20 Unique & Good Fundraising Event Ideas

Whether you work for a charity or are just looking to raise some money for your organization with a fundraiser, it can be hard to know what to do. Over the years, we’ve seen a number of classic easy fundraisers as well as some unique fundraising ideas doing well. So we are going to compile a list of some the the best fundraiser event ideas. We’re going to cover 20 different ideas so whether you’re after an idea for a high school fundraiser or a church. We’ll have something good for everyone. Although the classics are the easiest, some of the stranger ideas we will discuss may earn a little bit more money!

Bake Sale

Starting with an easy fundraising event idea that has been used millions of times over throughout the years, what can be better than baking a few cakes and selling them for money? If you want to get kids involved with the baking, this will add a little motivation for the locals to donate money. Also, you can go off into all sorts of directions with a bake sale because you could introduce a TV-style competition with two people baking different cakes to see who can raise the most money. As long as everyone has fun and people buy cakes, that’s all that matters.

Mini Concert

If you have a small space available in your local area, you could ask a couple of local bands to perform to raise money. With this, there are opportunities to create all sorts of challenges, the band could be a live karaoke machine, you could include a musical auction of local gifts, or you could even have a dance competition with a live band. The opportunities to raise money as everywhere with this fundraising idea.

Bike Relay

Instead of a standard bike race, why not get teams involved or even pit families against each other in a relay style event? Of course, prizes can be awarded and all families must pay a small registration fee with the proceeds going to the cause.

Raffle Tickets

Again, another easy fundraiser idea here but it’s a classic for a reason – it works. As long as you have a good amount of prizes and some gifts that are worthwhile, enough people will buy tickets. Rather than paying out of your own pocket for prizes, ask around the neighbourhood for contributions. For example, you could ask the hair salon for a free treatment or even the cafe for a free breakfast.

Car Wash

As long as you have access to water and sponges, this is a good fundraising event idea to make money. Normally, people will visit a professional car wash service but you can offer a clean for a lower price. With this option, the initial spend will be minimal and you will be providing a useful service to the community.

Window Cleaning

Similarly, another free fundraising idea, you can do the same but with window cleaning. Regardless of what time of year it is, nobody enjoys cleaning their windows so you can charge a small fee for the liberty. If you have enough people and equipment, you could combine this and the car wash to provide an all-inclusive service to the local households or small business.

Shave-a-thon

If there is anyone willing to shave their heads or long-lasting beards, this is a fantastic way to raise money and everyone will have fun in the process. Even if just one person agrees to shave a beard that they have had for a long time, you will be surprised at how much interest you receive. This in an ideal fundraising idea for college and high school organisations, because having someone will to lose they’re hair for the cause will certainly increase donations.

Quiz/Trivia Event

Ultimately, this is one of the best fun fundraiser ideas on the list for a number of reasons. Firstly, you can charge teams to enter the quiz in their teams. Secondly, you can ask a local pub, restaurant, or hall if they can host it and it will immediately gain the attention after being advertised. Thirdly, the community will love it because it allows people to bond in a friendly (and slightly competitive) environment.

Sports Day

Much like children have sports day at school, you could host an adult sports day for all the parents and adults in the community. As well as baseball, you could play tennis games, football, races, and many more. The good thing about this suggestion is that you can spread it over the course of a few weeks; for example, you could have a squash tournament one week followed by a baseball match the next with the grand finish as the sports day with races and other fun attractions. This is the perfect fundraising idea for sports organisations.

Gaming Marathon

Nowadays, gaming consoles are all the rage so you can set up a couple of gaming systems in the local hall and have people compete against each other. With today’s technology, you could even live stream the event and have people watch online. Then, you can set up an online page for all viewers to donate towards the cause. Initially, this sounds expensive but all you need is a couple of locals who are willing to donate a games console for the day.

Art Show

If you have any budding artists that you can contact, an art show would be a good idea because you can charge a small fee for people who want to attend and the artists will have a chance to show (and potentially sell) their work. Again, all you need is a hall of some kind or you could even host it in the local park on a summer’s day.

Collection Boxes

In the local stores, hair salons, pet stores, butchers, bakers, and more, you could have a collecting box. When standing at the register, people often don’t like to walk around with loose change so they might end up putting it into the box or tin instead. Although this will only be small change, it will soon build up; especially if you have a number of them dotted about the area.

Skills Auction

Instead of holding a normal raffle or auction where people will bid for items, you could have them bid for particular services. For example, people could bid for an hour with the local hairdresser, car mechanic, chef, or even an accountant. If these services are on offer, there will certainly be takers and people will normally go above and beyond if it is for a good cause.

Team Weight Loss

If there is a local weight loss club or even if you have to set it up yourself, ask businesses and people to donate money for every pound lost by the team. At the end of a week or however long you choose, you can work out how much weight has been lost and collect the money. For people paying their hard-earned money, this is a good one because they know you have worked hard for it.

Sponsored Events

In truth, nearly everything can be sponsored which means that your cause will see the money at the end. Whether it is sponsored walks or silence, there is bound to be support as long as the idea is popular enough.

Stocks

For this to work, you need to find people that would be willing to put their head in some stocks and take a few wet sponges to the face. As a sadistic species, we love to see this sort of thing and will pay money to throw a few sponges too. If you can find someone of authority, this will become even greater and it can be a great way to have a laugh. For example, a headmaster, policeman, local politician, etc.

Tea Parties

Here’s one of the most unique fundraising ideas we’ll cover. With this one, you don’t necessarily have to be involved as such but you can organize the date and get people started. In a particular area, you can ask people to host dinner parties and coffee mornings with the proceeds going towards the cause.

Handmade Sale

If you call all the creative people in your neighborhood together, you can also create high-quality products to then sell on a market stool or at a fair. Assuming that the kind people in your town are willing to contribute something for nothing, you can raise money using this idea.

Guessing Competition

Over the years, there have been many different adaptations of this game and it doesn’t take a lot to set up. For example, you could simply do coins in a jar or lollipops in a tin. This is probably one of the easiest and quickest fundraising ideas there is.

There we have some superb fundraising ideas that you can utilize the next time you arrange a fundraiser. If you can, try to combine some of these options and then you have even more opportunities to make money. For example, you could arrange a huge event that includes various different stalls, sports events, bake sales, a mini-concert and more. If you just choose one, we have shown just how easy it can be to fund raise even with a busy lifestyle and little money.