Anyone can make a difference while having fun. Below are a zillion great ideas that can raise much needed funds to accelerate research to find a cure. (OK, not a zillion but A LOT) Your staff partners at NephCure Kidney International are available to help; from answering questions to brainstorming with you. Please call us at 610.540.0186 or email at events@nephcure.org 1. Hold an On-line Bakeless Bake Sale: A simple post on your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or an email with the following poem and your fundraising page attached can raise quite a bit in a small amount of time. Many is the time I heard you say I would rather give a "Dollar" than bake today And so, we are asking you to help more or less To make our Bakeless Bake Sale a big success. Just donate the money that it would take To Bake a loaf of bread or a beautiful cake Or donate the amount of money it takes to buy A dozen rolls or maybe a pie We know you can help us if you will but try. To donate please click here: [insert your page address] 2. Jean Day Ask your employer if they will hold a Jean Day for you. People can pay $5 or $10 to wear jeans to work. Depending on the size of your company you could raise a nice amount. 3. Hugs for Sale! Go to your local mall and give a hug for a donation! If you are fun loving everyone will have a great time for a great cause. For those that are not to keen on a physical hug, give them the option to get a Hershey's candy hug instead. (Make sure you ASK before you set up somewhere to sell hugs.) 4. Company Matches - Many corporations will match employee donations up to a certain dollar amount. Ask friends that donate money if their company has a company match policy. (This one may not be as fun as the others but it is one you should always be asking about.)
5. Facebook Likes Donations - Ask as local business if you can help them increase their facebook following, in exchange for bringing more "likes" to their page, you receive a donation to your charity in return. You can see the number of likes the company has before hand. Pick a date range ask have the donate for each new "Like"...then blast away and ask everyone you know to not only "like" the page but to post on their page...hundreds of dollars could be raised in a very small amount of time. 6. Flamingo a Yard - One of the most fun and creative fundraiser's "Flock" someone's yard with flamingo's for a donation. Donators can pick a friend's house to flamingo for a specified dollar donation. By using your smart phone and having a few extra hours on the weekend. Your Flock can make its way around the neighborhood. Leave this Note: Don't despair! You have been flocked. This is a fundraiser by for a cause from. A friend of yours has paid to put these darling birds on your yard. This flocking is done in good spirits and not meant to be mean. We would love your support for our fundraising efforts, all in good fun! The removal of the flock is only a $20 donation. The removal and choosing of the next migration location is only a $40 donation. The removal, choosing of the next migration location and purchasing flocking insurance (so you aren't flocked again!) is only a $60 donation. Again, we thank you for your humor and support. 7. Ugly tie, worst hair-do, best mismatched outfit: Have people come to an event, dinner, or a sports game where the vote will take place. Provide a price to the winner. 8. Donation Jars: By placing attractive and informative donation jars around your community, you can raise money. One avenue for attracting donations is to place homemade donation jars within the community to ask for spare change. Ask local businesses for permission to place a donation jar next to a cash register. You can make a functional and attractive jar with common tools and craft supplies. 9. Jellybean count: Fill a jar with jellybeans and have people pay to guess how many there are in the jar. 10. Dress-down day: Charge people who want to participate. Make certain that you ask permission of Human Resources, first. 11. Band and choir concerts: Ask a band to donate their time by performing a benefit concert for your cause. Charge admission for the event.
12. Bag groceries: Ask a local grocery store if you can bag people s groceries for donations. Be certain to put up a sign saying what the money supports. 13. Skip-a-thon (row-a-thon, see-saw-a-thon): Choose a date, create pledge forms, and advertise. Have participants gather donations or pledges using their pledge forms, then participate in the activity. 14. Raffles: Sell tickets and keep ticket stubs. On the date of the draw, have someone close his or her eyes and pick a ticket stub from all the ones that were sold. Do this publicly. The winner receives a prize. 15. Auction: Have individuals, groups and businesses donate goods and services. Be creative in what you can auction off and make certain that the goods and services are sold at reasonable prices. 16. Perform a free service for donations: Rake leaves, shovel snow, take care of a pet. When offering your service, ask the person who benefited from your actions for a donation toward your worthy cause. 17. Sell candy, cards, etc.: Work with reputable businesses that provide merchandise you can sell. Be sure at least half of the money raised goes to your cause. 18. Winter carnival or bazaar: Hold a winter carnival or bazaar. Invite the community. Charge admission and/or a small fee to play games. 19. Carnival day: Host a mini carnival, with games, prizes and popcorn, in a local park or your own backyard. Charge admission and/or a small fee to play games. 20. Spelling Bee, Trivial Pursuit, Checkers, Scrabble, Twister: Have participants and spectators pay to participate and the winner receives a prize. You cannot charge admission for Poker Games as that would violate Gambling Policies. 21. Battle of the Bands: Gather some bands from your local community. Book a venue and advertise with posters, flyers, and radio announcements. Hold a mini concert in which the audience chooses the winning band. 22. Pitch-a-thon: Rent a radar gun and measure how fast people can throw a baseball or kick a soccer ball. Charge $1 per try and give a prize to the fastest individual. 23. Sell buttons or t-shirts displaying your logo. 24. Puppet Show: Make puppets with socks, felt and other craft materials. Pick out or write a story. Set a date, time, and location. Advertise with flyers and posters. Sell tickets in advance and at the door. Advertise to the local elementary school and day care facilities. 25. Spaghetti Dinner: Prepare a great dinner for community members and charge a fee. 26. Hold a Theme Party: Decide on a fun theme. Charge an entrance fee, but be sure to explain to people what their cover charge is going towards. 27. Plant Trees: Ask a nursery for seedling donations and then get people to sponsor a tree. 28. Pledges: Gather pledges to have dance-a-thons, rock-a-thons, or any other type of endurance contest you can think of.
29. Day of Community Service: Gather together a group of friends, and contact a number of organizations for which you would be interested in volunteering. Then have people sponsor you to do community service for 24 hours. 30. Food Fast: Get together with a group of friends, gather pledges, and fast for a full 24 hours. 31. Piñata Contest: Charge a fee to have each blindfolded person have one turn at trying to break a candy-filled piñata. 32. Craft Sale: Make all the crafts yourself and sell them. 33. Family Barbecue: Host a family barbecue with games and activities. 34. Three-on-Three Basketball Tournament: Organize a basketball tournament with the winning team receiving a prize. This can also be done with soccer, tennis, badminton, volleyball, or any other sport. 35. Swim-a-thon: Get sponsors for the number of laps you swim. 36. Beat the Goalie: Pick the best hockey or soccer goalie you know and invite people to try to score a goal for a prize. Every participant has to pay to play. 37. Bingo: Host a bingo night at a local hall, place of worship, or school. 38. Plant Sale: Organize a plant sale with plants donated by local nurseries. 39. Boat Race: Organize a model boat race on a body of water. Charge a participant/spectator entrance fee. The winner of the race gets a prize. 40. Fruit Stand: Get permission to go to local farms and pick fruit to sell. Sell the produce in high-traffic areas or at community festivals. 41. Book (used book) Sale: Ask all your friends, relatives, and teachers to donate their old books. Advertise your book sale by means of posters and flyers. Set up a table and sell books. If there are leftovers, you can always give them to a needy library, shelter, or school. 42. Bowling: Organize a bowling night or a competition. Charge everyone a small fee to enter or have participants get bowl-a-thon pledges. 43. Coupon Sale: Have coupon books donated by local businesses, and then sell them to students and adults. You can also contact Sheetz. 44. International Dinner: Have people from various ethnic origins cook traditional foods, and then charge admission to an international dinner. 45. Balloon Pop: Before filling a balloon with air or helium, put a note inside. Have a certain number of the notes worth a prize. Have people buy balloons and pop them in the hope of getting the prize. Be sure to pick up the broken balloons afterwards. 46. Scavenger Hunt: Set a route and make a list of items that the participants need to find in order to win. Advertise your scavenger hunt well and charge everyone a small fee to participate. The winning person/group gets a prize.
47. Car Wash: With a group of friends, set up a car wash in the parking lot of your school, church, office or public area. (Be sure to ask for permission and make sure that people are careful of moving cars). 48. Hug-a-gram: Advertise a hug for a dollar. Have people buy a hug for a friend. After a member of your group gives the hug to the designated person, give them a small card with a message from the person who sent the hug. 49. Charity Ball: Hire a DJ or a band, rent a hall, advertise, and sell tickets for a dance. 50. Holiday Ornament Sale: Sell ornaments during the holiday season. 51. Classic Car Show: Organize a classic automobile show. Invite people to attend and to bring their cars by placing ads in local newspapers, leaving flyers at local businesses, and charging people to come and see the show. 52. Miniature Golf: Build a nine-hole miniature golf course in your office, featuring ramps, water and sand traps, and other obstacles. Charge people to play a round during lunch. 53. Bench-a-thon: Have people bench press weights in the school gym and collect pledges for every pound they lift. Make sure all participants have spotters. 54. Clearing Snow: Shovel snow from people s driveways and walkways in the winter months for a donation. 55. Monopoly Match: Have a group play a Monopoly tournament with the winner receiving a prize. 56. Hoopla: The competitor throws hoops over prizes. The person whose hoop completely lands over the prize gets to keep the award. Make sure you do not spend too much money on prizes. Homemade awards add some humor. Picture a sneaker spray painted bronze to show that the winner walked in the shoes of a NephCure patient 57. Pumpkin-decorating Contest: Around Halloween, hold a pumpkin-decorating contest among different grades of homerooms or in your office. 58. Debate Evening: Research a number of debate issues and invite various community members to debate issues. Charge the audience to come and watch. The issues can be fun. 59. Dog Show: Invite faculty and staff to show off their dogs in a show. Make it a competition that people pay to enter, and offer a prize for the best groomed dog, most- and leastobedient dog, and so on. 60. Talent Auction: Auction off the talents of people. For instance, great singers offer to sing at a wedding, party, or special event. 61. Duck Race: Sell numbered plastic ducks. Set all the ducks afloat in a race on a river. The person who bought the duck that wins the race gets a prize. 62. Comedy Hour: Host a comedy skit during lunch at your school or work and charge people to attend. 63. Nacho & Popcorn Party: Plan a morning to make nachos and popcorn, which can be sold during your lunch.
64. Eating Marathon: Have a pie eating, hot-dog eating, or ice cream-eating contest. You can charge people to participate or to watch, or you can make all participants obtain pledges. 65. Flower Show: Invite gardeners from your community to enter their flowers in a competition for a prize. Ask volunteer experts to be judges and charge all participants and spectators a fee. 66. Calendar Sale: Create a calendar highlighting the projects and members of your organization, and sell it to students and their family members. 67. Sports Tournament/Fitness Competition: Organize a sports tournament or fitness competition. Advertise well and charge spectators to come and watch groups compete. You may need to have medical personnel on hand. 68. Art Sale: Have local artists donate some of their works, which will be displayed and then sold to the public. 69. Game Show: Recreate one or more of your favorite game shows and charge contestants a small entrance fee. Sell tickets to the audience. 70. Gardening: Tend the garden of a neighbor, a local store, or community park for a donation. 71. Karaoke: Rent a karaoke machine or use your xbox or wii games, sell tickets or charge an admission fee, and sing all night. 72. DVDs: Make and sell How-To dvds; for example, how to improve your golf swing, or how to make crafts. 73. Kilometers of Coins: Gather donations of coins (pennies, dimes, or quarters) and lay them side-by-side until they stretch out to be a kilometer long. Alternatively, surround your gym, library, or parking lot with the coins. Send us the photo along with the donation so that we can post it online! 74. Recipe Book: Gather together favorite recipes and put them together in a book. Sell the book through your school, sports organization, or community centre. Try to get the photocopying donated by local businesses. 75. Henna Hand Art: Find out if any members of your group know how to apply henna (Indian hand art), which can be applied to people in your school for a fee. 76. Walk Dogs: Love pets? Try walking dogs every day for a fee. 77. Toy Sale: Hold a toy sale. The best season for this is just prior to Christmas and/or Hanukkah. 78. Triathlon: Set a course of running, cycling, and swimming. Have participants get pledges to compete to win prizes. 79. Lemonade Stand: Make lemonade, post signs, and sell it on a hot day. 80. February: Sell red carnations for Valentine s Day. 81. May: Mother s Day sale. 82. June: Father s Day sale 83. September: Back-to-School supplies sale.
84. October: Halloween party; pumpkin sales; Thanksgiving turkey raffle. 85. December: Gift-wrapping service. 86. Babysitting Evening - promote as great time for parents to have alone time! 87. Babysitting during worship services. 88. Babysitting during PTA meetings, Open House, Meet the Teacher Night (contact the local secondary schools to arrange this service). 89. Garage Sale. ask your neighbors to bring you their stuff one man s trash is another man s treasure, then hold a huge garage sale. Place a large sign out front that says All proceeds go to Fund a Cure for Kidney Disease. 90. Concession Stand: Purchase products at Sam s Club and get in a high visibility, high traffic, high demand spot. Perhaps at major event! (Check if permits are needed first) 91. Raffle: Could be a quilt, a special item like jewelry, day of beauty, kids rainy day games basket and more. 92. Pancake Breakfast: Some companies will offer the equipment for free; others will give you the product necessary to make the pancakes. 93. Breakfast in Bed: Provide breakfast in bed for participants or drop off boxed treats at their homes one morning. 94. Cake Walk: Auction off cakes. Ask everyone you know to bake their favorite cake and donate it to your event. Have a live Auctioneer (Can be anyone you know) auction them off to your guests. 95. Gourmet Cooking School: Hold a cooking class and charge an entrance fee. 96. Submarine Sandwich Sale. 97. Singing Telegrams: Hopefully with someone who has a great voice! 98. Sports Clinics. 99. Call a local restaurant and arrange a benefit night where your organization gets a cut of the night s profit. Typically 15% - 25%. All you have to do is ask all of your friends, family and network to eat out at this restaurant on the same day and tell their server that they are doing this to support NephCure. 100. Tutor students at the local schools.- Everyone needs support sometime in their lives. If you tutor students and donate the money to NKI, you are a double-do gooder!! 101. Apply for a grant.- Many local Walmarts or Costco will be able to give you a form to submit a request for support of your event. If you have any questions just call NephCure. 102. Bail Me Out Handcuff two willing fundraisers and let them lose when they raise bail. 103. Make it Up Send out invitations to a made up event and offer invitees tickets to support the cause without having to leave home. 104. Sticky Fly Sell pieces of duct tape for donors to stick your group s leader to a wall suspended above the floor for a portion of an event.
105. Skip a Meal Sponsors commit to giving up a meal together and give the money saved to the designated cause. 106. Reverse Raffle All potential sponsors get a raffle ticket and sell it back for $10 to avoid getting their name drawn to do something embarrassing. 107. Spa Night Offer to have female volunteers give manis, pedis and 5 minute massages at a Women s Night Out for donations. 108. X Marks the Spot Sell golf balls for $10 each and send them all down a hill with the tosser blindfolded. The 3 that get closest to the center of a taped X below win cash prizes. 109. Birthday Pledge Ask for donations to a favorite cause instead of birthday gifts. 110. Pump it Up Coordinate with a local gas station to have volunteers serve as gas station attendants who pump gas and clean windshields for donations for a day. 111. Go to The Qr Code Generator ( http://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/) and create a QR Code that goes directly to your page. You can take a photo of your QR Code with your smart phone. Anyone you come across that has a smart phone can simply point their phone at your code and be directed to your page and donate in a few simple steps. 112. Doughnut Seed Fundraiser - This is another simple idea that will get a lot of laughs. Just put some Cheerios in a plastic bag with a label that says Doughnut Seeds. Think of the funny messages/instructions that you can include... "Easy to Grow - Fun to Eat", "You Must believe! If you want to do this up fancy, there are some companies online that offer colorful, printed Doughnut Seed packets. Your profits will suffer but they are cute. Parents can t resist buying these bags and taking them home to the kids. You can ask for a specific donation amount or let them decide what they want to donate. 113. Chair Race Fundraiser - You know those office chairs with wheels, and how you always want to race them across the office but you're not allowed to. Now's your chance. Pick two to four teams of two: one pusher and one rider. Then have people place bets on which team will finish first. All the money goes into a pot, with half going to the winning wagerers and half going to charity. If you don't have room to race in the office, you can race in the parking lot instead. Plot out a course using traffic cones.
114. Get Hip to Affinity Group Fundraising! Affinity fundraising groups are when you put together a network of people who will support your organization and raise money on your behalf. For example, you may have a lawyers group, a young professionals group, or a nurses group. Look at your professional network, if you are a lawyer, consider hosting a Lawyers for (Insert Your Cause Here) mixer or gathering where people pay to attend for the cause. Because affinity fundraising group members share something in common, they often grow virally, with members inviting new people who share the group s common interest to join, your efforts are multiplied beyond the time and other resources you spend on the group. 115. Fashion Shows! Fashion shows are always fun, getting clothes from major retailers is often as simple as providing a one-sheet, credit during the show and providing your credit card in case any of the items are damaged. Hold a model call and rally the troops. Be creative, fashion shows don t always have to be about people, a Philadelphia organization hosts a dog fashion show every year, last year they raised a cool $20k, people l love their dogs! 116. Take a celebrity prisoner. One of the absolute best unique fundraising ideas is to take a local celebrity prisoner for a day. The celebrity is given a cell phone and only released (usually kept in a faux cage in a public place) when he or she has raised enough money from friends, family and the crowd that gathers in front of the cage. It s all in good fun and can attract public attention for your cause. 117. Match Maker! People are always looking for love! Host a charity Dating Game or a Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction. The highest bidder wins the date and all the public is welcomed, with a fee of course. 118. Rock-A-Thon Fundraiser Each student asked for pledges from friends, family and neighbors to see how long they could rock in a rocking chair & playing video games. The kids had to bring their own rocking chairs or gaming chairs that rocked. They also were allow to bring their own non-violent video games and systems to play. The school supplied the TV's and electoral cords. We raised over $2,000 with this A-Thon and the kids loved it. As the night went on we had terminals with different games and WII matches all for silly prizes. We made a minimum pledge of $25, so the kids understood it wasn't just a free night of video games. Really easy to set up. It was a win/win night.