Creative fundraising ideas

Put your culinary skills to the test! Charge an entry fee per team, and provide everyone with the same ingredients. The winner is the team with the tastiest tacos. Ready, set, cook!

Branded T-shirts, sweaters, shorts, or water bottles are a great way to raise cash and advertise your organization. Set up an online store and sell merch at community events.

Design a calendar featuring fun or themed photos from your community, event participants, or volunteers. Sell it for a set donation amount, or use it as an auction item or giveaway prize.

Host a creative candle building workshop for your team and their family. You’ll raise money, and your guests get to take home their very own candle!

Who has the cutest pet in your community? Host a photo contest to find out! Invite participants to submit a photo of their four-legged (or feathered or scaly!) friend for a set donation amount. Then, open up voting to the public—each vote can be a small donation. Crown a winner, raise funds, and flood everyone’s feed with cuteness.

Get creative juices flowing with a fundraising paint and sip! Sell tickets, and provide snacks and art materials. Add an element of friendly competition and ask participants to vote on their favorite painting at the end.

Put your knowledge to the test with a faith-filled trivia night! Pick a lively host, sell team tickets, and let the friendly competition begin.

Want to reach an even bigger audience? Go hybrid or virtual so everyone can join in on the fun!

Bust a move for a good cause!

Host a dance-a-thon where players collect sponsorships to keep their feet moving for hours on end. Sounds easy? Think again—these marathons can go 12+ hours!

Get ready to groove, rally support, and dance your way to your donation goal.

Throw a themed costume party to match the season or holiday and award prizes for the best costumes! Sell tickets to your fundraising event online and partner with local sponsors to offset costs and spread the word.

Come up with a creative fundraiser with a cathy name like “Pancakes for Parents” brunch or a “Chicken Wings for Cheerleaders.” To get supporters excited, create a custom fundraising page full of on-theme photos, videos, ands more!

Ask participants to don their favorite PJs while tackling a walk, jog, roll, or run for the cause. Encourage everyone to set a donation goal and spread the word about the fundraiser through peer-to-peer fundraising. Don’t forget to award prizes to the coziest runners!

Invite community members to bring their furry friends along to walk in a charity 5K. Encourage participants to create individual fundraising pages that feature their pets, set a donation goal, and help spread the word about the cause.

Choose a theme and a hashtag, encourage supporters to post their video or picture, and then tag others to challenge them to do the same—and donate!

Learn more social media fundraising tips to take your efforts to the next level.

Spray participants with brightly colored powder along the course of your charity fun run. By the end, runners will be rainbow-ed! Set up a photo booth at the finish line for selfies, and encourage donations on social media via a scan-to-donate code.

Get festive by encouraging supporters to wear their ugliest holiday sweater for a fun run! Use peer-to-peer fundraising to encourage participants to set a donation goal and spread the word—along with photos of them in their ugly regalia. Offer a special award for the “best” dressed.

Ask supporters to wear their silliest or spookiest Halloween costumes during this fun run. Use team or peer-to-peer fundraising to help participants set a donation goal and spread the word.

At the end, award special prizes to the race winners, the teams or individuals who raised the most, and the best costumes!

Encourage supporters to submit their best t-shirt designs to enter a competition. Set up team fundraising pages for each design and have supporters donate to vote for their favorite. Each donation will appear on a leaderboard so everyone can watch the votes (and donations!) come in.

Using individual peer-to-peer fundraising pages connected to your main event page, participants gather donations and pledges based on how long they aim to dance—without taking a break!

Supporters can donate, leave encouraging messages for the dancers, and purchase tickets to join in the fun—all in one place.

Join forces with your rival team for a good cause. Organize a race or other competition between your mascots during halftime at a big game, and ask supporters to vote for their mascot by donating on a team fundraising page. Use text-to-donate or a QR code to bring in even more funds from the stands during the event.

Charge an entrance fee and check-in attendees as they arrive for an evening of creativity and fun. Ask volunteers to bring various supplies, or ask for donations from local art stores.

Challenge your principal to do something wild (like dye their hair) if your team reaches their fundraising goal. Use a custom fundraising page with a live goal bar to drum up excitement and share updates (and photos!) as donations roll in.

Invite community members to perform music, poetry, or comedy for a good cause. Ask audience members to make a small donation and offer snacks to raise more funds using easy in-person mobile payments like Tap to Pay and scan-to-donate.

Reserve an indoor or outdoor space and invite your community to come arrange flower bouquets and pot their own plants to celebrate Earth Day (April 22).

Charge an entrance fee and make your fundraising event move smoothly with mobile app check-in and easy scan-to-donate payment options.