Winter Fundraiser Ideas (+ Free Prize Planning Template)
Winter may bring cold and darkness, but it’s also an opportunity for communities to unite. Engaging winter fundraiser ideas can draw people out of their homes, fostering connection and support among neighbors. By celebrating the season together, your organization can strengthen community bonds while raising vital funds that benefit everyone involved.
Key Takeaways
- Polar Plunge encourages participants to jump into cold water while raising donations and generating social media buzz.
- Skate-a-Thon involves skating for donations collected per minute, promoting physical activity and community engagement.
- Crafts and Cocoa creates a crafting event for all ages, with small entry fees and donations for materials, complemented by hot chocolate.
- Mid-Winter Bonfire gathers the community around a bonfire for warmth and fun, with food, music, and optional Christmas tree burning.
- Fitness Challenges encourage participants to stay active during winter, offering an engaging way to raise funds while promoting health and community involvement.
Why Fundraise in Winter?
Winter is a time when many people like to snuggle up in their homes with a warm blanket and a cup of tea, but that’s often because their social calendars slow down for a few months while everyone waits for the weather to improve. That presents a golden opportunity for fundraising, though. People have time and are looking for activities to participate in.
The best winter fundraiser ideas recognize that and aim to bring people together and give them something fun and unique to do. Getting creative can pay off in a big way, both in terms of participation and money raised.
5 Fun & Festive Winter Fundraiser Ideas
1. A Polar Plunge
In winter, you can try to stay out of the cold, or you can dive right in and embrace it. What makes polar plunges one of the best winter fundraiser ideas is that it takes advantage of the cold temperatures and gets people outside.
Whether it’s wading into a near-freezing river or jumping into a hole cut in the ice on a frozen pond, polar plunges challenge the bravest among us to put on their bathing suits and hop into the coldest of cold water.
Participants can collect donations from friends, family, or co-workers, and polar plunges are great for capturing video for social media, which can further raise awareness of your fundraiser and the work your organization does.
How to Integrate a Raffle
Polar plunges are the most fun when you get a crowd out to cheer on the people who brave the cold. Make the occasion an event by selling hot chocolate or warm snacks throughout the polar plunge, and then host a raffle where eligible participants can purchase tickets. Try to keep the raffle prizes on-theme. It could be plane tickets to somewhere warm for a bigger event, or just a collection of warm drinks from local vendors.
2. Skate-a-Thon
The best winter fundraising ideas should take advantage of the season. A Skate-a-Thon does just that. Book an outdoor skating rink in your city or town and encourage people to sign up to skate for as long as they can. They can collect donations from friends and family for every minute they stay skating on the ice.
Even when the amount they collect per minute is small, it can add up quickly when participants stay on the ice for a couple of hours. Skate-a-Thons are a great way to get people outside and active, as well as a proven money-raiser.
How to Integrate a Raffle
Your skate-a-thon may only last a few hours, but a raffle can last longer. Sell tickets in advance and have a few people wandering around the event, encouraging those in attendance to buy a ticket. A 50/50 raffle would be perfect, as it involves low upfront costs for your organization and you’ll take home half of the money you raise through ticket sales. Be sure to schedule the draw at the end of the Skate-a-Thon for added excitement!
3. Crafts & Cocoa
When the days are cold and the nights are dark, it’s the perfect time for some crafting. This doesn’t need to be a competition. Instead, make it an opportunity for people of all ages in your organization’s wider community to come together for an evening.
If there are people in your organization who are experienced at any form of crafting, whether that’s watercolour painting or knitting, have them work with younger kids. Charging a small fee at the door and soliciting donations for crafting materials make this a low-cost way of raising some funds.
Serving hot chocolate is a great idea at any event, really, but it will fit the vibe of a craft night perfectly.
How to Integrate a Raffle
Keeping prizes relevant to your event’s theme is always advisable when you’re thinking of fundraising raffle ideas, so take advantage of that and hold a non-cash raffle with craft kits as prizes. They can often be donated from local businesses in your community, and it’s a great way to keep the spirit of your fundraiser alive long after it’s over.
4. Mid-Winter Bonfire
This may not be allowed in every jurisdiction, but hosting a mid-winter bonfire is one of the most popular winter fundraiser ideas. In some towns, they even host bonfires in early January and get the fire department involved so people can bring their Christmas trees over and burn them.
Even if you host a much smaller event with multiple small fires for people to make s’mores, that can bring out hundreds of people from your community. Have local musicians playing, and stalls set up selling food and drinks. The more, the merrier.
How to Integrate a Raffle
Everyone loves a bonfire, so if you get the word out early, there will surely be lots of people who attend. Organize a cash-prize raffle where anyone can buy tickets in advance or at the bonfire itself, with the winner taking home a lump sum of cold, hard cash.
5. Fitness Challenge
Getting in shape is probably the most common New Year’s Resolution, so why not take advantage and organize a fundraiser that capitalizes on it? That can be a Step Challenge, where participants collect small sponsorships from friends and family and commit to walking a certain number of steps every day, no matter how cold it gets.
Or it could be something smaller, like committing to spending half an hour on an exercise bike every day. What makes fitness challenges such great winter fundraising ideas is that anyone who participates can choose a challenge that works best for them.
How to Integrate a Raffle
Raffles complement almost any winter fundraiser ideas because they don’t distract from the main event, but are easy to organize and run. If your fitness challenge is going to last for a month, sell tickets and draw a winner at the end. The prizes can be workout clothing, a Peloton bike for a bigger raffle, or a standard 50/50.
How to Plan Raffle Prizes for Your Winter Fundraiser
Planning a raffle is surprisingly easy when you use an online platform like Raffle Rocket. While bigger, more expensive prizes can build excitement and drive sales, organizations with smaller budgets can still run raffles that bring in lots of funds.
Careful planning can make a huge difference, though, especially when it comes to picking prizes. Running a 50/50 raffle makes life easiest, as the prize is precisely half of the amount you raise from ticket sales.
With cash raffles, it’s important that you consider how much you’ll bring through sales when you decide on the lump sum that the winner will bring home, so that you still make some profit. With non-cash prizes, there’s a lot to consider.
Here are a few ways you can pick the right prizes for your winter fundraiser.
Determine Your Budget
The goal of a raffle is ultimately to raise funds for your organization, so you don’t want to spend so much on prizes that it takes away from your fundraising goal. Figure out how many tickets you’re going to sell and how many tickets you’re likely to sell, and then pick prizes that will get people excited but don’t cost more than half of the total you expect to bring in.
Consider Your Target Audience
Who are you looking to sell raffle tickets to? What are they actually interested in? What would motivate them to take a chance on buying a ticket? Your prizes should reflect the interests of the people who might buy them, and that can vary wildly. A chic corporate event will likely require more expensive prizes than a small, fun community event.
Where Will Your Prizes Come From?
Many local businesses will be enthusiastic about donating prizes that help out the community. Even if they’re not interested in donating, there’s no harm in asking. Bigger businesses, like sports teams, often reserve tickets specifically for donation, which can be a great way to provide real value with your prizes while keeping your budget tight.
Use a Prize Planning Template
Download our Free Prize Planning Template to help organize prizes for your next fundraiser!
A Winter Fundraiser to Remember
The best winter fundraiser ideas embrace the season and bring people together. Hosting a raffle alongside any fundraiser is a great way of bringing in extra money without interfering with the event itself, and Raffle Rocket makes getting organized simple and straightforward.
Download our Free Prize Planning Template or start your raffle today.
FAQ
When is the best time of year to host a fundraiser?
Tying your fundraiser to the season is a great way of ensuring you can host fun, profitable events year-round.
How long should a raffle be?
Many organizations find that 4 to 6 weeks is perfect. That gives you time to promote your raffle and sell tickets while benefiting from word-of-mouth that raises awareness.
Start setting up your own online raffle fundraiser!
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