45 Fundraising Ideas to Raise Money for Any Cause

Whether you’re fundraising for a personal cause or a nonprofit organization, there are countless reasons why you need to raise money. You may have the time to cultivate long-running campaigns with elaborate events, or you might need something easy and inexpensive to fund urgent needs.

We’ve designed this list of fundraising ideas, grouped into the following categories, so you can find strategies that fit your unique needs:

1. Our Favorite Fundraising Ideas
2. Individual Fundraising Ideas
3. Easiest Fundraising Ideas
4. Low-Cost and Free Fundraising Ideas
5. Creative Fundraising Ideas
6. Online Fundraising Ideas
7. Most Profitable Fundraising Ideas

Each fundraising idea is ranked by fundraising potential, cost, and popularity to help you determine which solution will fit your needs.

Are you ready to start raising money for your cause? Let’s dive into our hand-picked favorite fundraising ideas.

Our Favorite Fundraising Ideas

T-Shirt Fundraisers

Designing and selling t-shirts is a great fundraising idea that individuals and organizations can use to raise money. T-shirt fundraising is a win-win situation for everyone involved: the campaign creator gets to raise money and promote their cause via custom merchandise, and supporters get a memorable item in return for their donations.

To get started, find a fundraising platform like Bonfire that allows you to sell apparel and will ship orders for you. Then, start designing your products to represent your cause or project. Finally, launch your campaign and spread the word about your t-shirt fundraiser via email, social media, and word of mouth. T-shirts not your speed? With Bonfire, you can sell tote bags, coffee mugs, water bottles, notebooks, and more to fundraise for your cause!

If you’re raising money on behalf of a nonprofit, Bonfire will even send the funds directly to the organization you’re fundraising for at the end of your Campaign.

You’ll incentivize supporters to give, and every time they wear the shirt, they’ll spread awareness of your cause.

Local Restaurant Partnership

Did you know that you can raise money by inviting your friends out to eat? When you collaborate with a local restaurant, you’ll receive a percentage of the night’s proceeds for your cause. And partnering with a restaurant isn’t as difficult as you might think.

Many restaurants offer programs to help charitable organizations raise money. To find out, contact the manager of the restaurant in your area.

Once you’ve settled all the details of the event, invite your friends, family, and community members to come and show their support. The more people that attend, the more money and awareness you can raise for your cause. Be sure to share the date of the percentage night well in advance so plenty of supporters can plan to attend.

Design Challenge

If you’re thinking about incorporating custom merchandise into your fundraising projects, consider organizing a design challenge! These contests are an easy way to boost interest in your campaign and get donors more excited to purchase a t-shirt.

Ask supporters to submit their t-shirt design ideas for your next event, and then either choose a winner or let everyone vote on their favorites. Next, use a custom t-shirt service, like Bonfire, to sell the winning design.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Peer-to-peer fundraising is one of the most popular fundraising trends. This style of fundraising involves recruiting supporters to fundraise on your behalf by creating their own individual donation pages, which they then promote to their friends and family online. Nonprofit organizations are big fans of this campaign style because it dramatically expands their online communities in an organic way.

Launching a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign is a flexible way to garner support online, but it typically requires investment in dedicated campaign software. Get creative by incorporating peer-to-peer elements into your fundraising project, and be sure to carefully compare the top platforms before making a decision.

Remember that to be successful, crowdfunding requires you to have a very clear goal or an emotionally compelling story that inspires support. For example, perhaps your pet is in need of an expensive emergency procedure, so you add some cute pictures and tell the story of how you adopted them.
Additionally, offering products or rewards in exchange for crowdfunded support can incentivize donations. Crowdfunding with custom apparel like t-shirts is a common example.

Pledge Challenges

Unique pledge campaigns are a great way to catch supporters’s attention for your personal fundraising project. As a form of peer-to-peer campaign, this fundraising idea involves asking for pledges in exchange for completing a specific challenge.

A typical example would be an individual asking for pledges to be collected once they complete a challenging or long-distance cycling trip. Participants will share their donation page online, ask friends and family to pledge a set amount per mile they bike, and then complete the course. Of course, long-distance cycling isn’t for everyone, but the pledge format works well as a personal fundraising idea, even if it’s for mowing lawns or completing another selfless task.

These campaigns require considerable planning. If you choose to conduct a pledge challenge, think about ways to boost the impact of your campaign, or pair it with another fundraising idea, like custom merchandise.

Bake Sales

Food is a reliable way to attract attention and incentivize supporters to donate to your cause. After all, who doesn’t enjoy tasty, freshly baked treats like cupcakes, cookies, brownies, bread, and muffins?

Recruit volunteers or staff members to make baked goods to sell at the fundraiser. You might encourage them to make whatever they like, select from family heirloom recipes, or follow a fun theme. Themes could be related to:

• Your cause
• An upcoming holiday or occasion
• Culinary or pop culture trends
• The specific project or program you’re fundraising for

Remember to keep allergies in mind to make the bake sale safe and accessible for everyone. If possible, bake a few items in vegan, gluten-free, and/or nut-free kitchens. Clearly mark the ingredients in each item and whether it is safe for people on restricted diets.

Fundraising Letters

In today’s modern age, there’s something nice about receiving a handwritten letter from someone. Reach out to your donors by sending them a personalized letter explaining why you’re fundraising. You might be shocked at how many donations you receive! Plus, for some groups and individual projects, writing fundraising letters is a cost-effective way to raise support in a relatively short amount of time.

Take the time to perfect your message, explaining in just a few sentences why you’re raising money and what you’ll do with the donations. Then, compile a targeted mailing list. Give readers an easy way to make a donation, like providing a scannable QR code linking to your donation page or crowdfunding campaign.

Corporate matching gifts are a great way for eligible nonprofits to take advantage of funds already earmarked for corporate philanthropy initiatives. Many people don’t know about these programs, and therefore can’t take advantage of them. A matching gift program is a policy at a company where the employer agrees to match an employee’s donation to the same nonprofit, without the employee having to give more of their own money!

Offer your supporters a matching gift database for them to use to look up their employer, and remind them on social media or via email to check if their employer is willing to match their donation.

Coffee Bean Sale

To get this fundraising idea started, find a local coffee shop or wholesale provider to purchase the coffee beans at the wholesale price. Once you get your partnership established, set up an online shop or sell your coffee beans in a busy area in your community.

Let people know why you’re raising money, and get the word out by promoting your coffee bean sale online and posting flyers around the community.

Dog Walking

If you’re looking for a free way to raise money for your cause or project, you can offer dog walking services to the pet owners in your neighborhood. This incredibly easy fundraising idea doesn’t require any materials except time!

Let people around your community know that you’re available to walk their dogs by posting on social media. Raise money by charging per walk. Don’t forget to tell pet owners that all the money is going toward a great cause as they’ll be more likely to continue using your services in the future.

Text-to-Give Tools

Meeting your donors where they are (their smartphones!) goes a long way to boosting their engagement with your project and mission. Text-to-give and text-to-donate tools are some of the newer trends in fundraising and have become extremely popular in the nonprofit space. It gives your supporters the ability to make a donation to your charity, right from their phones.

Since text-to-give services charge a processing fee, these tools are used mainly by nonprofits or other groups that host fundraising events. But, once you’ve got it set up, these campaigns are a quick and easy way to boost donations for all of the future campaigns and events you host.

Penny Drive

These fundraising campaigns are most commonly used by schools, but any organization can host one. Your organization will set up jars and use them to collect donations of spare change and even cash. Make things more exciting by decorating the jars and adding in friendly competition. Schools may compete to see which classroom can raise the most, while nonprofits might compete against peer organizations to see who has the most dedicated supporters.

With so many variations on the classic penny drive, you can get as creative as you like with this easy fundraising idea. Or, keep it simple by going with the traditional fundraiser, and ask local shops to showcase your donation jar in their store.

Specific Date Fundraiser

This type of fundraiser is an easy way to raise money for any cause, especially for individuals who need to reach their goals quickly. There are a few ways you can do this:

• Hold a birthday fundraiser on social media and ask your friends and family to contribute to a cause of your choice (or a personal need) in lieu of gifts.
• Recognize an affinity day or month, such as Women’s History Month, and encourage your network to give to relevant organizations.
• Organize around key milestones related to the organization or personal cause (e.g., a nonprofit celebrating its 25th anniversary).

The day you pick can be significant for personal reasons, like honoring the date a loved one who passed away due to cancer to raise money for cancer research and awareness.

Used Book Sale

Used book and rummage sales are some of the easiest fundraising ideas for groups of all sizes, particularly community groups and organizations.

You might choose to structure your used book sale in a number of ways. Usually, the fundraising organization will ask for donations of used books to sell at the event later on, but feel free to get creative to find the method that works best for your community.

Used book sales are easy fundraising ideas because they require very few additional investments other than the time it takes to plan, set up, and host them. Used books are a fun impulse purchase for many people, so with the right selection, you can raise quite a lot of support!

Holiday Candygrams

Sending a candygram is a great way to let your friends and family know you care about them. You can spread a little joy and raise money this holiday season by selling and sending personalized messages with candy and other delicious treats attached.

Sell candygrams at your office, in your neighborhood, or anywhere else you like. Just make sure to get the recipient’s contact information so you can send the candygram to the correct person.

Alternatively, your nonprofit can partner with a local retailer. Have them sell paper hearts to their patrons, allowing you to spread the word outside your current donor base. You’ve likely seen this technique used by nonprofits in your local grocery store.
Whatever approach you decide to take, this easy fundraising idea is a simple way to raise money and awareness for your cause.

Balloon Raffle

A balloon raffle is a fun and inexpensive fundraising idea that both individuals and nonprofits can use. 

All you need to get started are balloons, raffle tickets, and a prize. Place a raffle ticket inside of every balloon, and charge $1 per balloon. Everyone will pop the balloons they purchase to find their raffle ticket. The person with the winning ticket gets the prize.

Balloon raffles work best when they are an activity nested within a larger event, where a large donor audience is present in one location, like during a fundraising gala or auction.

Potlucks are among the most reliable fundraising ideas out there! A communal gathering of neighbors sharing a meal is the perfect way to strengthen your ties with your community, give your supporters a memorable experience, and raise support for your organization’s cause.

Take the time to plan your community potluck event, promote it to your community, and find the right event space. Give attendees plenty of time to register to bring a dish, and decide how much you want to charge for tickets.

Cutest Baby Contest

Raising money for your cause can be as simple and heartwarming as organizing a baby photo contest! Everyone at your office or in your community can participate by bringing in a silly, adorable, or even embarrassing photo of themselves as a child.

Line up all the photos and have people vote on their favorite one by placing money beside the images they like.

The person with the photo that has the most money wins! You can give the winner a prize or split the money you raised to make this fundraiser as inexpensive as possible. This could be a great idea for an event that’s raising funds for an adoption, or an organization that works for the good of babies and small children, like a diaper bank.

Garage Sale

Hosting a garage sale is a great way to give unwanted items a new home and raise money for your cause. You won’t need a lot of time to plan this event, so it’s perfect for a last-minute fundraising idea.

Gather all the items around your home that you no longer want, and ask your friends and family members to donate items to your garage sale.

Open shop right outside your home and post signs around the neighborhood to draw in interested buyers. To bring in an even bigger crowd, promote your garage sale on social media a few weeks in advance. Creating an event on Facebook is an easy way to spread the word.

Coupon Books

Coupon books can be one of the cheapest fundraising ideas for organizations and individuals. You’ll need to reach out to and collaborate with plenty of popular local businesses to set up exclusive discounts and promotions.

To add a creative twist or theme to the coupon book and make it appealing to your unique audience, you could center it around:

• Local businesses, encouraging more people to try out these options over big-box stores and corporations.
• School spirit, offering deals on school supplies and custom school merchandise.
• Family fun, making it more affordable for families to go out to restaurants, attend experiences like concerts, visit amusement parks, or go to the movies.
• Health and wellness, providing discounts at fitness centers, health food stores, yoga studies, and services like massages.

The only real expense you’ll have with this fundraising idea is the cost of printing the discount cards. With the right promotions from the right local businesses, though, you’ll make that up in no time—you might even be able to work with a print shop to get a discount or free services. 

Coupons are one of our favorite fundraising ideas for sports teams, clubs, schools, and other extracurriculars, but they also work great for other community groups.

Are you an expert at HTML code? Have a green thumb? Or know basic photography skills? Put your expertise to use, and set up a class to raise money for your cause or project.

Charge admission to attend and place a donation jar in a visible location so participants can give more. Don’t forget to spread the word about your class on social media and via email.

Host one class or a bunch of courses depending on your schedule and how much you need to raise.

Organizations that want to give donors a way to show their support should consider selling branded merchandise. From custom t-shirts to hats, coffee mugs, and water bottles, there are plenty of items you can sell!

What’s more, selling merchandise to support a fundraiser or volunteer engagement can help you raise extra money. Plus, a crowd of people all wearing the same shirts can drum up excitement about your fundraiser!

Work with a merchandise company that lets you brand your products or use a fundraising platform, like Bonfire, to sell branded shirts online.

The Give It Up Challenge

One way to raise money without spending a dime is to start a “Give It Up” challenge. We all have our guilty pleasures, be it fast food, expensive coffee drinks, or a weekly movie night.

By giving up this expense for a couple months, you can put the money you save toward your cause. To make the challenge more interesting, ask your friends to participate and pledge their savings toward your cause.

With more people on board, you can hold each other accountable and raise more funds.

Food Truck Partnership

Partnering with a local food truck is an easy way to raise support for your project or cause. Reach out to a food truck entrepreneur in your neighborhood to discuss your cause and ask if they’d be willing to take part in a percentage fundraising event.

Many food trucks will likely be eager to get involved in order to help out and reach new customers.

To set up a location for the event, reach out to other local organizations in your area that host large gatherings, like festivals or farmers markets. These groups are typically in the best position to partner with a food truck.

Pet Costume Party

Here’s a creative way to get everyone (including your four-legged neighbors) excited to support your project or cause; host a pet costume party and contest!

Start organizing your event by securing a pet-friendly space to host it. A local park is probably your best bet.

Solicit donated prizes from local businesses, promote your event, and register contestants. Charge for admission and refreshments on the big day. Pet costume events and parades make great additions to other kinds of public fundraising events, like fall festivals.

Online Bake Sale

Put a twist on the classic bake sale fundraising idea by hosting one online! If you’re a nonprofit or individual with supporters that don’t live in your community, this is a great way to get them involved in donating to your cause.

You and a few volunteers can bake delicious treats to sell on your website. An online bake sale works best because it gets your fundraiser in front of more supporters, increasing your revenue and reach.

International Food Festival

If you’re considering hosting a potluck-style event but aren’t sure of the best way to get your supporters really excited to get involved, consider organizing an international food festival.

Global food culture is more popular than ever! Your international food festival can be potluck-style, where each participant volunteers to bring a home-cooked dish, or you can reach out to local restaurants and invite them to participate.

The latter type of food festival fundraising event will require considerable advance planning, but it’s a great way to get people really excited to support your cause. Well-planned, themed events are also great opportunities to sell custom merch to your attendees!

Did you know that your supporters can raise money for your nonprofit simply by browsing and shopping online? Sites like GoodSearch make it easy for people to set up an account, browse the internet like they normally would, and raise money for their favorite organizations.

To start raising money from day-to-day online activities, let your donors know that these websites exist and educate them on how much of an impact these small gestures can make for your nonprofit.

Don’t forget about your staff! Encourage them to use these sites during and outside of work to help your nonprofit raise even more money.

50/50 Raffle

Whether you pair it with a larger fundraising event or host it as a stand-alone fundraiser, a 50/50 raffle is a quick and easy way for organizations and individuals to raise money. The 50/50 raffle works like any other raffle, except the winner gets half of the funds you raise and you get the other half.

Since the prize is half the funds raised, supporters are more motivated to purchase raffle tickets and encourage their friends and family members to do the same.

Spread the word about your raffle using your most followed social media accounts. Announce the winner during an event where you can discuss your cause or project in more depth.

Online Merchandise Store

Custom merchandise is one of the most flexible and cost-effective fundraising ideas for individuals and groups to raise money for a project or cause, and an online merch store makes it easy to host all of your products in one place. Combining the popularity of custom-designed apparel, water bottles, backpacks, mouse pads, canvas totes, and more with the ease of online ordering is a no-brainer.

If you’ve already considered designing custom fundraising merchandise, be sure to choose a platform or service that offers multiple ways to sell apparel online. The service you choose should also take care of everything from creating the items to processing and shipping orders to keep the campaign stress-free.

This strategy works well as a nonprofit or personal fundraising idea, especially if you have a substantial following online as a content creator or other personality in your space. All it takes is some creativity and a bit of promotion to start making a profit on merchandise.

Online Crowdfunding for Organizations

Crowdfunding has quickly become one of the most popular and accessible school and nonprofit fundraising ideas. The crowdfunding campaign structure encourages a large number of donors to make relatively small donations, all working to help the campaign reach its main goal.

As mentioned, this is also a popular option for individuals because it’s so easy to get up and running. But to make your organization’s campaign stand out, you’ll need to do some planning ahead of time and add a professional touch. This might mean carefully selecting a fundraising platform to ensure your fundraising software presents a polished campaign and offers all of the functionality you need.

Additionally, make sure your goal and reason for fundraising are exciting or emotionally compelling. Consider offering special rewards or perks to encourage more donations, such as custom merchandise or early access to register for your next event.

Social Media Challenges

Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge? That viral social media challenge was incredibly successful at raising support and awareness for ALS research—in fact, it raised a whopping $115 million for the cause.

Your own social media challenge probably won’t get quite as popular as the Ice Bucket Challenge, but it’s still one of the most effective fundraising ideas for creative individuals and organizations.

Think about your online audiences and the mission of your fundraising project. Get creative to think of a fun challenge and accompanying hashtag, then start promoting it! Just make sure to give viewers clear instructions for where they can donate online.

Email Campaign

Nonprofits large and small rely on email campaigns to fundraise and communicate with supporters. It’s the most direct way to engage with individuals who have already expressed interest in supporting your work.

When creating email campaigns, make your messages short, engaging, and authentic. Use quick, snappy subject lines that draw the reader in while maintaining your organization’s typical brand voice. Incorporating engaging graphics can also boost engagement, keeping viewers looking at the email longer.

The most important step in email marketing is incorporating strong calls to action (CTAs). Make sure that every message you send asks supporters to take action—in this case, donating. Provide a link directly to your donation form, and use compelling, persuasive language to motivate them to click it.

Donation Pages

Creating a donation page is an essential part of most online fundraising ideas. Unless you’re using a dedicated crowdfunding, peer-to-peer, or merchandise fundraising platform, you’ll need a way for supporters to actually make a donation online in a professional and safe way.

With the right marketing strategies, a well-designed donation page can go a long way to help you reach your fundraising goals.

Social media platforms increasingly offer their own built-in donation processing tools, but always remember to weigh your options. Standalone donation pages are typically more flexible and can be incorporated into more of your online fundraising ideas without tying you to a single platform.

Online Auction Fundraiser

Charity auctions are one of the most reliable fundraising ideas for nonprofit organizations, but planning a complex event can be a challenge. Thankfully, online auction software and services have made auctions a more realistic fundraising idea for more groups than ever before.

You’ll need to invest in dedicated mobile bidding software, so this fundraising idea works best for groups whose budget can handle the cost. Gather donated items from local businesses to auction off, and promote your online event via social media, email, and your website.

Foundations, corporations, and governments often give grants to qualifying organizations that submit an application. While most grants have a lot of competition and the grant-writing process can be time-consuming, the rewards are worth it. One grant can be enough to significantly boost your revenue, giving you the funding you need to complete ambitious projects and further your mission.

Additionally, some companies offer technology grants to help offset costs for nonprofits. For instance, the Google Ad Grant provides eligible nonprofits with $10,000 in monthly Google Ad credits. This helps your nonprofit become more visible on Google, attracting more potential supporters (and funds!) to your website.

To get started, you’ll need to research grants that coincide with your nonprofit’s goals and core mission as this will increase your chances of receiving a grant. We recommend checking out Candid, the industry-leading expert in helping nonprofits find funding and grants.

Donor Research and Major Gifts

For established nonprofit organizations, donor research is the most effective way to identify and approach individuals with the ability and desire to make large donations to your cause. This process is also commonly called prospect research.

As an organization grows, it increasingly needs to seek out the support of these major donors, and conducting donor research is the best way to make sure you find the right supporter to ask.

When it’s time for your organization to begin thinking about this fundraising idea, you’ll likely need to invest time and money into new donor research resources, although DIY prospect research is often effective, too.

This big-money fundraising idea works for fundraising projects of all sizes. Whether you’re a nonprofit organization, group, or individual, always take the time to consider whether any prominent businesses in your community would be interested in supporting your work.

A corporate sponsorship is essentially a trade. Your sponsor offers financial or in-kind support for your cause or project, and you offer them positive publicity in exchange.

This is a particularly effective strategy for large-scale public events, like marathons and festivals. For example, you might receive a donation from a local business to help cover event costs and, in return, feature their business and logo prominently on signage and marketing materials. Remember that securing these sponsorships may take time and require you to build long-term, trusting relationships with local businesses—this is why networking is so key.

Golf Tournament

Golf tournaments are another fundraising idea with the possibility to yield huge returns on the resources you spend to plan them. They’re also a great way to foster relationships with potential and existing major donors, boost awareness of your cause, and develop a deeper sense of community around your cause.

Consider offering additional golf games, challenges, and donation opportunities throughout your tournament to help you exceed your fundraising goals and to keep your attendees entertained the entire time. You might infuse a peer-to-peer fundraising element into the campaign or sell commemorative shirts as souvenirs.

Of course, you can adapt the concept of a tournament event to any community, budget, or fundraising project. Any activity that supporters enjoy—whether that’s basketball, soccer, or bowling—is fair game!

Fundraising Auction

All sorts of organizations host charity auctions in order to attract big-money support, although it’s important to remember that these events often require substantial investments of planning and resources. You’ll need to secure an event space, catering, entertainment, auction software, an auctioneer, and, most importantly, highly sought-after auction items!

However, charity auctions can easily be adapted for smaller groups without massive budgets. First, look for local businesses willing to donate auction items. You can also host the event at your facility or a community center and hold a potluck-style dinner to cut back on costs. Some organizations also offer auction items that are free to them but desired by supporters—think of something like a coupon to spend an hour playing with an animal shelter’s kittens.

One of these fundraising ideas is sure to fit your needs, whether you’re looking for creative options or need to get funding for an urgent need. Consider adding your own unique twist to an idea to appeal to your audience, or mix-and-match the idea you choose. For example, selling custom t-shirts and merchandise can fit into almost any of these ideas.

If you do decide to sell custom apparel, make sure to work with a reputable platform like Bonfire that offers professional-level design templates, handles processing and shipping for you, and doesn’t require you to hold inventory or pay a platform fee. 

For more fundraising tips and ideas, check out these additional resources: