Best Fundraising Ideas for Nonprofits

Use Social Sites

They are many people that like to help the homeless, the animal shelters, and good causes in the community. Remember that “givers” are usually always givers if approached the right way.

The question though is how do you find them? The answer may be simpler than you imagined. Social media.

• Go on Facebook and look at some of the charities and nonprofits in your community.
• Notice the people that like these charity Facebook pages.
• Make a list of them.
• Reach out to your social network and find out who knows them.
• Go to their page and friend them.
• Ask them to like your nonprofit Facebook page.
• Offer a small gift in exchange for them signing up for your free newsletter.
• In your newsletter pitch why you are raising funds for your cause.

No this is not a quick fix. Instead it will build you a list of the kind of people you want following your social media page. Once you have their email contact information, you’ll be able to educate them about your organization.

Additionally you will be able to show them how they can make a difference in the community by making a small donation.

Isn’t email dead?

Think again my friend. Your email contacts are the only thing you really own.

• Social sites can close up and go out of business overnight.
• You can be banned or lose your account for any number of reasons.

Imagine losing all your contacts!

This is why you need to get them off social media and onto your email list.

• Newsletters to educate your followers.
• Articles to drive them to your website and social media posts.
• Communicate regularly with them about the good your organization is doing in the community.
• Talk about your kids needs and how they can make a difference.
• Team up with local businesses for a cut of the business you drive to them using coupons and special offers.

Live Stream Concerts

There are many bands in your community that would like to get some exposure. Ask if they will do a virtual concert for your organization. You can then stream this using zoom, Facebook or Google hangouts. Simply ask people to purchase a ticket to watch the concert.

• Ask the band if they have a Facebook page. Then ask them to reach out to their friends to see if they would like to join the concert fundraiser.
• You can split the concert ticket price with the artist 50-50.
• Additionally, you also can arrange for a percentage of all sales generated via albums and t-shirts sold.
• This can also be done with a battle of the bands.

Nonprofits got talent!

There is a lot of hidden talent out in your community. During a pandemic many people are looking for things to do on a Saturday night. So why not hold a talent show online?

• Have people create videos of their acts so they don’t have to worry about a live performance.
• Select a board of talent reviewers to prescreen the acts to keep it family safe fun for everyone. Remember we want kid safe entertainment.
• Next select an emcee to host the event and keep it lively.
• People can vote for their favorite acts using a $1 per vote. Simply text a pay pal link out to your viewers for them to make their online donation.

Who’s hungry?

In the past it would be easy to host a gala event at a fancy restaurant. So how do you have a dinner fundraiser online? It just takes a little imagination to hold a great dinner gala affair online.

• You can go to the dollar store and pick up candleholders and candles to deliver to your guests. A nice classy touch for only a dollar or two.
• Talk to a local restaurant in your community and tell them about your dinner party. Many of them have catering packages available. Negotiate a price for your dinner event.
• Some restaurants will be able to deliver. Otherwise you can use your volunteers to drop off the food at each of your guests homes. Additionally you can try one of the online delivery service apps like Grubhub or Door Dash.
• Arrange for live music to play while people eat.
• Give options for people to break out into Zoom breakout rooms for conversation during the meal.
• Price your gala tickets to cover your expenses and leave plenty of room for profit for your organization’s cause.

1,2,3… Sold!

You can auction anything online that you can auction off-line. The question is, what would your donors be happy to bid on?

• Poll your audience to see what most people would be interested in bidding on. This might give you a couple of good suggestions.
• Think about things that people might not buy for themselves but would love as a gift.
• Reach out to business owners in your community to see if they might be interested in donated services or goods for you to auction off.
• Now spread the word about your auction using social media, texting, phone calls and email.
• May the highest bidder win!

Raffles Still Work

Many people will gladly spend a dollar or two to win a chance at a great prize. Here are some good raffle suggestions.

• A new car or a used car.
• Sports trip.
• New iPad.
• Fancy Gift baskets filled with goodies.
• Fire wood.
• Gift

With the right gift you can sell a lot of raffle tickets to support your cause!

Ready. Get Set… GO!

This includes:

• Walk-a-thons
• Marathons
• Bike-a-thons
• Potato sack races
• Three legged races

Set the rules up and have people video their performance. Award prizes for the best times in each category of racers.

Who wants to have some fun?

Pick a game and set up a virtual game night online. This works for both group games, video games and board games too.

Here are some opportunities to raise extra money:

• Find a sponsor for your team in case you win.
• Sell sponsorship advertising spots. For example. you could show a 30 second commercial video. Additionally you could offer a link to the businesses’ website for a free offer or to win a prize.
• This is great to combine with a dinner or dessert twist. Team up with local restaurants for your guests to pick up a dinner that night for a percentage of the proceeds.
• Hold this at your local school cafeteria.

Have Fun With A 5k Run

Races are fun opportunities to raise funds in your community while spreading the message about your group’s cause.

• Great exercise opportunity.
• Reach out to local runner clubs, gyms and spas to help spread the word.
• Design a fun t-shirt to commemorate your race event.
• Get plenty of PR publicity.
• Seek sponsorship opportunities.

Go Bald For A Cause

There are lots of people that are not willing to donate to your cause. However, they may be willing to donate $20 if you shave your head on a live stream event. Traditionally this has worked well for cancer awareness and research funding. However, with a little imagination you could use this for any nonprofit.

Tip: If you can get an influencer to be willing to have their head shaved, you will get PLENTY of donations.

• Your CEO.
• The principal.
• A local pastor, reverend or priest.
• Local politicians.
• Any celebrity.

What is your favorite movie?

This is really easy to do using zoom.

• Holds up to 300 viewers. At $5 a head this comes out to $1,500 just for watching movies!
• Pick a movie and set a movie night.
• Send out invitations.
• Buy microwave popcorn in bulk. Send it out to each donor as an up-sell for $2 more.

How to find money in your garage!

This is a great opportunity for a spring fundraiser.

Offer to handle everything for them. All they have to do is drop off their stuff at your place for the garage sale. Your team or club earns 20% on everything sold. Advertise like crazy to get the most shoppers. Tell everyone who stops by that you are doing this for a good cause.

Hey – do you text?

Hopefully you have been collecting names, emails and phone numbers to keep in contact with your tribe.

If not… do not fear! We have a nice work around for you. Simply have your volunteers text the friends on their phone list.

• Set up a paypal page to donate on.
• Next set up a contest with a cool prize.
• Send texts out telling about the contest and that it is only a $1 per entry. They can enter as many times as they like,

A match made in heaven

Using the Pareto principle 20% of your donors will donate 80% of your total funds. If we dive even deeper using the 80/20 rule, that means 4% of your supporters will donate more than the other 96% of donors.

So how can you use this?

• These are your best donors.
• They have money and enjoy giving.
• Many are business owners that can write off the donations as a deduction on their taxes.
• Ask them if they would be willing to match dollar for dollar on what ever you can raise on your own.
• A matching gift fundraiser could literally double your donations.

Go viral!

Have a contest to award the best viral video on social media.

• The rules should state the video has to get people to like your nonprofit organizations social media page.
• It should be in good taste.
• Have a prize for the most shares and likes.
• This is a great way to build your followers online.