Are you tired of all the old fundraisers and need new ways to raise money? Sick of asking people to buy your baked goods or sign up for a magazine subscription? Well, here are the top 5 exciting ways to raise money at events. Your attendees will have a blast and will be anxiously waiting for the next fundraiser to come around.
Balloon Bust
Fill a couple hundred balloons and add slips of paper inside that have different donated prizes written on them (and of course have some with thank you please play again) and place them in a designated room. Each participant pays $X to go into the room and chooses a balloon. That participant then gets to bust the balloon and find out what prize they may or may not have won.
Variation- Put money into balloons ranging from $2 to $100 and sell them for $10 each. This way everyone wins and you can make up the difference.
Beat a Beater
A car smash fundraiser is a great way for your attendees to get out any stress in their life without anyone getting hurt. First you need to talk to the local junk yards for a old car with a body and glass in good condition. Make sure to see if a local mechanic would remove all the fluids and hazardous materials before the event. The car can be spray painted with the cause the money is going to or event the event name and logo. Event participants pay a predetermined amount to take a swing at the car with a hammer or crowbar. For this activity, you will need to have proper precautions such as medical staff on site and guardrails to keep the crowd at a safe distance. You will also want to be sure that the participant is wearing safety glasses.
Variation- This fundraiser can be held as a Dash and Smash. This variation would require a few cars as well as an assortment of tools and teams to compete. Each team will be given a car, and an assortment of hand tools, such as large bolt cutters, tin snips, sledgehammers, axes, wire cutters, pliers, wrenches, and hacksaws. Each team will dismantle and smash the car into pieces small enough to fit through a car tire. An admission fee can be charged for attendees to watch the competition.
Minute to Win It
Want to have your attendees do crazy things while helping your cause? Adding a “Minute to Win It” game to your event will be a big hit this year. Set up an area where contestants can play crazy games with everyday items. In this area contestants pay $3-5 for a chance to win a cheap or donated prize. Each contestant is given 60 seconds to complete tasks such as emptying a tissue box one tissue at a time with one hand, turn on or off touch lamps by throwing bean bags at them, or blowing plastic cups over with a balloon they have to inflate themselves. This is a new way to attract attendees and a great way to raise money since I am sure some contestants will want to continue trying until they win.
Outhouse Race
This is a fun event in itself and a great way to bring a community together for your cause. For this event you will need to reach out to the community ahead of time and get registration in for each team. The teams will build a homemade outhouse made of wood, cardboard, plastic, crates, or anything else they can come up with. Each outhouse will be on wheels and include some kind of handle for the “runners” to hold onto in order to push the outhouse toward the finish line. In addition to the 2 or 3 runners each team must have one team member that will be sitting in the outhouse throughout the entire race. The first 3 teams to finish will win prizes or money. You can also charge admission for the community to come watch.
Mud Volleyball
This may be a very messy activity to have at your event, but it will also be a really fun way for the community to interact and give back. Before your event have teams sign up to participate in a mud volleyball tournament. Each team will play until they lose with the final team winning the grand prize. Make sure you have some showers or hoses available to spray down your participants after they finish. You can add a little extra fun and raise more funds but having bystanders vote on the messiest team at the end. Each vote costs $1.
Here are just a few ideas that can bring your fundraiser from blah to brilliant. There are so many other new ways to spice up your event and raise money doing it. If you have more great fundraising ideas share them below in the comment section.
reshared – Mandy Martin February 19, 2015 Event Planning Tips