52 Easy Fundraising Ideas

So Many Fundraiser Ideas to Choose From!

1. Adult Spelling Bee – Take it back to elementary school! Each participant should be sponsored and/or raise funds for their entry fee. In-between rounds, share facts about Alzheimer’s disease.
2. Auctions – Ask for donations from local businesses and set up a live or silent auction. Auctions can be held at work, during a party or even a family reunion! Get creative – auction off the boss as your personal assistant for the day, auction off that close parking spot, auction off your centerpieces. Ask everyone to bring their favorite bottle of wine and auction them all off!
3. Birthday Party – Instead of gifts, hold a purple themed birthday party and ask for donations for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
4. Book Sale – Ask your team to bring in all their gently used books and reach out to local publishing houses, bookstores and libraries to donate overstocked books. Spread the word, set up a table (at a mall or in a lobby) and sell! Include a thank you bookmark with a photo of your team at last year’s Walk and include a link to your personal fundraising webpage.
5. Change Jar – Each team member takes a jar and the first person to fill it up gets a prize. Start off with small jars and increase in size each round. Prizes get better each round.
6. Cook off – Who makes the tastiest chili in your office? Which team member bakes the best cupcakes? Tasting judges are charged for each voting ballot. Whoever gets the most votes is crowned “Master Chef.”
7. Dating Game – Get bachelors and bachelorettes involved with this one. The contestants are unseen and must pick their date based on the individual’s responses to questions composed by audience members. Charge admittance to this event.
8. Dance Off – Which classmate or officemate has the best moves? Hold a dance off to find out! Each dancer pays an entry fee as well as judges. Each round has a surprise theme (disco, break dance, ballet, moonwalk, river dance, robot).
9. Envelope at a Restaurant – Ask local restaurants to allow you to place envelopes and asking for donations at each table. Waiters will check for funds after every sitting. Also, ask if you can put up purple balloons, table tents and posters around the restaurant – include lots of photos!
10. Errand Service – Who has time to run errands? Spend the day running errands for a fee.
11. Face Painting – Set up a booth at a park or in conjunction with another event.
12. Fashion Show – Put a spin on the old fashion show! Have local college students design the clothes, hold a pet fashion show, a Halloween costume show or an accessories fashion show. Be creative, charge an admission fee and include stories from those touched by Alzheimer’s disease.
13. Game Night – Host a party and have every team members bring their favorite game. $10 to get in the door! Or hold a card tournament with a $20 entry fee – half goes to the winner and half goes to your Walk to End Alzheimer’s team. Don’t forget to set up a concessions stand for some extra fundraising.
14. Garage Sale – Team members band together by donating items for one huge garage sale. Advertise the sale wherever you can and make sure everyone knows where their donations are going!
15. Haunted House – Decorate a house, school, field, or forest and charge admission. Set up a couple games (bob for apples, witch hat ring toss) and organize a hayrack ride.
16. Hot Dog Eating Contest – Substitute any food you’d like and get it donated. Instead of an entry fee, have the audience members place bets on who will win.
17. Ice cream social – Host an office get-together by selling packaged ice cream or making sundaes. Don’t forget the toppings!
18. Igloo Contest – Perfect for winter! Participants make snow igloos. The best one wins a prize. Igloos too difficult? How about a snowman competition?
19. Jail-and-Bail – Kidnap a boss, principal, owner of a restaurant, and ship them off to jail. They can post their own bail or solicit bail from friends, family, and employees.
20. Jeans Day – Have coworkers donate $5 to wear jeans for the day. Spice it up – Hat Day, Team Spirit Day, Purple Day, etc.
21. Karaoke Night – Hold this event at a popular neighborhood spot and charge entrance OR rent a karaoke machine and hold a tournament at your house. Voting is done in dollars!
22. Kiss the Pig – Put a photo of all the teachers or popular employees on an individual jar. Those who have the most money in their jar must kiss the animal (or a team mascot, dog, etc.)
23. Lemonade Stand – It’s classic and effective. Let the kids help out and make the lemonade with a twist – add fresh fruit, serve as a slushy, or add an adult beverage.
24. Lunch with the CEO/Celebrity – Auction off a special lunch with the CEO of your company or a local celebrity.
25. Matching Gifts – Many companies already have a matching gift program. Ask your company to match what you raise. This is a simple way to double your funds!
26. Movie Night – Host a movie night in at a local park, civic center, school auditorium, library, or a team member’s house. Sell popcorn, homemade treats, drinks, and candy.
27. New Year’s Eve Party – Bring in the New Year with donations to your Walk to End Alzheimer’s team! Make this party one not to miss with a unique theme, raffles, and prizes.
28. Network – Are you on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or any other social networking sites? Use it to let your friends and family across the country know about your fundraising efforts for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Post updates on your goal and your progress. Include links to your Walk webpage.
29. Office Olympics – Have a fun day at work. Hold events like typing competitions, swivel chair races, staple pull contests, stress ball toss, water cooler drinking game, etc. Ask all athletes to pay an entry fee.
30. Ornament Sale – Create holiday ornaments with your team and sell them.
31. Pancake Breakfast – This is a perfect event to host before work or worship service. Create a mouthwatering hot breakfast menu with coffee and juice. Charge $10 a plate!
32. Play-Off – Choose your favorite sport and put departments, grades, genders, or teachers vs. students against each other. Invite the rest of the school or company to watch and cheer. Sell tickets or charge an admission at the door.
33. Questions-for-$1 – Set up a jar and charge one dollar (or any donation) per question you answer. Ask your boss to set one in their office too!
34. Quiz Bowl – Hold a trivia night at a local establishment. See if the restaurant will donate a gift card to the winner and a portion of the night’s proceeds to your Walk to End Alzheimer’s team.
35. Raffles – Raffle off prizes or split the pot with the popular 50/50 option.
36. Rapping Contest – Showcase talent or make a fool of yourselves for fun (and charity)!
37. Services – Team members offer a service that they perform and donate proceeds. Examples: salon/spa, photography, financial consultation, babysitting, golf lessons, landscaping, odd jobs. These services could also be used as prizes for another fundraiser.
38. Spot the Baby Competition – Have everyone bring in a photo of when they were a baby. Have co-workers, friends, or family see who can name the most. Charge $5 for each entry.
39. Theater Night – Ask your local theater to put on a special performance in honor of increasing Alzheimer’s awareness. A portion of the revenue from tickets sold goes to fundraising. Invite everyone you know.
40. Tug of War – Which department or class is the strongest? Hold a tug of war tournament to find out. Teams pay an entry fee and are encouraged to create names, t-shirts and cheers. Afterwards, hold a pot luck!
41. Ugly Sweater Contest – Get a group involved and have the audience vote by using dollars ($1 = 1 vote). Split the pot with the winner.
42. Unwanted Gifts Sale – Get your coworkers, friends, and family to donate the unwanted Christmas gifts they received. Set up a bazaar and sell them off.
43. Vacation Day – Ask your employer if they can offer a paid vacation day as a prize for your fundraiser.
44. VIP Parking – Raffle off that coveted parking spot for a year!
45. Weed – Offer to weed gardens or pull dandelions from the lawns of friends and neighbors for a donation to the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
46. Wine-tasting Party – Get the wine, cheese and chocolate donated or pull from your team members’ stashes! Invite all your friends to come and charge admission.
47. X-mas Party – Dedicate your yearly Christmas Party to the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Ask your family, friends, and coworkers for donations instead of presents. Attach pledges in honor of loved one struggling with the disease and/or their caretakers on the branches of the Christmas tree.
48. X Marks the Spot Treasure Hunt – Sniffing out the clues, teams compete against each other to discover the donated “hidden treasure.”
49. Yacht Race – Organize a paddle boat race, charge a competition fee and offer prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
50. Yoga Lunch – Get your coworkers to “ummmm” away work stress in a yoga session during the lunch hour. Find a yoga instructor who will donate half or all the proceeds back to your Walk to End Alzheimer’s team. Afterwards, provide workout treats and ask for donations. Not into yoga? How about Zumba?
51. Zany Day – Get people to pay to dress in the craziest outfits they can come up with.
52. Zzzzzzs – Pay a fee to catch some extras Zs and come in late to work one Friday.

Written by Courtney Rix Velasquez Lawless