18+ Profitable Fundraising Ideas for Alumni

Raise Money For Your Alumni Association

Raise Money For Your University

Raise Money For Current Students

18+ Profitable Fundraising Ideas for Alumni

#1: Raise Money from Family and Friends with a Crowdfunding Campaign for:

Alumni Association

A typical alumni association is comprised of a group of university graduates. These groups, often categorized by city, state, or region, are responsible for hosting events and creating publications, surrounding the college’s interests and morals.

Alumni associations can use crowdfunding to create funds to complete their goals.

University

As an alum, you’ll have an interest in how your alma mater performs and succeeds. One of your responsibilities may be to fundraise for the university’s new library or biology lab in efforts to better the school.

To begin fundraising for your university, you can create a crowdfunding campaign and ask for donations from your fellow alumni.

Current Students

If the current students can’t fundraise enough on their own or don’t have the time to, then the class could look to their university’s alumni for help.

If the senior class is short of their fundraising goal to fund their senior week, for example, you, as an alumn, can use crowdfunding to cover of some of the expenses.

Start a Free Alumni Fundraiser

Start Raising Money For Your Nonprofit or Charitable Cause Today!

Other Alumni Fundraising Ideas that Tie in Perfectly with a Crowdfunding Campaign

BONUS: Get 99 great fundraising ideas for all causes as a PDF for free! Print it out, or share it with your colleagues!

Download Now

Hosting a walkathon is a great way to fundraise for university expenses.

Walkathons

Walkathons are great fundraisers that bring your community together for an active afternoon of fundraising for your university.

To host your walkathon, you’ll first want to map out your route and pick a date and location for your event.

Try to pick a season when the weather is nice and be sure to promote your event in advance. You can charge participants an admission fee or have supporters to get sponsorships from their friends and family members.

Alumni can raise money through matching gift programs.

Matching Gifts

As alumni move from college into the workforce, make sure they’re familiar with the power of corporate philanthropy.

Encourage alumni to find out about their employer’s participation in matching gift programs by searching a corporate giving database.

Companies use matching gift programs to incentivize charitable giving. For every eligible donation an employee gives, their employer gives one too. Talk about a two-for-one deal!

Alumni undraising ideas can be as simple as selling t-shirts.

Sell T-Shirts

Everyone loves a soft, comfortable t-shirt so try selling your own t-shirts to raise funds for your university!

Sell your t-shirts and have donors wear them to show their support at your next big fundraising event.

To begin, find a wholesale provider. Search for one that can handle distributing the inventory and managing the finances for you. That way, you won’t end up stuck with a lot of leftover products or tied up calculating numbers.

Golf Gala

Organizing a golf gala is a fun and successful fundraising idea. Plus, this fundraiser is the perfect event for larger groups so you can invite other alumni, friends, current parents, and major givers!

With a golf gala, you have plenty of time to chat and connect with potential donors, all while enjoying 18 holes.

You can charge an entrance fee for individuals or teams and when the gala is over, you can give a speech and ask for even more donations or other types of support from participants.

Silent Auction

Consider hosting a silent auction if you have the time and resources to plan a large event!

A silent auction is a great way to raise a lot of funds and provide donors with a fun and engaging event.

There are a few things you’ll to successfully host this event. Round up volunteers to help guests place bids, find a venue for your event, and, of course, procure items to auction off. You can also ask for donations in the form of in-kind gifts for your event.

Luncheon

Consider hosting a luncheon as your next fundraiser! Take a look back at what your program of study in undergrad was. If your program was architecture, perhaps you and your peers would be interested in a monthly luncheon with a guest speaker to discuss architectural history or the latest trends.

Advertising your guest speaker may spark more interest within the community and result in a bigger turn out.

Plus, this luncheon can substitute as a networking event for alumni!

Sports Dinner

If you or your peers were involved in collegiate sports at your university, you might be interested in capitalizing on a sporting event, like an upcoming football or soccer game, especially if your university is looking to build a new stadium or replace sports equipment.

Before the game, host a private dinner party where alumni can mingle with current players.

You can ask for donations throughout your event or even raffle off the best seats in the arena or signed sports memorabilia.

Reverse Raffle

Curious about trying out a reverse raffle? Here’s a quick rundown. You can sell tickets and then draw the corresponding numbers out of the bowl. The person with the last ticket in the bowl is the lucky winner.

Host your reverse raffle at a bigger event like a golf gala or sports dinner.

Keep this fundraiser inexpensive by asking your community to donate a prize for your event.

Car Wash

A car wash is a simple way to raise funds. You can charge a fee for each wash and encourage additional donations. You can even ask current students to help wash!

Car cleaning supplies and a few volunteers to help you are the only requirements for this fundraiser’s success.

Don’t forget to promote your event a few weeks in advance for the best turn out and most donations!

Alumni Night Out

To host an alumni night out, your development team should pair up with your alumni relations colleagues to plan an evening that increases alumni engagement and donations.

To keep costs low and still hold a great event, partner with a local restaurant or bar to see if you can host the fundraiser in their event room for a discounted rate or free of charge.

Charge attendees a small fee for the soiree and accept additional donations throughout the night. Make sure your entire team is set up to mingle strategically. This networking-style event is perfect for building better relationships with donors, especially major gifts prospects.

Bowlathon

A bowlathon is a great fundraising idea that can bring your university’s entire community together to help raise funds.

Look into partnering with a local bowling alley. You can even ask the alley to donate a portion of the night’s proceeds or a couple of lanes so that you can hold the fundraiser and raise money.

Promote your event via social media and word-of-mouth to generate hype and result in a great turn out. Don’t forget to charge a small admission fee to participate and remember that you can always ask for donations throughout the event!

Buy A Brick

The Buy A Brick fundraiser is perfect if your university is raising funds to construct a new building, or revamp an outdoor walkway or garden.

Before the university begins building, host your fundraiser so the community can buy bricks and have messages engraved on them.

The bricks will then be used during construction and individuals can find their brick after construction is finished. This fundraiser lets people leave their mark while raising money for the renovations.

Sell Merchandise Online

Move your university’s book store online and sell limited edition merchandise over the internet. This way, alumni that have moved across the country or to the other side of the globe can still donate!

Partner with a wholesale provider to help supply and distribute your product. You’ll also need to create an online marketplace, which you can either build as a standalone site or as a page on an existing site.

Post a shareable link and let your supporters share your store on social media and in any way they can!

Create a cookbook to raise money as an alumni.

Cookbooks

Here’s a fundraiser where you can include all generations!

Ask current students for their favorite recipes and include some of your peers’ favorites as well for a multi-generational cookbook!

You can charge a small fee to submit recipes to the book. After you’ve worked with a printing company to create your cookbook, you can sell it to your community to raise money.

Coffee

Coffee is popular for adults of any age, especially college students. Use coffee’s popularity to your advantage.

You can sell coffee beans or cups of coffee on campus throughout the day. You can try fair trade coffee or check to see if a local shop would be interested in donating some of their roasts.

Either way, everyone will be excited about this fundraiser. Don’t forget to accept any additional donations on top of your sales!

Another alumni fundraising idea is to hold tutoring lessons.

Tutoring Sessions

Are midterms or finals nearing, or should we say looming? Raise some money and help out your university’s current students! After all, you remember what it was like to be in crunch time.

Ask recent alumni or local tutors to help students with their upcoming exams and finals to raise money.

Set up your tutoring service and charge a small hourly fee, and voila! The students will be acing their classes in no time.

Tree Planting

If you or other alumni have a green thumb, host a tree-planting event. This is the perfect way to raise money if your university is looking to build a garden or spruce up courtyard.

Sell saplings to fellow alumn, current students, and others. Don’t forget to tell them what you’re raising funds for!

A tree-planting event is an easy way to involve the university’s whole community and support the planet at the same time.

Coupon Books

Everyone loves saving money, especially college students who are already on tight budgets.

Sell coupon books to individuals in your university’s community, whether that’s current students. faculty, alumni, or parents.

Partner with a printing company that can manufacture coupon booklets and start selling. You’ll want to promote your coupon books via social media or your university’s newsletter.

Check out over 99 amazing alumni fundraising ideas

Types of Alumni Fundraising Software

Constituent Management

When investing in software to boost your school’s alumni fundraising success, finding the right constituent management solution is a must. With CRM software, you can keep track of your donors’ histories with your organization, maintain prospect profiles, manage communications, and more!

Alumni Engagement

To keep your university’s alumni connected with your school, having strategic alumni engagement software in your arsenal is key. With this software, you can conduct prospect research, compile alumni profiles, and learn how to better connect with these important supporters.

Gift Matching

One way to maximize the impact of your alumni’s charitable giving? Automate the matching gift process! Consider adopting matching gift software to help guide donors through the gift matching process to ensure that their contribution is doubled by their employer.

Ambassador Management

If your school wants to spread the message of your fundraising needs to the widest pool of alumni donors, you may want to invest in ambassador management software. Ambassadors (motivated alumni supporters) can do the legwork of getting the word out on behalf of your university.

Greek Alumni Management

Are you looking to better manage the alumni members of your Greek chapter? Management software makes it easy to better organize the contact information, donation history, etc. specific to each Greek alum. Plus, with software website capabilities, each member can see the latest activities of the chapter and donate to the most recent cause.

Greek Financial Management

Greek financial management software can help create your particular chapter’s budget, pay bills, and track donations made from alumni. With this software solution, your chapter can more easily plan fundraising letters and requests to alumni to ensure your overall budgetary needs are met.

Getting Started With Your Alumni Fundraising Campaign

Fundly Makes It Easy to Raise Money to Cover Expenses

It’s Fast & Simple
It only takes five minutes to set up your crowdfunding account and start accepting donations. With easy-to-use features, you can add images and personalize your campaign.

It’s Personalized
You can create a fully customizable fundraising page to raise money for your university. Upload videos and images and tell your unique story.

It’s Free
With Fundly’s keep-it-all approach, you don’t have to reach your goal to keep the funds you’ve raised. Creating a crowdfunding campaign is completely free. A platform and processing fee will be deducted when you collect the funds.

Create a fundraiser to raise money for your alma mater

Start Your Crowdfunding Campaign
With Fundly, creating a campaign is simple! It only takes a few minutes to set up a page. You’ll just need to create an account, upload images, and tell your story.
Add Images and Tell Your Story
Your crowdfunding description is so much more than just a way to describe your campaign; it’s a way for donors to connect to your cause. Instead of just stating the facts, tell your university’s story and use visuals to get your point across.
Share Your Crowdfunding Campaign
If you want to reach your goal, you’ll need to use every method to spread the word about your campaign. Share your page’s link on social media platforms, but don’t forget to use traditional outreach methods, too.
Say Thanks
Showing your gratitude is something that your donors will expect, but it’s also a way to generate even more donations to your cause. Let people know that you’re grateful for their support by sending personalized emails and posting shout outs on social media.

Benefits of Using Fundly for Alumni Fundraising

Instant Fundraising

Within a matter of minutes, you can start accepting donations from your supporters, making Fundly one of the quickest ideas for alumni fundraisers.

Risk-Free

When you create a crowdfunding campaign, you won’t pay anything until you receive your first donation.

Deep Social Integration

Fundly’s social media integrations make it easy for supporters to share your campaign with their networks. Plus, any updates you make on your page will automatically post to your connected social media accounts.

Keep it All

Fundly’s keep-it-all platform means that you’ll receive whatever you raise even if you don’t meet your deadline or raise a minimum amount.

Excellent Customer Service

Setting up your campaign is quick and simple, making it easy for tech-savvy fundraisers and fundraising novices alike. If you do ever run into any road blocks, Fundly’s technical team is always available to support your campaign.

Low Fees

Fundly only charges a 4.9% platform fee in addition to the traditional payment processing fees that all crowdfunding websites charge.

Create your alumni crowdfunding campaign in minutes

Fundraising Campaigns for Alumni

Crowdfunding Campaign for ACS Alumni’s Athletics and Activities Fund

The ACS Alumni Association created the 2017 Alumni MAD Challenge crowdfunding campaign to help cover the expenses of new team uniforms, tournament expenses, and sports equipment. This campaign used a detailed description to help promote their fundraiser.

The ACS Alumni Go MAD campaign was able to raise almost $20,000 with just 115 supporters! This campaign is a perfect example of how posting updates with the fundraiser’s progress can help push your campaign to the finish line.

Fundraiser to Fund BHS Alumni Association’s Annual Campaign

This campaign was created by the BHS Alumni Association to aid their bartending fundraiser. The Alumni Association is working on creating their 100th Year Anniversary Celebration of Boardman High School.

This campaign managed to raise $3,695 with just 80 donors. The BHS Alumni Association raised money by providing vivid pictures and a thorough description on their Fundly page.

Start raising money to help fundraise as alumni today

Best Practices for Your Crowdfunding Campaign for Alumni

Share Visuals

It’s incredibly important for alumni associations fundraising for their universities to share pictures of their school and their engagements or projects. Photographs will help donors build a connection to your cause and see your passion.

Learn more about shooting and posting great crowdfunding photos.

Tell Your Story

Your alumni association has a story to tell, and your donors want to know why you’re fundraising before they make a contribution to your cause. Use your page’s description to tell the unique story of your school, and let donors know where and how the money will be used.

Check out these examples of great crowdfunding descriptions.

Get Social

Social media is the easiest and main way you’ll spread information about your campaign. Use your social profiles to ask for donations, share significant milestones, and thank your donors. The more exposure your fundraiser has, the more contributions you’ll receive!

Learn more about sharing your crowdfunding campaign with your network.

Share Updates

When you post updates regarding your campaign, your fundraiser stays relevant. Keep in mind, donors are more likely to donate if you’re close to reaching your goal. Plus, you can publicly thank and acknowledge your donors, which shows them that you care about more than the money.

Check out these tips for writing crowdfunding updates.

See What Others Say:

We had all these amazing fundraising ideas and we were so ambitious, but we found that they were costing us more than we were gaining. So we turned to Fundly. Our crowdfunding page helped us raise the money we needed in no time!

Alexander RothStart Your Fundraiser

Our alumni group was just so busy, we didn’t have time to organize and run a fundraising event. Creating a Fundly campaign was the best move we could’ve thought of. The only work we really had to do was the promotion which, with social media, was easy as pie.

Isabella NixonStart Your Fundraiser

We wanted big results without having to conduct a big event. We don’t have a huge team here at SGU so tackling huge fundraising events is a challenge, which is why, when we found out about Fundly’s crowdfunding site, we couldn’t say no. It seemed like the perfect solution and we were able to surpass our fundraising goal!

William TrussStart Your Fundraiser

Over $330 Million Raised To Date

Start a Free Alumni Fundraiser

Start Raising Money For Your Nonprofit or Charity Today!

Additional Resources for your Fundraising Success

7 Tips for Fundraising Success

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!

Discover 7 actionable tips for crowdfunding success!

10 Fundraising Examples

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!

See how these 10 campaigns succeeded!

Before your start fundraising, understand the basics with this ultimate crowdfunding guide.

Understand Crowdfunding

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!

Become a crowdfunding expert with our introductory guide!

Raise Money for Any Cause - Start Your Fundly Fundraiser

18+ Profitable Fundraising Ideas for Alumni

#1: Raise Money from Family and Friends with a Crowdfunding Campaign for:

Other Alumni Fundraising Ideas that Tie in Perfectly with a Crowdfunding Campaign

Walkathons

Matching Gifts

Sell T-Shirts

Golf Gala

Silent Auction

Luncheon

Sports Dinner

Reverse Raffle

Car Wash

Alumni Night Out

Bowlathon

Buy A Brick

Sell Merchandise Online

Cookbooks

Coffee

Tutoring Sessions

Tree Planting

Coupon Books

Types of Alumni Fundraising Software

Getting Started With Your Alumni Fundraising Campaign

Benefits of Using Fundly for Alumni Fundraising

Fundraising Campaigns for Alumni

Crowdfunding Campaign for ACS Alumni’s Athletics and Activities Fund

Fundraiser to Fund BHS Alumni Association’s Annual Campaign

Best Practices for Your Crowdfunding Campaign for Alumni

See What Others Say:

Over $330 Million Raised To Date

Additional Resources for your Fundraising Success

7 Tips for Fundraising Success

10 Fundraising Examples

Understand Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding Resources

Fundraising Resources:

Popular Resources