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As lockdowns and cancelled public events due to the Coronavirus pandemic become more and more common, virtual and online charity events are on the rise.
Not only does hosting your charity fundraising event virtually mean you’re complying with safety regulations, but it can also mean you save money and resources in the long run – plus there are plenty of creative ways to get people involved in supporting your cause and raising money! Here are our top 10 suggestions.
As lockdowns and cancelled public events due to the Coronavirus pandemic become more and more common, virtual and online charity events are on the rise.
Not only does hosting your charity fundraising event virtually mean you’re complying with safety regulations, but it can also mean you save money and resources in the long run – plus there are plenty of creative ways to get people involved in supporting your cause and raising money! Here are our top 10 suggestions.
1. Virtual Bingo Night
Hosting a virtual bingo night is a great way to raise some money for your charity. Charge a small entry fee to go towards the proceeds for the event, and save a small sum as the prize for the winner.
There are loads of free websites you can use to generate bingo cards, play the game and call the numbers with online – you’ll just need to send an invite to all of the players.
To advertise your event, share it on social media, send out a marketing email to your current subscribers who’ll already be interested in fundraising for your cause anyway, and a well-placed poster in your physical shop never hurt!
2. Stream an Online Game Tournament
Taking it right into the 21st century with this next idea – charity game streaming. If you’re an avid gamer, why not get sponsored to stream yourself playing? This could be as part of a challenge, like non-stop playing for so many hours, or for entertainment.
On your chosen date, start streaming using a live video streaming platform such as YouTube or Twitch and direct people to your fundraising page to donate. You can also post updates to your other social media accounts and encourage others to come and watch you play.
3. Online Auctions
From baked goods and homemade jams to crafted items and your best knits – auction off some of your creations and earn a bit of cash for a good cause! The easiest way to do this is to set up a Facebook event and invite your friends and family – and ask them to invite their friends and family.
Then take good quality pictures of the auction items up for grabs in a well-lit area. Post each item with a starting price and let the event-goers reserve the items they want. Privately message them for payment – and voila: you’ve got your hard-earned money for charity!
4. Indoor Sponsored Challenges & Activities
Just because outdoor and group events might be off the list this year, doesn’t mean your charity needs to forego sponsored challenges and activities altogether. Here are a few fundraising challenge ideas that work alone, in a small family and in your house:
- Shave your head
- Wax your legs
- Grow a moustache/beard
- Sponsored dance
- Sponsored silence
- Craft-a-longs
- Sponsored read
- Sponsor your children to do household chores
5. Donate Your Would-Be Commute Fares
With 46.6% of UK workers now working from home thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic (ONS), we sure are saving time and money on our commute to work! (Plus, all those expensive sandwiches you buy from the shop every day because you ‘forgot’ to bring your lunch…)
Get together with a bunch of colleagues to donate a week’s worth of would-be petrol or train fare money to give to your local charity.
6. Amazon Smile
As part of its charitable giving activity, Amazon introduced Amazon Smile in the UK in 2017 and has been expanded to benefit any UK charity. It works by donating a small percentage (0.5%) of a buyer’s purchase to a charity of their choice.
With many of us making more online purchases during lockdown – and Amazon being one of the biggest e-commerce sites in the world – you’re missing out if you haven’t enrolled your charity onto the scheme. You can apply to Amazon Smile here.
Once you’re enrolled, make sure to ask customers to choose you as their charity of choice when using Amazon Smile by sending them a letter in the post telling them how to do so.
7. Virtual Classes & Workshops
From craft events to online cocktail classes (sign us up!), virtual events are the perfect way to inject a little fun into your fundraising efforts. And, what’s even better, people can take part from the comfort of their own homes – what’s not to like?
To host this kind of event, create a kit with all the ingredients or equipment guests will need to take part and sell this through your website or shop. Make sure you make the time and date of the event clear by including it on a postcard along with the kit in a box as well as online.
Give all the proceeds from selling the kits to your charity!
8. Sponsored 5k or Walkathon
We’re being encouraged to leave our houses to take part in exercise, so there’s no excuse not to get involved in a sponsored walk or race! Websites like virtualrunner.com let runners, walkers, movers and shakers track their runs and gain sponsors online – as well as pay a joining fee.
Apply to be one of the chosen charities for this website here, or choose from many others that offer something similar.
9. Spring Clean
Why not use all this extra time inside to have a big clear out? Rummage through your drawers, wardrobes, shed, garage, kitchen and imagine that you’re Marie Kondo – hold each item in your hand and ask, ‘Does this spark joy?’ and if not, into the pile it goes!
Not only will you have the benefit of a neat, organised house free from clutter, but there are lots of different ways you can use the things you don’t want to raise money for charity. While you’re at it, why not create some custom labels for your drawers to keep them organised?
You could take anything that’s still of value down to your local charity shop, or sell your items online or save them to sell at a car boot sale and give the money you make to charity. Some shops, like TK Maxx, accept donations of clothes, accessories and homeware and transform your preloved items into funds for cancer research charities.
10. Virtual Pub Quiz
We had to put virtual quizzes on this list somewhere – it’s a lockdown staple! Quizzes are great because they’re relatively easy to host and easy to access to anyone who’s got access to the internet. If you’re already a dab hand at hosting this kind of event thanks to lockdown, great! If not, here’s what you’ll need to do.
Create a quiz
We recommend 3-5 question rounds, each with a different theme. This can be anything from general knowledge, music and geography to edited celebrity faces, film trivia and – if you want to embarrass your friends – ‘Who said this on Facebook in 2009?’.
Get inviting
Ask around your friends or set up something a bit more structured in the form of a Facebook event and invite people to join in. If you want to host a quiz on a larger scale, sli.do is a great platform. Simply create an event and send people the code they’ll need to access it. This could be sent as a text, email or on a flyer. Ask for a small entry fee.
Host the quiz
Time to put on your best game show host voice for the quiz of the century! Run through the questions, giving people enough time to think of an answer, then the answers. If there aren’t too many teams, ask them to send you their answers to double-check the winner at the end. Then announce the winner.
Once the quiz has finished, send the proceeds you collected as the entry fees to charity.
We hope these virtual fundraising ideas have given you plenty to have a go at during lockdown – and beyond. Join us on Twitter and let us know how you’ve been fundraising this year at @instantprintuk.
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