Nonprofit Fundraising: 10 Creative Christmas fundraising ideas

The festive season is one of the most important times of the year in nonprofit fundraising. These months starting Giving Tuesday till New years’ eve, are usually linked with a lot of donations and nonprofits wait for this time of the year in anticipation to make the most out of it.

Data suggests that almost 31 percent of total donations for the year are received during this time of the year. This sudden spike in giving can be due to the holiday spirit, the feeling of community, love and togetherness or lack thereof, and also because of people who seek to maximize their tax deductions before year-end. And within this charity season, Christmas has to be one of the most important events. Christmas is a time of giving, when people are filled with generosity. There could be no better time to have a fundraising event and capitalize on this.

Use these 10 creative and easy fundraising ideas for Christmas which could help your organization have a happy and productive Christmas. Don’t forget to check out some bonus tips for last minute planners!

Selling arts and crafts

Involve your supporters and volunteers to make your own Christmas Tree decorations, Christmas cards and other handmade crafts to sell and raise some money. You could also use your kitchen to make something and use it here.

Christmas Karaoke

Ask your supporters to volunteer their time. Host a Christmas themed Karaoke evening and discover your inner talent. Ask people who would want to join in and sing to make a donation on your page.

Christmas Movie Night

There are a lot of movies which have the Christmas as a backdrop. You could use any of these classics for an evening movie screening. Partner with a local movie theatre or some space where you could screen movies. Sell tickets for this and raise funds along with having some fun.

Christmas Concert

You could arrange a band to play some holiday songs. Rent out a space where you could organise the event. Sell tickets for it and you could also use the band’s popularity to reach out to their fans through their social media pages. It would be great if you could ask the band to create team fundraising pages.

Eating Contest

Arrange for some snacks and organise an eating contest. Ask the participants to pledge a support for each snack that they consume.

Christmas Fair

Extending our idea of selling arts and crafts, you could hold a Christmas Fair where you could sell cookies, organise games and hold various fun activities together. It would require a bit more effort and space. But it will give you a great opportunity to address a much larger crowd. You could not only sell tickets or your stuffs and raise funds. But you could also market your cause to them and convert them into your supporters and donors.

Food/Toy Appeal

Hold a Christmas party where you have an appeal to all your guests to bring something along – a toy or some food item that they would want to donate. This way even those supporters who don’t have the financial condition to make monetary donations could pitch in and give away the items that they don’t have much use of. Or make something in their kitchens and donate. These items could go towards those people who are out of work or have low incomes and can’t afford it. They would have the most utility for these items.

Christmas Quiz

Round up the people in your community or locals and hold a fun Christmas quiz. Charge a small entrance fee. Everyone loves a good Christmas quiz. Injecting a bit of friendly rivalry in your festive activities could help you boost attendance. Have a gala of a time together.

Santa Run

Organising Runs are known to be a good charity idea. But particularly during Christmas, you could make it much more fun by asking people to turn up dressed as a Santa Claus for the run. There would always be a buzzing atmosphere with so many Santa’s running together. Charge the attendees a small fee to register for the event. There would be pictures galore and a lot of eyeballs would be attracted towards the event. All this would go a long way to market your campaign and reaching out to a wider audience.

Christmas Auction

If you could tie up with some corporate sponsors who would be willing to gift you their goods and services, holding an Auction night could be a great idea. People will jump at the idea of having their hands around some Christmas gifts. At the same time you could raise funds by auctioning them. This event would also allow you to get in touch with the audience to market your cause and try to get some donations too, on a side note.

Christmas is a great time for fundraising. Don’t miss the opportunity to capitalize on the festive spirit and generate some resources for your nonprofit organization. Resources could not only be in the form of monetary donations but also in terms of gaining long term supporters and building a community. The above stated Christmas Fundraising Ideas could give you an inkling of how to go about it.

Christmas fundraising ideas from GiveCentral.

Wanted to pull off a great year end fundraiser but short on time now? Here are some last minute Christmas ideas for those who have a tight schedule.  

1. Relax, and decide to plan for Christmas next year. Look at what other charities are doing, which activities are relevant to your cause and what is that unique element you can add to personalize the experience for your donors.
2. For whatever limited activities you had this festive seasons, measure results and take lessons. This will help you identify what areas require improvement and what can you do better next year.
3. Build up your email lists, segment and you have sufficient time now to build on a great after event engagement plan.
4. Create an editorial calendar to effectively use all communication channels to spread the word. Need a better donor management software? Need to create appealing emails? Take tis time to identify tools and better plan resources. Just listing down your needs and drafting a great plan of action is winning half the battle.
5. Don’t assume it is all down to you. Make the most of popular activities around your area, engage volunteers and national days of giving like GivingTuesday to solicit donations from new donors.

There you have it, some great ideas for a Christmas year-end fundraiser and tips to plan your upcoming events. What are you waiting for?

Christmas easy Fundraising Ideas Christmas Fundraising Ideas creative Christmas Fundraising Ideas fundraising ideas for Christmas unique Christmas Fundraising Ideas

Last modified: December 4, 2017