15 Fun & Unique Fundraising Ideas for Kids

Posted by Ella Jacques on 7 February 2023

Looking for some unique and enjoyable fundraising ideas for kids? Our Givergy platform users have done some incredible fundraisers over the years, so we wanted to share our top favorite unique ideas to help inspire your next fundraising project. Discover the benefits of getting kids involved in fundraising, see our top 20 ideas and then read our advice for keeping kids safe when fundraising. Plus, learn how you can help them to achieve their fundraising goals.

Why should kids start fundraising?

One way to teach kids about philanthropy early and build their soft skills is by getting them to take ownership of their own fundraising project. 

Not only will they enjoy the challenge, but the sense of achievement they’ll feel from completing their fundraising idea, all whilst raising money for good causes, is bound to have a positive lasting impact on their character. 

Fundraising helps kids with all kinds of skills including: problem solving, creativity, numerical skills, and most importantly it helps develop their people skills – after all, you need people’s contributions to meet your fundraising targets!

15 unique fundraising ideas for kids

We’ve collated our top 15 favorite fundraising ideas below, which we hope will inspire your next fundraising project.

1. Random act of kindness challenge

Kindness is at the heart of fundraising, so what better idea to kick off our list than a random act of kindness challenge.

There are various ways this can be done. The child could:

• See how many random acts of kindness they could do in a set time frame (such as 2 hours, a day etc)
• Commit to doing a different random act of kindness every single day for a week or a month

For longer time commitments, the child could keep an online diary of their random acts of kindness so their supporters could follow along.

2. Sponsored car boot sale

Everyone loves to pick up a bargain, so why not ask your child to organise a sponsored car boot sale. This involves asking people such as neighbours, friends, classmates, to bring in unwanted items for a ‘car’ boot sale – with all proceeds going to the chosen fundraising cause.

From clothes to old toys, games to handmade items – you could do a mixture of items or pick a specific category to set a theme. Just don’t let attendees haggle too much!

To increase proceeds, you could even ask all attendees to pay an entry fee – even something as small as a pound can go a long way to reaching your fundraising targets.

3. Community recycling

Want to raise money for charity all whilst helping the local environment? This idea is great for groups. A community recycling fundraising event involves going around your local neighbourhood – from homes to businesses – to collect their recycling. You could also target public spaces such as parks and other green areas.

Donations can be collected from your local community, since you’ll be making it a more enjoyable environment for everyone.

4. Give up something you love

Does your child not go a day without a sweet treat or a session on their video games? A challenging but interesting fundraising idea is to give up a much loved item or activity for a week (or if they’re really feeling determined – an entire month).

5. 24 hour fancy dress challenge

Kids generally love dressing up, so a really fun idea is a 24 hour sponsored fancy dress challenge. Let them become batman or their favourite fiction character for the day, from school to bedtime – just don’t forget to capture some photos of their transformation!

To make things a little more interesting, they could also add that they have to speak like their fancy dress character for the entire time! Quite an ask – but also more likely to raise the fundraising donations!

6. Battle of the bands concert

Combine music and good causes with this brilliant fundraising idea. Ask kids from the community or within their school to create their own bands, then organise a talent show where they can battle it out to be crowned the winners.

This is a great one for getting donations both through ticket sales of the concert and also individual donations for those braving the stage!

7. Neighbourhood clean up

This is similar to the recycling idea mentioned previously, but this time it focuses on a general clean up of the local environment.

This could mean picking up litter, painting, removing graffiti or even planting flowers in the local community garden.

8. Sponsored nursing home day

One way to help tackle loneliness, whilst raising funds, is by visiting a care home in the child’s community – whose residents will likely be glad of the additional company. The child could do a sponsored day volunteering in a care home, or even organise some entertainment such as a talent show or mini concert for residents to enjoy.

9. Sponsored walk or run

Whilst sponsored walks and runs are a popular fundraising idea, you could make yours more interesting by adding a fancy dress theme or doing an interesting route, ticking off important milestones as you go along or even creating a treasure map style route of your town or city.

10. School restaurant experience

Let the kids take your order! For one night only, turn the school canteen into a restaurant serving up dishes prepared by the children. Younger kids can get involved by waiting tables and showing guests to their seats. A fun experience for all – and a great way to get donations from the bills (and tips!).

11. Non-stop instrument challenge

Got a child who’s passionate about guitar, piano or any instrument? Challenge them to play for an entire morning, lunch hour or to give up their weekend to play for the local community in a sponsored instrument fundraiser.

12. Singing telegrams

A unique but fun idea for the kids in your life who love to sing! Ask them to visit neighbours, family and friends with a special signing telegram message. They could even offer specific requests, and extra points if it’s someone’s birthday!

13. Lemonade stand

It’s a classic for a reason! Imagine the lure of a cool glass of refreshing lemonade (or any non alcoholic beverage over ice) on a warm summer’s day. The iconic lemonade stand is bound to be a hit with neighbours in the summer. Make it delicious enough, and they’ll likely be back for seconds!

14. Sponsored silence

You don’t need anything to do this one – not even your voice! A sponsored silence is a challenging but brilliant fundraising idea – most people will question the kid’s ability to do it (especially if it’s for an entire day or even week!) which will likely gather some generous donations.

15. Community or school photobooth

Forget the instagram filters – it’s all about your photobooth for creating fun image memories. Create your own fundraising photobooth with props (or even sounds for videos!) and offer your school or community members the chance to use it for a fee.

From crazy glasses, wigs to exotic backgrounds – make it as interesting as you can!

How kids can fundraise safely

Whilst fundraising is generally a safe activity for children to get involved with, there are various things to consider, to help avoid any safety issues (and tears!).

Carrying cash

If your child is going to be receiving cash donations either at school or anytime when you’re not around to oversee it, then it’s a good idea to have a plan for how they will store that cash safely. Not only do kids commonly misplace items (parents who’ve had to call the bus company will know all too well about this!) but there is also the danger of the child making it known they have cash on them – which may be tempting to thieves.  Ideally, all donations would be done digitally through a fundraising platform such as Givergy, but if any donations are received as cash, then you could:

• Ask a trusted teacher to be the designated holder until the end of school 
• Find out if there is any safe storage options at the facility where the fundraising idea is taking place
• Encourage your child to ask for digital donations so less cash is carried on them

Physical fitness

Before a child embarks on any gruelling fitness or physical challenges for fundraising, they should have a health assessment and also take steps to prepare for their fundraising event. For example, if the child is doing a sponsored run, they could practise in the month leading up to the event to build their stamina. 

It’s also wise not to plan a fundraising event right after any existing sporting commitment to avoid overexertion.

Staying hydrated 

It’s easy to get caught up in the planning of a fundraising event and forget about the simple things that will help make it a success – and a key one that comes up often is staying hydrated.

If the fundraising event is over a period of hours or days then plan ahead to ensure the child will have plenty of water (and even nutritious snacks) to keep them going.

Speaking to strangers

If part of the child’s fundraising efforts involves speaking to people they don’t know – such as the community recycling idea or even the lemonade stand – then ideally they would have a responsible adult that they know and trust with them throughout.

If that’s not possible, then make time to speak to the child about dealing with strangers safely – such as not giving out personal details or going anywhere with them. Whilst it’s very rare that any issue would ever come up, as fundraising is generally a fun and safe activity, it’s much safer to be prepared and keep the child in the know.

How kids can meet their fundraising goals

Once the child has decided which fundraising idea they want to go with, then you can help them to achieve their fundraising targets with the following techniques.

Post on an adult’s social media

If you’re comfortable sharing your child on your own social media then this is a great place to start – especially as family members who follow you are likely to be the most generous.  Ask friends and family to share the fundraising post and leave a comment on it, so that more people see it.

If the child is old enough to post on their own social media then just be sure they don’t send any login details for fundraising platforms or share any personal details.

Contact your local newspaper for a feature

Get a fun photo and write a description of what your child is doing and what good cause it’s for. Most newspapers love featuring good causes – especially if it involves a unique fundraising idea! 

Phone in your local radio station

Again, radio stations love feel-good stories! Woo them with your unique fundraising idea for a feature in their community segment. 

Ask to go in the school newsletter

The child’s school will have an extensive email database of parents, so if the school has a regular newsletter, ask them if they’d be willing to share the fundraising project. 

You could also ask for a feature on the school’s social media profiles as again, lots of parents (potential sponsors) will be followers.

Create posters

Create posters about your fundraising event and put them in local spaces such as cafes – just include the link or QR code to the fundraising page. If it’s an event people can watch, then provide times and the location so you can collect donations on the day.

Start fundraising today

There are so many brilliant ways kids can fundraise, we hope this article has inspired them to start planning their next fundraising project.

Check out our blog for more great ideas and tips on all things fundraising.