The fall season is definitely upon us! That means you should be making necessary preparations for your upcoming fall fundraising initiatives. Anyone working in the fundraising industry knows how crucial it is to have a plan in place for the last three months of the year. If you’re somehow stuck and uncertain about what you should do, then our quick but comprehensive list of fall fundraising ideas will help get you started.
Make sure to grab your planner, pen, and highlighters so you can make the most out of our list of inspirational charity auction and fundraising suggestions for the fall season.
1. Fall Harvest Dinner
Fall harvest dinners appeal to anyone who loves good food and drinks and the warm company of loved ones and new friends. That's why many organizations turn to autumn harvest dinners to raise money for their upcoming projects. In most cases, fundraising dinners feature the season's best produce. Additionally, it could include a quick auction for exclusive opportunities like meeting the esteemed chef who prepared the meals, or another dinner.
2. Virtual Fall Talent Show
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused inconveniences in organizing fall talent shows. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t push through with your plans. Using digital platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, you can still host a fantastic talent show and raise money for a cause.
Your only challenge would be scheduling your online talent show and sending out the tickets and invites to your guests and participants. Thankfully, ZGIVE partners like TicketSpice can help you organize everything with great ease.
3. Pie Bake Off
Pie Bake Offs are a must for a lot of communities during the fall season. That’s because there are plenty of harvests that food connoisseurs and home cooks can feature in their pie recipes.
All you need is to charge a small admission fee for everyone who wants to sample the competing pies and prepare or talk to the bakers for a minimal share from their pie sales. Then, you will be able to leave the decision to a group of pie enthusiasts or allow the crowd to cast their vote.
4. Spooky Trivia
Trivia nights remain relevant and hip all around the country. You have the option to host them live in a venue that agrees to share some of their earnings with your nonprofit or perhaps through an online platform complete with sponsors and brand partnerships.
You can also sell tickets to participants and provide them with awesome tokens. To spice things up a bit, you can feature spooky trivia questions that revolve around horror or suspense films or pop-culture icons, such as The Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings franchises.
5. Racing for a Cause
The autumn season is the perfect time to organize physical activities like runs, walkathons, and bike races. In fact, just recently, Run for Pie posted about their 5K Run for a Cause campaign. Essentially, they aim to raise money for Haitian schools by organizing a running course around the State of Iowa. What a great idea!
The winners will get homemade apple pies while the rest of the participants can take home an apple pie pop. You can take cues from this event when hosting a race for a cause this coming fall.
6. Costume Contest
Trick-or-Treating with donations is a popular event that organizations like UNICEF tap into each year for money-generating initiatives. You can take advantage of this by inviting your audience to create the most creative Halloween costume and charging a minimal fee from each attendee. Another contest is a pumpkin carving contest, get in the Halloween spirit!
7. Football-Themed Auction
The fall often marks the beginning of football season, especially for high school and collegiate leagues. That’s why it’s a good idea to plan a football-themed auction for your donors. You can auction off exclusive football tokens from your school or university using the Risk-Free Item Shop and our virtual fundraising platform. Alternatively, you can tap into our item shop for sports enthusiasts.
8. Outdoor Movie Night
Outdoor movie nights and drive-in cinemas have recently regained their popularity. That’s why they also make a fun and charming fall fundraising event to add to your options. All you need for this event are your volunteers to collect the admission tickets and prepare and sell classic cinema snacks, a few scary movies, and an inflatable screen. You can also partner with a local movie drive-in and share the proceeds.
9. Social Media Challenge
Millions of people in the US turned to social media for stress relief and entertainment during this pandemic. Many have participated in viral social media challenges like #EarthHour by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
You might also find opportunities to raise money for a cause on your social media platform by creating challenges that your followers (and their families and friends) can participate in.
10. Haunted House
If your organization hopes to appeal to the younger generation, then you might as well consider adding a haunted house to your list of fall fundraising ideas. It’s an enjoyable and thrilling way to invite youngsters and young at heart donors to help you raise funding during Halloween.
To succeed, you must find a suitable location and prepare a budget-friendly mini horror adventure for your excited trick-or-treaters. Also, don’t forget to get the word out, so you attract as many participants as possible.
Visit www.zgive.com to learn about our simple, smart auction and event fundraising platform for nonprofits.
Comments