Fun, quirky, and engaging fundraising ideas for community groups will help continue your nonprofit’s role in enriching the lives of people in your area. Both tried-and-tested and more original fundraisers are effective at raising your profile and keeping people interested in your mission.
Effective nonprofit fundraising campaigns will get community members and local businesses involved to raise money for a good cause. This, together with leveraging your online presence, is a recipe for a highly successful and memorable nonprofit campaign that supports your group’s great work.
1. Viral Video Challenge
A viral video challenge taps into social media video trends to raise funds. The first step in any successful viral trend is to choose a viral video to get involved in. This could be a dance, a challenge, or anything that’s getting noticed and talked about on social media.
Most charities then record a staff member, board members, or even their beneficiaries taking part in the challenge and post it to Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and any other social media platforms your nonprofit uses. They then encourage others to do the same.
Each supporter who gets involved in the challenge tags the next person in line. This creates an unstoppable line of individuals raising peer-to-peer funds on your behalf.
Leverage the Power of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
The power of peer-to-peer fundraising comes from harnessing the networks your fundraisers already have to amplify awareness of your cause and drive donations. Each supporter shares their personal connection to the campaign with the aim of reaching new audiences through their friends, family, and the wider community on social media. Peer-to-peer campaigns have organic and viral potential and make fundraisers active ambassadors for your nonprofit, not just donors.
Many campaigns have seen incredible success through online peer-to-peer fundraising on social media. For example, the Virtual Race for Nature campaign asked participants to trace out an animal’s shape using apps like Strava and Map My Run. Runners then shared the shape of their run on social media with a prompt to donate.
The Movember campaign also successfully leveraged the power of TikTok to gain 826 million views and create one of the most well-known and successful annual charity campaigns (page 35 of the presentation).
Turn One-Time Donors into Engaged, Recurring Supporters
Securing one-off donations through peer-to-peer fundraising efforts is hugely important to each of your campaigns. However, the end game should be to keep these one-off donors engaged with your cause and willing to become regular donors.
This requires a clearly intentioned “donor journey” in which a well-planned strategy of follow-ups gains their allegiance over time. This is best achieved by running potential donors through a wealth-screening tool like Kindsight‘s iwave tool. This database gives your nonprofit invaluable insights into donors’ capacity and willingness to donate. You’ll also get the key to cultivating and engaging these donors further with AI-powered content creation tools that craft tailor-made messaging to get—and keep—your new supporters engaged.
2. Cutest Pet Competition
A cutest pet contest is a fun and surprisingly effective way to raise funds for your community group. It’s an idea with almost universal appeal that will resonate with adults, children, and everyone in between.
A pet beauty contest also has an incredible social media punch. Pet photos are highly shareable, making your contest an awesome way to get people engaged from outside your community. You can make this contest even more original by making it a dress-up competition, ugliest pet competition, or even a lookalike contest!
This idea is a wonderful way to get people involved in supporting community groups, especially if they involve animals. It’s easy to organize, has minimal overheads, and is an ideal way to get local businesses like pet stores, groomers, or veterinarians involved in your nonprofit.
A pet contest could be a small fundraiser of its own or one part of a larger fundraising event. Consider boosting its scope by holding raffles for pet-related items or seeking sponsorships for prizes from local businesses.
3. Hold a Talent Show
Talent shows are a fantastic fundraising event for community nonprofits. Firstly, they offer a unique and engaging platform for community members to showcase their talents, fostering a sense of camaraderie and local pride. Community members can show off their hidden talents including anything from singing or dancing to magic or ventriloquism.
Successful talent shows are cost-effective to organize. The primary expenses often involve venue rental, basic stage setup, and potentially small prizes for the winners. However, these costs can be significantly offset by ticket sales, sponsorships from local businesses, donations from attendees, and food and drink sales. This makes talent shows a highly efficient fundraising method and maximizes the amount of money raised for the chosen charity.
4. Car Wash
Setting up a car wash is a classic fundraiser that gets everyone involved. This type of event can be key to your fundraising efforts as it can be repeated again and again. It requires very little investment, equipment, and skill, and is a fun way to get your community members and volunteers engaged.
Car washes are also perfect because they offer a valuable service to your community, creating a win-win situation for community members and the nonprofit. Washing cars can also be a valuable instructive and team-building experience for young people who will see the results of their work while collaborating with others and learning important skills.
5. Quarter Mile
A quarter mile brings a sense of fun and challenge to fundraising that will particularly appeal to families. Collecting a mile-long collection of quarters is a great financial boost for your group—a quarter mile would raise nearly $4,000!—while only asking for the smallest of donations.
Spread the word that you’re collecting enough quarters to stretch out over a mile (or even longer if you can make it). Social media and word of mouth are effective ways of communicating with those around you. You could make it an even bigger challenge by attempting a world record!
A quarter mile is a great idea to get multiple people involved in your campaign. A quarter is so little to give, meaning you’ll get people from all over your community digging through their pockets and down the back of their sofas for your cause.
Get local media outlets involved when you lay out your quarter mile to get your nonprofit and the work it does in the news. You could even double up the event with a fun run along the length of the mile.
6. Gift Wrapping
Gift wrapping is a beautiful way to bring people together during the holiday season. Set up a gift-wrapping station in your community and invite people to relax while your volunteers wrap their gifts in exchange for a donation to your cause. Double up the fundraising potential by offering refreshments while they wait.
This is a great idea for a targeted, end-of-year charity drive. However, only offer your best wrappers for this service or it might only last one holiday season!
7. Charity Raffle
A charity raffle is a staple fundraising event, and with good reason. When done well, it’s a great way to raise funds and strengthen your nonprofit’s bonds with local businesses and major donors.
Many nonprofits sell raffle tickets as part of a greater event like a gala. These events typically charge an entry fee and feature other ways to raise funds within the event, such as a silent auction.
Choose compelling prizes that are likely to be desirable to ticket buyers. You can achieve this by collaborating with local businesses to offer weekend getaways, tickets to concerts or sporting events, or valuable items like electronics or gift baskets.
Use all the channels you have available to spread the word and make a show of the draw itself. Consider offering bonus tickets for bulk purchases or look for other ways to incentivize participation.
Draw On Support from Local Businesses Where Possible
Getting local businesses involved is an ideal way to turbocharge your fundraising efforts. The nonprofit platform you use should offer features like Double the Donation, a tool used by corporations to match employee donations.
Local businesses are also a hugely important source of resources like free legal or financial advice, labor, or services like website design or marketing. Remember to include businesses in any community initiative and tap into all the possible ways they can help to further your mission.
8. Cooking Contest
A cooking contest is a fun, creative, and delicious way to bring together your community in support of your nonprofit. After all, what’s not to love about a challenge that ends in sampling all the delicious food?!
Cooking contests can be as professional or amateur as you like. For example, making it a kids’ contest would align best with a nonprofit aimed at supporting youth in the community. Partner with a local restaurant or grocery store for extra clout and donations of food, prizes, or the kitchen space itself.
Have Fun With Community Fundraising
The fundraising landscape for community groups is diverse and dynamic and lends itself both to in-person and online campaigns. Exploring creative and engaging strategies keeps the vital work done by community groups in people’s minds and on their donors’ radars.
Remember that successful fundraising is not just about generating revenue; it’s also about building relationships within the community, fostering a sense of shared purpose, and inspiring others to support the cause. Embracing innovative online and in-person approaches and fostering a culture of giving means your nonprofit will ensure its continued success and impact for years to come.
