Creative Fundraising Ideas for Your Non-Profit

December 14, 2007 By Matthew Paulson

As the economy slows down, many non-profits are having a harder time getting the donations they need to maintain their current levels of service. People are bombarded from all different directions when it comes to requests for donations, it can become overwhelming for them and then they just end up not donating at all. Perhaps the best way to for charitable causes to combat this is by having creative fundraisers where people are having fun when they donate. If you need to raise money for a non-profit, missions rip, or other charitable cause, here are some creative fundraising ideas.

Kiss The Pig – Sign up a few local celebrities or business owners to participate in this one. Make some jars with their photo at it, and at whatever event you have, put those jars out for people to put money in. After a fixed period of time, make the person with the most money in their jar kiss a pig at one of your events. People are voting with their dollars and can get very involved!

Charity Goat Raffle – This is one I’m going to be doing as part of fundraising for a mission trip to inner city Los Angeles in the spring. The idea is that you register people in a contest to win a goat, and then make them pay $10.00 (or whatever amount you want) to purchase “goat insurance” to prevent themselves from being entered. When they buy the insurance they also get to give away three raffle tickets to other people and the number of people the charity reaches will grow exponentially.

Adult Spelling Bee – Hold a charity adult spelling bee with an entry fee of $10.00 or $20.00. Have some sort of prize for the winner. People will have a lot of fun and you’ll bring in some good money if you can publicize the event well.

Pink Flamingos – Put 20 or 30 plastic pink flamingo’s in people’s lawns and then make them make a donation to your charitable organization to remove them. After they make a donation, allow them to specify someone else to receive the flamingos on their lawn.

Silent Auction – Have business owners and community members donate items and then hold a silent auction and sell off the items to the highest bidder. This can be a significant amount of work, but it can also bring in thousands of dollars for your charity.

If you’re going to raise money for a charitable cause or non-profit organization, don’t just call people and ask for money, have fun with it and more importantly make it fun for them!

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