DIY Birthday Fundraising Tips & Ideas
100 SQUARE SALE
How it Works:
Take a piece of bristol board and use a ruler to create 100 squares and number them from 1 to 50. Sell each square for $20. Once all numbered squares are sold, randomly draw a number. The person who bought the square with that number wins 50% of the earnings and the other 50% goes to your fundraising efforts. This fundraiser alone could reach your $500 fundraising target!
How to Do It:
- Purchase a large piece of Bristol board and use a sharpie and ruler to draw out 50 numbered squares from 1-50
- Reach out to your friends, family and colleagues through email and social media and ask them to support you by purchasing squares for their chance to win
- Once all squares are sold and funds are collected, you can then draw for the winning number. You can either notify the winner by email/phone or you can create some excitement and draw for your winner during a Facebook or Instagram Live
- The person who purchased the square with the winning number from your draw will win 50% of the earnings. You can then manually donate the other 50% to your fundraising page.
- Be sure to send a thank you to all those who participated!
How it Generates Funds:
Each donor can pick a square for $20. Once all squares are sold you will have raised $1,000. Your donors can pay via cash or e-transfer.
DONATE YOUR COMMUTE/COFFEE
How it Works:
With many people continuing to work from home, they are saving the money they would usually spend on commuting, take-out lunches, and coffees. Reach out to your social networks and ask them to help you with your fundraising efforts by donating their monthly/weekly commute cost (money for gas, parking, public transportation, etc.) or even the estimated amount they would usually spend on coffee or take out lunches.
How to Do It:
- Reach out to your networks through email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to let them know your reason to donate your birthday and why it’s so important to you.
- Ask your donors to consider donating the money they would spend on their commute, lunch, or coffee towards your DIY Birthday fundraising page.
- Be sure to send a thank you to all those who participated!
How it Generates Funds:
Instead of spending money on their commute, take-out lunches, or coffee, your network donates to your DIY Birthday fundraising page. We recommend mentioning that all donations $10 and more will generate tax receipt.
DARE NIGHT
How it Works:
Announce to your family, friends and colleagues that you will be doing fun dares every night for a predetermined amount of time in order to raise funds for your efforts. Who wouldn’t want to see their friend doing something silly and fun for a great cause!
Examples: shaving your head, singing in public, wearing a crazy outfit to your next meeting, or dying your hair.
How to Do It:
- Choose your dare and pick the minimum donation amount (recommended $20/person)
- Pick your goal amount for each dare. For example, “Once I raise $100, this dare will be completed.”
- Spread the word to your family, friends, and colleagues through email and social media about the dare and your goal for that dare
- Ask anyone who wants to see you complete this dare to donate via your DIY Birthday Fundraising page
- Once you reach your goal for that dare you, take a photo or video of yourself doing the dare and share with your supporters
- Be sure to thank all those you participated!
How it Generates Funds:
Five dares with a goal of $100 will get you to your fundraising goal $500.
HOST A CLASS
How it Works:
Are you skilled in yoga, photography, cooking, crafting, dance or any other hobbies? Why not host a class and have an entry fee in the form of a donation?
How to Do It:
- Prepare the content for your class and include the date, timing and cost
- Choose your in-person location or virtual meeting platform (Zoom, Skype, or Microsoft Teams)
- Create an invitation
- Reach out to your network through email and social media to announce and promote your class. Let people know why you’re riding and ask them to join you in your fundraising efforts
- Those interested in attending can pay the $20 fee to your fundraising page
- Be sure to thank all your participants!
How it Generates Funds:
At $20/person, if you have 40 in attendance you have raised $400 towards your fundraising goal.
*Alternative – A professional can be recruited to host the class, which could make it an exclusive event and you can raise your price point even higher.
CRAFT SALE
How it Works
Are you a crafter? Why not turn your hobby into cash by selling your crafts in return for donations to your DIY Birthday fundraising efforts.
Examples: Soap, Candles, Wreathes, Pickles, Jam, Knitted Items, Painted Rocks
How to Do It
- You reach out to your network via email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram notifying them that you will be making crafts
- Provide a list and pictures of the crafts you’ll be making in return for donations, each craft will be a different price point, we recommend keeping them above $10 each
- Once the donations have been received via your fundraising page, cash or E-transfer, arrange delivery or pick up
How it Generates Funds:
It is up to you to decide how much you want to charge your crafts but it’s always a good idea to have a minimum donation amount. It’s recommended that you go no lower than $10. For example, if you sell candles at $15 each and sold 10 of them, you would raise $150 for your DIY Birthday Fundraiser.
BAKE SALE
How it Works:
Use your baking skills to create desserts to sell to your friends and family in exchange for donations to your DIY Birthday fundraiser!
How to Do It:
- Reach out to your network and let them know about your fundraiser and ask for their support.
- This includes making posts on your favorite social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.), sending out emails to your friends, families and colleagues, or simply picking up the phone and calling your contacts.
- When you reach out, make sure to tell them what you’ll be baking, how they can get their baked goods (either pick-up or delivery – it’s up to you!) and what it’s going towards.
- When you know how much to bake, turn on the oven and start baking!
- Once your baking is complete, let your donors know that they’re ready. It’s up to you how your donors will receive them.
- Once when all the baked goods are with the donors, make sure to thank them (through social media/email/phone calls)!
How it Generates Funds:
It is up to you how to decide how much you want to charge for your baked goods but it’s always a good idea to have a minimum donation amount. It’s recommended that you go no lower than $10. For example, if you sell cinnamon rolls for $20 a batch and sold 20 batches you would generate $400 towards your fundraising goal.
RAFFLE
How it Works:
Donors make a donation to your DIY Birthday fundraising page and the dollar amount determines how many entries into the raffle they get. You then do a draw and provide the prize(s) to the winner(s).
Examples: gift cards, scratch and win lottery tickets, paintings, artwork, woodworking pieces, metal working pieces, etc.
How to Do It:
- Decide what you want to raffle, your ticket pricing (see below), and what the timeline is for your raffle
- Reach out to your network and let them know of your fundraiser and ask for their support. This includes making posts on your favorite social media platform, sending out emails to your friends/family/co-workers, or simply picking up the phone and calling everyone you know. Make sure that your potential participants know what they could win, what the ticket to donation ratio is, and when the raffle will be drawn
- When your timeline comes to a close, it’s time to do the raffle! Put all the names of those who qualify into a hat/box/container and draw the winner(s)
- Coordinate with the winner(s) on how they will get their prize(s)
- Make sure to thank everyone who participated!
How it Generates Funds:
Participants are interested in winning the raffle prize and they donate directly to your page in order to try and win it. You generate funds by listing a ticket price when you reach out to your network and donors donate accordingly.
Let’s assume your ticket price is $20 donation/one ticket and you’re raffling off a painting you made and a $50 gift card to a restaurant. The table below breaks down how much this can raise:
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POKER
How it Works:
Set up an in-person or a virtual poker game. Donors donate to your DIY Birthday fundraising page in order to participate, play, and then contribute their buy-in to the winner(s)!
How to Do It:
- Determine the entrance fee. We recommend starting at $20
- Determine the buy-in that will be going towards the prize money ($20 is typically a safe bet)
- Figure out what date you want the game to be on and the online poker platform you plan on using (if required)
- Reach out to your network and let them know of your fundraiser and ask for their support. This includes making posts on your favorite social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.), sending out emails to your friends/family/co-workers, or simply picking up the phone and calling everyone you know. Make sure that your potential players know the entrance fee, the buy-in, and the date
- When a participant donates the entrance fee to your DIY Birthday page, send them over the information
- When the day of the poker game arrives, simply play the game!
- Make sure to thank everyone for participating and scout the room and see if this is something they’d like to do again!
How it Generates Funds:
The entrance fee is a donation to your DIY Birthday page.
These types of poker games could be a weekly/monthly fundraiser for your DIY Birthday fundraising efforts. If you have a full “table” (around nine people) for each game played, you would get $160/game.
GAMES NIGHT
How it Works:
Host a game night with your network! Set an entrance fee for your DIY Birthday Fundraiser in order to participate, play, and then contribute the prize money to the winner(s) pot.
Examples: BINGO, Jeopardy, Trivia, etc.
How to Do It:
- Determine the entrance fee. We recommend starting anywhere from $10 to $20
- Determine how much each participant has to contribute to the winner(s) pot. Starting between $10 – $20 is typically a safe bet
- Create the game! There are lots of pre-made templates online that are free
- If you’re coordinating a virtual games night (great for folks in different locations and time zones!), determine which virtual hosting platform you’ll use to host the games night (Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams)
- Reach out to your network and let them know of your fundraiser and ask for their support. This includes making posts on your favorite social media platform, sending out emails to your friends/family/co-workers, or simply picking up the phone and calling everyone you know. Make sure that your potential players know the entrance fee, the winner(s) pot contribution, the game to be played, and the date
- Once when your network donates the entrance amount to your DIY Birthdaypage, send them over the virtual hosting platform information
- When the day of the games night arrives, simply play the game!
- Make sure to thank everyone for participating and scout the room and see if this is something they’d like to do again!
How it Generates Funds:
The entrance fee is a donation to your DIY Birthday fundraising page. We recommend it to be between $10-$20/person.
NEIGHBOURHOOD CLEAN-UP
How it Works:
Clean up your community of litter in return for donations!
How to Do It:
- Reach out to your network and let them know of your fundraiser and ask for their support. This includes making posts on your favorite social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.), sending out emails to your friends/family/co-workers, or simply picking up the phone and calling everyone you know
- Do the community clean up!
- Make sure to post photos and mention how much you cleaned up during your fundraiser and to thank all those who donated to your page
How it Generates Funds:
Donors support your fundraising by going to your DIY Birthday Fundraising page and making a donation. As an alternative, you can set a minimum donation for you to clean up a specific location at their request. If it is a large area you may want to set the minimum at $100 or even greater. We recommend making any minimums $20 or above.
MATCHING GIFTS
How it Works:
Offer a matching gift to increase the impact of your donor’s donations!
Examples: Personal or employer matching gifts
How to Do It:
- Decide how you want to arrange the matching gift
- Establish a timeline for the matching gift fundraiser and how much you will match up to
- Reach out to your network and let them know of your fundraiser and ask for their support. This includes making posts on your favorite social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.), sending out emails to your friends/family/co-workers, or simply picking up the phone and calling everyone you know
- Honour the match and announce to your network
How it Generates Funds:
For example, if your employer has a $250 matching program, you only need to generate $250 worth of funds from your friends and family and your employer will cover the rest!
WINE SURVIVOR
How it Works:
Wine Survivor is a pool where participants donate to your DIY Birthday Fundraising page, provide a bottle of wine, and have a chance to win all the bottles of wine if they make it to the end.
How to Do It:
- Iron out all the details of your Wine Survivor, like donation amount, minimum cost of the bottle of wine, and any customizations (see below)
- Once when you’ve got all the details in order, reach out to your network and let them know of your fundraiser and ask for them to participate. This includes making posts on your favorite social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.), sending out emails to your friends/family/co-workers, or simply picking up the phone and calling everyone you know
- When all the participants have donated to your DIY BirthdayFundraising page, it’s time to begin! Put down all the names of the participants on separate pieces of paper and place it into a hat. Each day draw a name and that individual is eliminated
- Continue drawing names from the hat each day until there is only one name left. That participant is the Sole Survivor and the winner of Wine Survivor
How it Generates Funds:
See below for a breakdown of how much you can raise based off of the number of participants when there is a $20 minimum donation in order to play.
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There are a few ways you can customize your Wine Survivor. These options are listed below:
- Immunity: Provide participants the opportunity to have Immunity, which provides them safety from being eliminated in the next name draw. Immunity is given to a participant if they make a minimum donation to your birthday page (we recommend $10)
- Multiple Winners: If you have a large group participating, you can decide to have multiple winners. This gives participants a higher probability to win something and may incentivize even more people to be a part of it, which in turn generates more funds for your DIY Birthday Fundraiser.
- Gift Card compared to Wine: Instead of asking each participant to donate a bottle of wine, you could provide gift cards to the winners. This lowers the amount of time spent on getting and delivering the bottles of wine to the winner
PERFORMANCE
How it Works:
Do you have a hidden talent? Why not perform for your potential donors in-person or on your favorite social media platform and ask for donations in return.
How to Do It:
- Determine which virtual hosting platform you’ll use to host the performance (Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams)
- Reach out to your network and let them know of your fundraiser and ask for their support. This includes making posts on your favorite social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.), sending out emails to your friends, family, co-workers, or simply picking up the phone and calling everyone you know
- Do the performance!
How it Generates Funds:
Ask everyone who attends to donate a minimum (we recommend $20) to your DIY Birthday page. If you have 20 people spectate, you’ll raise $400 for your DIY Fundraiser.
