Cheap fundraising ideas

Set up a yard raking service in exchange for donations toward your good cause.

Follow best practices for volunteer recruitment to build a loyal community of supporters ready to pitch in for yardwork and more.

Set up a coffee cart in the office and ask employees and/or passersby to donate the cost of their morning coffee towards the cause.

Offer scan to-donate and accept Venmo donations to make giving even easier.

Ask your community members to donate gently worn or newly purchased pairs of shoes that you can sell at a pop-up shoe drive.

Make transactions easy with scan-to-donate and multiple payment options, including Venmo.

Let employees bring their furry friends to work for the day in an exchange for a donation to your local animal shelter. Organize pet-themed activities and competitions to raise additional funds. To get remote employees involved, livestream some of the activities and invite coworkers to tune in!

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.

Set up a service in which volunteers will walk or play with community members' dogs in exchange for a donation.

Simplify the experience for your supporters by using custom labels to create specific options on your donation forms, like $50 for a 2-hour walk.

For National Pet Week, plan a pet competition. Ask people to send in photos of their pets to be judged in various categories like Funniest Pet or Most Adorable. Charge an entry fee, and work with local companies to sponsor a prize.

Invite people to submit their pets via your supporter feed for an engaging way to send in photos alongside their donations.

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!

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.

Encourage donors to "sponsor" a piece of lumber your team will use in your construction projects. Create custom labels for different donation amounts on your donation form that align with the cost of materials (e.g., $50 donation equals 3 pieces of lumber). Don’t forget to invite all sponsors to the ribbon-cutting ceremony when construction is complete!

For successful referrals to your program, offer your current members discounted membership fees, merchandise, or entry into a raffle. Create custom fields (like “Who referred you?”) on your donation forms to keep track of eligible members.

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.

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.

Ask a photographer in your area to volunteer to take pictures of pets and their owners at a local park. Customize your fundraising event page with time-slotted tickets to make the day go smoothly.

Invite owners to enter their pets in costume categories such as "cutest" or "most creative." Charge an entry fee and ask attendees to vote on their stylish furry favorite by donating to the pet’s individual fundraising page.

Create a pet photo calendar featuring adorable photos of shelter animals. Sell the calendars online using a donation form or fundraising page and at local events, too!

Run a short photo contest for an inexpensive, all-ages fundraiser. Choose a theme, charge a small fee to enter, and invite community members to submit their photos alongside their donations in your supporter feed.

Raise even more by turning the top photos into a deck of cards or a calendar.

Invite a photographer to host a tour around the local area, taking in the sights of the season. Sell tickets in advance and use an easy mobile app to check in guests and take any last-minute payments on the day of.

See who can carve or decorate the best pumpkin while raising funds for your community group or cause. Award prizes in different categories for kids, families, and talented adults.

Make it easy as pumpkin pie for participants to vote for the winners with a small donation using text-to-donate.

Put teams together and face off to see who truly is the best when it comes to dodgeball. Charge teams an entry fee, sell tickets to watch the games, and sell refreshments to raise even more funds.

Invite participants to set up team fundraising pages so they can also compete to see who can raise the most funds for your cause.