A–Z fundraising ideas
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
- A close shave: Shave or wax your beard, chest, legs or even your head to fundraise for Mind.
- Afternoon tea: Hold an afternoon tea for your friends and family or even in the office and enjoy some yummy cakes and sandwiches.
- Auction: Organise an auction, ask friends, family and even local businesses for items to auction off.
- 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.
B
- 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? See our tips on organising a bake sale.
- Book swap: Books are made to be shared. Why not host an office book swap day? Promote the event around the office and encourage everyone to bring in their own books. Make a donation to Mind to participate!
C
- 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.
- Charity night: From a music gig to a spot of karaoke, a charity night is a great way to get people together to raise money for Mind. Go to our tips on organising a successful event.
- Cheese evening: Host a brie-lliant 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 and family to enjoy your culinary delights in exchange for a donation.
D
- 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.
E
- 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, 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.
F
- 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.
G
- Give it up: Give up something you love for a good cause. Avoid chocolate, Facebook, using the lift – choose your challenge and ask your friends and family to show their support by contributing to Mind.
- 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.
- 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.
H
- Halloween party: Organise a spooky event to raise money for Mind. 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, and ask your friends and family to do the same.
I
- 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 has to offer.
J
- 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.
K
- Karaoke night: Who has the hidden talent?
- Keepy uppy competition: Who can keep the ball in the air for the longest?
L
- 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 to attend.
- Loose change collection: Ask your friends, family and colleagues to donate their loose change.
M
- Manager vs. manager: Pit your managers against each other to see who can raise the most money for Mind, equipped only with their smartphones.
- Mow lawns: Ask your neighbours if they want their lawns mowed in exchange for a donation to Mind.
- Murder mystery night: The greatest question of all – whodunnit? Invite your friends and family over to play detective and solve the mystery.
N
- 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.
O
- 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.
- Open mic night: Host an open mic night and discover your friends and family’s hidden talents.
P
- Photograph competition: Do you know any keen photographers? Organise a photography competition and ask entrants to make a donation to Mind. 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.
- 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?
- Plank challenge: Hold a competition to see who can hold a plank for the longest. Winner gets a prize!
Q
- 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. Here's our guide to organising a successful quiz night.
- Quote quiz: Whether it is film or literary quotes, test the knowledge of your colleagues with a quote quiz. Ask for a donation to enter and provide a small prize for the winner.
R
- Raffle: Ask your partners, suppliers or friends 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.
S
- Spelling bee: all you’ll need is a dictionary.
- 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.
- 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 and organise a grand prize for the winners.
- 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.
T
- Time to Talk Day: Set up a pledge wall and ask your colleagues to pledge their support to fighting mental health stigma and discrimination. 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 Mind.
- 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.
U
- 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.
V
- Village fete: Take things back to basics and hold a village fete. You could have lots of different stalls, some of my 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.
W
- Walk to work: Get those steps in as you walk to work and donate the cost of your commute to Mind.
- 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.
X
- 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.
Y
- Yoga marathon: Feeling the strain from your training? Have a yoga marathon and stretch out whilst raising vital funds for mind.
- 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?
Z
- Zero waste day: Challenge your colleagues to go zero waste for the day. Ask for £2 donations to take part and split the funds with the most successful person and Mind.
- Zumba: Host a Zumba party with your friends and family and have non-stop fun whilst working out and raising money.