Sometimes it can be hard to get started with your fundraising. We’ve put together an A-Z of fundraising ideas to give you a helping hand.
A close shave: Shave or wax your beard, chest, legs of even your head to fundraise.
Abseil: Organise or sign up for an abseiling challenge and get sponsored.
Afternoon tea: Hold an afternoon tea for your friends and family or even in the office and enjoy some yummy cakes and sandwiches.
Arts & crafts: Host an arts and crafts evening and charge people an entry fee.
Auction: Organise an auction, ask your friends and family to donate items and donate some of the profits.
Auction services: You could auction off services in your office. You could be a tea-maker, lunch grabber, post sender. Or find out the talents of colleagues and see if they will auction off training sessions to help you raise funds!
Bad taste: Ask colleagues to pay to express their bad taste and come to work
wearing the worse tie or vibrant clothes.
Bake sale: Baking is a great hobby and your results are sure to bring smiles
to everyone’s face! Share your feel good food for a donation. Why not hold a
coffee morning with a difference; can you hold a caffeine free coffee morning or only bake healthy recipes?
Bake off: Challenge your friends to a bake off and sell the winnings.
Bingo: Host a night of bingo, invite your friends and family and donate half the winnings.
Birthday fundraiser: Creating a birthday fundraiser is a fantastic way to give back to a cause you’re passionate about on your special day. Encourage friends and family members to forgo birthday gifts and donate to your birthday fundraiser by setting up a JustGiving page for Mind BLMK or a donation page on Facebook here.
Book swap: Don’t leave your used books on the shelf – books are made to be shared. Why not host an office book swap day? Promote around the office and encourage everyone to bring in their own books.
Caption competition: Get a picture of a celebrity or your boss (if they agree) doing something unusual and ask people to submit a caption for a donation. Provide a small prize for the best caption.
Car Washing – This fundraising classic is often in great demand in the community and people are happy to swap their regular commercial car wash to support a local group for charity. Why not charge different amounts for different services
such was wash only, wash and wax, etc.
Cheese evening: Host a brie-llent cheese evening and charge an entry fee for friends and family to try some of the loveliest cheese that you have on offer.
Come dine with me: Why not hold your very own dinner party? Invite friends to enjoy your culinary delights in exchange for a donation!
Danceathon: Get your friends and family together to throw some shapes on the dancefloor and see who can last the longest.
Darts competition: Hold a darts competition and see gets a bullseye.
Dress Down Day: Ask everyone to pay £2 to come to the office in casual dress, or you could have a theme e.g. a day where everyone has to wear blue, such as World Suicide Prevention Day (10th September).
Easter Egg Hunt – Get the community, your place of work or school involved by holding an Easter egg hunt around your setting.
e-Bay: Sell your unwanted bits and bobs on e-Bay and donate money from any sales to Mind.
Etsy: Get crafty and creative and set up an Etsy shop to sell your crafts in aid on Mind BLMK, why not try candle making or Macrame?
Extreme challenge: Why not swim the distance of the Channel in your local pool or run the length of the country on a treadmill? You don’t have to be a superstar athlete for this one – you could split the distance over a few days or weeks. Check out all of our fundraising challenges HERE.
Fancy Dress Day: Ask for a £2 donation for your colleagues to come to work in fancy dress for the day, you could even have a theme like superheroes or animals.
Film night: Host a film night for your friends and family and create a cinema ambience at home. Don’t forget the popcorn.
Fivers: Get friends, family and colleagues to donate a £5 note each and write their name on it. Put the notes in a pot and whoever’s name you pull out wins a share of the money, with the rest going to Mind BLMK.
Give it up: Give up something you love for a good cause! Avoid chocolate, alcohol, Facebook, using the lift – choose your challenge and ask your friends and family to show their support by contributing to Mind BLMK.
Global food day: Share your culinary talents, cook your speciality dish and bring it into work to sell to your colleagues. It could be a dish that’s been in your family for generations or something you just love to cook. Sit down for lunch together and take this opportunity to connect with colleagues that you don’t normally chat to.
Guess the number: A school fete classic, ask your friends and family to guess the number of sweets in the jar, closest guess wins all the sweets.
Halloween party: Organise a spooky event to raise money for Mind BLMK. You could play a game of witch hockey or hold a scary film night.
Happy Monday: Start your week with a smile and hold a fundraising get-together with your colleagues. Hold a bake sale to brighten up Monday and wear bright clothes and ask everyone to donate £2 to take part.
Hour of pay: donate an hour of your pay, you can even ask your friends and family to do the same.
Ice-cream party: Invite your friends and family over for an ice-cream party with lots of different flavours and toppings. Who can make the tastiest sundae?
International food party: Ask your friends and family to bring dishes from around the globe and enjoy what the world had to offer.
Jokes contest: Crack out your best jokes and see who gets the most laughs.
Jumble sale: Hold a jumble sale and sell all your old bric-a-brac. You can also ask your friends and family for donations to sell
Karaoke night: Which of your friends and family has the hidden talent?
Keepy uppy competition: Who can keep the ball in the air for the longest?
Learn a language: Do any of your colleagues speak another language? Ask them to run a short lunchtime course in French, Arabic, Hindi or Swedish with colleagues making a donation to Mind BLMK to attend.
Loose change collection: Ask your friends, family and colleagues to donate their loose change.
Manager vs. manager: Pit your managers against each other to see who can raise the most money for Mind BLMK, equipped only with their smartphones.
Mow lawns: Ask your neighbours if they want their lawns mowed in exchange for a donation to Mind BLMK.
Murder mystery night: The greatest question of all – whodunnit? Invite your friends and family over to play detective and solve the mystery.
Name the song: Challenge people to name the song from the first 10 seconds.
Night in: Staying in is the new going out. Invite your friends over for a night in. Have a banquet, have a dance party, have a spa night – the possibilities are endless.
Odd jobs: Offer to odd jobs for people in exchange for donations. Why not do their shopping or wash their car?
Office Olympics: Become an office Olympic champion by participating in a number of fun events such as paper plane flying and waste paper basketball.
Online gaming: The gaming community is a great place to connect with people across the world. Why not host a live stream fundraiser with your friends? With Live stream Fundraising on JustGiving, you can collect donations for Mind BLMK while you stream games or hobbies on Twitch.
Open-mic night: Host an open-mic night and discover your friends and family’s hidden talents.
Photograph competition: Do you have any top photographers? Organise a photography competition and ask entrants to make a donation to Mind BLMK. You could even set a theme for the competition. If there are any stand out entries you could hold an auction to raise some extra funds.
Plank challenge: Hold a competition to see who can hold a plank for the longest. Winner gets a prize!
Positive steps: Change your route to work for a week; can you walk instead and donate your usual travel costs? Or how about getting off two stops earlier and getting your walks sponsored?
Quiz night: Hosting a quiz at your local pub is easy to organise and a lot of fun. Be creative with quiz rounds; musical bingo, Family Fortunes or The Generation Game.
Ask teams to make a donation to enter, fine people for checking mobiles and organise a raffle or auction on the night. Prizes go to the team with the highest points and best team name.
Quote quiz: Whether it is film or literary quotes, test the knowledge of your friends with a quote quiz. Ask for a donation to enter and provide a small prize for the winner.
Raffle time: Ask your friends and local businesses to donate some fab prizes and organise a raffle.
Roaring 20s: Host a roaring 20s party for your friends and family. You can even make it Great Gatsby themed.
Rounders tournament: Hold a rounders Tournament and see who still has their PE skills.
School Non-Uniform Day – A common, but still very popular fundraiser where students donate a small amount of money to be able to wear their own clothes. It’s great to hold these days on a Friday or at the end of term for extra excitement!
Social Media Fundraising: Simply create a Just Giving fundraising page in aid of Mind BLMK and share the link via your social media post, bio, newsletter and mailing list to encourage donations.
Spelling bee: All you’ll need is a dictionary.
Sports day: Sports days are a great way to get people together for a good cause. You could do this in a local park and include some snacks and drinks too! Ask participants to make a donation to Mind BLMK and organise a grand prize for the winners.
Spring cleaning: Rummage through drawers and garages to find those old clothes or forgotten about belongings, and hold a jumble sale or clothes swap shop in your office or for friends.
Sweepstake: Hold a simple sweepstake on any event: the Grand National, FIFA World Cup, the length of your Senior Partner’s speech at the next team meeting. Charge to enter and split the money between the winner and Mind BLMK.
Time to Talk day: Set up a pledge wall and ask your colleagues to pledge their
support to fighting mental health stigma and discrimination. You can even order some materials from www.time-to-change.org.uk. Hold a team lunch fundraiser by providing homemade soup and a roll for all the team and ask people to donate the money they would have spent on lunch that day to MindBLMK.
Tombola: Host a tombola in your local community and give people the chance to win some lovely prizes.
Treasure hunt: Organise a treasure hunt around your local area. You can make it personal by including your favourite hang out spots.
University challenge: Hold a University Challenge style games out and found out who’s the smartest.
Upcycle: Upcycle some of your old items to sell and give them a new lease of life.
Village fete: Take things back to basics and hold a village fete. You could have lots of different stalls, some of our favourites are lucky dip, tombola, guess the name of the teddy, guess the number of sweets in a jar. Don’t forget, it’s not a village fete without a cake stall.
Vinted: Sell your old clothes, shoes, bags and other accessories on Vinted and donate the proceeds to Mind BLMK.
Walk to work: Get those steps in as you walk to work and donate the cost of your commute to Mind BLMK.
Wear it: Clashing colours or three hats, what will your friends choose? Ask your friends to make bids, highest bidder gets to choose what you wear for a day.
World Book Day – A great way to encourage more reading, but also a great exc
use to dress up for the day. Get your students, colleagues friends to dress up and make a small donation. It’s also a great opportunity for a social media buzz. World Book Day has lots of great resources to help you run your event successfully.
X-Box: Whether you like the X-Box, PlayStation or Nintendo, a host a gaming night with your friends and family. Who doesn’t love a Mario Kart competition?
Xmas: hold a party, go carol singing, sell mulled wine and mince pies, or provide a gift wrapping service.
Yogo Marathon: Feeling the strain from your training? Have a yogo marathon and stretch out whilst raising vital funds for Mind BLMK.
YOLO: You only live once so why not tackle that bucket list and get sponsored to do something incredible.
You smartie: Did you know that a smarties tube (130g) can hold 83 £2 coins? That is £166! Why not offer your colleagues some chocolate in exchange for them filling the tube? How much you can raise from other confectionary containers?
If you have any questions or would like to know more about fundraising for Mind BLMK, please contact our Fundraising and Engagement team by:
Phone: 01525 722222
Email: [email protected]
MindLine Trans+ is a confidential mental health support helpline for people who identify as trans, A gender, gender fluid, or non-binary.
Side by Side is a supportive online community where you can talk about your mental health and connect with others who understand what you are going through.
Find out more
Information and advice on a huge range of mental health topics from the national Mind website.
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