Looking to raise more all year round? Choosing fundraising ideas that match each season is a great way to keep fundraising fresh and inspire your donors to give more. In this article, we'll share some fantastic seasonal fundraising ideas to raise funds for your mission throughout the year.
Fundraising isn’t just for the Christmas Season. Nonprofit organizations must find ways to raise money throughout the year. Seasonal fundraising ideas help enrich their strategic plan for donations, excite donors, and entice new audiences. Plus, it is essential that you find a way to fundraise just anytime of the year to be able to continue the good work.
The following seasonal fundraising ideas are open to any demographic and can be customized to fit your organization and donor base.
First, let us have a look at what is seasonal fundraising to gain a better understanding of the subject.
Seasonal fundraising is how nonprofits can raise funds throughout the year. There are four seasons, and each includes several holidays and remembrances nonprofits can use to promote their missions and programs. Seasonal fundraising doesn’t always mean holidays. Instead, organizations can hold events and campaigns with themes and decorations that fit the seasons.
Fall brings up images of football, browning leaves, school buses, and pumpkins. The following ideas range from obvious Halloween and October events to more unique and creative events and campaigns.
Halloween, Thanksgiving, and other festivals pop up around most neighborhoods, and your nonprofit will have competition gaining donors’ attention. Oktoberfest is a popular way to get adults to attend your event.
You can hold a traditional Oktoberfest or get creative and offer something like a Bacon and Beer festival. Create a theme to carry through the event, sell tickets, collect funds from vendors, and sell products.
Parkrose Community United Church of Christ used the following donation form created on Donorbox to sell tickets to their Oktoberfest. As you can see, the form is customizable and you can add additional questions to your liking as this organization has. It also collects donors’ information and stores it securely so that you can reach out to them with communication pieces in the future.
Another great event idea to encourage participation is a Halloween Party. Nonprofits can have so much fun with this holiday but fitting this traditional event to your nonprofit is essential to its success.
If your donors are mainly adults, a gala or dance with costumes is perfect. If you have more families and young children, go ahead, and hold a Harry Potter day or Trick or Treat at your location.
In the following example, the organization is holding a mask parade during Halloween and this donation form is being used as a way to accept sponsorships. Each level of sponsorship is clearly defined in the campaign description, which makes it easy for businesses to decide.
If you’re looking for sponsorships for your fall fundraising event, a form like this would be great. Add a tier or two for general donations to the form, and you can use it to accept all kinds of donations!
James Bond has been around for generations and isn’t going anywhere soon. October 5 is James Bond Day. You can use this theme for your fall gala and include Bond’s heroism with other campaign types.
Bond is creative, strong, and smart. Your fall online campaign can focus on these features and help your donors feel like Bond. Give them control by giving them different ways to give, like recurring gifts, donor-advised funds, donation pledges, specific program support, and more.
Selfies are so common that companies make and sell selfie sticks to help improve your pictures. Nonprofits can jump on the selfie train by creating backgrounds that fit their organization’s mission and programs and let people take photos of themselves while touring your facility.
You can also include them as event activities for outdoor fairs or fancy galas. You won’t make significant funds from this activity. Still, you can gain influential publicity by encouraging your supporters to share their selfies on social media accounts and posting them on your website.
Guy Fawkes is a British holiday celebrated on November 5. The movie V for Vendetta made this historical figure and brought this day to the attention of Americans.
If you’re looking for a creative outdoor event, a Guy Fawkes night or bonfire night can be a cheap and fun way to celebrate fall. Sell tickets to the event and sell fall food like toffee, apples, pumpkin pie, hot chocolate, hot cider, and beer at the event venue to raise more money.
You can also invite and charge vendors and sponsors to set up tents and tables.
Winter begins with the season of giving, and most donors expect to be bombarded with Holiday events and campaigns. The following ideas include product sales and events. Also, during this time of year, you can combine several of these ideas.
Everyone needs a calendar in January. A calendar is an excellent way to raise funds and promote your programs if your nonprofit has access to quality pictures or photos.
Choose a new theme every year and include one or a few pictures to highlight your nonprofit. Add a page to your website, promote it on your social media accounts, send emails, and ask donors and volunteers to sell them to their friends and family.
You can also sell your holiday calendar at your holiday event or offices.
Below fundraising campaign raises funds by selling calendars and also giving donors two more donation options to give extra. If you scroll down and check their virtual donor wall, you’d see the flood of donations, most of which are more than the calendar price.
Christmas trees, wreaths, and wrapping paper are other products people need during the holiday season. Your nonprofit can sell one or all of these items online or in person at events or at your location.
Find a way to dress up these items with more decorations that create a present-like feeling. You can also design and print wrapping paper that fits your organization’s mission and program. If you work with wild animals and pets, try to use some of your nonprofit’s pictures to design a unique wrapping paper.
Another way your nonprofit can celebrate the beauty of the winter season is with an art event. Pick a theme and modems like ice, paint, or photography, and ask artists to share their talents. You can make it more exciting if you offer a prize to the artist that gets the most votes.
Nonprofits can also hold art contests online! Just create a theme or program to highlight, and ask artists to create their own campaign page and collect funds from their community.
Peer-to-peer fundraising proves to be highly effective in these cases. Artists would have supporters and networks of their own. So when they share these fundraising pages with them, a lot of people come to know about your organization and make a donation.
Donorbox Peer-to-Peer makes the whole process a breeze for organizations and fundraisers. You can quickly create a peer-to-peer campaign and invite people to fundraise for you. They’ll receive email invitations from Donorbox and will be guided on the tool to create their fundraising pages. All donations from all these peer campaigns will go to your original campaign account.
Here’s an example of a peer fundraising campaign wherein an artist is helping raise funds for their dance company.
Get Started With Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Chinese New Year is celebrated when the new moon appears between January 21 and February 20. Traditional New Year’s celebrations include red envelopes, fireworks, lanterns, food, families, and friends.
You can focus more on the family and food aspect by inviting volunteers and donors to hold Chinese New Year’s dinners at home while connecting with each other and the organization through live streaming services.
During this event, you can embed your donation form on the live streaming platform to help donors and volunteers make donations easily. Donorbox integrates with Airmeet, a live streaming platform for virtual events, to help you embed the Donorbox donation form in your virtual event sessions. Here’s how it looks –
Romantic dinners and dances are an obvious option on Valentine’s Day. But you can hold a “Galantine’s Day” event to target supporters without a romantic partner.
Galantine’s Day events can be fun and less stuffy, and since most donors are women, events that target women are a smart fundraising idea. Hold a spa day or Bunco night and serve cocktails and hors d’ oeuvres to pamper event attendees.
Spring is an ideal season to hold your fundraising event because people are dying for something to help keep their minds off the long winter months. Mother’s Day, Earth Day, and Easter can all give you a theme for your next event or fundraising campaign.
A dog show can be fun, messy, or high-class, depending on your audience. Invite people to bring their pets and ask them to dress them up in silly costumes. If you want, you can combine a dog wash and a dog show to make it a full-day event.
Sell tickets to donors and community members and ask dog-friendly vendors to set up stalls and market their products.
This idea is perfect for animal shelters and organizations helping families with pets. If you’re wondering how to best host a dog-friendly event while also entertaining human attendees, here’s an example. This event is for humans and dogs and includes a lot of fun elements to keep them all engaged. Look at the various ticket levels they’ve included in their pricing strategy.
Sell Tickets Online With Donorbox
Mother’s Day is another opportunity to pamper your female donors. A spa day party can make mothers feel special. A tea party or luncheon can also give mothers something to do with their kids on this special day.
You can sell tickets to both events and include other fundraising ideas like silent auctions or raffles to raise more funds. Check out this crowdfunding campaign for inspiration.
Everyone in your community appreciates Earth Day recycling events. If you choose to hold an event like this, you must set it up with your local government and promote it online and throughout local neighborhoods.
During a recycling event, your nonprofit can ask for additional donations and sell products like hats or t-shirts with your nonprofit’s logo.
Easter is usually a religious and family affair, so your nonprofit may not want to hold an Easter event, but that doesn’t mean you can’t capitalize on people’s love of candy!
Hold a candy or sweetness fair if you want to do something different. Invite local vendors to purchase a table and set up a table. Then sell tickets to event attendees to come and sample delicious treats from your area’s best dessert vendors.
To increase the excitement for this event, you can include games, contests, raffles, and other family-friendly activities.
Volunteer events aren’t big money-makers, but they’re crucial for the long-term success of your organization. Most nonprofits depend on volunteers to hold events and run programs. Nonprofits can’t discount their importance to the organization and their need for appreciation.
You can hold an Awards Night and Ceremony. Depending on where volunteers are based, this can be an in-person or hybrid event. Think of it as a way to acknowledge their efforts for the year-round hard work and dedication.
Give a shout-out to your best fundraisers and reward them. Invite your donors to attend the event and show support. Make this a fun-filled event with activities and food and meaningful conversations so that your volunteers feel special. This should also help you raise money through ticket sales and donations.
The Big Dig Day is a volunteer event including productive work as well as food, drink, and family-friendly activities. While the tickets are being sold for no amount of money and just for RSVP, you can always charge a small amount to help with the arrangements. Remember to make it easy for people to donate online at the event.
Create a Nonprofit Event on Donorbox
Summer is busy for everyone, but popular summer events can help nonprofits excite donors and bring in a new audience.
Mother’s Day is popular for events and campaigns, but fathers rarely get that much attention. Your nonprofit can target dads that feel ignored by holding a BBQ or Poker Night for men and their families.
Sell tickets and add auction items or product sales to raise money. You can also promote your organization’s programs by sharing how you help fathers or how fathers can make a difference in beneficiary’s lives.
If not a BBQ or a Poker Night, you can simply raise donations by helping send a Father’s Day card or e-card on behalf of a kid. Like how the below organization did it. They’ve used Donorbox’s tribute donation feature on the donation form to implement this idea.
Juneteenth is held on June 19. Although this celebration has been around since the Civil War, many people in the United States have only learned about it recently.
Your nonprofit can help promote diversity in your community by hosting a Juneteenth celebration and inviting black businesses and artists to share their products and services. Many nonprofits have promised to focus on more diversity, and a Juneteenth celebration can be an excellent place to start.
Take this opportunity to educate your community about Juneteenth and the impact African Americans have had on the country and your location.
Golf outings are a go-to summer event for many nonprofits. Nonprofits can hold golf outings in person, online, or hybrid events. The opportunities for fundraising range from registration fees to auctions, lunch and dinner tickets, golf activities, and more.
Because golf outings are so popular, nonprofits also face steep competition to get a crowd. If you’ve noticed your annual golf outing has lost attendees, you may want to find ways to spice it up.
You can do this by adding a fun element like a Caddy Auction to a women’s golf event. Caddy Auctions can bring in thousands of dollars by auctioning off local male business owners and celebrities.
Check out this example of a golf fundraiser campaign raising money through sponsorships and player donations as well as the employer matching widget on the donation form.
Outdoor concerts are another fun summer fundraising idea to draw in a large crowd. If your nonprofit has connections with professional musicians, you can use these contacts to raise significant amounts and entice more participation.
Even if you don’t have Lady Gaga’s cell number, you can still hold a popular outdoor concert. Local artists and talent shows are surprisingly popular events. Sell tickets to the concert, invite vendors to purchase a table, ask for donations, and hold a 50/50 raffle to excite attendees.
Reverse Raffles are a different take on the traditional raffle. Instead of calling on the winner, you call all the losers first. The individual holding the ticket number that doesn’t get called receives half the pot.
Reverse Raffle tickets can sell for up to $100, and events can last for hours or even months. Some organizations hold a new reverse raffle every week throughout the summer. Nonprofits can raise over $100,000 with a reverse raffle if done right.
Advertise the raffle everywhere, and focus on the amount the winner can take home. You’ll need to offer food, drinks, and entertainment to keep attendees interested while waiting for your organization to call all the raffle ticket numbers.
You can also ask for donations and add a silent auction to raise more funds throughout the evening.
Seasonal fundraising ideas can help you find new and creative ways to raise money for your organization throughout the year. Each of the ideas on our list can be held in person or as online or hybrid events.
Have you tried some other ideas during a particular season, which turned out to be a success? Let us know on the Donorbox Knowledge Community! It’s the best place for nonprofit peers to get to know each other, learn and grow together, and find useful resources.
Now that you have found some great fundraising ideas, you’d need a fundraising solution to ensure the most donations and new donors. Check out Donorbox and its simple-to-use, affordable, and effective features. Whatever you have on your mind – crowdfunding, selling tickets, peer-to-peer fundraising, memberships, recurring donations, and more – just sign up for free and get started with Donorbox!
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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.
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Kristine Ensor