people about recycling. Here’s what will work.
27. Beach Clean Up Event
Experience: Event, sweepstakes
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 1/5
Efficiency: 4/5
Beach cleanups are great if you want an event that people will pay to attend, and still has practical use for the community. Everyone loves the beach, so make sure to host this event on a beautiful summer’s day. Charge people entry and ask them to bring along supplies (gloves, tongs, water).
To make the beach cleanup fun, tell your attendees that you’re running a competition for the most trash collected. You could also split this into types of trash, and award prizes to people who have collected the most plastic bottles, aluminum cans or paper cartons.
A fun beach cleanup day wouldn’t be complete without hot dogs, volleyball and some bonding time for the donors who came to support your cause. When green teams brainstorm charity fundraising ideas in the workplace, beach cleanups are a big winner – they’re ideal for team building.
28. Virtual Relay Race
Experience: Livestreaming, a-thon, event
Cost: 2/5
Effort: 3/5
Efficiency: 4/5
Some nonprofit fundraising ideas for the environment don’t take place outside. The virtual relay race is one of these ideas. It’s recently become popular with virtual fitness enthusiasts who join largescale online events that sync with their home exercise equipment.
Now your charity can run a virtual team-based race that is the equivalent of a triathlon, simply by setting up a livestream event. Entrants will form teams (a cyclist, a runner, a rower) to compete in a head-to-head virtual relay race that happens in real time. It’s super exciting!
Get your teams to find sponsors who will pledge money for every leg of the race that they finish, or how many laps they can do before giving up. However you structure it, this is a new way of raising money for charity that has zero impact on the environment – with no event cleanup afterwards.
29. Sustainable Craft Fair
Experience: Sales, event
Cost: 3/5
Effort: 5/5
Efficiency: 4/5
Here is one of those easy charity fundraising ideas that takes a bit of organization. A sustainable craft fair is a gathering of crafters who only create products for sale using reusable, recycled or otherwise sustainable materials. This is the perfect way to raise awareness for a green cause.
Craft fairs are popular because they attract large crowds. A small entry fee will get you inside, where vegan food stalls, live music, and a host of fascinating eco-friendly items are displayed for sale. Families will come out to support your charity if you promote the event a few weeks before it’s opening date.
Sustainable craft fairs are best over a weekend, to give people time to enjoy the festivities on the most convenient day. Use the fair as a platform to get your message out to the media and plan to have everything used at the fair recycled or composted.
For Animal Shelters
Caring for our furry pals is an enormous joy, but also an enormous challenge. From staffing shortages to lack of essential resources, animal shelters need all the financial help they can get! Here’s how to encourage giving from your animal-loving community.
30. Work with a social media influencer
Experience: Donation pages, livestreaming
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
You know what lends itself effortlessly to social media? Animals. People are constantly scrolling and sharing adorable photos and videos of our furry pals.
Recently, a TikTok video catapulted a pup named Mugsy to stardom—and raised 10k for the KC Pet Project in the process! Capitalize on that animal-loving audience by reaching out to a social media influencer who loves animals and the environment.
Ask them to share pics of the critters in your care along with a request for donations. You’re guaranteed a global audience as you raise awareness of your cause and drive revenue.
31. Virtual dog walk
Experience: A-thon, event, donation pages
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Result: 4/5
Put paws to pavement for a good cause. Your supporters are walking their pups anyway, so why not ask them to dedicate one of those walks to helping the animals in your shelter?
Walkers can register themselves and Fido on your fundraising event page, where they will be charged to enter (i.e. $20 per walker, or $5 per paw).
On the big day, encourage participants to share pictures of their walks, their dogs, and their routes with you. To keep the energy sky-high, update your supporters on one of your donation pages and social media channels.
32. Pet kit raffle
Experience: Raffle, sales
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 1/5
Result: 4/5
An effortless way to get your supporters excited about donating to your shelter? Host an online raffle! Your donors can buy entrance tickets online, and winners will receive a top-notch pet kit.
For dog owners, that might include a matching leash, collar, and bandana, matching food and water bowls, treats, toys, dog wash passes, and a 60-lb bag of premium dog food. For cats, award similar supplies, but squeakier and fluffier.
You can even tailor it for puppies and kittens with engraved collar tags! Platforms like RallyUp make organizing raffles super simple, so the pet lovers in your community can participate and enjoy the suspense and the prizes.
33. Shelter Sleep In
Experience: Event, crowdfunding, donations
Cost: 2/5
Effort: 3/5
Efficiency: 4/5
Sleep-ins at an animal shelter are one of those fundraising campaign ideas that invite mass community support. Your basic sleep-in involves spending the night with a shelter animal (usually a dog or cat), and bonding with them over a fundraising period of 2 days.
This raises awareness about the animal shelter, what it’s like for the animals who stay there, and it encourages adoptions, donations, and support for the shelter. Non-profits promote the event and invite members of the community to the sleep-in and adoption drive.
Over the 2-day period other events take place, like training showcases, pack walks and organized livestreams to collect donations for food, shelter repairs and medical care. Charge to take part in the sleep-in and promote the event so that the community supports the drive with donations.
For Neighborhood Groups
Have a tight-knit community that chips in to support neighborhood initiatives with regular fundraisers? These nonprofit fundraising ideas will help you organize your next fun neighborly event!
34. Get local businesses on board
Experience: Donor communication, donation pages, event
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 3/5
Result: 5/5
Businesses, especially small ones, tend to give generously to their communities. If they can’t give cash, they’ll often support you with products, supplies, equipment, venue space, or just useful contacts. If you’re running a raffle or other contest, for example, they might help out by donating retail items, services, or gift cards.
The best way to reach out to small businesses:
- Figure out who does what. Does the local grocer donate to food banks? Does the café down the street sponsor the high school football team? Do some research on what the businesses in your neighborhood stand for. Check their mission statement.
- Zero in on the right contacts. Unless the business is tiny, it’s likely that there’s someone in charge of outreach and corporate social responsibility. Scour their site, newsletters, and any PR that might indicate who that is. There’s nothing worse than having your thoughtful letter tossed in the bin because it was forwarded to the wrong person.
- Send your best elevator pitch. Send a letter—a real letter—that describes as succinctly as possible your neighborhood group, what you need, and why the business will benefit from a partnership with you. You’ll have to demonstrate that by supporting you, they’ll get a valuable kick back, like increased visibility for their brand or more traffic to their store.
- Follow up. A phone call with a thank you will do just fine, even if the answer is no. You never know what might change down the line, so keep communication friendly and open.
35. Virtual block party
Experience: Event, livestreaming, sales
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 3/5
Result: 4/5
If your neighborhood group misses all those circa 2019 barbeques at the community center, get the gang back together by hosting a virtual block party—while fundraising!
Choose a time that’s best for everyone and a fun theme, like Virtual Sunday BBQ or Party Like it’s 2019. Then invite your neighbors and their families to catch up online, using an app like Hangouts, Zoom, or Teams.
Have fun games and trivia questions prepared, or just give every family in your community a chance to share what they’ve been up to. Ask about any recent trips, family milestones, and plans for the summer. When registering, your community members can add a donation to support the ‘hood!
36. Book sale
Experience: Sales, event
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 3/5
Result: 4/5
Celebrate the bibliophiles in your community with an online book sale. It beats Amazon any day!
Here’s how it works:
- Step 1. Round up all the neglected tomes in your neighborhood. To get a decent haul, post a call on your community newsletter, email, and social media. Encourage your supporters to go on a book treasure hunt through garages, closets, and basements.
- Step 2. Remind everyone that the books should be in good condition! Also, it’s a good idea to put a number limit on cookbooks, mysteries, or romances. You don’t want to end up with a bunch of cheap paperbacks that nobody wants.
- Step 3. Have everyone take a (non-blurry) digital snap of the books they rounded up and send the pictures to you.
- Step 4. Post the pics, with a title and brief description, on an online store using a free fundraising site.
- Step 5. Charge anywhere from a dollar to $20 per book, depending on its condition and genre. If one of your neighbors has unearthed a hardcover 1960s Hemingway novel, for example, that’s likely to fly off the shelves for as much as $100!
- Step 6. Unlike an in-person book sale, a virtual one has no time limit! Keep your online shop open for as long as you want.
- Step 7. Once every few weeks, recruit volunteers to drop off the purchased books. So long as you keep purchases to your neighborhood, they won’t have to drive far.
- Step 8. Post pictures across your social media channels of all the happy readers in the neighborhood showing off their new-old books!
For International NGOs
If you spend most of your time raising money to provide relief and aid in developing nations, then you’re an international NGO. From fighting for human rights, to being an advocate for social, environmental, and political change – these fundraising ideas will produce results for you.
37. Gala Fundraising Event
Experience: Event, raffle, sales
Cost: 4/5
Effort: 5/5
Efficiency: 5/5
As nonprofit fundraising ideas go, the traditional gala is an event that can raise an enormous amount of financial support for your NGO. Galas are glamorous social events where multiple sources of entertainment inspire guests to donate to your cause.
It’s up to you to make them something special, by inviting guest performers to delight your audience. Often the model involves a simple dinner and a show – with performances from various artists, entertainers, and musicians that follow a specific theme.
These grand gala events charge ticket entry, sell merchandise to guests, and involve raffles to excite the crowd with winnings at the end of the evening. Come up with a superb theme for best results, and recruit talent from across the entertainment spectrum to crank ticket sales into high gear.
38. Livestream Variety Show
Experience: Livestreaming, event
Cost: 3/5
Effort: 4/5
Efficiency: 5/5
A variety show is another high-end fundraiser that has the potential to garner widespread attention from a broad audience of donors. Effective fundraising for nonprofits in this instance, means tracking down some original acts to perform in your variety concert and grouping them together for flow.
Get individuals or teams from local schools, universities, and clubs to join in – and add a special show from a local playhouse or performer. These can be plays, showcases, stand-up comedy, instrumentalists, singers, bands, or trapeze artists. The keyword here is to attract variety!
Your nonprofit will raise money through ticket sales, and you can livestream the event to an online audience. The evening can be a celebration of your cause, or a competition to see which act is most popular with the crowd. This one can take some organization, so start a few months in advance.
39. A Virtual Conference
Experience: Livestreaming, event, donations
Cost: 2/5
Effort: 5/5
Efficiency: 4/5
If you’re looking for business fundraising ideas for charity, few are as effective as the virtual conference. It casts a wide net for who might attend, which increases your conference ticket sales. Plus, it’s COVID-19 safe, and gives a lot of stranded business influencers the chance to help a cause.
A virtual conference is run exclusively online. Before promoting the event, you will reach out to various leaders, influencers, and personalities. Ask them to donate their time to your NGO and build a strong list of speakers around an enticing theme. Make it uplifting, inspiring and relevant.
Then spend time promoting the conference and try to sell out of tickets before the event. If you make your conference important for businesses to attend, you’ll raise money quickly. Companies have a CSR budget, and will sponsor tickets for their employees.
For Arts and Culture Charities
There is no greater investment than the arts, so when you’re called to protect, preserve and commemorate works of cultural and artistic memory – you must be an art charity. These are the best ways to raise money in your niche.
40. The Art Show
Experience: Event, auction
Cost: 2/5
Effort: 3/5
Efficiency: 4/5
An art show consists of inviting a host of local artists and creators to exhibit their work in a central location. These sorts of non-profit fundraising ideas are best in cultural hubs, seaside villages and other art-centers where large crowds will be drawn to new installations, expressions, and voices.
You can charge artists a small entry fee, and then charge ticket sales to your donor audience on the day. Shows can run in a single day, or over a weekend. Depending on your chosen model, artists can donate pieces of their art to sell at a live auction to help you raise more money.
If you plan it well, you can get everything donated – the venue, catering, and even live music if you want to be fancy. The goal is to create a unique experience for ticket holders. Give them a reason to see your show, by thinking outside-the-box when you brainstorm themes.
41. Themed Film Evening
Experience: Event, sweepstakes, sales
Cost: 2/5
Effort: 2/5
Efficiency: 4/5
One of the more creative charity fundraising ideas is the themed film evening. This kind of event is generally more accessible to the public than an art show – everyone loves the movies. The trick is to make the evening unusual by picking an interesting location, or a vibrant costume theme.
Movies like Grease, Jurassic Park, Mad Max, and Star Wars are a few that have inspired seriously fun film evenings for donors. An outdoor screening of Jurassic Park, complete with authentic dinosaur foods and merchandise, and cosplay level costumes – can create a lot of social media buzz.
Host a dress-up competition, sell themed foods at the event and collect ticket sales. This idea can be reused over and over again, especially if you land on a formula that works. The success of your evening depends on your theme, so ask your intended audience to vote for their favorite.
42. Music Festival
Experience: Event, livestreaming, sales
Cost: 3/5
Effort: 4/5
Efficiency: 5/5
Music festivals are a celebration of sound that will help support your charity. Whether you decide to organize professional musicians, famous bands, or have school kids perform, is up to you. Local concerts, battle of the bands competitions and even ‘American Idol’ styled singing contests are fun.
These nonprofit fundraising ideas boil down to one thing: sharing the love of music with your local community. Direct ticket sales and the promotion of your cause is enough to get people through the door. Once there, merchandise sales can become just as valuable as ticket sales.
Stream the show live online to add another revenue stream to your fundraiser. You can charge to watch the stream or ask for donations periodically throughout a free livestream. Both can produce strong results, especially if your bands are calling for donations throughout the event.
For Education Charities
An education charity works hard to improve access to education among marginalized groups and improves everything from educational systems to policy. If you’re raising money for an education charity, these ideas will come in handy.
43. Online Learning
Experience: Livestreaming, event, sweepstakes
Cost: 2/5
Effort: 5/5
Efficiency: 5/5
If you have access to teachers, or desirable skills that people want to learn – setting up an online class is an incredible way to raise money for your cause. Classes can be livestreamed, and you can charge per person, or by the group. These events have a lot of repeat potential for your nonprofit.
Online learning is one of the most popular school charity fundraising ideas today. They’re easy to structure, setup and sell, and if people loved your class, they will be back for more. Everything from once-off classes (livestreamed then packaged for sale), to regular class slots can raise money.
Add an amazing sweepstakes contest to your class for a bonus cash boost. Your students will be challenged to enter the contest, and by the end of the class the winner will get a prize. Make sure your prize is relevant to your class, and the lessons you’re teaching.
44. Quiz Night
Experience: Livestreaming, event, raffle
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 3/5
Efficiency: 4/5
Hosting a quiz night is perfect for the education space, and much-loved by adults and kids alike. Sometimes the best charity fundraising ideas are realized when light competition is involved. All you need is creativity, imagination, and a strong theme to get attendees excited.
This charity event can be hosted online or in-person. The venue is critical, so choose wisely! Sell tickets to the evening a few weeks in advance, and invest time developing fun and challenging questions for your theme. Rock music, Harry Potter, Movies from the 80’s – the sky’s the limit.
A nice addition to your general ticket sales is to offer a live raffle at your event. Attendees will pay to enter, and you can do a draw at the very end of the evening. It’s a nice way to finish off a lively evening of debate and good-natured competition.
45. Rent a Tutor
Experience: Event, auction, sales
Cost: 1/5
Effort: 2/5
Efficiency: 4/5
The rent-a-tutor concept is one of those non-profit fundraising ideas that always hits the mark. It’s a combination of a live event and an auction, or sale. Kids will always need tutors, and if your organization has access to skilled volunteers, they can be ‘rented’ as an educational resource.
Other models include recruiting teachers, parents or teams who then donate their time for your auction – and are rented over the period of a week (or however long you choose). The rental amount is established at the auction, and proceeds go to your non-profit.
A direct sale of a period of time is also popular and is easier to sell at auction. Host these engaging live auctions in the weeks leading up to exams, at a school fundraising evening, or online if your charity wants to tap into a much bigger donor base.
Level Up Your Next Fundraiser
Whatever good your nonprofit does in the world, take it to the next level with an online fundraising event your supporters will love.
Your organization can come out ahead in an increasingly digital landscape with RallyUp at your side. From sales to a-thons to customized donation pages, we have the tools and functionality to help you plan, promote, and pull off your most unforgettable fundraiser yet.
Set up your campaign for free in just six easy steps. Ready, set, fundraise!
