A-Z of fundraising ideas

A

• Abseil - a group of people could abseil down a local building
• Aerobics: sponsored marathon/competition
• Afternoon tea sale
• Ale tasting competition
• Antiques fair
• Arts or crafts stall/exhibition/fair
• Arm wrestling
• Art fair
• Assault course
• Athletic event
• Auction of favours/promises

B

• Backward walk
• Badminton tournament
• Bad hair/tie day
• Baked beans bath
• Balloon race
• Barbecue
• Barn dance
• Barrel rolling contest
• Beard shave
• Bed push race
• Bingo
• Blindfold challenge
• BMX bike display, or competition
• Book/comic sale
• Boot sale
• Bouncy castle – it could be a sponsored event, eg number of bounces per minute!
• Bowls competition
• Brick laying contest
• Bring and buy sale

C

• Cabarets/talent shows
• Caption competition
• Car boot sale
• Car treasure hunt
• Car washing
• Caribbean night
• Carol singing
• Celebrity auction
• Charity shop – open once per week selling donated items
• Cheese and wine party
• Chess tournament
• Christmas cards – making and selling them, or selling bought cards
• Clay pigeon shoot
• Coffee mornings
• Coins in a fountain
• Competitions
• Computer games knockout, best if played in pairs
• Concerts/recitals/plays/shows
• Cook books – writing a cookbook that can then be sold
• Cookery contest (eg Ready Steady Cook)
• Cookie challenge – a Bibby Line fundraising initiative involving ship/flag shaped cookies
• Cow pat lottery
• Craft fair
• Cricket match

D

• Dance marathon
• Darts competition
• Dinner dance/ball
• Disco
• Donkey derby
• Dragon boat race
• Drum marathon
• Dry cornflakes/cream cracker-eating contest
• Duck race

E

• Easter egg hunt
• Easter party
• Egg eating/rolling competition
• Expedition
• Equipment hire
• Evening of song
• Exhibitions
• Expert talk

F

• Face painting
• Fairs, fetes, bazaars, etc
• Family fun day
• Fancy dress party/day/pub crawl/competition
• Fashion show
• Film show/premiere
• Fireworks party
• Five-a-side tournament
• Flower/fruit/vegetable show/sale/display/stall
• Foam party
• Football tournament
• French evening
• Fun run
• Funny face competition

G

• Gala evening
• Game shows (eg Stars In Their Eyes, Wheel of Fortune, Blockbusters, Blind Date etc)
• Garage sale
• Garden party
• Gigs
• Gladiators/Gladifakers
• Go karting
• Golf match
• Gymkhana
• Guess the weight of ……
• Guess the name of …….

H

• Hair beading/plaiting
• Hair shave
• Halloween party
• Holiday photo competition
• Honesty box
• Hot-dog/burger stand
• Hurl the haggis competition

I

• Indoor games evening
• International evening
• Italian evening

J

• Jazz evening
• Jogging
• Judo competition or display
• Jumble sale

K

• Karaoke competition/display
• Kidnap and ransom
• Kite flying
• Kiss selling
• Knit-in
• Knobbly knee contest

L

• Ladies nights
• Lawn mowing
• Leap for charity
• Lecture lunch
• Line dancing
• Log rolling
• Long distance walk/cycle
• Longest chain of paper-clips, line of coins, etc
• Lottery – can be Chocco Lotto where numbers are put onto sweet packets
• Lucky straws
• Luncheons

M

• Man O Man (or Boss O Boss)
• Marathon events - table tennis, aerobics, line dancing, badminton, etc (in shift teams)
• Market stall
• May fair
• Medieval banquet
• Mile of pennies
• Midsummer masked ball
• Midnight film shows/parties/etc
• Mountain bike race
• Mufti/non-uniform/denim/tracksuit/etc day
• Murder mystery evening
• Musical evening
• Mystery tour

N

• Name the baby
• Name that tune
• National days
• Nearly-new sale
• Newspaper collection
• New Year's Eve dance/party
• New Year’s resolution (sponsored)
• Night-time hide and seek, using torches

O

• Old-time music hall
• One day fast
• One price stalls
• Onion peel competition
• Open day
• Opera evening
• Orienteering
• Original artwork sale
• Outgrown clothes exchange

P

• Painting competition
• Pancake day race/competition
• Panel games
• Pantomime
• Parachute jump
• Parties – school birthday/anniversary, etc
• Penalty shoot-out competition
• Penny mile, where coins are lined up and measured – can be done in teams
• Pet show
• Plant stall
• Photographic competitions
• Picnic
• Plant a tree
• Pluck a duck
• Polo suck marathon
• Pool competition
• Pram push
• Promotional party
• Pub games night
• Pub crawl

Q

• Quasar night
• Quizzes
• Question of Sport

R

• Races
• Radio campaign
• Raffles
• Raft race
• Rapping contest, show or sponsored event
• Record swap
• Relay race
• Riverboat trip
• Roaring twenties supper
• Roll a dice
• Rugby match
• Running match

S

• Safari supper
• Saints’ days parties/theme day
• Santa’s grotto
• Scavenger hunt
• School fair
• School prom
• Scoff-a-hotdog competition (eg ‘who can eat two in the fastest time possible’!)
• Second-hand market
• Seventies disco night
• Shakespeare marathon
• Shoe shine services
• Shop window display
• Signature board
• Silent auction
• Silly games afternoons: egg & spoon, silly races, wet sponge throwing, etc
• Silly specs evening
• Sixties evening
• Skittles
• Skateboard display
• Slave auction
• Slide evening
• Soap episodes show or theme day
• Sponsored events (eg bike ride, dog walk, knit, kite-flying, headshave, haircut, hula-hooping, no smoking, rapping, run, shoe-clean, silence, sing, sports match, swim, talk, three-legged walks, walk, watch TV/don’t watch TV, window clean, etc etc etc)
• Sports day
• Stalls at fairs etc (eg cakes, plants, books)
• Strawberries and cream tea party
• Story telling
• Sunflower competition
• Supermarket trolley dash
• Supper quiz
• Sweet in a jar
• Swap-shop
• Swear box
• Swimming gala

T

• Talent night
• Tango around town
• Tap dancing
• Tea dance/party
• Teddy bears’ picnic
• Ten pin bowling
• Tennis tournament
• Theme days/evenings (eg countries - French, Spanish; soap operas, past-eras etc)
• Theatre collection
• Themed evenings
• Three-legged race
• Throwing wet sponges at a person in stocks, great at a summer fair!
• Tombola
• Top of the Pops show
• Toy appeal
• Trading places for the day
• Trampoline marathon
• Treasure hunt
• Tree planting
• Trivial pursuits
• Tuck shop – getting supplies donated?
• Tug-of-war
• Two Hundred Club – challenge yourself to raise £200, representing £1 for each year of our business being in existence.

U

• Underwater drafts
• Underwater eating
• Underwater hunt
• Non-Uniform days  
• Unusual events
• University challenge
• Up the pole

V

• Valentines day party
• Valentines messages
• Variety show
• Video competitions
• Volleyball competition

W

• Wang a wellie
• Wacky races
• Waste paper collection
• Western party
• Wheelbarrow race
• Whist drive
• White Elephant stall
• Who’s that baby? (staff bring in photos of themselves as babies)
• Whodunnit evening/weekend
• Wine & cheese evenings
• Wine tasting
• Wshing well
• Word search

X

• X-country races
• Xmas draw
• X-Files day (Use your imagination – the ideas are out there!)
• Xmas fair/panto/party
• X Factor Competition
• Xylophone marathons

Y

• Yacht race, etc
• Yard of ale competitions
• You’ve been framed

Z

• Zany parties
• Zany competitions
• Zoo quiz