Fundraising Ideas

Simply send an email to all of your friends, family and colleagues telling them what you will be doing.  You'll be surprised at how many people will respond.

Host a Cultivation Dinner:

Cultivation dinners do exactly what their name implies - they cultivate interest and generate money.  You can do cultivation dinners many different ways.  HINT:  This is a great fundraising idea to involve your parents in.  For example, you and a few friends can come up with a menu, do all the cooking and then invite friends and family over for dinner.  Charge a price-per-head or simply ask people to make donations.  You can put together a great presentation about Foundation for Young Orphans and email us to request photos for your own slide show that you can display with music. 

Matching Opportunities:

Matching simply means that for every fundraising program or activity you plan, you try and get friends and family to match 1 to 1 (or more) for the dollars you raise.  It is a great way to get people involved in what you are doing and allow them to feel like they are participating without having to do very much.  You can create your own colorful pledge sheet and ask your parents to take it to work to get more people to pledge with you.  People will love to support your hard work and know that not only are they investing in a great program like Foundation for Young Orphans, but they are also making an investment in YOU.

50/50 Raffle:

You can raise a significant amount of money pretty quickly by doing a 50/50 raffle. 50% of the money you raise will go to Foundation for Young Orphans and the other 50% will be awarded to a lucky winner chosen at random.  Make or buy some pre-printed raffle tickets and then decide on a price per ticket ($1 or even $5).

Donation Container Fundraising:

This is a pretty straight forward "collection" fundraising idea. Here's what you do: Save old coffee cans, water bottles, jars, etc. and cover them in bright color paper with the Foundation for Young ophans name prominently displayed. Make sure to specify on the can where the fundraising donations will be going. Place the containers around your school, have friends and family take some to work, visit local stores and ask them if they will be kind enough to place cans at their cash registers, or find out if you can leave a can at the front desk of your apartment lobby. Visit the locations once a week and collect all of the proceeds.  

HINT: email Foundation for Young Orphans and ask for some brochures that you can put with your containers to give potential donors additional information.

•  Get Climbing - pick a local hill or mountain and organise a sponsored hike.

•  Let's Get Ready To Ramble - organise a bunch of people to go on a sponsored countryside ramble. Remember the sandwiches.

•  The Poverty Cycle - organise a giant sponsored bike ride for charity.

•  Show off - people love talent shows, book a venue and charge people to watch.

•  Micro-fest - if you know a lot of bands in your area get them together and put on a battle of the bands. Charge an entry fee and have tickets on the door.

•  Games Master - the best button bashers in your area will pay money to take each other on in the biggest gaming tournament of their lives. Organsied by you, for charity. Pay to play.

•  Ripping Yarns - get a local historian, explorer or celebrity to tell everyone their stories. Make sure it's interesting or everyone will be asleep.

•  Junk Lovers - people have always got stuff lying around that they don't want but other people will love. Organise a bring-and-buy sale.

•  Disco Crazy - whether it's Halloween, Xmas or just because you like dressing up, there's always an excuse for a disco- especially when it's for a good cause.

•  Dress-up Dare - charge everyone to dress up in the wackiest ways they can think of.

•  Dressing-down - charge a fee for wearing your casuals instead of uniform for a day.

•  Wash On, Wash Off - everyone likes having a nice clean motor, so turn this to charity's advantage. Charge double for a wax.

•  Mow Money - everyone wants their lawn to be the best in the neighbourhood, if they cough up for charity you'll mow it for them.

•  The Bookworm Trap - a second-hand book fair can be big business for charity.

•  Work It - just imagine having someone do your bidding for a day… and all for a good cause. Organise a school ‘slave' auction.

•  Fives-alive - set-up a five-aside football tournament. Charge each team an entry fee and sort out a prize or trophy for the winners.

•  All at Sevens - charge a fee for entering a team into a rugby sevens tournament. Have a trophy for the winners and a wooden spoon for the losers.

•  Strut Your Stuff - get people to design clothes with a charity theme in mind and then hold a catwalk fashion show.

•  Storm the School - scale the school walls, literally. We're talking a sponsored abseil.

•  Green Fingers - some people take more pride in their garden than their house, persuade them to show it off for charity in a Garden's Open Day.

•  Raffle Baffle - people love the mystery of a good raffle. Get local businesses to donate prizes.

•  Is it high, is it low? - People love a good treasure hunt, especially if there's a good prize at the end. Pay to seek.

•  Aussie Christmas - what nicer way to spend a summer's day than filling your face for charity. Hold a barbeque in the local park.

•  Anyone for doubles? - Hold a pay-to-play tennis tournament. Strawberries and cream are a must.

•  Wacky Races - three-legged, eggs on spoons, sack races, hilarious. A good old sports day is an excellent way to raise money.

•  Remember Eggs On Top - offer a super-fast service bag-packing service at the local supermarket.

•  You'll be inde-pencil-ble - offer your pencil sharpening and rubbing-out services to your classmates… for a small charitable fee.

•  Baked bean Cocktail - the classic comedy fundraising challenge- eating baked beans with a cocktail stick.

•  Wash Behind Those Ears - another classic contender is having a bath in jelly.

•  Poop-scoops at the Ready - give people the day-off and walk their dog for them… for a fee.

•  Everybody's Late-Day - organise a day when everyone walks to school instead of getting a bus or a lift and gives the money they save to charity.

•  Artsy-Fartsy - those of us with the tremendous ability to draw could do portraits for charity.

•  You Clown! - face painting is especially profitable before football matches or at Halloween.

•  I scored. No I scored! - why not organise a footie match with a difference, a three-legged tournament.

•  Lovey Darling- put on a play and make it issue-based to entertain and raise awareness at the same time.

•  You'll dye when you get home - get sponsored to shock people, especially your mum, by dyeing your hair.

•  Animal Hairdressers - wash those pooches for charity and then stand back as they shake it off.

•  A Wet One- hold a sponsored swim-a-thon.

•  Hunger Strikes!- take part in a go without lunch week- it's a real challenge but remember it's for a good cause.

•  Litter-ally a winner - do a sponsored litter clean-up day and recycle what you find. Remember those safety gloves! Oooh Yuk!

•  Going Out Somewhere Nice - offer a beauty salon service doing hair and nails etc. for charity.

•  Going Going Gone - get local retailers to stump up some lots for a charity auction.

•  Will it be 1, 2 or 3? - hold a charity blind date show between schools.

•  One man's junk is anothers treasure - organise a car-boot sale. Charge a ‘set-up' fee and watch the customers pile in.

•  If you wanna be a record breaker - there's loads of records just waiting to be broken, pick one, get sponsored and go for it.

•  Roll up, Roll up- guess the height/weight/amount- 20p a go.

•  Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fittest of them all? - why don't you find out with a gym-athon or sponsored aerobics session.

•  Time for the Ear-plugs - karaoke is brilliant and people love to do it. They might be rubbish but remember it's for charity.

•  Wardrobe Raid - make some use out of your dad's lack of taste and hold a crazy-tie day.

•  Dressing up for a jog - organise a fancy dress fun run.

•  Slam-dunk, your mother is a punk - organise a two-on-two basketball tournament, with a fee for entering a team.

•  Flipping Good Fun - loads of pancakes, loads of syrup, loads of money for charity. Who can toss the most pancakes?

•  Tis' the Season to get partying - hold a Xmas party with cakes, a grotto, some cheesy tunes and pressies for the best dancers, but will it snow?

•  Egg Heads - have a seasonal take on the treasure hunt with an Easter egg hunt. Some eggs are painted, some are chocolate.

•  Fireworks display - a spectacular charity. Charge for entry.

•  Cupid for a day - bring young lovers together by offering a Valentine's day delivery service.

•  You bloater- hold a hot dog eating contest. The current world record sits at 50 in 12 minutes.

•  Ho Ho Ho - bring the little kids and Santa together with a Santa's grotto.

•  Spit and Polish - get down to offices and get them looking smart for their meetings, be a shoe-shine for the day. Pound a shoe.

•  Teacher in the blocks - take one brave teacher, put them in the stocks, then charge a fee to pelt them with wet sponges or water balloons.

•  Heave-Ho- sort out a tug-of-war tournament. Who's your money on- the firemen or the dinner ladies?

•  Smooch-a-rama - organise a tickets-only charity Valentine's Ball.

•  School is alive with the sound of music - organise a sing-along to a musical like Grease or Sound of Music. Turn up the volume and join in.

•  What lies beneath? - beardies get sponsored to reveal themselves by shaving off their face-fuzz.

•  House of Cards - a favourite around Xmas, Valentines or any seasonal holiday, is to design cards, which you can sell for charity.

•  Sidewalk Surfing - if you and your mates are pretty handy on boards, skates or the BMX, you could put on a demonstration of your skills for charity.