United Way Fundraising Ideas

United Way Fundraising Ideas

Here are some great United Way fundraising ideas to get people in your area excited about your fundraiser.  Get your group members, place of business, and even your entire community involved, participating in interesting events that will allow your United Way charity fundraiser to go off with a bang.

Local Barbeque

This is an event you can set up and host in your backyard, a local parking lot, park, beach, or other outdoor area.  Beforehand, determine how much it will cost for food, utensils, paper plates, beverages, tables, chairs, grill, and every other item you’ll need.  You can also ask for donations of necessary items to cut down costs or ask people to please bring their own chairs.  To spice things up, you can have some music, and/or set up a net for volleyball or badminton, horseshoes, or other games.  You can even hold a raffle so attendees can win fun prizes. 

Next, figure out how much you’ll need to charge to make a profit on each ticket sold.  Once you’ve determined this, you can begin to sell tickets to your occasion in advance.  You can also sell them at the event so people who just learned about your event can attend.  Make sure you have everything set up beforehand and that you have plenty of people to help you keep everything organized on event day.

Kite Decorating and Flying Competition

Set up a kite decorating contest followed by a kite flying competition.  You can sell blank kites for a profit.  Alternatively, have contestants bring their own kites to decorate and charge a small entry fee.  You can arrange different competitions, offering awards for most creative, highest flying, and fastest kite, allowing participants to vote. 

Movie Trivia Game

There are several ways you can use or integrate this event into an existing occasion.  You can simply host a themed movie marathon fundraiser, where participants pay a small admission fee to watch movies.  You can also charge for popcorn, snacks, and beverages.  After the movie, offer a movie trivia quiz game based on the movies they’ve just watched, and hand out fun prizes to winners.  This idea works well with small groups, such as church groups, teams, scouts, small clubs, and so forth

If holding this fundraiser in the work place, you can set up small stations where participants answer trivia questions, match quotes to movies, and so forth.  They can pay $1 to enter or you can set a different method for donations.  Pick a day to announce winners, where highest trivia score wins a prize. 

Be imaginative.  This United Way Fundraising idea can easily be implemented or altered in many interesting ways. 

Recyclable Item Drive

You and your group can collect aluminum cans, glass bottles, etc., from residents in your community to turn in to your local recycling center for cash.  Publicize your campaign and offer a drop off area where the public can donate their recyclable items. 

Pool Party

This is always a fun idea for a hot summer’s day.  Host a themed pool party and charge an entrance fee.  Decorate the swimming pool area with fake palm trees, tiki torches, sand, and other items to make it look like a Hawaiian luau or beach theme.  Sell cold beverages and delicious snacks to raise even more money.