Fundraising at Easter

Posted by Emily Clare on 6 February 2023

Easter is nearly upon us and it’s time to get creative with fundraising ideas. It’s a fun time with many community and family events taking place. Let us make the most of these events to raise your funds. It’s also the start of Spring for many of us. Why not take advantage of everyone’s positive mood to pique interest in giving to good causes.

Eating at Easter

Everyone loves good food and treats at Easter. This is a money maker for your charitable cause. 

• Restaurants and takeaways will love the publicity they would get through the donation of an Easter brunch or dinner as a prize in an online auction or raffle.  

• Ask your local shopkeepers whether they could donate a raffle or auction prize of festive food such as ham and lamb joints, Simnel cake, hot cross buns, Easter eggs (large and small), chocolate bunnies, and more.  Businesses selling luxury hampers would also be a good target as a sponsor at Easter. 
• It’s a perfect time for a cake, cookie and chocolate sale.  Read our blog on how to run a successful cake sale for some brilliant advice for organizing such a sale. Local bakers will jump (bunny hop!) at the chance to show off their produce and many people enjoy baking for a good cause. 

In contrast to the ‘festive plumping’ over the Easter weekend, the 40 days prior is marked by fasting from food and festivities during Lent.  Think about ideas for people and groups you know to participate in a sponsored fast.  e.g. the giving up of their favorite things/guilty pleasures such as alcohol, sweets, cakes, cookies etc.  40 days might be too long for this, but between one week and one month will be a reasonable period. 

Good Friday would be a great opportunity for you to help out the homeless with Easter food and treats.  You could work with food banks and homeless charities to make this happen, and raise money and awareness of your good cause as well.

Community Events

Many people enjoy Easter as it gives them an excuse to dress up. You can take advantage of this with local parades and fashion shows. Get some ideas from New York’s own Easter Parade and you can include Easter bunny and best dress competitions. Indoor and outdoor venues can be used with schools and community halls a great resource. Local businesses can be asked to sponsor your event. Get your community ‘rocking and rolling’ with candy and egg rolling competitions, as well as Easter egg treasure hunts, mask making, bunny hop danceathons.

Who doesn’t love a movie at Easter? Approach your local/pop up cinema to show Easter or Spring related family movies e.g. Ice Age, The Great Eggscapade, The Dog Who Saved Easter. Donate some or all of the proceedings to your good cause.

Spring into action

Spring sees nature at its fresh and active best, and brings about those lovely longer, lighter, warmer days.  It’s the perfect time for you to get people outdoors and raise money on walking, running and nature related events. You should look at organizing sponsored walks, runs and outdoor quizzes/treasure hunts.   Make the most of the vibrancy of the daffodils, bluebells, blossom, and birdsongs.  Organize guided walks in town parks and the countryside.  Local wildlife experts and park wardens will help and be keen to pass on their knowledge, usually at no cost.  You can make a small charge to join the walk and raise  awareness of your cause.

Tips for fundraising success

Give yourself plenty of time to get your events organized so they will run smoothly on the day. We can help from the start – read more about how we can help you maximise your success through silent auction technology. 

For a parade or event which involves the public, make sure you know about the permissions required and have them in place.  Health and Safety is a prime issue, and risk assessments are commonly required.  Don’t be put off, they aren’t as difficult as you might think.   Avoid conflict with any regular Easter activities and other known events in your area.  

Marketing messages should link closely with the Easter and Springtime themes referred to above.  It’s a fantastic ‘feel good’ time of the year which you can use in your marketing.  ‘Be good on Good Friday’ or similar may be part of your marketing.  Use persuasive and emotive language.  Think carefully about tailoring your messages to your particular audience.

The use of social media and search engine optimization (SEO) can raise awareness of your event to another level.  If you are not into social media, get some help from us. Givergy can give you invaluable assistance here.  See our SEO guide to ensure your fundraising page is optimized. Be direct and straightforward in your message about how donations can be made and what benefits donations will bring.  Make sure everyone is in no doubt how much you would like them to donate.  Read our accompanying blog on peer to peer fundraising for more tips.

Emily Clare

Campaign Success Team Manager – North America

Emily is an experienced and passionate fundraising and events consultant, working with and supporting clients on their special events and fundraising campaigns all over the world.