One of the main challenges that faces any club, sports team, or organization is how do you raise enough money to be able to meet your budget and costs? This is a complex issue, especially in tough economic times where it seems everybody is pinching their pennies. Despite these challenges, there are luckily many ways to not only raise money for your group, but have fun while doing it! Note that we said fun, yes fun is an essential component here, as it will not only make your club, team, or group members more invested and excited for your fundraising project, but it will also get the community interested as well. Who could pass up on the opportunity to donate money to a worthwhile cause and have a great time while doing it?
One of the timeless fun fundraising idea is the 50-50 raffle. It is almost impossible to go to any carnival or sporting event without seeing somebody selling 50-50 raffle tickets, and for good reason, people love them! Also, it just so happens to be one of the easiest fundraisers to put together. The main idea is simple, the organization seeking to raise money sells raffle tickets and then picks a winning ticket. The organization gives half of the total money they raised to the person who bought the winning ticket and then keeps the other half. Another great thing about a 50-50 raffle is how keep it is to put together. All you really need is a few people to work the crowd and sell the tickets, a few buckets to store the tickets in, and a small investment to have your tickets made. You also have the luxury of setting your own ticket price, which you can customize to the market you are trying to hit. Most 50-50 raffles normally choose a price point of $1-10 a ticket.
Another fun fundraising idea is a walk or runathon. The idea here is quite simple. You advertise your event and get participants to agree to either walk or run a certain distance at your event. Before the event, participants are asked to go to their friends, families, or neighbors and ask them to pledge a certain amount of money for every increment of distance they travel. For instance, if you are hosting your walkathon at the local track, participants can ask their parents to donate $1 for every lap they do. This is not only a fun way to raise money, but it encourages people to get active!
The third fun fundraising idea is a bake sale. This is a fun and delicious way to raise those funds! To run a bake sale, you simply need to get volunteers to go in the kitchen and whip up their famous baked good! Then, you gather all the items and sell them at a communal event. This is a sure money maker, as it is simply impossible to resist homemade cookies or brownies!
