It is an unfortunate fact that sometimes the greatest causes are stifled by lack of funds. No matter how wonderful or effective your organization is, it won’t thrive for long without money to complete its goals. Coming up with fundraising ideas to generate income for an organization is one of the toughest challenges of any charity coordinator. It can be tiring and burdensome, but fundraising events are a part of life when you run a nonprofit.


If you were beating your head against the wall trying to think of unique fundraising ideas to generate income for your nonprofit organization, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve put together a list of party planning suggestions that put the word “fun” in “fundraising ideas.”

Four Fundraising Ideas That You Haven’t Thought of Yet

1. Host a Casino Night Party
   
   Casino night fundraiser’s are wildly successful, and it’s no surprise. There is an aspect of going to a casino party to appeal to any type of person: people who want to dress in formal wear and enjoy a classy night, people who love the thrill of a high-stakes game of poker, and the people who are just in it for the food and adult beverages. Everybody loves a great casino night!
   
   
   If you have the budget, you can bring in professional dealers to run the games; having real dealers adds to the quality of the party (and hopefully the participant’s desire to donate!). If you’re trying to keep your costs low, simply list a few volunteers to run the tables. Acting as a card dealer is fun in and of itself, it won’t be hard to round up volunteers. Other than that, you only need to arrange some Vegas-style of the decorations, set your Pandora station to “Vegas,” and hire a catering service. The entertainment is built in with a casino fundraiser.
2. Throw a “Opposite of Fancy” Soiree
   Sometimes, the details needed to throw a formal event cost so much that it is out of the world of possibilities for nonprofit organization. To keep costs low, but serve the same goal of raising support, you can make the theme of your fundraising event how not fancy it is. The menu could include notoriously inexpensive food items like hotdogs, sodas, and beer. Utilize recycled items for decor: newspaper for placemats, used aluminum cans and glass jars for flower holders, and so on. While the idea is to channel all of the funds towards the cause of your organization instead of the event itself, making the most of your reverse fancy theme can be amusing and entertaining in itself.
3. Hold Your Own Master Chef Competition
   
   Cooking competitions are all the rage these days. You can capitalize on America’s love of food by creating your own cooking competition as a creative way to draw participants and supporters of your cause. The competition could be based around creating dishes with a specific (or even bizarre) set of ingredients. Contestants could pay a participation fee to join the competition, and guess could also pay for tickets to sample the entries and cast their votes. Ultimately, everyone should have a great time, and your organization could raise a great deal of money.




4. Create an Amazing Race
   
   Along the reality TV show wavelength, hosting your own Amazing Race is creative, unique, and gives you multiple opportunities to raise funds. Create a scavenger hunt across your town, enlisting the support of local businesses for competition pitstops and donations. Participating teams must solve the clues of the puzzle the fastest in order to win, but without the use of their car. They must get around from one clue to the next using their legs, public transportation such as buses and trains, or any other creative means (decide in advance is Uber is allowed). You could generate funds for your organization through entry fees, selling clues when participants get stuck, chances to slow down rival competitors (IE- auction off the chance to send another team on a wild goose hunt), or by renting out bikes or rollerskates. The ultimate goal is for everyone to have fun, and generate income for your charity.

Do you have any other creative fundraising ideas? Please share them with us in the comment section!