Fundraising ideas

• Fundraising at Work
• Out of work Ideas
• Sporting Events
• Fundraising Activities for children
• Pub quiz
• A to Z of Fundraising Ideas
  
  Fundraising at Work
  Auction a company car – a senior executive’s car for the weekend, for example!
  
  Auction your skills – find out what people are good at then auction a number of hours of their time to the highest bidder (this could be DIY, gardening or filing and office organising).
  
  Change places for the day – bid to be who you always wanted to be or bid for a slave to do all your dirty work.
  
  Donkey derby sweepstake – pick the ticket for a big race such as the Grand National/ FA Cup Final winner out of a hat.
  
  Dress up, dress down or dress to a theme – people taking part donate £1, those who don’t pay £2 (or more for failing to get involved!).
  
  Guess the baby competition – ask everyone to bring in a photo (or 80’s bad hair photo) and pay to guess who the person really is. The person with the most matches wins.
  
  Extreme logo – hold a competition to photograph your company logo in the most bizarre places.
  
  Organise a raffle – ask colleagues, your company or suppliers to donate prices then sell as many tickets as possible (don’t forget to check the raffle rules with us).
  
  Matching funds - Many of the larger companies now operate a matched funding scheme, whereby they will match all the funds raised by one of their employees up to a specified limit. So if you raise £250, you may find that your company will match that money with another £250. Worth asking about!!
  
  Meal deals – if you have a company canteen ask them to donate £1 for every meal sold on a set day.
  
  Pack your lunch – save money by bringing in your lunch instead of buying it for a week and donate the difference to your fundraising pot. Designate a week to do this and get the whole office involved – the money soon adds up!
  
  Pay to park – does your office have a free car park for employees? If so, nominate one day as NDCS day and ask people to pay to park – or get people to pay for you to park their cars for them.
  
  Penalties – Introduce fines for swearing, being late for work or meetings or missing deadlines.
  
  Swear box - Pressure will have almost anyone doing it! Put a suitable receptacle: wastepaper bin, big mug, plant pot in the middle of the office and make anyone who utters a profanity, a word stronger than "sugar", pay a £1 fine. You could always try and drive them to it, a paperclip in the photocopier ought to do it. . .
  
  Small change box - Loose change can be so irritating, so in the office and in the home help your friends and family by supplying a large collection tin to ease their burden. You'll be surprised how much loose change you can collect in a short space of time. Did you know that in Great Britain there are:
  
  £68 million 1p pieces in circulation.
  £82 million in 2p pieces in circulation.
  £140 million in 5p pieces in circulation.
  
  So, get out there and get it!
  
  Style challenge - Oh dear, those unbelievably awful ties! We all know someone who owns, or even wears, these disasters. Pay £1 to enter your most style-challenged ties. Of course, the difficulty may be in finding a truly independent judge to pick the winner.
  
  
  Wash cars – most people will be more than happy to have this job done for them. Ask your boss to volunteer and you’ll be amazed with the positive response from your colleagues!
  
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  Out of work Ideas
  
  ABBA Day – organise an ABBA party for friends and family (or 80’sparty) to raise money or pay to dress as ABBA to work.
  
  A birthday card amnesty – ask your friends and family to send you a donation instead of a card (or even instead of a present if you can bear it!).
  
  Casino night – play cards, roulette etc with the profits donated to your fundraising pot.
  
  Cake sale at work…no-one will be able to resist those afternoon treats.
  
  Cycle or walk to work for two months and put the money you save in transport costs towards your sponsorship total. Try and get other people to do the same, persuading them that it’s good for them! It’ll be good training for you too.
  
  Company miles – get everyone to do a sponsored mile of something – run, cycle, hop, swim – there are endless things and the more fun, the more you’ll get in sponsorship.
  
  Easter celebration – hold a bonnet competition, an egg and spoon race or an egg treasure hunt.
  
  ‘Give it Up’ week – get sponsored to give up chocolate, cigarette’s, alcohol or coffee – whatever your weakness is!
  
  Hold lessons – if a friend is a teacher of yoga, or aerobics, ask them to donate a session or two for free, sell tickets and donate the funds raised to your fundraising pot.
  
  Hold a BBQ, sports day or party – sell tickets, hold a raffle, play rounders, throw wet sponges at the boss/local bobby or anything you can think of that your friends and colleagues would like to do.
  
  International evening – sell tickets, inspired dress, music, food and wine from different countries – great fun and interesting too!
  
  Jail and bail – jail your boss or most annoying colleague in the broom cupboard or in reception and don’t release them until you have collected a certain amount of money.
  
  Murder mystery evening/ pub quiz – we have the tools and expertise, just pick a date and get selling tickets. Contact the corporate fundraising team for more information.
  
  Organise a snooker or pool competition – contact your local pool hall and ask if they can donate the use of a couple of tables for the competition. Charge people to enter, place bets on who will win and then donate the profits to your fundraising pot.
  
  Organise a Premiership or Wimbledon sweepstake at work. You could take bets on individual matches, players or the final outcome.
  
  Ask your local supermarket, pub or theatre if they will let you do a collection. You can do very well on a busy Friday or Saturday. Take a friend with you for moral support and send us a passport photo if you need an ID badge.
  
  Pasta or Italian evening - Organise a pasta/Italian evening or other themed night. Ask everyone to bring a bottle of wine and charge them an entrance price for the food. Sing an Italian song, wear an Italian costume - give an Italian prize for the best or the worst! Entertainment and good company provided free of charge!
  
  Race night – go to the dogs, charge for tickets and donate a set amount of the winnings.
  
  Beard shave - Well endowed with facial hair? Forgotten what a razor is for? Shed some light on your chin and shave your beard. No excuse for moustaches either. If you're really brave you could sacrifice the hair on your head, you'll be amazed at what people will sponsor you to do sometimes!
  
  Remind all your friends, family, colleagues and associates that your sponsorship deadline is approaching. Email or write to everyone in your address book and let them know you are a little short of your target and that their money will really make a difference!
  
  Station yourself with a collection tin at the entrance/exit at your local supermarket car park. Parking is often free on weekends so you can encourage people to donate what they would have paid in parking fees (two of our challenge eventers once raised £2,000 in 9 hours doing this!).
  
  Talent show – always a winner, organise your own version of stars in your eyes. Ask a local venue to donate the a space for free and get your friends and family to dress up as members of a tribute band or favourite artist!
  
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  Sporting Events
  
  Five a side football tournament – charge participating teams and compete against teams within your company or from local businesses with a big final at the end.
  
  Go-karting – contact your local karting track and charge drivers extra on top of the normal fee to take part.
  
  Krypton factor assault course – pay tot ale part and have opportunities for advancement if contestants find hidden donation clues around the course.
  
  Marathons – find out when the next marathon or half marathon is taking place and get people to sponsor you.
  
  Organise a tug of war – teams pay to enter and can be sponsored.
  
  Organise your own It’s A Knock Out Competition – charge people to enter and add a tombola etc to raise further funds.
  
  Sports Day – golf, rounders, cricket, tennis the choice is endless, ask individuals to pay to enter and add in a fundraising activity such as guess the number of balls hit at your local driving range in an hour.
  
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  Fundraising Activities for children
  
  Auction of Promises Turn chores into triumphs by having money to show for the things that have to be done anyway. A marathon frenzy of good deeds and all funds go towards your fundraising. Ask your local school to stage an Auction of Promises, each child promises to do a task to help out at school or at home and teachers/parents/ neighbours/ friends buy that promise. It could be anything . . collect all the litter in the playground for a week, keep their bedroom tidy, be good all week, take the dog for a walk, hand their homework in on time, etc . . .
  
  Bad Hair Day Children could be sponsored to have a bad hair day, getting sponsorship for making their hair look as stupid as possible: red, blue and green, or wearing a wig.
  
  Carol Singing/Concerts/Gym Circuits Would your child's school put on a concert, or do gym circuits for sponsorship?
  
  Go Without . . . Would your own or friends' kids give up their weekly trip to their favourite burger bar, or to the cinema and donate the money to deaf children instead? Probably not, but it's worth a try!
  
  Guess the number of Sweeties Fill a large, clear jar with smarties, jelly beans or other favourite sweets and charge the kids to guess how many are in the jar. No prizes for guessing the prize!
  
  Non-Uniform Day Children pay a fee to wear their own clothes to school, or are sponsored to wear fancy dress to school, perhaps with a theme such as cartoon characters, monsters, ghosts, rock stars.
  
  SPLAT Day Children have the opportunity to SPLAT somebody with something gooey and wet, and make others pay for the privilege of watching, perhaps you know your local head teacher . . . ?
  
  Sponsored Silence Always a firm favourite with mum, dad and teacher - wonder why?
  
  Teddy Bear's Picnic Organise a special picnic for families, perhaps at a National Trust property, local park or a privately owned site. Charge each family, or teddy bear, an entry fee.
  
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  Step by step guide to organising a pub quiz
  
  Step 1 Hold a meeting so you can allocate the tasks below to different people in your team!
  
  Step 2 Decide on a date!
  
  Step 3 Find a Venue
  A lot of pubs host their own quiz nights or can donate a room if the participants at the quiz spend a minimum amount at the bar. The best way to find a venue is to approach pubs in your area, explain that you want to host a private pub quiz in aid of the National deaf Children’s Society. They will outline what they can provide you with e.g. room, microphone, scoreboard and even a prize for the winner!
  
  Ask if you can put up posters and balloons on the walls. Order whatever materials you need (stickers, collection tins etc) using your materials order form.
  
  Step 4 Find a quizmaster
  You need someone to compere the quiz and be the quizmaster. Make sure it’s someone who won’t be fazed by public speaking and that they can confidently and clearly read out the questions.
  
  Step 5 Nominate a marker
  Most quizmasters can mark up to 10 teams’ answers between rounds, but they may need a helper. Alternatively you may let teams swap papers and mark each other’s quizzes between rounds then hand in marked answers for you to keep score.
  
  Step 6 Hire a P.A system
  Unless it’s a really small venue, you will need a P.A system capable of being heard above general pub conversation – not everyone will be taking part in the quiz.
  
  Step 7 Get prizes
  Write to local companies and ask them to donate a prize for the winning teams. Restaurants or leisure facilities are generous if you can offer some publicity in return either through adding them to the local press release or mentioning them at the quiz. Prizes could include dinner for two in a restaurant, a bottle of champagne, a day at a golf club, a food hamper.
  
  Step 8 Write the questions
  You can download our sample questions and answer sheets to get you started. To write write your own questions you can look on the internet and quiz books.
  
  Step 9 Get a tiebreaker
  If there is a tie between teams, always have a tiebreaker question up your sleeve. We recommend that a tiebreaker is a current affairs question; potentially something that has happened in the news that day and preferably a numerical question. For example how many actors have played James Bond to date? (5) To the nearest 10 years when did the National Hurricaine Centre start recording tropical storms and hurricanes? (1851)
  
  Rather than shout out the answer, which can be confusing in a noisy pub, ask teams to write down their answer and submit to the quizmaster.
  
  Step 10 Get these things together to take with you on the night
  
  You will need to take these things with you on the night:
  
  
• Whiteboard or flip chart to keep a record of the scores, you may be able to borrow this from your work place
  
• Microphone and amplifier/PA system (if you are using a large room with lots of teams) – why not use a karaoke machine? One of your colleagues or a friends may have one hidden away!
  
• Scoresheets and spare paper for the teams
  
• Pens
  
• The questions!
  
• The prizes
  
• NDCS balloons, leaflets, collection tins, sponsorship forms
  
• Perhaps a photo board pictures of your team training and some of the peaks you will be climbing.

On the night

Pub quiz questions and answers.pdf (175 kb)

Pub quiz score sheet master.pdf (28 kb)
The quizmaster announces that the quiz will start in 30 minutes, 20, 10, 5 etc. and collects team names and entry fees. Give each team some answer sheets for them to complete with their answers and have a stock of pens for them if needed. For the quiz enclosed, you will need five sets of answer sheets per team. It is always advisable to print out spare sheets for the quiz.

Record the team names on your scoresheet then start the quiz by reading out team names (giving everyone a name check) and begin the quiz.

Each question should be read out once, a short break then repeated, then at the end of the round, quickly recap all 10 questions.

Collect sheets from teams for marking (perhaps announcing that if they’re not handed in within a minute, the team gets 0 points) or get teams to swap papers then read out each question then its answer (however, be warned, this can lead to some highly competitive marking!).

If you have any teams that question their score, remember the golden rule – the quizmaster is always right!

Give the total scores at the end of each round. At the end of the quiz read out the final scores in reverse order. As suggested above, have a tiebreak question ready. Then finally, announce how much has been raised for NDCS, thank all of your sponsors, and celebrate a successful event!

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A to Z of Fundraising Ideas

A to E

A Apple bobbing; Antique Fairs; Art Shows; Assault course; Auction of
promises; Aerobic sessions/stamina competition; Animals; charge others to feed, clean, walk pets.

B Beard shave; Baby Sitting; Balloon Race; Beetle Drive; Bread & Cheese Lunch; Barn Dance; Bedroom Tidying; Balloon Races; Bed Push; Bring & Buy Sale; Barbecue, charge by sausage or plate; Bake sale; Bathing in . . cold beans, gunge or something equally gooey and unpleasant.

C Coffee Morning; Car Wash; Computer Games Marathon; Celebrity, does someone famous live near you? Would they help? Create a Cookbook, sell the secrets of your culinary success; Concert; Cabaret; Charity Cricket Match; Craft Fair; Car Boot Sale; Comedy Evening; Collections.

D Darts Tournament; Disco; Double or Dare; Dress as Donkeys, run races or give rides; Dinner parties, invite your friends and charge for the privilege; Dress up or Dress down, but only for a price.

E Egg and Spoon Race; Empties, take them to the recycling bin for a fee - keep an eye out for people having parties; Exhibitions; Easter Egg Sale.

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F to J

F Fashion show; Face Painting; Fairs; Fetes; Fishing Tournament; Flower Sale; Football Match, can you get a local league player or team involved too?; Fortune Telling; Flower Show; Foreign Stamps; Families and Friends are always there to support you, get each to pledge to raise £20 for you.

G Guess the Weight competition; Garden Open Day, have you got a garden people would pay to see or can you talk someone into showing their beauty spot for a fee?; Gala; Go Karting; Garage Sale, but not the car!; Gift Aid, £250 will increase in value with a tax exemption form, ask the NDCS for details; Golf Day; Games Evening; Gym Circuits.

H Head shaving; Hallowe'en Party; Hat Sales; Homemade Goods; Hockey match; Hobbies, will yours raise money?

I Indoor sports contests; It's a Knockout; Ice Skating; Ironing, sell your
services; Indulge in your favourite foods, how many tins of beans can you eat?; International Evenings.

J Juggling; Jail break; Jelly eating competition; Jumble sale; Jazz evening; Jobs about the house/ Jam Making; Jazz Evening.

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K to Q

K Karaoke; Keep Fit-a-thon; Kilts, how good are your knees?; Knobbly Knees competition, for those that shouldn't be seen in a kilt; Kidnap the
Boss/Teacher.

L Lambada marathon; Lawn mowing; Line Dancing; Lunches; Loud Tie Day.

M Magic show; Mini Marathon; Massage, if you know what you are doing there will be no shortage of those willing to pay for the pleasure; Make Up/Make Over demonstrations; Medieval Banquets; Murder Mystery Evening; Magic Show.

N No Smoking Day, or longer if you can bear it; Non Uniform Day; Nearly New Sale; Nature Trail.

O Outdoor sports day; Onion Peeling competition; Outing or day trip; Outdoor Sports Competition.

P Plant Sale; Pool Tournament; Pram Race; Paper Chase; Pasta/Pizza party; Put up a Poster; Pantomime; Panel Games; Paper Chase; Party.

Q Quack Quack, go Quackers, sell plastic ducks and race them on the river; Quadruple race, four legged races are harder than three, and if it's still too easy combine it with fancy dress; Quaff, for speed, style and quantity; Quizzes.

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R to Z

R Rugby Match; Raffle, lost property, unwanted presents, all those books you have read; Relay Race; Rally; Record Sales; Rich Man/Poor Man Supper.

S Scrabble Marathon, exercise the little grey cells; Sweeties, guess how many, win the lot!; Swear Box; Sponsored Silence; Scavenger Hunt; Swimming gala; Sack Race; Side shows; Strong Man Competition.

T Teddy Bear's Picnic, fun for all the family; Tug-o-War; Theme Day/Evening/Event; Treasure Hunt; Three legged race; Tombola; Toy Sale; Talent Contest; Ten Pin Bowling.

U Unwanted Gift Sale; Unicycle Ride; Underwear, are you Superman or
Superwoman, wear it on the outside if you dare!; University Challenge.

V Video Marathon; Vices, give yours up for a price!

W Wellie Throwing Competition; Whist Drive; Wheelbarrow Race; Wine Tasting; Window Cleaning.

X Xylophone concert, Xtra terrestrial convention, who's your favourite ET?; Xtra-ordinary feats with . . . (your imagination is the only limit!).

Y Yodelling Competition; Yoga Marathon; Your Own Ideas!

Z Zany Clothes Day; Zoo, be your favourite animal for a day or have a Zoo Party.

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