In a world marked by personal ambitions and individual pursuits, the growth of charity challenges shows a growing global consciousness. Nonprofit organizations can join this trend by starting a charity challenge and helping supporters in their fundraising pursuits. In this article, we uncover the boundless opportunities that await us with charity challenges.
![Charity Challenges Explained [+ 10 Fresh Fundraising Challenge Ideas]](https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Charity-Challenges-Explained-1.png)
Charity challenges are a powerful conduit for collective action and community impact. They’re also a creative and simple way for nonprofit organizations to raise funds. Whether physical, mental, or artistic, charity challenges can unite and inspire individuals to push their limits while supporting a noble cause.
In this article, we’ll explore the significance and potential of charity challenges and provide a selection of challenge ideas to mobilize supporters.
A charity challenge is an event or campaign organized to raise funds and awareness for a charitable cause. Participants can perform physical activities like marathon running, mental challenges like giving up something, or artistic activities like talent shows or cooking competitions.
Nonprofits or individuals can start a charity challenge with the goal of combining personal achievements with philanthropy.
A nonprofit challenge can benefit participants and your organization.
For the individual, a charity challenge can increase the chances of success in meeting their goal because it provides supporting their favorite cause provides and incentive. Plus, challenges are fun!
In turn, charity challenges can expand your nonprofit’s outreach and marketing in the following ways.
The largest benefit of a charity challenge is its lack of geographic limitations. An exciting enough challenge will encourage participants from all over. Email and social media marketing make spreading the word about your campaign easier for you and your participants.
Choosing a challenge that aligns with your organization’s mission makes raising awareness for your cause easier. For example, health organizations can take advantage of the popularity of marathon training and fitness challenges to promote their mission and programs.
A charity challenge is an excellent way to inspire more people to take actions that better the community and the world. Environmental organizations, for starters, can hold a zero-waste challenge that makes a difference for future generations.
Charity challenges offer opportunities for people to connect with others and build relationships. Challenges that involve teamwork foster a sense of unity and cooperation to reach a common goal and strengthen the fabric of a community.
A charity challenge is an experiential fundraising idea that any organization can try. Fundraising tools like peer-to-peer campaigns can turn a personal challenge into an impactful money-maker. And because peer-to-peer fundraising puts your supporters in the driver’s seat, your nonprofit won’t have to dip into its marketing budget too much.
Spreading the word about participants’ goals and accomplishments and the organization’s mission and programs can also inspire the public to provide extensive funding.
Not sure how to get started with peer-to-peer fundraising? This guide is packed full of useful information to help you!
Although a charity challenge may be a new and unique fundraising idea for your organization, many of the same tools and tactics you use elsewhere can help you succeed.
First up, choose your challenge! Think of your mission, program, and fundraising goals to find a challenge that fits.
Nonprofit organizations attract more attention and raise more funds with charity challenges that educate and excite supporters. Be sure to choose a meaningful activity that aligns with your mission and benefits a cause your audience will want to support.
On one hand, health and environmental organizations can encourage participants to cut out food or products that damage the body or the world.
Educational and social organizations, however, may have an easier time reaching interested people and gaining more participants with a mental or artistic challenge, such as a reading competition.
Next up, determine the logistics of your challenge. Where and when will your challenge take place? Charity challenges can be held in person, virtually, or in a hybrid format.
Challenges may also run for a fixed period of time or be kept open for supporters to sign up anytime. Those that take place during a larger campaign or on an awareness day are more likely to raise significant funds because they can be combined with other messaging as well as leverage existing awareness about a cause.
Also, consider how you can expand fundraising efforts along with your challenge. For example, in-person events like a 5K or trivia night can be combined with online fundraising and outreach efforts. Challenge gifts can also be added to your campaign to increase the impact of each gift.
Whatever you do, be sure to consider the interests and preferences of your donor base before starting to plan your challenge.
Choosing the right tools to connect with your audience and fundraise for your cause is an essential step. Tools like Donorbox Peer-to-Peer make it easier for participants to create their own campaign pages, tell their stories, and share their progress online. But what does that look like in action? Let’s take a look!
Labs and More Dog Rescue in San Diego hosted a fun Halloween 5k run/walk event to raise funds for its vital work. This successful peer-to-peer campaign really saw success when a few inspired donors stepped forward to create a gift-matching fund of $10,000. Labs and More used this fund to challenge donors to give more and have a greater impact.
This fundraising campaign has raised more than $52,000 through peer-to-peer, with some of their top supporters raising nearly $10,000 in donations each!
Still not convinced? Here are 10 more examples of incredible peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns.
Planning for any fundraising campaign requires a good team, and a challenge is no different. From the beginning, it’s best to form a volunteer team to help run the logistics of your charity challenge and spread the word to the public, especially if your nonprofit is on the smaller side.
You’ll also have a greater chance of success with a crowdfunding and peer-to-peer campaign if you personally solicit a group of participants first. Increase their chances of success with online training tools on asking for donations and consistent updates on the program and how the campaign is going.
A bit of healthy competition can be a great way to mobilize supporters! Take your challenge to the next level – and boost awareness – by encouraging participants to share their involvement on social media. Consider tools like Facebook profile photo frames and hashtags. You could also encourage supporters to tag their friends and family in the comment section of your posts!
Don’t forget about those social sharing buttons on your Donorbox donation page – they make it even easier for participants to share campaigns and champion your cause.
After completing your charity challenge, celebrate and thank all participants, volunteers, donors, and sponsors for their contributions. Share the impact of the funds raised and how they will benefit your mission.
As you choose a charity challenge for your nonprofit, remember that the most successful challenges involve activities anyone can do. Some of the most effective charity challenges haven’t required supporters or organizations to put forth much effort at all.
The Ice Bucket Challenge is a perfect example of a unique idea turning into a global trend. By showing people that ALS can feel like having a bucket of ice poured over their heads, the ALS Association raised over $115 million with this campaign, plus boosted awareness.
Looking for more ideas? Your organization can use the following for inspiration.
A trivia night allows supporters to form teams and compete to win prizes. Trivia nights include a series of trivia rounds on various topics. Nonprofits can charge an entry fee to participate and seek sponsorships from local businesses.
Children and book lovers of all ages can participate in this challenge. Individuals or teams strive to read a certain number of books or pages within a designated time period and collect donations for each. Schools can make this a classroom competition to encourage students to read while raising crucial donations through a peer-to-peer campaign.
A virtual fitness challenge is a simple way for health organizations to inspire supporters. Choose an accessible challenge, like a daily walk or exercise routine, and provide goals for participants to reach. Individuals can share their fitness path online along with your donation page and raise funds while they work towards each goal.
A photo challenge is a fun way to increase awareness of your organization’s mission and encourage supporters to raise funds. Create a themed challenge that uses a selfie or photograph as one of the methods of participation. Pair the challenge with a unique, campaign-specific hashtag to easily track entries and engagement.
For example, an animal welfare charity could leverage an awareness month like Adopt a Cat Month in June to encourage supporters to post photos of their adopted cats and tag their organization or share a fundraising link. The charity could then host a sponsored raffle at the end of the month and use each publicly shared photo as a raffle entry.
Is there a simple way to describe a challenging concept that your supporters struggle with? Come up with your own “Ice Bucket Challenge” that shares your organization’s mission in creative ways. Then, encourage your followers to post videos of them completing the challenge while tagging five friends to do the same.
Be sure to create a hashtag that connects all of your and challenge participants’ social media posts!
The New Year is the perfect time for this type of challenge. Ask supporters to come up with something they want to give up and create a challenge that rewards them when they reach their goals. Maybe it’s their daily pumpkin spice latte, calling an Uber instead of taking the bus, or a weekly nail appointment. Part of the challenge could be that their donation amount is the cost of the item they’re giving up.
Ask participants to share their successes online and encourage them to get friends and family to donate for their hard work.
Movember is another well-known charity challenge success. Men grow mustaches in November to spread awareness and raise funds for mental health, suicide, and prostate and testicular cancer prevention. Nonprofits can jump on this trend or create their own hair dares, challenging people to go bald, cut, or dye their hair for a cause.
A 24-hour challenge is the most difficult on this list but can include dancing, gaming, walking, etc. Dance-a-thons are a perfect example of this type of challenge. They gained popularity during the Great Depression when people danced for hours to win cash prizes.
Your nonprofit can hold a dance-a-thon and ask attendees to collect pledges based on the number of hours they can continue dancing. You can gain more attention for this in-person event by streaming your event on YouTube, Facebook Live, or Zoom.
The strength of this is its openness. Supporters can challenge themselves to perform a certain number of random acts of kindness for a day, week, or month. They can share their experiences on social media and encourage donations to their favorite charity to their friends who want to perform an act of kindness of their own.
In a zero-waste challenge, individuals must recycle, compost, or reuse all used items over a set period of time. Participants then either post a photo of whatever’s left or carry it in a clear bag everywhere they go to spread awareness about how much waste humans produce on a regular basis.
Zero-waste challenges are a popular trend, but your environmental organization must share tips to ensure supporters make a real impact. Take it to the next level and challenge participants to donate $1.00 for every pound of waste remaining!
Bonus Resource: Free Webinar on Experiential Fundraising with examples from successful fundraising campaigns
Physical, mental, and artistic activities can encourage individuals to push their limits while supporting your mission. Remember, achieving a goal is only part of the benefit of holding a charity challenge. This fundraising activity can profoundly impact individual lives, causes, and the world in various ways.
Staying organized, flexible, and enthusiastic is essential when planning your challenge. Don’t hesitate to ask for help or advice from others who have experience organizing this type of fundraiser.
And Donorbox is here to help with the tools you need to raise more funds. Use Peer-to-Peer to enable challenge participants to create and share their own fundraising pages and Donorbox Events to sell tickets to any in-person challenges.
If you’re looking for more fundraising event ideas and ways to boost ticket sales, Donorbox provides fundraising tips and resources for nonprofits of every size! Sign up to receive access to weekly articles and templates in your inbox.
Kristine Ensor is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience working with local and international nonprofits. As a nonprofit professional she has specialized in fundraising, marketing, event planning, volunteer management, and board development.
Subscribe to our e-newsletter to receive the latest blogs, news, and more in your inbox.
Kristine Ensor