5 Fundraising Ideas Your Kids Will Love

Teaching your children the importance of giving back is a valuable life lesson, and what better way to teach them it than through fundraising. Raising money for a local charity is an excellent way to show your children how much they can help other people. 

For our guide to fundraising with kids, have a read of this.

Plan before you start

Before you start your fundraising, take your children to visit the charity you are fundraising for. Ask your kids to find out as much as they can about the charity and what work it does. The more that you and your children know about the charity and its work, the more you will want to help. Try to pick a charity that your kids can easily relate to, such as charity that helps sick children, for example.

Once you have visited your chosen charity, sit down together and come up with a plan. Discuss how much you would like to raise and consider how any money that you raise, will help your charity. Explain to your children that although you want to help, it is important to be realistic in terms of how much you want to make.

Think about how long you are going to fundraiser for – four to six months is a good period of time, work out how much you can raise in that period. Be realistic, it is better to exceed a realistic target than to not reach a target that is too high. Remind your little ones that any donation, how big or small will make a huge difference to your charity.

Think about how you will raise the money 

Sit down with the kids and brainstorm some fundraising ideas. Remember, this is your children’s project, so make sure that they get involved and share some ideas.

Ask them to come up with a list of four or five of their favorite fundraising ideas to start off with. Remind them that you can always take on more ideas at a later time. For everything you need to know about fundraising, have a look online to get some tips and ideas. 

You can kick off your fundraising efforts by giving some of these fundraising ideas below, a try.

1. Sell products

Selling products is an excellent way to raise money. Have a think about what your children could sell and how to go about it.

Think about what type of products would relate to the charity, for example if you are fundraising for a children’s charity, selling small teddy bears would be a good idea. To get the best deals on products, like teddy bears, visit warehouse stores like Costco and Walmart.

Consider how and where you will sell these items, do you want to set up a stall outside your house, go around knocking on doors or maybe even create an online selling site? Whatever you choose to do, make sure that your children are accompanied at all times.

2. Approach cash donors

Another excellent way, to raise money for charity, is to approach people and ask for donations to help. Whilst you may find it a little embarrassing, your children will have no problem asking people to make a donation.

If you are planning on leaving the asking to the kids, make sure you arm them with all the information they need. Explain to them exactly what the charity does and why it needs more funds. You could also give them some fact sheets or cards to give out to potential donors about the charity. Even though your kids will be doing the asking, make sure to stay with them at all times.

Think about how you will approach cash donors. Will you get the kids to go around your local town with a charity pot or will you rent out a stall at your local market? What do you think would work best?

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you plan in advance and keep an eye on the children at all times. Ensure that you explain to them the importance of being friendly and polite and that if someone doesn’t want to donate that is okay.

3. Hold a bake sale

Holding a bake sale is a fun and relatively easy way to raise some money for your chosen charity. However, before getting started with your baking, it is important to check what the health and safety rules are in your area.

Once you have established what the rules and regulations are, you can then get planning. Think about where you will hold your bake sale, perhaps you could hold a couple of different sales. Schools, car boot sales and supermarkets are all excellent place to host a bake sale at, just make sure to get permission beforehand.

Think about what type of cakes you will make and how you will deal with allergies. Avoid using any nut-based products or items made in factories with nuts. Cupcakes, brownies, flapjacks, and rice crispy cakes are all relatively easy to make and don’t cost too much to create. Making them perfect for your children to make.

4. Get sponsored

An excellent way to raise some serious money is to get sponsored for something. Ask your children what they would like to be sponsored for, a sponsored walk, a sponsored silence or a sponsored swim could all work well.

Once the kids have decided on what they would like to be sponsored for, you need to set a date for the event and create sponsorship forms. As well as an information pack explaining about your chosen charity and why your kids are raising money for it. As well as printing out paper sponsorship forms, set up an online Just Giving account and share the link online with friends.

Send a sponsorship form and information pack to all your friends and family. Make sure also to take one to work, place one in your local shop, and get the kids to take one to school with them.

If your children are planning on doing something sporty for their sponsored event, make sure to help them start training for it. Encourage them to practice and train as much as possible.

5. Host a charity fun morning

Invite all of your children’s friends and their parents over to your house for a charity fun morning. Setup garden games, hire a bouncy castle, a children’s entertainer and anything else you need to make the morning a success. So that you don’t end up out of pocket, explain that it is a charity event and see what discount you can get.

Get the children to bake lots of cakes and savory goodies for your guests to eat – cheese straws, homemade crisps and cookies always go down well.

At the end of the morning, ask each guest to make a donation to your chosen charity.