Giving back to the community by fundraising helps raise awareness of a particular need and encourages unity. Being involved in raising money for a good cause is a great achievement – you’re able to help others while building camaraderie with the whole community.
Even though there was an 11% decline in non-profit donations in March 2020, communities that are impacted by the pandemic can still do fundraising events in small ways. Now is the time to get more creative in fundraising strategies. Here are some community fundraising ideas:
Online Fundraising
Now that most activities are done online, you can run your campaign on fundraising websites like GoFundMe. The online platform offers advantages like convenience and cost-effective collection. Also, 54% of donors choose to donate online. Online pledges also have a wider reach, so you’ll access more potential donors and give you higher results.
Through your online fundraising account, you can easily track the donations and monitor your achievements. The addition of stories and pictures on your account can help create a more personal appeal to your audience.
Here are some common virtual fundraising ideas:
- Online Auction. Using an online auction platform, coordinate the bids and then announce the winners via livestream. Tip: You can auction off vouchers or merchandise from the local businesses in your community that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Virtual Movie Night. Choose a movie or documentary that’s connected to your cause. If there are members in your community that are highly engaged on the issues you want to approach, you can have a discussion while subtly encouraging them to donate.
- Online class or workshop. You can teach cooking, meditation, yoga or anything that your audience likes. You can do tiered donation levels depending on the kind of workshop they prefer.
- Coffee Break. Partner with a local business and conduct an online coffee break.
- Dinner Party. Host a dinner party via video call. If you partner with local restaurants that offer delivery, you’ll be able to help them in their business aside from your cause.
Community Picnics or Bake Sales
To raise funds for your church or school, you can prepare food that’s in season and sell them. For instance, during summer you can offer shortcakes or fresh vegetables. In the fall, you can do pumpkin or apple pies. You can also use a variety of recipes to offer a cookbook for sale.
Another way you can host your community picnic is by letting the participants bring their own food and set up their own areas. This will be less work for you and you can let your supporters choose and purchase from a wide variety of food.
Classes & Workshops
You can offer workshops or classes to your community members that have various unique skill sets. You can do cooking classes, sewing, baking or singing workshops. They can give a small donation for learning a new skill. This is very beneficial since people are always looking for new hobbies or skills.
If your participants are kids, make it more fun and educational like painting, storytelling, exercise or baking. Since most of the kids today enjoy playing video games, these classes will shift their focus and make them more active and creative. Their parents will surely be more than happy to donate to your cause.
Yard Sales
Community yard sales can be easily done in your garage or in a parking lot. Have your community members look for items in their storage units or closets to sell. You can raise more money by selling furniture, so you can offer to do pick-up services for them.
To get people to your yard sale, you can use social media to promote your event. Be more detailed in your posts by including pictures and specifications of the items. Make sure to have lots of volunteers to help you out, and you can also offer light snacks and drinks to make them linger longer in your yard sale.
Car Washes
These are one of the easiest fundraisers to do. You can charge a small fee and set it up in a parking lot. Gather your supplies, put up advertisement signs and assign each of your members a specific job to be more organized.
While your guests wait for their cars to be cleaned, you can sell other things like snacks, candies or desserts. You can also charge a little extra for other additional services like waxing or vacuuming.
Having a community fundraiser will not only help your good cause but also enhance your relationship and confidence with people. The achievement you’ll get will make up for the time and effort everyone exerted. While building teamwork and learning new skills, you are also changing lives for the better.
