Valentine’s Fundraising Ideas That Could Make You Go Viral

Posted by Ben Crook on 23 January 2018

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, but to create an amazing fundraising campaign, step away from the stereotypical image of loved up couples eating pasta Lady and the Tramp style, whilst singletons are sat at home crying into a tub of Ben & Jerry’s. If you’re bored of commonly used fundraising methods, like cards and flowers with a percentage of the price donated to your cause, we’ve found some pretty interesting campaigns that you can use as inspiration and you never know, they could just go viral!

Name a cockroach after your ex

The Bronx Zoo in New York, offered the chance to name one of its Madagascar hissing cockroaches, for just $10. Starting in 2011, they’ve since had over 11,000 roaches named, raising a minimum of $110,000! Each recipient gets emailed a certificate letting them know that one of the world’s largest roaches has been named after them, and the Zoo has recently added on the option to send chocolates in exchange for a higher donation. Hilarious and ingenious, this is out of the box thinking at its finest.

Galentine’s Day

Technically this is a whole other day, falling on 13th February, but is one that would work especially well for women’s charities. Galentine’s Day is the creation of fictional character Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation. Leslie describes the day as ‘ladies celebrating ladies’, when women single or otherwise, leave their partners to hang out with their girls. Spreading out from just fans of the sitcom, Galentine’s was quickly adopted by the hipster generation and even trended on Twitter last year. Set up a #Galentines event or ask your donors to ditch Valentine’s day and instead inspire some girl power.

2018 has been a huge talking point for women rights, with gender pay gaps and sexual harassment being brought to light in the media; now is the time to make a valuable change in the world.

Dinner dates

Do you have any donors/contacts in the hospitality sector that could donate a romantic dinner at a Michelin starred restaurant or stay at a luxurious hotel? You could create a prize draw/raffle where people pay to enter, so you’re raising money. To amplify the campaign and take your mission global, enlist the help of an A-list celebrity and auction off a ‘date’ with said celeb. You’re bound to raise a huge amount of money and gain national media coverage. Of course getting access to an A-list celebrity can be tricky, but take a look through your contacts and think of unique experiences. A prize draw to win a Skype call with the very handsome Alex Vlahos from TV series Versailles raised in excess of 2,000 through Givergy.com.

Creating a Valentine’s campaign that steps away from traditional fundraising techniques gives you the opportunity to really stand out from the crowd, and apart from raising funds, will also help raise awareness of your cause! If you’d like help setting up an online auction or prize draw, check out some of our online campaign ideas. Unfortunately, we do not have access to cockroaches.

Ben Crook

Chief Operating Officer

Ben is at the forefront of every project in Givergy, listing and actioning constant improvements across the business. With over a decade of experience in the charity and events sector he brings a deep understanding of what the fundraising industry needs to operate effectively and efficiently.