DIY Fundraising Ideas 

Posted by Katie Collins on 3 December 2022

This may or may not come as a surprise but the people who take on their own fundraising challenges on your behalf, want to do the best job possible. They don’t want the easy way. They’re looking for a challenge, something truly worth donating to. Which is why most of the time it will include plenty of DIY fundraising ideas. Peer to peer fundraising has always been a very powerful tool. Your biggest supporters are getting out there and sharing their passion to get others donating and in recent years it’s grown by roughly 117%, so now is the time to encourage it.

By sharing these DIY fundraising ideas you can give back to those who are your biggest supporters. It might be that you have a huge audience, hundreds of people who are willing to take on a challenge or set up an event, but they just haven’t found something that piques their interest. And before you think it, not everyone wants to run a marathon. So be sure to share these DIY fundraising ideas so all of your audience can get involved and you can create a huge network of effective peer-to-peer fundraisers.

How to set up your DIY fundraisers

Finding an idea is only the beginning so it’s important to also give them the equipment to collect donations. Encouraging people to create online pages with Givergy can help. It’s really easy to do. Create a profile page and announce a target. If they raise above their target then great, but it can be really positive for donators to see how much has been raised as it encourages them to donate more. 

While it’s important to share ideas with your audience, make sure that you give them that all important call to action. Telling your audience ‘Here’s the perfect idea so you can fundraise for us’ doesn’t quite have the same impact if you don’t have, ‘and here’s how to get started’ at the end of that sentence. So don’t forget it.

Most popular DIY fundraising ideas

An active event

If there’s one thing that’s become more fashionable in recent years it’s going to the gym. More of us than ever have connections with ‘active’ people. Whether it’s a large commercial gym with some ‘lifting bros’ that we bump into now and then or a regular pilates for mums class. Tapping into that community is a great way to raise money.

You can create your own class where people pay to take part. Why is it a good idea? Because the people you’re talking to already love taking part in the activity. Which means they’ll need little persuasion. People want to give to good causes, they just want to do so in the easiest way. So if they don’t have to do something boring, painful or too confusing – it’s a win-win situation. By creating an active event, people pay to do something they already love but the money goes to a good cause – for them, there’s no better way to help.

Cooking classes

This idea is perfect for all the couple friends you know. There are few activities that are as fun and intimate as cooking together. Quite often, couples will cook together in their own kitchens at home as quality time. By providing a cooking class you can get people raising money for what they’ll perceive as a fun date night idea.

Cooking classes are easy to put on, all you need is a local chef willing to donate their time and an adequate space. It could be in a local restaurant and out of hours. By doing this you also have a supply for any of the ingredients needed in the class. Speak to people in your community and let them know it’s for a good cause – you’ll be surprised how many people want to get on board. Quick tip: Do this idea around Christmas and Valentine’s Day, the most romantic days of the year.

Online DIY fundraising ideas

Birthday fundraisers

Every single year our birthdays come around and there are varying degrees of celebration depending on the person. You might go for drinks with a few friends, go out for dinner with family or throw a huge party for a big 3-0. You might have people buy you drinks, send your money directly, buy gifts, buy dinners. But what if you used your birthday as a way to raise money for your charity? Transform your birthday into a fundraiser.

Platforms such as Facebook are already taking advantage of this by having information on when your birthday is. So why not take part? Social media platforms already have hundreds of connections, and if you set up a fundraiser through them, they’ll notify your contacts of the fundraiser and remind them to donate. You can share it and ask your family and friends to donate instead of buying their typical gifts. It’s the perfect effortless way to raise money each year.

Money requests

This is one of our favorites because it encourages people to get involved but also praises those who already have done. Create yourself a small graphic perfect for sharing on social media. This can easily be done through a free account using something like Canva. Create a grid with multiple amounts of money on it. Share it on your socials, ask people to donate, and when they donate, reshare your graphic and tag the donator onto the post – stating that they have ‘claimed’ that donation. 

Make four of each: $5 donations, $10 donations and $20 donations. They can then share their good deed on their social channels – giving yours more publicity than before and continuing the conversation with your own viewers. We suggest making the graphic simple and clear. A four-by-four grid, maybe with a title at the top of what your fundraiser is called and who it is for. Then, get sharing. This is a powerful small action we’ve seen successfully executed time and time again.

DIY-athons

We’ve already mentioned how the classic marathon probably isn’t for most people but that doesn’t mean that the marathon can’t inspire a few people on their fundraising journey. Check out some of our favorite DIY-athon ideas:

• Danceathons – dancing for 26 hours
• Gameathons – streaming online games for 26 hours
• Walkathons – walking for 26 hours or 26 miles
• Readathons – reading 26 books
• Basketathons – how fast can you shoot 26 baskets?
• Cookathon – cooking 26 meals for the hungry in your area

Simple DIY fundraising ideas

Making a calendar

We’ve seen plenty of people create calendars throughout the years. In fact, it’s one of the oldest DIY fundraising ideas out there. There are even films dedicated to it (check out the British film Calendar Girls if you love Sex in the City). You can do this solo or you can get a group of people together. It might be your own photography that you use or you could hire a photographer to take creative photos of you. It could also be photos and stories of people who benefit from your charity. 

Creating merchandise

Calendars are just the beginning. Make t-shirts, badges, hats, flags, pens. You can put a slogan on pretty much anything these days – you just need to find a company you want to work with. Buy your merchandise and sell it for a profit, then you can donate your profit to your good cause. It’s simple to do and an easy way for people to get involved without doing anything. Plus, they’ll feel like they’re getting something back for their contribution which only encourages them to donate more.

Katie Collins

Campaign Success Team Manager – UK

Katie heads up the UK Client Success team. With experience working with a multitude of organisations across Europe, Katie has in depth knowledge about what it takes to run successful fundraising campaigns and events. Her passion for advising clients on how to maximise their fundraising is fueled by helping them meet and exceed their goals!