Crowdfunding is a resourceful, effective method of fundraising that engages a wide base of people to achieve financial goals. The old adage “many hands make light work” rings true with crowdfunding. Fundraising goals become supercharged by means of engaging larger numbers of people (hence, the “crowd” in crowdfunding). We’ve put together a list of winning crowdfunding ideas to help you kickstart your next campaign.
The common element of all of these fundraising ideas is a winning campaign website. If you’re wondering how to create an optimized website for your next crowdfunding campaign, we’ve put together this list of examples.
Great and effective crowdfunding campaigns are strategically planned to stand out in our loud world. In order to maximize your campaign’s potential to reach more supporters, have fun and get creative!
Here are 10 creative crowdfunding ideas to help inspire you:
1. Walkathon Fundraiser
Walkathons are one of the most popular fundraising campaigns for nonprofits. It’s not hard to see why. Between the high levels of engagement, the opportunity to sell merchandise, and encouraging healthy behavior among members of your community, there’s so much to recommend this type of fundraiser.
Walkathons have traditionally come with a high upfront cost for organizations. In addition, they have required communities to come together in a physical location to raise money. With the advent of virtual fundraisers, nonprofits need not worry about these potential barriers.
Like all the crowdfunding ideas on this list, the revenue from walkathons can be maximized with a virtual component. While it’s great to celebrate in-person with your community, you can bring in even more donors (and dollars) by allowing people to participate when, where, and how they want.
For example, Active in Mission is a virtual walkathon in which participants can walk, bike, or run in order to raise funds for educational programs across the world. By allowing their donors the option of how and where they would join the walkathon, they were able to raise almost $60,000 in 2022.
Crowdfunding ideas work best when your supporters can share the campaign with their friends and family. With CauseVox’s peer-to-peer feature, your donors can even fundraise on your behalf through personal fundraising pages. This not only increases your revenue, but also your exposure to potential new donors. During a walkathon, your donors have a fun excuse to connect with their loved ones and participate in an enjoyable goal-oriented activity.
It’s important to note that although crowdfunding and peer-to-peer can be used in tandem, they are not the same thing. Crowdfunding involves engaging large numbers of donors to raise top dollars in a specific window of time. Peer-to-peer campaigns engage donors on a deeper level to fundraise on your behalf.
Make the most of your walkathon by adding these elements to the event:
- Guest speaker or keynote
- Professionally produced video that you can use to raise funds after the walkathon has ended
- Live music from a band or DJ
- Balloon arch or other festive finish line decorations
- Water and snack stations for the participants
- Gift bags or swag bags with branded items
There are lots of ways that you can use a walkathon to raise more for your nonprofit. You can encourage sponsors to donate per mile walked or you can sell merchandise to participants for a small charge. For more about how you can supercharge your next walkathon, check out our list of best practices.
2. Hold a Raffle
If you’ve been around the nonprofit world for any length of time, chances are that you’ve encountered a raffle or two. There’s a reason why organizations return to this method time and time again to boost their fundraising. With an exciting prize and an engaged group of donors, raffles can bring in top dollars for your cause.
The most important thing to consider when organizing a raffle for your nonprofit is the composition of your audience. If your community is composed mostly of children and their families, then it’s probably not a good idea to raffle off fine wines. You will want to make sure that your community will be excited to buy raffle tickets for the prizes you are offering.
Fundraising with raffle sales is a relatively simple process. After you have solicited or procured an item or experience that you would like to use as your prize, you can sell raffle tickets on your fundraising site. With CauseVox integrated ticketing, raffle sales are made easy with a simple form that accepts Google and Apple Pay with any number of ticket tiers. This form can be embedded directly in your fundraising page so that donors can make a donation and buy a raffle ticket from the same place.
Here are a few other things to consider when putting together a raffle:
- How much (if anything) are you willing to spend on procurement?
- When it comes time to draw the ticket, how will you do it – physically or virtually?
- How long will you keep sales open?
- What strategies will you use to publicize the raffle and prizes?
To add a strong crowdfunding element to this idea, encourage your community to share the raffle with their friends and family to bring in additional sales. If the prize is enticing enough, you could use this raffle to engage new donors.
3. Challenge Participants To Act In Solidarity With Your Cause
Over 10% of Americans experienced food insecurity in 2021. New Jersey’s Center for FaithJustice is on a mission to raise funds, and bring awareness to the reality of food insecurity and hunger.
Their HungerworX campaign raised $37,503– which was $12,503 more than their goal. Their creative crowdfunding idea was to challenge their individual fundraisers participants to live on $4 of food per day for an entire week.
Like the HungerworX campaign, your organization can increase fundraising effectiveness by adapting the same basic creative crowdfunding ideas to make it your own. Encourage participants to somehow connect their efforts with tangible acts of solidarity with your cause. You can also utilize this method to create hashtags for your social media outlets to further enhance your campaign.
Here are a few things to consider when determining what kinds of tangible actions would work for you:
- Does your cause have any major symbols associated with it?
- Are there any major awareness days connected to your cause? (e.g. January 11 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day)
- Are there any specific colors affiliated with your cause? (e.g. Pink is often seen in conjunction with breast cancer awareness campaigns)
- Is there an action that represents the plight of those impacted by the money you raise (e.g. Walking 6K with large jugs of water to represent those impacted by the international water crisis who walk, on average, 6K each day in order to access potable water?)
Prospective donors want to know that fundraisers are taking their causes seriously. By tangibly connecting action with donation requests, your fundraising team will increase the likelihood of reaching and surpassing your goals.
4. Challenge Fundraisers
A challenge fundraiser is a type of campaign where you ask your donors to participate in some form of challenge to raise money for your nonprofit.
This idea is different than the examples listed in idea #3 on this list, because the challenge does not have to have anything to do with your cause. For example, the now famous Ice Bucket Challenge put on by the ALS association allowed the organization to increase their revenue from donations by 187 percent in 2014. There is no connection between buckets of ice and ALS, but that’s not important. What was important was that the ALS Association was able to come up with a genuinely fun and engaging challenge that donors around the world were excited to try.
You may not be as lucky as the ALS Association when it comes time to raise money with a challenge fundraiser, but this type of crowdfunding is sure to draw the attention of your donors. The best way to get started is to think about your community and ask yourself what sort of activity would catch their attention. Or better yet, ask them!
Challenges are an easy method for bringing in new donors to your nonprofit. They are, by their nature, easy for your community members to share with their friends and family. This is especially true when you ask participants to film themselves completing the challenge and upload these videos to social media. Challenges can be among the most successful crowdfunding ideas when properly marketed.
Here are a couple more ideas for potential challenges:
- Hands On A Car
- Danceathon
- Guess the Number of Jellybeans in a Jar
- No Shave Fundraiser
5. Tap Into Local Media Outlets
This idea comes from RIP Medical Debt, which exists with a mission to purchase and abolish unpaid medical debts in order to liberate individuals from debilitating financial situations caused by mounting medical bills.
In 2016, talk show history was made when TV personality, John Oliver, purchased nearly $15 million worth of medical debt of over 9000 individuals, and then forgave it through RIP Medical Debt.
Obviously, this situation is extraordinary; the vast majority of crowdfunding campaigns will not be televised with such fanfare. However, your campaign can be inspired by RIP Medical Debt’s incorporation of multimedia.
While social media is a crucial piece in crowdfunding, you should also consider reaching out to local media channels. Local media are often scouring for the latest community stories. Reach out to present your cause for consideration. Just make sure that you select one of the crowdfunding ideas from this list that will help viewers understand your mission and values.
Local news outlets that you should consider contacting include:
- Newspapers
- Community boards
- Local magazines
- News channels
6. Hold A Skill-Based or Shared-Knowledge Workshop
This creative crowdfunding idea is inspired by Carlisle Family YMCA in Milford, MI who put together a unique fundraiser in which participants learned how to make sushi. The cost was $25 per person in exchange for the ingredients. Proceeds went towards the YMCA scholarship fund and veteran services. The class was labeled a “101” class, making it approachable, even though sushi seems intimidating to most “every day” cooks.
Cooking may not be in your organization’s wheelhouse, but you can springboard off of the concept by curating a shared-knowledge workshop that appeals to your community base. Other ideas might be:
- A Physical Education workshop (e.g. Yoga, Good-Form Running, Cardio Drumming, etc.)
- Computer Education workshop (e.g. MS Office Suites, Adobe, Photoshop, etc.)
- Photography workshop
- Arts and Crafts workshop
- LEGO workshop for kids
- Interior Design or Gardening workshop
7. Crowdfund for a Capital Campaign
Cancer Support Community Pasadena has raised over $3,000,000 to help move into a new office space. This is an impressive amount of funds for any organization, but it shows that anything is possible with an engaged community rallying behind a capital campaign.
Capital campaigns are often used for big projects within an organization. Examples include:
- Renovation or expansion of a building
- Purchase of new property
- Expenses of new equipment
Capital campaigns can be more popular among donors since they have a tangible result. Donors want to feel that their donations will help nonprofits reach a specific goal or fulfill their mission. There’s no better way for donors to see the product of their donation than with a tangible goal met through a capital campaign.
Crowdfunding adds a significant fundraising opportunity to capital campaigns. Often, these are fundraisers that have a compelling story. A school needs money to build a new gym. A church needs help repairing their roof. These kinds of stories are easy for donors to understand and appreciate. As such, donors may be more inclined to share capital campaigns with their communities than with other fundraisers. To learn the best methods of communication with your donors before, during and after your campaign, watch this webinar with fundraising pro, Julie Edwards.
Due to their limited scope and focus, capital campaigns work differently than other types of fundraisers. For more information about how you can plan and run your next capital campaign, check out this article.
8. #GivingTuesday Campaigns
#GivingTuesday has emerged as one of the most important fundraising opportunities for nonprofits. In 2022 alone, nonprofits received $3.1 billion in donations on this day, a 15% increase since 2021. Given the popularity of this trend, it’s no wonder that nonprofits around the world take advantage of this day of giving to raise money.
The best part of #GivingTuesday campaigns is that they don’t require you to create a new fundraiser from scratch. Rather, you can take advantage of the increased visibility of nonprofits on this day to appeal to your communities to help you fundraise. That doesn’t mean you don’t need to plan these campaigns, just that it may be easier to engage donors who have already seen the trend on social media. It also means that you could combine #GivingTuesday with another of the crowdfunding ideas on this list to maximize your impact.
Get started with your #GivingTuesday planning early. If you’re not sure where to begin, check out our extensive list of best practices for your next #GivingTuesday campaign.
#GivingTuesday campaigns have a built-in crowdfunding element due to their reliance on online donations and social media promotion. You can maximize the impact of your crowdfunding by actively encouraging your donors to share the news of their donation with their communities. One fun and easy way to accomplish this is with a social media profile picture frame.
An example of a social media profile picture frame for National Kitten Day.
Have your design team come up with an eye-catching frame with your logo, colors, and the words “I Donated.” Then ask your supporters to add it to their social media profiles after they have made a donation. Not only does this inspire members of their network to donate as well, but it also raises awareness about your nonprofit.
Here are a few other ways that you can supercharge your #GivingTuesday fundraiser:
- Coordinate your #GivingTuesday campaign with your End of Year and holiday giving campaigns
- Use this opportunity to drum up matching donations from individuals and corporations
- Allow your donors to make a #GivingTuesday contribution after the day itself has passed
9. Birthday Fundraisers
Birthday fundraisers are a great way to use the power of crowdfunding to generate revenue for your nonprofit. These campaigns can be especially effective since they are year-round and reoccur every time one of your community members has a birthday. They are also one of the least labor-intensive crowdfunding ideas on this list.
There are several different ways that you can run your birthday fundraiser campaign, but they all begin the same way. Reach out to a few of your most engaged donors and ask if they would be willing to request donations rather than gifts on their birthday. For many donors, the gift of a donation to their preferred nonprofit is much more meaningful than any physical item they might receive.
Once you have a group of fundraisers signed on to the idea, you can put together a resource packet for them. This is an important step. These generous individuals are already donating their birthdays for your cause. You don’t want to add any difficulties or hurdles to their fundraising process. Make it as easy for them as possible by including instructions, sample appeals and social media posts, graphics, and anything else they might need to raise top dollars for your nonprofit.
When you’re putting together your information packet, you should think about how you would like your donors to funnel donations to your nonprofit. These are two easy ways for the donor to create their birthday fundraiser:
- Host birthday fundraisers on a fundraising platform like CauseVox: CauseVox allows donors to create customizable fundraising pages where they can collect donations and explain why they have chosen to donate their birthday to this cause. It’s fast, simple, and reliable.
- Encourage donors to create Facebook fundraisers: Facebook allows users to host fundraisers for any nonprofit that is currently registered with their site. This approach makes it easy for your donors since they just have to put together a Facebook post publicizing their fundraiser. Facebook takes care of collecting the donations and distributing them to the nonprofit. One thing to keep in mind if you use Facebook to raise funds is that they don’t disburse funds until a few months after the fundraiser. They also don’t provide donor information like names, addresses, or emails to nonprofits.
10. Hold A Board Game Competition (Or Similar)
The Gauntlet is a fundraising tournament that certainly puts the “fun” in fundraising, and is one of the most creative crowdfunding ideas we’ve seen yet. This group of gamers is comprised of teams of four from local community groups and games industry businesses.
Each team fundraises to benefit community nonprofits. The campaign culminates in a board game competition held at Mox Boarding House, a Bellevue, Washington board game store.
Each year, The Gauntlet campaign has blown its fundraising goals out of the water. In 2019, the group had an initial goal of $70,000, and raised over $115,000.
This type of campaign has proven effective for several reasons:
- Combines online crowdfunding with an offline opportunity
- Provides a fun way for people to connect around a worthy cause
- Appeals to people’s natural competitive natures.
The Gauntlet plays into the human desire to “win” by providing immaterial perks as teams achieve fundraising milestones. By reaching new fundraising levels ($2000, $5000, etc.) teams earn valuable “power-ups” and game advantages that increase their chances of winning.
As you brainstorm ways to integrate creative fundraising methods into your own campaigns, consider developing your own tournament. Competition-based events present a family-friendly way to bring individuals together for fun, and fundraising.
Board games work exceptionally well for The Gauntlet because it is tailored to the interests of their community. Find what works for you and your primary donor base, and go from there. Here are a few brainstorming questions to help you determine what type of competition would best suit your campaign goals:
- What are the broad interests of your community and supporters?
- Does your organization attract donors of a specific age range?
- What resources do you have available in your area (i.e. parks, lakes, pools, indoor recreation facilities, community centers, etc.)
- What are competitions that you would personally enjoy participating in?
Start Planning Your Crowdfunding Campaign With CauseVox Today!
Creative crowdfunding ideas can add another dimension to your campaign, making them attractive to media outlets, potential fundraisers, and donors alike.
Fundraising does not have to be limited to “same old, same old” appeals for funds. A little added creativity can give your campaign the boost it needs to reach and surpass your goals, as well as have fun along the way. Use these 10 fun crowdfunding ideas to spark your own creative fundraising campaign!
There are lots of options to choose from when selecting a crowdfunding platform for your next campaign. CauseVox makes crowdfunding easy with customizable and optimized donation pages, triggered emails, and more. Get started with your crowdfunding campaign on CauseVox for free today!
