Top fundraising ideas

OK, so you might be pretty up for getting out there and doing it, but might be left scratching your head as to what best to do. To get you started, here are some ideas that we reckoned could work however big or small your group is.

Fundraising events can be great fun, but sometimes it’s difficult to come up with new ideas. If all you can think of is a raffle or a baked bean bath, have a look at these other suggestions for inspiration…

Auction
Two options here. First, you could dig up a load of things you never knew you had, sell them on Ebay and send Oxfam the profits. Or you could host a ‘live’ auction and invite people to watch you speak insanely quickly and bang a wooden hammer with gusto.

Crazy clothes
Wear your clothes back to front all day, wear your girlfriend’s/boyfriend’s Sunday best (if they’ll let you) or wear a clown outfit – the possibilities are endless!

Cycle ride
Announce to your bemused friends that you intend to peddle from point A to point B at great velocity on your old BMX, and then get them to sponsor you per kilometre. Then dig out your puncture repair kit, ‘cos you’ll need it.

Five-a-side football tournament
Set up a tournament in one of your local sports halls, and invite teams to register and pay an entry fee. Give prizes for the best (and the worst!) teams.

Litter-pick
Do your thing for the environment and organise a sponsored litter-pick. You get the double satisfaction of cleaning up the place where you live and donating money to charity. Bring on that warm feeling…

Marathon
No, not a real marathon! (unless you’re really keen). There are plenty of alternative marathons you could try out, such as 26 hours of continuous computer-gaming, music playing, hopping – the list is endless. Or how about a marathon on a unicycle?

Party on
Find a hall, find a DJ (preferably someone you know who’ll do it for free) and then sell tickets to your mates, your mates’ mates, their mates, etc. Make it a theme night or a traffic light night (wear red for taken, green for single, amber for undecided), and let the good times roll.

Quiz
Host a themed quiz night, and get teams to pay to participate. You can distribute quirky prizes to the boffins, and a wooden spoon to the losers.

Silence
Does everyone always say you’re a bit of a chatterbox? Then why not make them pay for the privilege of your silence throughout the day?

Treasure hunt
Hide an interesting item somewhere, and then have the participants follow a series of fiendishly difficult clues to get to it. Whoever finds it first takes the prize (and the glory).

Wear your pyjamas
Go ultra-casual and get sponsored to wear your pyjamas all day, whether at work, uni, college, or around town. Word of advice – pick a warm day!

The main thing is getting out there and giving it a go!!!

50:50 Sale
Appeal
Ask
Auction Sale
Bag Packing
Begging
Bouncy Castles
Business/Banks
Cake Stall
Car washing
Car Boot Sales
Card Sales
Carnival
Catalogues
Charities
Children’s Holiday Club
Children in Need
Children's Charities
Children's Fund
Church
Cleaning public toilets
Cleaning up local shopping area
Clearing gardens of rubbish
Coffee Mornings
Collection Coins
Competitions
Connexions
Council
Cover a large GB Badge with coins
Craft Sale
Cream Tea day
Day at the Races
Decorating a local school, day centre or community facility
Decorating people’s rooms
Disco
Dog mess clean up
Dog walking
Donations
Dressing up, theme of a colour, year, animal etc and pay for the privilege
Ebay
Events with an Offering
Exterior Painting
Free cups of tea at bus queues
Free ironing
Fun Run
Fund Day

Gardening
Gift Aid
Gift Horses
Give Subs away
Graffiti clean up
Grants
Hair dye / head shave
House repairs
Jumble Sales
Legacies
Lions
Litter pick up
Local Authorities
Lottery
Maynard Fund
Maynard Trust
Meals on wheels
NCVYS
Officer Sale
Parents
Park clean up
Pavement sweeping
Plant Sales
Playground renovation
Protection Racket
Quiz
Rattling Cans
Recycling waste - cans etc.
Returning trolleys to supermarkets
Seed Money
Sell a Skill
Sees, shrub planting in local park
Shoe Cleaning
Slave Auction
Sleep-ins
Smartie Tube
Social Events
Socials
Sponsor a Child
Sponsored Events
Table Sale
Talent Auction
Throwing food/ wet sponges at leaders / girls
Use a Talent - parable of talent
Vacuum cleaning
Window washing

There are also some really helpful fundraising websites

Web Ivory Gift Catalogue
www.webb-ivory.co.uk

Yellow Moon Catalogue
www.yellowmoon.org.uk

you my also find some helpful links on the GB links page

Fundraising

other ideas may include:

At work

Holiday auction
Ask your boss to donate a week or a few days of paid leave, then auction it off to the highest bidder.
Dress down / fancy dress day
Charge £2 to wear what you like to work, or choose a funky fancy dress theme.
Office jukebox
Play your favourite songs for 50p a go (charge £1 to get rid of a song you hate!)
Sponsored job swap
Sponsor the boss to work on reception for an hour
Party premium
Add a £2 donation per person to the cost of an Office party
Quiz night
Find a local pub and ask them to let you hold a quiz – more business for them and Oxfam gets the quiz takings
Company matching
Ask your company if they are willing to match your fundraising total

At University / College

Balls and University events
Ask the organisers to make a donation to Oxfam, or ask them if you can sell raffle tickets or run your own cocktail stand to raise money.
Students’ Union
Ask your Students’ Union to give a donation towards Oxfam – most have money set aside for charities their students are supporting
Rich / poor meal
Organise a meal where everyone pays the same amount but guests enter a ballot where some receive a sumptuous 3 course meal and others just a bowl of rice.
"Slave" auction
Auction off friends as "slaves" for the day. You could also try auctioning a whole sports team to the highest bidder!
RAG
Ask your RAG or University fundraising group to help you run an event and request that the money goes to Oxfam
Fashion Show
Buy clothes from charity shops for a fashion show with student models. Sell tickets and then auction off clothes at the end of the evening. Or you could ask an Oxfam shop to loan you the clothes for auction and then return the proceeds to them.

In your community

B-B-Q or summer party
Ask everyone to pay £2 to come along and bring some food with them
Concert
Put together a concert or talent show and sell tickets to neighbours, friends and family to watch.
Treasure hunt
Do a treasure hunt for people in your neighbourhood. People pay to enter and offer prizes for the winners.
Car boot sale
People pay you to have a stall and you could sell cold drinks and snacks on the day.
Sports day
A variety of sports for people to take part in and competitions with prizes for the winners.
Book group
Organise a regular book group in your community and charge a membership fee.Knitting! If you have knitting skills, make something spectacular and raffle it. Or have a knitting sale so lots of people can contribute.

great places to fundraise:

Funding Special - see more opportunities (click here)