Regardless of whether you need to raise money for your church, school, or club, there are several ways to raise funds during this important holiday. In this post, we share both ideas for in person and online events. Whether you’re looking for some last-minute Easter fundraising ideas or to spruce up an existing fundraising plan, we’ve got you covered!
Hop into spring with exciting Easter fundraising ideas! As the season of renewal and forgiveness – as well as bunnies, chicks, and blooming flowers – approaches, it’s the perfect time to plan a fundraiser for your nonprofit organization.
Whether you’re raising funds for your church, school, or nonprofit, Easter offers plenty of opportunities to engage supporters and spread joy while supporting your cause.
Easter is one of the most important holidays of the year for many nonprofits, especially churches, Christian schools, and other organizations built on Christian values. It will be celebrated on Sunday, March 31 in 2024, however, there are plenty of opportunities to host Easter celebrations and fundraisers in the surrounding days and weeks.
Here are 10 Easter fundraising ideas – including fundraisers that can be held online or in person – that will help you celebrate this season with your supporters while bringing in important contributions to support your mission.
Is any list of Easter-themed fundraisers and events complete without the classic Easter egg hunt? These are always crowd-pleasers and can be a great way to involve the greater community in your nonprofit and bring in new donors.
While this may not seem like the most creative idea in the bunch, there are several unique versions you can try. Take a look!
Want your guests to get to know your nonprofit? Perhaps you’ve opened a new location and want to put a spin on the traditional tour? Provide clues that lead teams throughout your building or grounds, with a basket of plastic eggs (one color-coded egg for each team) hidden at each spot that contain the next clue. The winning team can win an Easter basket filled with goodies!
If you’re a church or other Christian organization, you can add a religious lesson to your egg hunt by placing slips containing portions of bible verses in your plastic eggs. Hunters can compete to find enough verses to complete the resurrection story, or you can ask them to look up verses in the Bible for an added prize.
Sometimes called a Rotten Egg Hunt, these are great fun for those 21 and up! Ask local businesses to contribue gift certificates, wine, jewelery, and other goodies that appeal to adults. Then, sell tickets that include a timed egg hunt as well as snacks and drinks. You can even offer tiered tickets that allow participants to start their hunt a few minutes early for a higher price! Goodies too big or valuable to include in the eggs? Print out slips with the prizes listed on them.
Provide an egg hunt for families in your community by offering to play Easter Bunny! For a small donation, volunteers for your nonprofit fill and place eggs in families’ yards the night before Easter. This is a great fundraiser for schools, clubs, church youth groups, and other organizations with a lot of teenagers or young adults willing to pitch in.
Make your Easter egg hunt part of a larger event filled with spring-themed activities, games, and entertainment. Guests can pay an entry fee to hunt eggs, or they can simply join in the festivities and watch as others hunt for prizes.
Check out how The Friends of Governors Island used Donorbox Events to sell tickets to their Easter egg hunt and spring event for all ages. They offered several tickets for different times and age brackets, plus plenty of other excitement throughout the day.
Sell tickets with Donorbox Events
Social fundraising leverages the social networks of your supporters to raise funds or awareness. It’s also a great way to raise awareness and funds without a big budget.
The most famous example of social fundraising is The Ice Bucket Challenge by ALS. The challenge grew virally and quickly became a social media phenomenon.
Why not hop on board the social fundraising trend and use it to benefit your nonprofit this Easter? Create your own campaign with a unique challenge related to your mission. Then, invite followers to complete the challenge, give to your nonprofit, and share it on social media while tagging friends to do the same!
Your “add your own” challenge should be relatively quick to complete. For example, churches can ask followers to share a clip from their favorite Easter-themed hymn or worship song. Other nonprofits can ask for posts with an image of a decorated Easter egg or a video doing 10 ‘bunny hops’ for exercise.
All participants should be encouraged to use a unique hashtag created for the challenge as well as share a link to donate to a crowdfunding page for your nonprofit.
Pro tip: Add another level to your challenge with peer-to-peer fundraising. Each of your challenge participants creates their own fundraising page connected to your campaign, then award prizes to those who capture the highest number of donations by sharing their page with their family and friends.
Who wouldn’t want an incredible Easter basket filled with goodies to make their Easter morning bright?
Basket auctions are a great fundraising idea because they can be planned and executed on a small budget. Fill them with items that are easy to source or get donated – you can also bundle smaller items into one package! Consider what will inspire someone to bid, like a plush bunny, seasonal shortbread cookies, colorful kettle corn, and Easter-themed candy.
Then, auction the baskets off through an online auction, at an in-person event, or following a worship service.
If you’d like to explore different themes for your Easter baskets, consider some of the following ideas:
It’s not uncommon for gift baskets to wind up selling for hundreds of dollars, depending on what the theme is. They can range anywhere from $50 to $500 in value, depending on the quality and exclusivity of the items.
Not sure where to start? Our ultimate guide to online auction fundraising takes you through each step of the process!
Fresh-cut flowers are one of the best things about spring!
Partner with a local florist to run a campaign together, with a portion the profits from select flower sales going towards your mission.
The florist will still be making a profit from the sales, and will also be growing their audience (by accessing your nonprofit’s audience). Plus, they get to enjoy contributing to a good cause and building their reputation as a socially responsible business. Win-win!
You can either ask that the florist sell the flowers through their own website, adding a short description about your nonprofit and how the sales of the flowers will support your mission. Or, you can set up a online donation form with a different ask amount for each floral arrangement available for purchase.
If you’re a church, you can take this one step further and ask congregants to purchase flowers to decorate your worship space on Easter morning. Each person who donates can then take home a flower or arrangement of their choice after the service.
With advanced form customizations through Donorbox Pro or Premium, you can add images of the flowers or floral arrangements alongside each ask amount to give your supporters a visual of what they are purchasing with their donation.
Learn about Donorbox Pro & Premium
Breakfasts, lunches, and teas with the Easter Bunny are quintessential Easter activities and can be a great fundraiser for a church or school.
Want to expand your reach? Get creative and move your Breakfast With Easter Bunny online!
Whether you hold your event in person or online, hire a local character actor to portray the Easter Bunny. Have a story time, music, a sing-a-long, and more – just like you would if the event was organized in person. Organize a coloring contest for kids to enter for a chance to win a postcard from the Easter Bunny.
If gathering in person, provide quick snacks like donuts or small sandwiches for your meal. Ask local bakeries or cafés to donate the food in exchange for placing their logo on event advertisements and signage.
Going virtual? Donorbox’s seamless integration with Airmeet makes hosting virtual fundraising events a breeze. Online events give you a chance to raise money, engage with your existing donors, and reach a wider audience of new supporters. Before you get started, check out our detailed guide on how to host a virtual fundraising event.
Easter egg decorating can be organized as a stand-alone event, or as an add-on to another celebration, like a picnic!
Provide all of the necessary supplies for participants to decorate their eggs, such as egg dye, paint, chalk, and stickers. Want to keep things a little cleaner? Provide plastic or ceramic eggs to decorate or offer coloring pages for younger children. Make it a contest with prizes in different age categories for creativity and uniqueness.
Pick a beautiful outdoor venue like a local park or your own grounds. Just make sure to have a backup indoor venue in case it rains or is a little cold outside – it is spring, after all!
If you’d like to extend your event to include a picnic, keep your menu simple and charge a small fee per plate. Or, bring in food trucks and vendors to sell their goods, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting your cause.
You may also choose to sell tickets to the event or request a free-will donation from those who wish to decorate eggs.
Pro tip: Leverage gifts-in-kind! Secure egg decorating supplies from a local sponsor to ensure that all ticket sales and donations go straight toward your mission.
Craft events are a big hit with families! Hosting an Easter Crafternoon in the dining hall after school, in the church common space or yard, in a park, or another suitable space will appeal to many in your audience.
Prepare a range of Easter and spring-themed crafts to make, including foam bunnies, baskets, daffodil pinwheels, and wreaths. Provide basic baked sugar cookies, shaped like rabbits and carrots, and then have the kids paint them with edible paint. Older kids can also create simple bunny outfits by creating headband ears, flower crowns, and accessorizing t-shirts and onesies. You can also offer temporary tattoos or face painting!
Charge a fee per crafter and allow them to make as many items as they’d like, or charge a smaller fee per craft.
Want to raise even more funds? Turn this into a ‘Parents’ Day Out!’ Bring in a group of teenagers or young adults to volunteer as child care and crafting assistants, then invite parents to drop their children off for a few hours of fun in exchange for a donation.
Want a quick fundraiser you can implement with little effort? Guessing competitions are a classic choice!
Simply fill a jar with a seasonal treat (think candy eggs or jelly beans) and ask participants to guess how many are in it. Charge a small donation for each guess and set a deadline for guessing. The person with the closest guess wins a prize – typically the jar filled with candy!
Alternatively, you can bake an enormous carrot cake, decorated with cream cheese icing and a few Easter eggs and carrots. Ask participants to guess the weight of the cake! The winner, of course, is awarded the cake.
This Easter fundraising idea works great for schools but can be adapted for many different nonprofits or added to most any event.
Pro tip: Use an on-site giving kiosk to collect a donation for each guess, enabling participants to give quickly via card, smartwatch, or smartphone. The Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app makes it easy to set up your own donation kiosk with just a tablet and a card reader.
The Easter season offers many opportunities for creative baking and decorating. Plus, there is a rising desire for experiential fundraising opportunities, when your supporters receive something in return for their gift. So why not host an Easter baking class?
Gather or procure baking tools and goodies, tap into your imagination, and create a delightful holiday experience for your participants. Find simple recipes for cakes and cookies, plus ideas for decorating eggs and filling Easter baskets. Adjust the difficulty and the content of the class to your audience.
For example, if you’re working with children, add melted chocolate to egg molds to make chocolate eggs. If you’re working with adults, your baking class could involve baking a delicious carrot cake.
Charge a participation fee to raise funds for your cause!
Spring is the time when many of us declutter, clean, and refresh our spaces. Give your supporters a place to donate their gently used clothes, furniture, seasonal decorations, and other items by hosting a spring cleaning sale!
Simply give those interested a week or two to bring in their donated items, then host a rummage sale. All proceeds will go directly to your mission!
Promote your event on social media and to your direct network of supporters to bring in items as well as shoppers. You can use Donorbox Crowdfunding and encourage people who do not have items to donate to make a cash donation instead.
If you want to take it up a notch – and your volunteers are willing – you can also offer house cleaning or gardening services as part of a larger spring cleaning campaign.
Have a list of your supporters who have opted into your fundraiser. Organize them by location and give each of your volunteers a list of homes that need to get cleaned or have items that you need to collect.
Hopefully, you are now equipped with a few more Easter event ideas in your arsenal! With a bit of creativity and dedication, you can organize something that not only raises funds but also gets people together and engaged with your cause during this time of celebration.
Donorbox is here to help you raise more with a powerful suite of fundraising tools designed to help you help others. Among several innovative features, find easy-to-use donation forms, swift cashless giving with Donorbox Live™ Kiosk, event ticketing, Text-To-Give, Peer-To-Peer, and so much more.
To find more resources and get the guidance you need to boost your fundraising efforts and grow your nonprofit, check out the rest of the Donorbox Nonprofit Blog.
Happy Easter!
Ilma Ibrisevic is a content creator and nonprofit writer. She’s passionate about meaningful work, sustainability, and social movements. If she’s not working, she’s obsessing over coffee or cooking. You can connect with her on Linkedin.
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Ilma Ibrisevic