A-Z Fundraising Ideas

How do you feel about heights? Ready to face your fears? Abseiling is a great fundraiser for one person’s sponsored challenge or a big team event.

If you’re looking for an easy to organise, simple activity for people of all ages then Bingo is the one for you. You could even make use of your local Scout hut to host your Bingo night.

Who doesn’t love a Ruby Murray (curry!)? Whether you’re a cool Korma fan or volcanic Vindaloo lover, curry nights are fun for all. Invite your guests for a home cooked curry. You could include an optional ticket fee to cover the cost of the ingredients.

Add a touch of competition to the evening and ask everyone to guess how much they think the meal cost (£5 per guess!) – The closest answer wins a prize, like a curry cook book.

We love an excuse to practice bow tie skills or show off a new pair of heels. A black tie dinner dance has the power to raise thousands of pounds for charitable causes – but don’t forget that big events need a lot of work behind the scenes.

If you’ve never hosted an event like this before, start simple with a relatively small venue. Build on your successes and you could even make this an annual event!

Pledge to go plastic free for a period or cut down on car use. Set up a fundraising page to keep your supporters updated with your progress. You can even tie this in with a badge your Scout Group are working on.

Add a twist to a mufti day – instead of everyone donating to dress up, you could make a poll of a few outfit choices (the sillier, the better) and ask people to donate and vote. You wear the winning outfit for a day.

Note: If you’re working in an office, probably best not to wear the silly outfit when the big boss is in!

If you’re a fan of ‘Wallace & Gromit’s Curse of the Were-Rabbit’, then you’ll know how much fun a vegetable growing competition can be. It’s a great way to get the community involved and reach out to a new audience.

Note: Best left for spring and summer!

A ticketed event with two options:

Option A – hide objects around your local area or Scout hut’s grounds and create a map – like a pirate’s treasure hunt!

Option B – write cryptic clues and challenge teams to work out the route to find the right landmarks in your local area. Teams need to take photos with the landmarks to win points.

Invite local businesses to sponsor the event or donate a prize.

Do you have connections to a number of businesses? Are you confident over the phone or in person? Ask businesses, spas, restaurants, hotels, activity centres, cinemas and theatres to donate a prize to your event. Put the prizes into a raffle – and make sure to mention that all the prizes are incredible experiences!

If you’re in need of a de-clutter and a spring clean, a car boot sale or jumble sale is a great way to up-cycle your belongings. Dust off the board game you no longer play and the pile of books sitting in the corner – why not pass it onto someone else to enjoy and raise money for a good cause at the same time?

Sing up a storm with a karaoke event. Charge a ticket fee to attend – or ask for a donation to escape!

Loose change – you’ll find it everywhere. Under the sofa, in your pocket and even on the pavement. Challenge local schools and Scout Groups to make the longest line of coins they can. Once finished, take the coins to the bank and add the money to your fundraising total.

If you work in a big business, you might be able to get matched funding. This happens alongside your main event. A business will match the amount you raise from your main event – normally they set a cap. So, you’ll effectively double your fundraising total!

Use a teddy bear or cuddly today and for donations to guess its name. Think about your audience’s interests and ages before choosing your item. Works best alongside other events like a jumble sale.

Scouts love an excuse to run around, get muddy and fundraise. If you’ve got the space and you’re feeling creative, you can make your own obstacle course – don’t forget to pay attention to health and safety. Egg and spoon racing, slip ‘n’ slides, crawling through big sheets and more.

There’s also plenty of organised mud runs across the UK to get stuck in too!

Arrange a spa day, massages, or a relaxation evening with face masks and treats for friends. Ask local beauty parlours and businesses to donate products or volunteer staff. Guests can buy tickets or make a donation.

Who loves general knowledge? Who’s the music round wizard? Who knows their science facts? You could even add a few unique rounds like a dance off or drawing round. Great fun to host at the local pub, event space or at home. Each team donates to enter.

Works best with rowing machines or cycling machines. Challenge teams to row or cycle for 24 hours and see how far they get. Set each team a fundraising target. Record the best moments live on social media!

Are you known as ‘the chatty one’? Would your friends, family and colleagues donate to see struggle to be quiet? Allow yourself a pause for meetings and calls at work or you’ll get in trouble with your boss!

Fruit, biscuits, crisps and nuts… everyone loves a small snack at some point in the day. Ask your workplace or Scout Group to set up a tuck shop and keep it open throughout the year. Add a note for a “suggested donation £1 per item” and bank the donations once a week/month.

Host a puzzle evening – it’s like a pub quiz, but with lots of activities. Challenge teams to unravel balls of string, solve puzzles, make their way through mazes, build marshmallow and spaghetti towers and lots more brain teaser tasks.

It’s a great way to show your community all the fun and lessons from Scouts while raising money at the same time.

Find a big hill and challenge participants and their teams to do a relay to climb the hill as many times as possible in 24 hours. Ask teams for a donation to participate and set them a fundraising target. Check with your local authority if you can use the hill for your event first.

This is a classic and brave fundraising activity: waxing body hair for charity or cutting your hair into a unique hairstyle. Ask people to sponsor you for making such a bold decision and maybe record the event too.

Organise your own X-Factor competition or talent show. Ask the audience for a donation to vote for their favourite acts.

Host a yoga marathon and challenge people to get to the end. Ideally, a yoga instructor will host the event for free to support the Scouts. Ask your gym to help you find a yoga instructor if you don’t already know one.

Why play ordinary football when you can make it hilarious of the team and the spectators? Look online for your nearest zorbing facility and try to get sponsorship from businesses to cover the cost so all your entry and spectator tickets go towards your donation total.