College fundraising ideas

Throw a big annual holiday party to finish the year in style. Make this a VIP event and raise funds through ticket sales or partner up with sponsors to help offset costs and reach more supporters.

With Givebutter you can create unlimited custom event ticket types—allowing you to create fun VIP packages to offer to your partygoers.

Choose one Friday every month to be Food Truck Friday, in which you partner up with a local food truck to visit the area and promote their arrival.

In exchange for driving more business their way, use a sponsorship proposal to negotiate a percentage of profits for your good cause.

Host a town hall event to give community members an opportunity to learn about your organization, program, or new project. Display your text-to-give code prominently around the space to raise funds from inspired audience members.

Encourage supporters to make a planned gift to your organization (e.g., bequests, charitable trusts, or beneficiary designations) to leave a lasting legacy. Wealth screening software can help you identify the best donors to reach out to right in your CRM.

In honor of Pi Day, invite your community to donate to your cause on March 14th. Set the suggested donation amount at $3.14, $31.40, or $314.00, but let supporters know that any amount is welcome.

Rally volunteers together for a spring cleaning of your community space or a street in your neighborhood. Reach out to local businesses to sponsor the event and offer supplies. Then, invite donations from your local community with scan-to-donate signage as you work!

Celebrate our nation’s independence with a red, white, and blue fundraiser! Work with businesses to secure sponsorships and an amazing venue, then sell tickets to your fundraising event, filled with food, music, and activities.

Ask your community members to join you for a series of movies in the park this summer. Screen a classic or trending movie somewhere scenic, and sell popcorn, drinks, and other refreshments.

Sell tickets online, check guests in with your mobile app, and offer easy payment methods like scan-to-donate for on-the-spot donations.

Arrange a day of sand and sun for your team members, volunteers, and the wider community with beach games, a picnic, and lots of family fun.

Set an affordable ticket price or ask for donations to cover the cost of the event and raise funds—whichever you choose, our fundraising event tools can help!

If you're opening a new building, offer a VIP tour to your community members. Set a ticket price or auction them off. To raise the most from your VIP building tour, use auction software to host a fun and stress-free experience for your supporters.

Turn your community pool into a sports arena with a pool volleyball tournament. To make this a high-value event, charge teams an entry fee and encourage them to raise sponsorship through their team fundraising pages.

Raise funds and give your supporters a memorable experience at the same time with an excursion to an exciting attraction, museum, or other destination.

Use a fundraising event page to make registration and payment easy, and add custom fields to capture important information from each participant, such as t-shirt size or dietary restrictions.

Incentivize supporters to invite friends and family to sign up for a membership during a specific period of time. Offer discounted rates or additional perks, and accept recurring donations with ease on a user-friendly platform.

Set up a hot chocolate or coffee stand and sell hot drinks to warm up your community! Have coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and plenty of syrups and toppings that they can add for an extra fee. Don’t forget marshmallows! Make it easy for supporters to pay for their drinks as you make them with scan-to-donate, Venmo, and other seamless payment options.

Sell tickets to join your organization for an evening of laughter, drinks, and fundraising! Partner with a local venue and ask other businesses for corporate sponsorships to offset costs and bring in even more dollars for your cause.

Ask your supporters to donate $5 to your cause. Then, each donor has to tag at least five people via social media. The goal is that each person who gets tagged matches that $5 gift to your campaign—and then tags five others.

This is a great social media fundraising idea that can spread quickly within your community, helping you raise funds fast.

Participants commit to completing a certain number of workouts and collect pledges for each milestone achieved using personal peer-to-peer fundraising pages.

Watch as donations come in through the leaderboard in real time and friends and family share words of encouragement on the supporter feed.

Charge a registration fee and provide materials for attendees to create their own home decor. Selecting seasonal DIY projects—such as holiday wreaths or pumpkin painting—is a great way to draw a larger crowd. Take this event to the next level by turning it into a competition! Once all projects are completed, attendees can donate to vote for who should be crowned winner.

Sell tickets for a night of performances by local drag artists and musicians (with food and drinks available, too!).

Manage your event ticketing, check in your attendees, and accept additional donations in person with easy fundraisng event software.

Charge a registration fee for a series of educational workshops or panel discussions on topics such as gender identity, allyship, and queer history.

Spread the word and follow up with attendees using free email marketing software.

Sell bingo cards for a night of drag entertainment and competition! Winners receive donated prizes. To raise even more at this memorable fundraising event, offer drink specials and sell eye-catching merch.

Charge a registration fee for a fun night of testing your LGBTQ+ knowledge. To raise additional funds at this fundraising event, sell pride-themed merch, drinks, and snacks, too!

Design and sell pride-themed merchandise such as t-shirts, buttons, stickers, and flags. To drum up excitement, create a custom donation form, event, or fundraising page that includes images of the available items.

Ask your local junkyard to donate totaled cars and invite supporters to make a donation to take a sledgehammer to them.

Sell different kinds of tickets online for smashers and audience members and offer food and drinks to raise even more during the fun. Don’t forget the safety goggles!