A – Z of Fundraising Ideas

Fundraising involves getting your friends, family, colleagues and total strangers to part with their cash and is a great way to help BulliesOut.

You can go about it in a variety of ways: organise an event and charge people to attend, do something challenging and get people to sponsor you, make stuff to sell, or do something a little different. Whatever you do, tell your local newspaper about it to gain publicity… and help raise more money!

Fundraising can be great fun, and looks impressive on your CV too. Like the sound of it? Have a look at the below A to Z of fundraising ideas: there’s bound to be something in there to suit you. Or download our fundraising brochure.

If you have a fundraising query you can contact our Fundraising Coordinator by  calling 029 2056 8947.

Our fundraising promise

We do all we can to ensure that fundraisers, volunteers and fundraising contractors working with us to raise funds comply with the codes and with this promise. BulliesOut is a registered member of the Fundraising Standards Board.

 

 

 

A – Z of Fundraising Ideas!

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Aerobic-a-thon

Break out the leotard and the fitness DVD and get physical. Get sponsored for every five minutes of aerobics you can manage.

Art Exhibition

Dab hand with a paintbrush? Even if you’re not, give it a go and pass it off as modern art! Encourage local artists to donate some of their work.

Auction of Promises

Visit local businesses and ask them to donate their services for you to auction off. Or rope in your friends, who could promise to wash cars, mow lawns or do housework for the highest bidder.

Arm Wrestling

Charge your mates – or the local rugby/footie/any testosterone driven team – to arm wrestle one another. Probably best tried at your local pub. You could even fashion a snazzy badge/ medal type thing for the winner.

Abseil

Get a group of people to abseil down a local building in aid of BulliesOut. You are likely to get press coverage for this type of event too.

Arts or crafts stall

Try making greetings cards, pot pourri or jewellery to sell.

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B

Badminton tournament

Grab those shuttlecocks and hit the courts. Get sponsored for every ten minutes of rallying you can manage.

BBQ

held in your garden. Ask guests to pay an entrance fee, then provide them with food and drink for free.

Barn dance

find a real barn if possible and hire a good band. Recruit a caller who knows all the dances and can instruct those with two left feet. Charge for admission and refreshments. Make sure you sell enough tickets before the night, not just on the door.

Beard Shaving

Grab a few hairy people and shave them. Not just for fun – get people to sponsor them to go through with it. You can shave heads, beards, backs or legs… the possibilities are great.

Bingo

Make your own bingo cards and invite your mates around for a few games. Charge them a pound a ticket. Prizes should be something small like sweets or promises of eternal friendship.

Bring and Buy Sale

We bet you’ve got loads of junk in your attics and under your bed. Why not raise some money (and keep your mum happy) by organising a Bring and Buy sale. You could even charge other people to set up their own stalls.

Book sales

get all your friends and relatives to clear out their book shelves and donate the books to you to sell.

Bridge evening

The entrance fee could include a light supper or nibbles and a glass of wine.

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C

Cake Sale

Invite your neighbours round or do this at work. Bake a few cakes and sell each slice for a £1.

Caption Competition

You need a group of at least 25 people. Get a photo of your club chairman or work CEO doing something unusual and then get everyone to submit a caption for £1. Winner gets 50% of the proceeds and the rest is donated to BulliesOut!

Carol Singing Concert

Entice people along with the promise of mince pies and mulled wine!

Coffee Morning

Always a good fundraiser and a great way to catch up with friends/family. Have a look at our Coffee Break Page

Concerts

ticket selling and publicity are vital. Many bands, orchestras and choirs are often on the lookout for opportunities to perform for good causes and in good venues, on an expenses-only basis. You just need to ask!

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D

Dance marathon

Get people to sponsor you for every five minutes of boogying you manage – or for every song you shimmy to.

Disco

Find a venue and ask a local DJ to donate his service for free. You could even theme it salsa, 70′s night, ballroom dancing invite your friends and have yourselves a ball! Remember, if you are not on licensed premises and are selling alcohol, you will need a drinks licence.

Dog walk

Get some exercise and raise money at the same time. Offer your services as the neighbour dog walker and charge per dog per walk.

Dinner dance

This one will take some organising, but could raise lots of money. Charge for tickets, hold a raffle and auction (ask local businesses to donate prizes).

Darts match

charge an entry fee, have a raffle and refreshments. Make it fun – ladies versus men, left handed throws only etc.

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E

Easter Egg Hunt

Charge parents to take their kids off their hands for a afternoon – plan an Easter egg/sweet hunt in the garden to keep them amused.

Exhibition

get local arts and crafts groups (wood turners, jewellery or nick nack makers, painters etc) to hold an exhibition of their work. Ask for an admission fee and ask exhibitors to pay a fee for their pitch.

eBay

register yourself on Ebay or another auction site and auction off your old, unwanted items. You’re likely to raise more money than you would from a car boot sale and have fun watching the items go up in price at the same time!

F

Fancy dress days

Pay to wear fancy dress or dress down to work or school and fine those that don’t make the effort. Non-uniform days at school are always popular. In the office have crazy tie, bad hat or yellow and blue only days. April Fools Day is ideal for this.

Fetes

Local celebrities will help draw in crowds. But there’s lots of work, planning and costs involved – so be careful!

Football match

Organise a fun footie match. Try and encourage local celebrities to play. Hold a collection at half time. You could ask your local team to play a match in aid of BulliesOut. Organise a raffle at half time and get prizes donated by local businesses.

Fun Runs

There are always lots of fun runs taking place. Ask your friends/family to sponsor you. Using our JustGiving page makes collecting sponsorship money so much easier. Or you could organise your own! That way, you decide the venue and distance! Try to get a local personality to compete or start the event off.

£5 into £50

Give friends or volunteer fundraisers a sum of money (£5) and a time limit (three months) to increase this by devising a money-generating activity. Ideas include: planting vegetable seeds and selling produce; baking and selling cakes; backing the Derby winner; investing. Award prizes for the most ingenious idea.

50:50 club

Get everyone to donate £1 a month (by standing order if possible). Each month holds a draw when someone wins half the total raised. No licence is required – you just need to ensure at least half the money goes back into prize money.

Fashion Show

Depending on how ambitious you are, this could raise a significant amount for BulliesOut. Either grab a couple of mates and stage a show in your house. They could model clothes that you no longer want or need, which could then be auctioned off at the end of the day. Alternatively, inform local clothes shops about your fundraiser and ask them to donate clothes for the show. This is also great publicity for them. Get hold of a hall and advertise the event well in advance – give out flyers in your town centre and post them through letter boxes.

Fill Smartie tubes with coins

Pass smartie tubes out to your friends and family and ask them to fill them with spare change – preferably £1 coins! Then collect them back in – you’ll be amazed at how much you will raise this way and there is very little effort involved. Also, you could empty the smarties from their tubes into a jar and run a ‘Guess the number’ contest.

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G

Garden Party

Held in your garden (or in the grounds of a local venue) with stalls, games, refreshments and raffles.

Golf Open Days

Ask a local golf club to sponsor the event for you, invite club members and local businessmen for the tournament. Organise a raffle and auction in the evening as well.

Greek Night

Lots of Greek food, wine and dancing in your local village hall. Charge an entrance fee and hold a raffle.

Guess the Weight…

Find something suitably heavy – anything from a jar full of sweets to your Grandma – and ask friends and family to guess its weight. Charge to enter and donate the sweets/cake to the winner.

Give Up a Vice

Whether it be smoking, biting your nails or your daily choccie bar – get sponsored to give it up for a set period – or ask people to sponsor you per day.

H

Halloween Party

Hold a fancy dress party at your house or in a local bar. Ask for an entrance fee. Organise a DJ, spooky decorations and nibbles.

Head and Tails Auction

This is good to do at a dinner evening. Get everyone to stand up and pass a bucket around collecting people’s change (although encourage £5 notes). Everyone decides whether they’re heads or tails by putting a hand on their head or their bottom. Flip a coin on stage and announce the results. Those who get it wrong sit down. Continue until only one person is left. Winner gets a prize.

Hat Sale

Ask everyone to donate their old hats and then come and buy a new one.

Head Shaving

Less impressive if you already have a crew cut, but for those of you with long flowing locks this could raise lots of cash. Or if you aren’t feeling brave, get sponsored to shave the head of a hairy (willing) mate.

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I

International Evenings

Hold themed evening events to let people know more about different countries. Cook themed meals, have themed table decorations and wear appropriate clothing. Once everyone is digging into your delicious food, take the opportunity to tell them about the work of BulliesOut… then get the donations bucket out. To cover costs, it’s probably best to charge a small entrance fee.

Ice-cream Eating

Either get sponsored to make lifelong friends with Ben and Jerry or buy huge tubs of ice cream and sell them by the scoop as cornets on a hot day.

J

Jewellery Sale

Ask the public and your friends and relatives to donate unwanted jewellery. Auction off the best items and sell the remainder at a car boot sale or use as raffle prizes. Package and display attractively to boost prices and sales.

Jumble sale

Dig around under the bed and at the back of wardrobes for anything you can sell and organise a jumble sale. Get your friends to get in on the act selling their own unwanted items – perhaps they could donate a percentage of their profits to BulliesOut.

Jazz Night

A good idea if you’re a jazz singer. Perhaps a better one if you’re not. Raise money and have a giggle at the same time by belting out some classic jazz tunes like ‘Summertime’. Pass around the donations bucket to your spellbound audience and watch the money roll in.

Jog-athon

Get sponsored for every mile you complete. If it’s raining outside – and you’re a bit of a wimp – you could even do it on a treadmill. Might be something to get sponsored for at your local gym.

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K

Karaoke Night

Ask your local pub to hold a fundraising Karaoke night for BulliesOut. Sell tickets, or make it a competition and charge people to enter. Get a local company to donate a prize. Don’t forget your ear plugs!!

Knit

Put your needles together and knit garments to be sold at fetes and Xmas bazaars. Knobbly knee contest

Works especially well at the seaside in summer or at work! Charge a quid for people to enter the competition, and ask a local company to donate a ‘quality’ prize. You get the fun of being the judge.

L

Line-dancing

Hold a line-dancing party. Find out about all the line-dancing classes and clubs in your area (you’ll be surprised at how many there are) and send out invites; charge for tickets. Get in the spirit with costumes and decorations.

Line of Coins

Start a line of coins in your garden, local park, school or college grounds. Publicise what you’re raising money for and get passers-by to add their loose change to the line. Try to make it reach from one end to the other.

Lawn Mowing

Borrow a lawn-mower and drop leaflets through doors, charging a couple of quid for your services. Make sure the leaflet explains what the money is for, and people will be more inclined to pay.

Luncheon

Invite everyone in your workplace, school or street to a grand lunch (for a small fee, obviously). Make posh sarnies and nibbles. This could work especially well in an office, where people will appreciate an unusual break in the middle of the day.

Local Races and Marathons

Take advantage of any local races that are established in your area. Book a place and ask friends for sponsorship. Use our JustGiving page to make collecting sponsor money easier.

Lotteries

These could work particularly well in large offices. Make it a monthly event perhaps on pay day. It’s important that you adhere to the government’s regulations.

Loud Tie Day

Ask your company to sponsor it ot match fund the monies raised.

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M

Music and Mulled Wine Evening

Organise a recital at your local stately home or in someone’s summer garden.

Marathon events

Hire a local hall, or see if you can get one free. Hold a marathon table tennis, aerobics, line dancing or badminton session (in shift teams). Get relevant companies to sponsor you in exchange for publicity in the hall (local gyms, sports shops etc). Get sponsorship from friends and family too

Midsummer masked ball

This will take a lot of organisation, but could be a very special – and lucrative – event. Go all-out to make it as posh as possible, and charge for tickets. Got a mate with a barn? Glam it up with candles and decorations, request that guests wear black tie, give a free glass of bubbly to everyone on arrival, the works!

Midnight Film Shows, Midnight Feasts etc

These could be held in your house, or in halls at university. Make a feature of the fact that it’s being held at midnight, with atmospheric lighting etc. Charge for entry, naturally.

Mini Marathon

Get sponsored to run five or ten miles around your town, or the equivalent around your garden. The smaller the garden the better – just make sure you change direction occasionally to reduce dizziness!

Murder Mystery Night

This could be great, especially if you’re a member of an amateur dramatics group, or a drama group at school or college, who’ll help you out.

Musical Evening

Get some talented friends together and hold a concert. If you do this in a pub or bar, it will be more low-key than in a hall or theatre, and there will be things for the audience to do during gaps between performances (i.e.drinking and mingling).

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N

New Year’s Eve Dance/Party

This could be as big or as small as you like – in your front room, upstairs in a pub, or in a mammoth marquee. Charge for tickets, hold a raffle and have yourself a ball!

Nearly New Sale

This is a posher version of a jumble sale. Be selective – only sell nice stuff that’s in good condition.

Netball Tournament

Get local and school teams to pay to enter; get a sports shop to donate cool

Non-Uniform Day

People pay a pound for the privilege of coming to school or work in their civvies. If you’re doing this at work, ask your company to match fund the money you raise.

Name the Teddy

Make a list of 100 names, charge people a pound to choose a name. You make a hundred pounds and give £25 for the correct guess. The rest is donated to BulliesOut.

O

Office Collection Day

Put a collection pot on your desk with notices telling people you are raising money for BulliesOut. Loudly remind your colleagues that it’s for a good cause. Make sure you have your boss’s permission first.

Odd Job Days

Lawn-mowing, DIY, carrying shopping, walking dogs… offer your services in the neighbourhood – no job too small. Dress in a superhero costume to get noticed.

Outgrown Clothes Sale

This is good if you know lots of families with children. They bring clothes that their children have grown out of, and buy clothes that others have brought. Charge an entry fee and ask each seller to donate a percentage of their sales to BulliesOut.

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P

Pub Games Evening

Teams pay to enter for dominoes, skittles, darts, pool, quizzes etc. Have plenty of fun prizes and charge for refreshments.

Penalty shoot-out competition

People pay to enter; you get your hands on a signed football or some sports goodies for the winner. Ask a football team or sports shop to donate the prize.

Plastic duck race

Use Google to find a company near you that hires out plastic ducks. People sponsor a duck, and they’re released at a set point to float down a river. The sponsor of the winning duck gets a prize.

Photography

Are you handy with a camera? Raise money by taking photos at office Christmas parties and other events.

Q

Quizzes

Quizzes are very popular and hence a good way to make money. Pubs are the usual venue, but you could also hold one at a local college, at a day centre for older people, or in a town or village hall.

Quintessentially British Day

Get the tea and scones out and celebrate ‘Britishness’ for the day. Ask for an entry fee. Give prizes for the best fancy dress.

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R

Raffles

Ask friends and local companies to donate prizes. Go for unusual prizes like a day in a spa, a go-karting session or a takeaway pizza.

Race Night

Organise an event at your local dog or horse racing stadium

Read-a-thon

Get sponsored to read books.

Rugby Match

Charge spectators for tickets. For extra crowd-pulling power, play in fancy dress!

Rounders Tournaments

Charge teams to enter, and award a sport-related prize – or a slap-up post-match picnic with Champers – to the winning team. Ask a local store to donate the bubbly.

Rowing

Get sponsored to row on a rowing machine; aim to row the equivalent of crossing the channel. S

Strawberry and Cream Tea Party

Pick-your-own works out cheapest, or ask your local store to donate them. Hold the party in your garden on a sunny day and charge for tickets.

S

Sponsored Silence

Could you talk for England? Reckon your family and friends would pay good money to shut you up for a day? A sponsored silence is really easy to organise and can raise lots of money for BulliesOut.

Swear Box

Get your mates or colleagues to put 50p in the box if they swear.

Swim-a-thon

Get sponsored per length. If you’re a fit swimmer, try to swim the equivalent of crossing the Channel (or half-way across). Why not encourage friends/family to get involved?

Sponsored Slim

Why not raise money as you lose the pounds? Get friends to sponsor you. Turn lb’s into £’s!

Sports Events

Do you belong to a sports club? Why not persuade them to hold a charity day? People could pay to enter a competition.

Stand up Bingo

Sell bingo cards around the room, each with one number on it. Ask all the participants to stand up. Spin the balls and when a number is called that person has to sit down. The last one standing scoops the prize. Good for dinner dances.

Supermarket Collections

We are always looking for people to help with these. Contact us for more details.

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T

Tea Party

Tea is the new fashionable drink of choice, or so they say. Charge your friends a couple of quid to attend, and go all-out with the fairy-cakes and cucumber sandwiches. Very civilised.

Teddy Bears’ Picnic

Charge families for tickets, and publicise it through playgroups and primary schools. Don’t forget to bring your own teddy!

Tombola

This would work best at a fete or special event. You don’t need a fancy-turny-handle-thing – just put the tickets in a box and shake well. Get local businesses and family friends to donate prizes.

Theatre Preview

Could your local theatre or amateur dramatics society be persuaded to do a preview in aid of BulliesOut?

Treasure Hunt

Get some prizes donated and organise a set of clues leading people from one location to the next. All participants pay a fee to enter. Finish with a barbecue?

Triathlon

organise a place in your local triathlon or book a place in the London Triathlon, and ask friends to sponsor you. Use our JustGiving page to collect sponsorship

U

Unwanted Gift Sale

Get your friends and family to donate any unwanted gifts. Flog them shamelessly, put them to good use and raise much needed funds for BulliesOut.

Underground Pub Crawl

Follow one of the Tube lines, visit pubs en route and do a collection.

(Down) Under Day

Celebrate all things Australian, hold a BBQ and ask everyone to dress up like surfers or beach babes. Ask friends to pay an entry fee and hold a raffle.

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V

Valentines Day Event

Soft music, mirror-balls, largely heart-based decor… you get the idea. Sell tickets and have a great night.

Vegetarian Evening

Cook all your favourite veggie recipes and pay people to come eat them. Don’t just target veggies – meat-eaters will come too.

W

Wine Tasting Evening

Spend an evening tasting fine wines. Ask attendees to pay an entry fee, provide wine, cheese and French bread free of charge. Try and get the wine donated or buy it from France!

World Meal

Have an Indian, Caribbean or Australian meal at your home for your friends and family. Get everyone to dress up and charge an entrance fee.

White Elephant stall

Sell anything and everything you can get your hands on at a fete, jumble sale or car boot sale. You’ll be amazed at what people will buy…

Who’s that baby

Get old baby-photos of your mates or – much better – your bosses or teachers. Stick them up around your school or office and get people to pay to guess who they are. Needless to say, you’ll need a quality prize for the winner.

X

Xmas bazaar

Xmas Card Donation

Instead of sending cards this year, just wish your friends, family and colleagues a good Christmas verbally and ask them to do the same. Donate the money you would have spent on cards to BulliesOut

Xmas Fair/Panto/Party

‘Tis the season to make money! Get out the mistletoe for a big Christmas party, or sell home-made gifts at a Christmas fair.

Y

Yoga Marathon

Only for the very supple!

Yes Day

Say yes to everyone’s demands (within reason!) and ask people to sponsor you to do so.

Z

Zany Events

The list is endless … throw a custard pie at your manager, eat jelly with chopsticks, greatest number of marshmallows in a mouth. People can get sponsored or pay to enter.

Zany Dress Day

People at your office or school pay a quid or two for the chance to come dressed as celebs, as animals, in their team’s strip, or all in pink.

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