Fundraising Ideas:
Dodgeball Tournament
Set up a dodgeball tournament. Contact local businesses to donate the prizes. Charge participants a small entry fee. You could present awards based on Team Spirit, Team theme, Sportsmanship ect. The sky is the limit with this one!
Bake Sale
Get approval from your school to host a bake sale, ask teachers, friends and family to make goodies to be sold at a school sporting event or other school function.
Bagger for a Day
Contact your local grocery store and ask if you can be a bagger for a day. You could go above and beyond and help customers load groceries into their cars for a small donation. Ask the store to advertise the week before that you will be there.
Barbecue/Bakeoff Contest
Love to cook or bake? This is a great way to get teachers, friends and families involved in your fundraising efforts. Participants make a dish, which is judged by a panel. Get prizes donated. Charge a small fee for people to come and try all the yummy food.
All Saints Day Clean Up
Clean up your neighborhood after “Devils Night” and Halloween. Ask for a donation from the yards you clean.
Board Game Tournament
Select a board game and host a tournament. Be aware of the length of the game and number of people participating. Get prizes donated.
Break the Balloon
Great activity for a school carnival. Create balloons with little slips of paper in them that say things like Try Again, Candy, Pencil, Better Luck Next Time. Have one or two larger items on the slips of paper and then attach the balloons to a board. People can pay for a chance to throw a dart at a balloon and win the prize inside.
Cake Walk
Who doesn’t love cake? Make place holders on the floor/ground (tape or paper tapped down) all the same color, except one. Play music and when the music stops the person standing on the one square that is colored differently than the rest, they win! You can charge $.50 each time a person participates. Get your friends and family to make yummy treats or contact local bakeries to have them donate treats!
Car Detailing
No or limited access to water? Offer people the opportunity to clean out their car, vaccum, dust and wipe the windows down.
Car Smash
People can make a donation and take a turn to smash an old beat up car, which you could get donated from a junk yard.
Car Wash
A great twist on a traditional car wash is to only wash half the car, in order to get the top of the car washed, patrons must give a donation.
Holiday Light Removal
Everyone loves the holiday spirit! Many people like to decorate their houses with lights, however dread removing the lights when the weather turns. Offer to remove the lights for a small fee.
Door to Door scavenger hunt
This is a fantastic way to get stuff. Get teams of people together and have them go to assigned neighborhood and collect items (books, personal hygiene items, food). Get creative. Sometimes people are more willing to give an item than to give money.
Pop can/bottle collection
Post fliers in your neighborhood stating that you will be there on a specific day to collect pop cans. People wishing to participate should leave them outside on the porch by a certain time. Once collected meet up with other club members and deposit the cans to turn into cash.
Eating Contest
Pick a food and hold a contest at a school or community event. Get a local restaurant involved to sponsor the activity. Have those eating the food set a goal and get donations to meet that goal. A sample goal could be “10 spicy chicken wings in one minute” or “ raise $100 for a cause.” Get a local restaurant involved to sponsor the event, winners can be given gift certificates to the restaurant and the restaurant could supply the food.
Fill’er Up
This is a great fundraiser if you live in a state that receives snow in the winter. Contact a local gas station and ask if you can pump peoples gas for a small donation. You would be amazed at how many customers LOVE this service. The key to this event is to advertise extremely well.
Gift Basket/Auction
Contact local businesses and ask for donations to create themed baskets; movie lovers, chocolate loves, book lovers, Spa, Ladies night in, football, scrapbook lovers, cookie lovers. Auction them off at a big school or community event.
Movie Marathon
Invite students to a 24 hour movie marathon. Have students collect pledges to watch a certain number of hours of movies. Contact your local theatres and movie rental stores to donate gifts for the participants.
Paint the Curb
People often forget about making the address on their curb visible. This is extremely important for safety reasons, if there were an emergency fire, police or EMS need to be able to clearly see the numbers on the curb. Contact a local hardware store to donate the stencils and spray paint. Collect a small donation for the service.
Guest Scoopers
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! Contact your local ice cream parlor and ask to be a “guest scooper” for the night. Many places will allow you to set up a tip jar or advertise for your group. If you contact them far enough in advance and explain why you are doing it, they might be willing to give you a portion of the profits for the night if people bring in a flier advertising your event.
Penny Wars
This is a great group fundraiser that breeds friendly competition. Designate a public place in your school to set up milk jugs (make sure they are washed and completely dried.) Each participating group/grade/class will get one milk jug. Pennies count as positive points and silver and dollars count as negative points. So for example if a jug had 100 pennies and 2 quarters in it, that jug would be 50 points. The point is to get as many pennies into the group you want to win and silver in the rest.
Video Game/Rock Band Tournament
Have people pay a small fee to participate in the tournament. Contact businesses to get donations for prizes. For Rock Band you could have winners in the following categories: Best Performance, Most Accurate, Best Stage Presence, Best Dressed Theme.
