Fun Fundraising Ideas To Try This Year

Fundraising for schools, non-profits, and sports teams is an ongoing task. Schools raise money to support programming and youth sport teams raise money to keep their programs affordable, attend competitions, and acquire costuming or equipment. Each year, organizations raise money to support their programs through varying fundraising efforts. Many of them will even run several fundraisers a year to cover their costs.

It can be fun to run multiple types of fundraisers throughout the year to bring in all the dollars your organization may need without having to run the same fundraiser over and over again! By mixing up your fundraiser types throughout the year, you can engage different parents and volunteers, extending the amount of fundraising dollars you can raise. Some supporters will want to buy something, while others would rather just hand over some cash to support your cause.

Traditional Fundraising – Selling Products!

“Traditional Fundraising” is mostly done offline and typically consists of selling products through face-to-face or door-to-door interactions. Think Girl Guide cookies, chocolates, poinsettias for the holidays, or coupon books!

The first thing you will need to do is find a vendor (AKA decide on your product) for your fundraiser. Depending on which fundraiser you choose, you may have to purchase and store inventory or you will have to submit a pre-order to the vendor.

In either case, this often includes managing paper order forms and keeping track of payments. If homework gets eaten by dogs, just imagine what happens to those order forms!?

If you have a strong numbers person who can keep it all organized, then these fundraisers can be a really fun way to get into your community and sell products while spreading the message of your organization.

Another positive of this type of fundraising is that the buyer will get something in exchange for their donation!

Many fundraisers are coming available online, meaning you can save a ton of time on admin tasks and focus most of your energy into reaching as many supporters as possible.

Bottle Drive Fundraiser

Bottle drives are another popular form of fundraising. In this case, you will need to organize people who are willing to help, get the word out, and plan out a day to collect bottles.

An average bottle drive can raise anywhere from $500 – $1500, depending on how many Powerades your players chuck into their family recycling after practice.

To run a bottle drive, you will need a location to collect the bottles, some advertising, and after collecting the bottles, you will need to get the bottles to the depot for your refund.

Often, groups will partner with a local bottle depot to make it happen. At some bottle depots, they even offer free drop off and pick up.

Save your supporters a trip to the bottle depot while supporting your cause! This one can take a little longer to organize, but it can still be a fun fundraising idea to try this year.

Cash Calls

A cash call or cash appeal is a direct request of the audience (your potential supporters), asking them to make a cash donation to fund your organization or team.

This type of fundraising is quick and straightforward. All you need to do is request cash upfront for your team’s needs directly from parents or supporters.

While cash calls and donations can be effective, one of the drawbacks of this method of fundraising is that some families may not be financially secure enough to donate cash with nothing in return.

Many people prefer other fundraising methods over cash calls because buyers get something back. By selling products over asking for straight donations, supporters who may not be able to spare cash can still support the cause by volunteering their time.

When choosing your next fundraising initiative, be sure to consider whether or not a cash call may cause undue stress on your supporters.

Crowdfunding Fundraising Campaigns

Crowdfunding is the practice of asking the public for a contribution to your cause, typically via the internet. Often these campaigns see many individuals making small contributions, $5, $10, $20, $50, or more for a specific cause.

Some popular crowdfunding platforms include GoFundMe, Kickstarter, and IndieGoGo. These are centralized online platforms that allow people to accept donations for their cause.

People use crowdfunding platforms for all types of fundraising causes: startups raising money to develop products, people raising funds for hospital bills, and more. These online platforms bring a lot to the table when it comes to accepting donations.

While these platforms do very well taking donations, if you are selling products in your fundraiser, the delivery is up to you.

If you are only taking donations, you may run into some of the same drawbacks as cash calls. However, if you are selling products, it may be worth considering how you would deliver those products to individuals who may be donating from abroad.

Crowdfunding can be an effective way to raise money and you can reach a lot of people with effective marketing for your fundraiser.

Learn more about promoting your fundraiser on social media here.

Online or In-Person Raffles

A fundraising raffle is a game of chance. A 50/50 is a very popular type of raffle, where supporters will purchase a raffle ticket for the chance to win 50% of the earnings from the raffle. Prize raffles are another fun way to raise money, where the raffle including a physical or experiential prize and allow you to take home all proceeds from ticket sales.

While often physical tickets will be used, Rafflebox is a Canadian fundraising company that brings raffles online and makes it easier than ever.

While Rafflebox does support in-person ticket sales, using their online platform avoids printing thousands of tickets and allows you to choose your winner with the click of a button.

Online fundraising also typically includes in-depth reporting and a unique webpage for your fundraiser, making it easy to share with supporters and keep track of earnings. Raffle fundraising can lucrative while adding a bit of excitement at the chance of winning.

Be sure to check out Rafflebox FAQ, which answers many common questions about running a digital raffle fundraiser.

A raffle can be very effective and the chance at winning 50% or a prize improves the odds of a donation over cash calls or crowdfunding.

One drawback of a raffle is that your organization will likely require a raffle licence to run this type of fundraiser, which can take anywhere from 10 days to 6 weeks depending on the province you reside in. This means it can take a little more time to set up than other fundraising methods.

Food Fundraising

At TeamFund Fundraising, we are massive advocates of using food as your next fundraising product. We think food fundraising is great because food is something people will actually use and it is a high-profit item.

When was the last time you purchased from a coupon book fundraiser? Did you use it or did it wind up in your junk drawer?

While there are many items you could sell for your fundraiser, not all of them are things people are going to actually use. Online fundraising with food is effective because it gives buyers something they are going to use and makes selling the product much easier – everyone needs to eat!

Many people who partake in our food fundraisers look forward to restocking their freezer with products they’ll use or buying bacon for less than what it costs at the grocery store!

Outside of straight donations, food fundraising is one of the highest profit items you can fundraise with.

Different foods in our Alberta and Winnipeg fundraisers range from 10 – 30% profit per sale. By dealing directly with a wholesaler, the markup typically found at a grocery store is transferred directly to your team.

Using a bigger-ticket item such as food, you can bring in more money per sale. Supporters can feed their families all while supporting your minor sports team, school, or non-profit!

At TeamFund, you receive your own online store, can share easily through social media, and logistics and reporting are all handled by us.

Learn how it works here.

Interested in running a food fundraiser and live in Alberta, Winnipeg, or Saskatechwan?

Download a TeamFund Fundraising Package

No matter which fundraising method you choose, the first step in any fundraising campaign is deciding on your fundraising goal.

With a strong goal and message, you are more likely to make sales. Learn more about telling your storytelling and fundraising here.

At TeamFund Fundraising, we hope you are able to raise all of the funds your organization needs. If you’re looking for more fundraising tips, be sure to check out our blog!