What better way to celebrate Christmas than with an angel festival? Typically, churches use this fundraising idea to raise money, but organizations can host angel festivals too. Your congregants or donors will enjoy uniting for a common cause, playing games, and drinking hot chocolate.
Generally, congregants (and community members!) create angel sculptures using whatever materials they want and display them at the festival. People can vote on their favorite angels by placing money in jars beside each one.
You can raise additional funds by selling holiday-themed treats, hot chocolate, and warm cider. It’s that easy!
Sweater sales put a seasonal spin on t-shirt fundraising, making this idea a popular, super profitable choice for fall and winter fundraising.
To pull this off, you’ll need to find an online retailer who offers a variety of styles, including sweaters, long-sleeved tees, hoodies and other cozy apparel. Then, design the items to promote your cause!
Remember to start your sweater fundraiser early, such as in late September or early October. That way, your supporters can wear your designs to keep them warm all through the coldest months of the year.
Hosting a matching gifts fundraiser is a great way to double your funds during the holiday season. If you’re an organization, school, or church, you can promote or implement a matching gift program.
For instance, many corporations have matching gift programs (that support schools and organizations), but the challenge is that employees aren’t familiar with these programs or how to submit a request.
Let your donors know about their options, especially during the holidays. You can also partner with a local business or major donor who will match all the gifts on a particular day. That way, you can raise a lot of funds quickly.
Hosting an ugly sweater party is a fun and silly way to raise money for your cause. Supporters will love getting the chance to show off their sweaters and support a good mission or project.
For this fundraiser to work, you’ll need to invite your supporters and ask them to wear the ugliest holiday sweater they have. Make sure to promote your event on social media and even email to generate excitement.
Charge an entrance fee to join the festivities and serve food and drinks. At the event, award the person wearing the ugliest sweater with an awesome prize.
Live, silent, or online—there are many possibilities when it comes to hosting a charity auction during the holidays. Auctions work so well because supporters get the chance to bid on awesome prizes that they can gift to themselves or a loved one.
To host an auction, you’ll need to put in a lot of work to reach all those fundraising benefits. But first, you’ll need to procure items and recruit volunteers to help with the event.
Lastly, you’ll need to promote your event by sharing the details on social media. Don’t forget to release the catalog of all your auction items so guests can start figuring out what items they want to bid on.
Candles are a popular gift to sell during the holidays, so why not sell them to your friends and family to raise money for your cause, project, or event.
If you want to sell candles, find a wholesale provider that can sell you a variety of colors and scents at a discounted price.
Depending on your resources, you can sell your candles online (if your organization or church has a website) or set up shop in an area with a lot of foot traffic around your community.
The polar bear plunge has been a popular fundraising idea for years—and the best part is nonprofits, churches, and even individuals can organize an event like this to raise money.
Since many of the holidays occur during the winter, the polar bear plunge is the perfect event to host. Pick a local river or lake (with the proper permissions, of course!) and have your supporters donate to jump into the water.
You can add a peer-to-peer component to this fundraiser by having your donors’ friends and family members sponsor their jump.
If you’re looking for a holiday fundraising idea for the spring, why not host an Easter egg hunt? This is a great family-friendly event that can work for both churches and organizations.
Here’s how it works: you’ll need to buy a bunch of plastic eggs, fill them with candy, and then hid them around your facility or at a park.
You can also turn your Easter egg hunt into a scavenger hunt where you give clues to help children find the eggs. Charge families a fee to join the hunt and sell Easter egg baskets to the children who don’t have one.
The holidays can be a stressful and busy time for supporters, and many people would be willing to give to your cause in return for a Christmas decoration service that sets up and takes down their decorations.
To start your service, you’ll need to recruit a few volunteers to help put up the decorations. Create time slots when you and your volunteers will be available and start selling your services to the community.
Reach even more potential supporters by sharing your service on social media and posting flyers around your neighborhood.
No holiday is complete without wrapping paper! Everyone needs decorative paper to wrap presents during the holidays, and you can sell it as a way to raise money for your cause.
For this fundraiser, you’ll need to find a wholesale provider or find wrapping paper at a discounted price. Make sure to get a variety of colors and designs so supporters have a lot to choose from.
Let your friends and family know that you’re raising funds and tell them to spread the word about your wrapping paper sale. You can also set up a table at the mall where you can sell your wrapping paper to interested shoppers.
For families, the holidays can be a stressful time and the added stress of waiting in line to see Santa doesn’t help. You can bring Santa to your organization, church, or school to raise money for your cause or project.
Charge parents a few dollars to have their children sit on Santa’s knee, ask for what present they want, and take a picture. Ask a photographer to volunteer to take the pictures.
To raise even more funds, create a fun, festive area where you can sell hot chocolate and holiday snacks. That way, families have an area where they can relax before meeting Santa.
The bake sale is a classic fundraising idea that’s perfect for the holidays. Go with a holiday theme for your bake sale and make the winter classics like sugar cookies, gingersnaps, snickerdoodles, gingerbread cookies, and so much more!
Set up shop in a well-trafficked area and encourage people to buy your delicious treats for themselves or others.
Generate excitement before the event by posting your bake sale on social media and posting flyers around the community.
Need a solution to raise funds during Thanksgiving? Appreciation grams can help you raise money and build camaraderie.
Whether you’re an organization, school, or church, you can use this fundraiser because it’s inexpensive and simple to organize.
Here’s how it works: charge your supporters, students, or parishioners a small fee (i.e. $.50 or $1) to send out a personalized note that acknowledges anyone. Plus, you can charge extra to customize the grams with different colors.
Nothing says the holidays quite like a good home-cooked meal. That’s why you can sell cookbooks to raise money during this festive time.
Compile a list of your favorite family recipes or ask friends, family, and other supporters to contribute their own ideas.
Once you have your list of delicious meals, work with a company who will print your cookbook. Sell your book online or around your community to raise money and spread holiday cheer.
If you have some creative skills, you can sell handmade ornaments and wreaths as a way to raise money during the holidays. Your community members will enjoy purchasing a unique decoration to support a good cause.
Look for supplies at a discounted price and start making your ornaments and wreaths. Making a couple unique designs will get people interested in buying your creations.
The trick to raising money with this fundraiser is to promote your decorations online and offline. Use outlets like social media, email, and face-to-face interactions to market your ornaments and wreaths.
Bring holiday cheer to your community and raise money for your cause with a low-cost fundraising idea like caroling. Churches, sports teams, small organizations, and individuals can all benefit from this fundraiser.
Rally up a group of volunteers or friends to decide on what holiday songs you want to sing. It’s best to conduct a few rehearsals to improve your skills before you go out in public.
You can approach caroling in two ways: map out a route around your neighborhood, knock on people’s doors, and accept cash gifts or create a sign-up sheet where supporters can request for you to visit their house in return for a donation.
A jingle bell run is a marathon that happens exclusively over the holidays. Participants can dress up like Santa, elves, or other holiday characters and run to support a good cause.
Like with any marathon, jingle bell runs require a lot of preparation but can bring in a lot of funds for your organization, school, or church.
Set a date and map out your event well in advance and make sure you have all the necessary permits and safety precautions ready for the big day.
Galas are large-scale nonprofit events that can be used to raise money for any cause and work great for those cold holiday months when supporters prefer to be inside.
If you’re interested in hosting a gala, you’ll need to find a venue and someone to cater your event. Plan a guest list of local corporations and major donors so you can have an event where you celebrate their support.
Raise even more funds for your cause by hosting a raffle or charity auction along with your gala. Guests will enjoy participating in another aspect of your event especially if it’s fun and engaging.
If individuals are looking for a quick way to fundraise during Thanksgiving, hosting a potluck can help you raise money and bring your friends and family together for some quality time.
Invite your friends, coworkers, family members, and neighbors to come enjoy a Thanksgiving feast. Don’t forget to ask them to bring a delicious dish like dressing or mashed potatoes—and you can provide the turkey!
To join your Thanksgiving potluck, ask guests to make a small contribution to your cause. Spend some time during the event to explain why you’re raising funds so guests know how their money will be used.
Pumpkin pie is a Thanksgiving staple for many families. This fundraising idea lets the cooks in your community show off their skills while you bring in donations for your cause or project.
Charge participants a small fee to submit their pie for judging. You can let your community cast their vote for the top dessert or select a panel of respected judges to be the taste-testers.
The top 3 pie-makers should receive a prize for their hard work, but the real prize will be all of the delicious offerings you get to share with friends and family who support your fundraiser!
The holidays are a busy time, and parents may need a minute to slip away to purchase presents or attend a holiday party.
Offer babysitting services throughout the holiday season. If you have a large fundraising team with plenty of time to spare, make this an ongoing service. Or, host a handful of babysitting events where you watch a number of children at once.
No matter how you organize this fundraiser, make sure you have plenty to keep the children occupied. Show a couple of holiday-themed movies or make winter crafts together, and you’re sure to have just as much fun as the parents.
When you create a crowdfunding campaign, you won’t pay anything until you receive your first donation.
Fundly only charges a 4.9% platform fee in addition to the traditional payment processing fees that all crowdfunding websites charge.
Supporters can easily share their campaigns because Fundly includes multiple social media integrations such as crowdfunding updates, sharing buttons, and a hashtag feed.
Start accepting donations from your supporters in a matter of minutes. Crowdfunding is one of the quickest ways to raise money online.
Not familiar with keep-it-all? That means that Fundly lets fundraisers keep all the money they raise even if they don’t reach their goals.
Setting up your campaign is quick and simple. However, if you do run into any road blocks, Fundly’s technical team is always available to support your campaign.
Alison Zemanek decided to donate to The National Multiple Sclerosis Society instead of receiving gifts this holiday season. She created a crowdfunding page to accept donations.
Even though this was a small campaign, Alison was able to raise almost double her goal of $500. Images and a detailed fundraising description helped this campaign stand out during the holidays.
The Family Violence Appellate Project (FVAP) created a holiday fundraising campaign to help protect children from being placed in the custody of abusive parents. The campaign’s goal was to reach $8,500.
We believe this campaign was so successful because they implemented matching gifts to encourage supporters to give. By the end of their crowdfunding campaign, FVAP raised $10,280 for their cause!
Posting photos can help donors relate to your cause and evoke emotions that will compel them to contribute. Use your crowdfunding page to upload images and videos that help illustrate your story and show donors how their money will be used.
Learn more about shooting and posting great crowdfunding photos.
Telling your story allows donors to understand why you’re raising funds and why your cause is important. Instead of just describing the cause from your perspective, ask the families, people, or communities you serve to tell their story so donors can see the impact that their donations will have.
Check out these examples of great crowdfunding descriptions.
The only way to reach your goal is to promote your crowdfunding campaign. It’s important to exhaust multiple communication methods to ensure that the most people see your message. Use social media, email, direct mail, telephone calls, etc. to spread the word about your campaign.
Learn more about sharing your crowdfunding campaign with your network.
Supporters want to know how your campaign is doing, and posting updates is a great way to keep them in the loop (and it can help promote your cause too). Use your platform’s crowdfunding updates feature to share your milestones and highlight your donors.
Our organization provides Thanksgiving meals to families in need, and we were looking to raise money during the holidays. With Fundly, we were able to easily create a campaign and promote it online to our supporters.
Fundly was the perfect platform to host our holiday fundraiser because it didn’t take a lot of time to set up. Plus, it was free to use so our school didn’t lose money creating a campaign.
We wanted to boost our fundraising efforts between Christmas and New Year’s Day and decided to create a crowdfunding campaign. We raised $2,000 for our church and couldn’t be happier with Fundly’s service.
Every crowdfunding campaign can use a little help every now and then!
Whether you need advice about shooting and uploading crowdfunding photos, writing descriptions and updates, or sharing your fundraiser with your friends and family members, we’ve got your back.
Click below to learn more about the top seven crowdfunding tips that can be used for all types of fundraising efforts and campaigns!
You’ve heard the stories about fundraisers surpassing their goal, but how often does that really happen?
The answer? More frequently than you might think! In fact, individuals and organizations often meet and exceed their goals when they use Fundly to set up a fundraiser and share it with their friends and family members.
Check out these ten crowdfunding campaigns that all exceeded their fundraising goals by sizable margins in just a matter of weeks!
Crowdfunding has been used to raise money for everything from creative projects to medical costs and more!
Why is it so popular? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that a crowdfunding campaign is insanely easy to set up and share with your friends, family members, coworkers, and other peers.
See for yourself! Take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Crowdfunding and learn how you can make the most of this fundraising craze!
Fundly is dedicated to providing you with the tools you need to raise money for whatever your cause may be.
