Many times, organisations and individuals are looking for quick fundraising either for an emergency situation, to get through the hump during mid-campaign, or to roll the ball on a longer-term campaign. Quick fundraising calls for interesting ideas to engage people and on an immediate basis. We, therefore, have compiled a list of eight quick and easy fundraising ideas that will entice people to pool in money for your non-profit and enjoy while doing it.
Bring Out Your Inner Master Chef
Bring together the circle of your friends, colleagues, and supporters around a friendly cooking competition. Set up a theme where participants make dishes with a specific ingredient or other criteria and attendees get to taste those dishes after paying certain charges and cast their votes. This will be a fun and unique experience where everyone is getting something. Contestants get a platform to show their talents, attendees get to taste mouth-watering dishes, and you will accomplish your goal of fundraising.
Yard Sale Fundraiser
Hold an auction for valuable first-edition books or signed collector’s items. You can also hold a yard sale for one-time worn clothes, home collectibles, and other top-tier items. Auctions are more successful when you reach out to local celebrities and philanthropists other than your supporters, friends, and networks. To create a buzz of your event, create an event page on social media and post pictures of the items you will put up on auction. This can also connect you with potential corporate sponsors.
If you think holding an auction will consume your energy, shift it online. Several auction software and websites have made auctions all the more accessible and convenient for interested entities. First things first, you will need to get a mobile bidding software designed by a developer. Next, you will procure items for auction and promote them online. Online bidding allows people from different regions to participate without limiting them to a certain date and space.
Donate for Talent
Organise a talent show and get quick fundraising. This can be as low-key or as high-end as you would like. Talk to the authorities and get the permit to hold a show in the local park. You can keep it simple by providing a fun night to your supporters and expand your reach. However, if you want to make it big, kick it up a notch. Get in touch with a local theater, hold auditions, and request participants to fundraise. Other than the attendees’ entry fee, you can request local vendors to gift prizes to supporters who donate to cast votes.
Tie-Dye Party
You can combine this idea with Donate for Talent where people can enjoy theater and get dyed materials of their choice. It is a classic fundraising theme. You can offer t-shirts, flour sack towels, napkins, and other easy to dye stuff to attendees allowing them to create their own patterns and colors. You can put a fee on entry and get a donation for tying-dyeing personal items.
We mentioned combining this activity with another fundraising event because tying-dyeing is not time-consuming. Make sure you keep your attendees engaged with family-friendly games and crafts. Keep costs low by only keeping plain blank flour sack tea towels and tie-dye materials to let participants design their own art on a budget.
Give It Up
To explain how the smallest amount of donation can make a difference, encourage participants to give up their everyday meal or beverage and donate it to your cause. Back up your point with providing data that shows an impact of $5, $10, or $20 donations to any fundraising event. You can even publicize it on social media through a page where fundraisers can attempt to reach various levels by participating for a specific number of days.
Hold an Exhibition
This might not be an ultra-quick fundraising idea; however, this may contribute the most among all other ideas. Local entrepreneurs and online businesses are always looking for an opportunity to market their names and sell their stuff. Hold an exhibition in any local hall and provide an opportunity for the businesses to showcase and sell their inventory. Charge participants according to the number of stalls they require. You can even put a small fee on entrance for those attending. To further the impact and increase attendance, make sure you mention it on the tickets that all earnings will be directed towards fundraising.
Online Bake Sale
Since everything is tending to be digital, let the bake sale be too! Beat the traditional way around classic bake sale fundraising and rather hold it online. If you are an individual or nonprofit having supporters online, this will be an engaging strategy to bring them closer to your cause.
Gather a few volunteers, bake some delicious treats and put them online on your page and website for sale. Anything online spreads fast and has more impact. Thus, an online sale has better potential to increase your reach and revenue.
Make sure you upload high-quality pictures that are appealing to capture the audience. Also, your service of delivery should be prompt.
Social Media Challenge
Remember that ice bucket challenge and how viral it became? It was able to gain incredible support and spread awareness for ALS research. Although your social media challenge might not become as popular as the Ice Bucket Challenge, it can still be impactful if you or your nonprofit is creative.
While setting up a social media challenge, think about your fundraising project and your target audience. You do not want to make the challenge either too boring or pointless that it fails to send the projected message. Get innovative and come up with assisting hashtags. Promote it online and make sure to provide clear instructions to fundraisers regarding where they can donate online.
There you are, with a number of quick fundraising ideas. These ideas are effective as most of them will not bite your budget. You can even use a combination of these ideas to promote your cause and reach your fundraising goal.