Red hearts and boxes of chocolate are taking over the supermarket shelves, which means that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.
The day of love and romance inspires Americans to shell out billions of dollars every February 14th. In 2021, US consumers spent $2 billion on flower deliveries alone, and studies show that folks between the ages of 25 and 44 drop more than $200 on V-day each year.
What does this mean for your nonprofit? Well, a lot. Organizing a Valentine’s Day fundraiser gives you the perfect opportunity to tap into the romance market and channel that lovey-dovey spirit toward a noble cause.
Here, we share 14 sweet Valentine’s Day fundraiser ideas just in time for February 14th. So, get out those glittery sticker hearts and start planning!
Idea #1: Dance the night away
Hosting a Valentine’s Day Dance is a charmingly old-school idea that can suit any organization’s budget. You can keep it ultra-small in a volunteer’s living room or rent an event venue for a major blowout.
It’s especially fun for a faith-based or school fundraiser, since a Valentine’s Day Dance is a great opportunity for kids to mingle outside of class while bringing in revenue to support their education.
Sell tickets online and livestream the whole thing, so supporters can listen to the music and watch the fun from home. Don’t forget to provide light refreshments for the dancers. Think heart-shaped cookies and candy hearts. To make it extra special, make up an unusual theme, like a masquerade ball or a Queen of Hearts party.
Idea #2: Be My Valentine Donation Boxes
Remember those shoeboxes you decorated in grade school, adding a slit at the top for your classmates to drop Valentine cards into?
Put all those creative skills to good use by asking local businesses to let you set up decorated boxes near the cash register. When buying coffee or paying for their groceries, your supporters can drop you a valentine in the form of a donation.
Idea #3: Flower Delivery
Since gift deliveries make up such a significant chunk of people’s V-Day plans, leverage that demand with your own supply of flowers.
- First, reach out to local florists and ask them to donate flowers to your organization.
Alternatively, you can opt to order some fresh blooms wholesale for as little as a dollar per flower.
- Next, recruit a team of volunteers to make bouquets. Flower arranging is a blast, and everyone on your team will be squabbling over who gets to help out! Stop by a crafts supply store for ribbons and tissue paper.
- Showcase and sell your floral creations on a sales fundraising platform where supporters can order fresh flowers. You can start with $25 for a basic bouquet and charge $75+ for a really elaborate arrangement.
- When delivery day rolls around, have a fleet of volunteers drop off all those gorgeous bouquets. Take pics of the happy recipients holding flowers and share them far and wide!
- For a revenue boost, offer the option to add handmade cards with personalized messages!
Idea #4: Sweetheart Treats
A twist on the classic bake sale! Set up a stand at a community center or during a school event—or just the grocery store parking lot—and sell creative sweetheart treats.
A tiny cake just for two? Sugar cookies that say B Mine in red frosting? Cupcakes with heart sprinkles? Yes, please!
Alternatively, you can sell your delicious goods through an online platform where your supporters can browse sweet offerings and order ahead of time!
Idea #5: Romantic Dinner for Two (or Three!)
Nothing screams romance louder than a candlelit dinner.
- Connect with local restaurants to make a special V-Day menu.
- Charge your supporters a flat fee of which half goes to the restaurant.
- Make the business owners happy by showing them love on all your social media channels. They get revenue, new clients, and free advertising! Triple win.
Idea #6: Parent Date Night
It’s hard for tired parents to find time to reconnect on Valentine’s Day when they have little ones at home who need to be fed, entertained, and tucked in. Give them a break and invite them to drop off their brood for the night at a pre-arranged venue with your team of volunteers on babysitting duty. You can charge $50 per child, for example.
While the parents are enjoying a quiet night to themselves, your team keeps the kids happy with decorating no-bake cookies, playing games, and watching funny movies.
Pro tip: if you’re a school, you already have a gym to use as a venue and built-in babysitters in the form of older students!
Idea #7: Singles Night
Some people cherish their single status, and more power to them! Others long for a special someone to send cheesy V-Day cards to. Help out all those lonely hearts by playing Cupid this year and running a Singles Night extravaganza!
- Find a venue. Local coffee shops, bookshops, and art galleries all work great, especially if the participants are ordering drinks and browsing! Plus, artworks and books give attendees an easy icebreaker.
- Advertise. Tell the world about your sweet dating night on social media and sell tickets on your fundraising platform (e.g. $40 per person). Aim for an age range of, say, 25-45, depending on your community.
- Prepare. Ask participants to RSVP so that you can make sure you have enough food and supplies for everyone.
- Go Time. On the day, make sure to have name tags, music, snacks, and games all planned out! It’s Valentine’s Day, after all, so don’t forget the vino!
Idea #8: Go Old School
Is there anything better than getting a love letter? For anyone whose loved ones live far away or just have that special someone they want to surprise, a unique Valentine’s Day card is just the ticket.
Consider getting local artisans to donate their time for Valentine’s Day card making parties. Once complete, you can sell them on your fundraising page as one-of-a-kind pieces or get them printed and sell them at a lower cost but with more availability.
Make it even more special by holding a Valentine’s Day card making party for kids. Parents can bring their kids to create special cards for loved ones near and far. You can charge a fee for every participant.
#9: Win a Date With…
Every community, school district, or organization has a popular and beloved member. Maybe it’s your nonprofit’s Executive Director, the high school football coach, or the local news anchor. Whoever it is, leverage all that popularity to benefit your nonprofit.
Hold a virtual raffle and charge participants to buy tickets to win a “date” with your local celebrity. Obviously, the date will be strictly platonic—think coffee, pizza, or an afternoon walk full of good conversation and helpful advice. You can livestream the chat, too, so everyone can tune in.
#10: Hair and Nails Package
What’s more fun than getting your hair and nails done for a romantic evening? Even if you don’t have a date planned for V-day, there’s some serious self-love in splurging at the spa with a group of pals.
To pull this off, team up with a local salon, hair stylist, or manicurist and offer a Valentine’s Day Grooming Package to your supporters. Many hair stylists will happily give cuts and blowouts at a private venue since it means that they won’t have to share their earnings with the salon. Meanwhile, donors get gorgeous while supporting a philanthropic cause.
If you don’t want to leave Fido out of all that grooming fun, you can enlist a group of volunteers to get the neighborhood pooches squeaky clean just in time for spring.
#11: Run for Love
If you’re living in colder climates, the temps begin to rise right around V-day. Give people the perfect opportunity to stretch their legs and get their hearts pumping after a long winter by hosting a Run-for-Love-a-Thon!
Have participants collect pledges for miles or minutes run, and encourage them to wear red and pink to spread all those feel-good vibes. There’s nothing like community events to get the word out about your message, especially with participants sharing pics and videos of their accomplishments on social media.
Be sure to create a hashtag that jives with your cause which runners can add to their posts. Can you say #runforlove2022?
#12: Romantic Weekend Getaway Raffle
If you really want to give your donors something to get excited about this February, offer them a full getaway package. Thanks to the pandemic, serious travel is on hold right now, but that doesn’t mean a lucky pair of lovebirds can’t spend a weekend getting pampered in a local hotel.
- Get in touch with a hotel in your area and ask them to donate accommodation and dinner for two nights in exchange for your nonprofit’s grateful support on your site and social media channels.
- Hold an online raffle and invite participants to buy tickets. Be clear about what they’re supporting with their purchase. Whether it’s resources for vulnerable folks in your area or a new wing for your school library, people like to know that they’re doing good.
- Announce the winners. There are plenty of ways to share the good news with your donors. You can livestream the drawing live directly from your living room, or post the video later, or just have a random online drawing.
#13: Smooch for a Good Cause
If you want to raise funds without getting up from the sofa, this one’s for you.
- Create a V-day themed account on Instagram or Facebook along with donation pages on a fundraising platform.
- Tell your supporters to send pics of them smooching along with a donation, starting at $3. They can take a picture of themselves kissing their romantic partner, their dad, their kid, their dog, or their fave donut. So long as it’s a kiss, it counts!
- On Valentine’s Day, or just before, upload all the pics with a sweet thank-you caption for each donor. Add a catchy hashtag, like #kissforgood22. Your supporters will feel special which will make them want to repost and share. Who knows, maybe the account will go viral!
#14: Have a Heart
A super easy way to decorate your office, school, or community center is to cover it with donated hearts.
Print off a big stack of red paper hearts and invite supporters to donate whatever amount they want. In exchange for their donation, they get a paper heart. They can write their name on it and stick it on the wall where everyone can see how generous their heart is.
This works well if you collaborate with a coffee shop or restaurant, too, since it boosts traffic and gives them an easy themed décor idea!
Start Planning Your Valentine’s Day Fundraiser!
It’s the perfect time to take advantage of that post-holiday mood and get all googly-eyed at your nonprofit V-Day fundraiser.
Whether you opt for an OG event with a themed bake sale or decide to get a little crazy at a singles party, RallyUp is an easy-to-use tool that can help you plan, advertise, sell tickets, and keep the energy high with customized donation pages. And, hey, add live streaming to any fundraiser for free! In fact, in keeping with the Valentine’s Day spirit, ALL that good stuff is totally free. What’s not to love?
