100+ Christmas Charity Fundraising Ideas (2024)

Charity Christmas Fundraising Ideas For Events, Fundraisers & Campaigns

This winter will be really hard but Christmas is peak time for charity fundraising and a great opportunity to launch a Christmas campaign or hold a Xmas fundraiser event and have some fun. Here are 100+ Christmas fundraising ideas for your charity campaign or school fundraiser event to help you, with lots of links to even more Christmas ideas and free fundraising resources.

And why not give your charity a Christmas present everyone will like.A one-stop shop for everything you need - simple, quick and everything is free. Eight online health checks, theFunding Finder,Help FinderandData Finderdirectories,60+downloadable funder lists, the huge resource base and Quality Mark.

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CHARITY FUNDRAISING IDEAS - BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Get your Christmas charity fundraising off to a flying start, witha'No'vember challenge? Say no to something for 30 days - alcohol, cigarettes, red meat. A bit like Lent, but with tinsel.

Or do something different. If you're a registered charity, you can claim the same £90k Google Ads grant as CRUK; it's gift. If it's a bit too techie for you, Access Group offer aGoogle Ads management servicefor charities and their experts will do it all for you.

If you want traditional and aSanta Runworks for you, great and you could even hold a virtual one.You could link it (or any other activity) in toAdvent (the 4 weeks before Christmas).And get mince pie ready withBlume’s CEO Alexander Stevenson, who is running free online work-outs for charity employees every Friday morning in December. Find out more and reserve your place now!

Charity Fundraising Ideas For Campaign And Events

If multiple Santa sightings in the streets might cause some consternation amongst the kids, here are more ideas.

• But why not kick off your awesome Christmas fundraising early with anAlternative Black Friday(24 November in 2023). Here are somemore ideasyou could use for yours.
• Save money and do something for the planet, bysending e-cards,with a donation for you, obviously -Making A Difference. Here are5 tips for a Christmas e card campaign.
• Here are top tips for making yourChristmas cardsa success.
• Offer the opportunity to offset your Christmas, perhaps by settingan extra place at the dinner table, ortwinning a tree, and making a donation.
• If you have access to suitable greenery, such as ivy, run afestive wreath workshop, or just make it intowreaths to sell.
• How about avirtual Christmas tree fundraiser?Visu Fundoffer free ones to charities. Thank you toEmily Grintfor this idea.
• Avideo chat with Santaat the North Pole, with an elf themed treasure hunt. Parents send personal details in advance, with a present reveal during the call.
• Do your charity staff/volunteers, have useful skills? How aboutvouchers, in return for donations, to give as presents - online classes in wellbeing, yoga, cooking, whatever.
• Host virtual office parties, in return for donations. Video conference drinks, with a scavenger hunt (1st person to find an item in their house, such as a mince pie) or quiz. Here are Charity Digital'stop 10 virtual event ideas,their most cost effectiveonline events platforms, and here's a downloadablevirtual quiznight fundraiser.

Even more charity Christmas fundraising ideas

• Apply to be part of aChristmas newspaper appeal. This link is really old
• Join theBig Give Christmas Challengeto access matched funding. It's usually end Nov to early Dec but registration opens much earlier.
• Create acalendar or advent calendar.Thankfully, taking your clothes off is no longer mandatory.
• Or how about areverse advent calendar- invite your supporters to donate an item a day for set number of days.
• Or even adigital advent calendar.Want more festive digital ideas? Here are 20 fromCharity Digital News.
• Get yourfestive season social media calendarsorted in advance and upload it into a social media management system, to make life easy.
• Everybody loves Secret Santa, so why not encourage supporters to add a 'Secret Santa Extra' option. Those who do, donate to buy an item for your beneficiaries from your charity shopping basket.
• And, if you run a charity shop, take advantage of your low prices by having aSecret Santa displayin your window.
• It's already hugely challenging but why not capitalise on that byholding a 2022 Challenge- run, hop, skip, bake, whatever.
• Or go old school with aChristmas challenge fundraiser,such as a 'polar plunge' in the sea or a local pool.With suitable safety arrangements, obviously.
• Do you know a local company that might like to kiss goodbye to an awful year by doing good and inviting their staff to donate theirlast hour's pay in 2022? If their payroll can't do it, people could donate to your fundraising page on pay day instead.
• Fundraisers are endlessly inventive, solearn from others. Here arevirtual fundraising ideas during COVID,virtual fundraising ideas when you're stuckat homeand20 'old, but gold' Christmas fundraisingideas from way back in 2014.

Find Charity Christmas Fundraising Items, Donations & Volunteers

Register, then login to access ourHelp Finder directory; everything is free. Use the Help Finder search categories below.

• Donations - Product & Equipment.Donated products for your fayres, raffles and auctions, including adventure days out, theme park tickets, chocolate and sweets and even teddy bears.
• Donations - Funding.Local companies and the local branches/outlets of national companies that donate to charityto top up your Christmas fundraising.
• Volunteering & Secondment.Volunteers to help with your activities and campaignand toorganise Christmas work and office fundraisers.

To find the maximum number of providers, make sure you select UK Wide and your UK nation and, if applicable, your major UK city and/or English county.

If you're a food bank or poverty charity, you can find household items, hygiene and period product providers in Donated Products and human and pet food in the Food search category.

CHARITY CHRISTMAS FUNDRAISING IDEAS FOR YOUR EVENTS AND CAMPAIGNS

Here are lots more ideas to try.

SPOILER ALERT! John Lewis Christmas Ad

A family get inside their Mad Max style Ford Focus. In the background, an acoustic version of This Is The End by the Doors plays. The Dad checks the petrol supply. The Mum readies her cricket bat. In the distance, the only Waitrose with a turkey left.

Alternatively, get ahead of the rush by kicking off your Christmas campaign planning with some insider knowledge from the newChristmas Giving Insightsreport from Enthuse.

12 Days of Christmas fundraising event and campaign ideas

• Hold aChristmas Fare or Bazaar, orbreakfast with Santaand his helpers.
• If that doesn't work for you, how aboutpre-recording your event? Here are the top 10virtual fundraising ideas, a free online guide torunning virtual fundraising eventsandevent management and engagement appsto help you.
• Or jump on the Bake Off bandwagon with aChristmas cookie bake off.
• If you're lucky enough to know Mary Berry personally, ask her for a recipe, a quote and a picture you can use to power up your promotion.
• OK that was a very long shot, but do you have any othercelebrity chefsin the local area you could ask?
• You don't? How about asking othercelebrities to give you their favourite Christmas recipeand why they like it so much - for yourcelebrity Christmas recipe listIf you don't have enough, throw in some co*cktails, including one named after your charity. Non-alcoholic are just as good as alcoholic and a lot better for you.
• Or aChristmas quiz or games evening,oran auction, or go large and have aChristmas Ball. Here's how to hold acharity virtual auction.
• How about aChristmas concert, or carol service and who doesn't likeCarol singers.
• If don't have the resources to do that, could youpartner with a local village hall, pub, restaurant? They host, you run it. (Thanks to David Morgan for that one).
• Offer a'local Santa' service- parents deliver presents for their child to you, plus a donation, and on Christmas morning Santa delivers it to their house.
• Invite supporters to set-up aChristmas shopping packingorgift wrapping servicein a shop or shopping centre.
• Go one step further, by creating apop-up shopthat allows people to 'buy' products or services for your beneficiaries.
• Why not havehome-made Christmas crackersto sell, with a heart warming message about your work, instead of a joke. I may already have mentioned that I'm Scottish. If you are too, include an ask as well.
• Orhome-made Christmas decorations- here are45 ways to do that.
• Either might even be somethingyour beneficiaries could have fundoing. They could evenadd a short personal Christmas messageto each one they make. If you're a cat charity, don't - they'd probably love being involved, but you may not end up with many decorations.
• If that doesn't work for you, this Christmas will be even more lonely for many. Hold atoy/food appeal, or the opportunity to ‘buy’ Christmas hampersto be made up for delivery to your beneficiaries.

IDEAS FOR FUNDRAISING AFTER CHRISTMAS

• Tackle post-Christmas lethargy byholding an eventto get people, out, active and having fun.
• For example, encourage people to work off all those mince pies with the12 miles of Christmasor a virtual event held over the12 days of Christmas, which begin 25 Dec and end 6 Jan.
• If you prefer motor transport to running, run aChristmas tree disposal service.
• Failing that, offer anunwanted presents service, to sell in your shop, or to be used by your charity. Or invite them to sell them on E Bay and donate to you viaE Bay for charity. Not for you? The Charity Excellence 80+ fundraising platforms below, lists lots of auction and selling platforms.
• Invite people to make anearly New Year resolution, to do good by joining you as a supporter or volunteer, orundertake a challenge, sponsored by family and friends - lose those extra Christmas pounds, go 'dry' in January, get fit, give up smoking, whatever.
• Make your own early New Year resolution. Charity Excellence has 19k members, nearly half of whom rate it 10/10. Oh yeah, here comes the sales pitch, you say. Please, I'm Scottish.
• It has the Funding Finder database, which is updated with the latest fundesr weekly, plus 50+ downloadable funder lists. Plus 100s of organisations that give charities free goods and services. Don't believe me? Have a lookat thisand here's a taste of all thefree stuffyou can get.Sign your charity up now. Everything is free, but don't tell anyone, I have a reputation to maintain.
• And why not make another resolution, to open anonline shop. Here'show to get startedand here's how tobuild a shop on E Bay.
• Or join some of the manyother fundraising platforms- there are100+ in this Charity Excellence resource.
• Or getconnected and get help from the fantastic people in our sector, by joining one or more of the50+ charity/socent groupsin this Charity Excellence resource.
• Ormake sure you're up-to-date on all the latest, by signing up to a newsletter, such as UK Fundraising, or for the latest in the rapidly developing world of digital,Charity Digital News.
• If you've any energy left, arrange aNew Year's Eve event. If it's virtual, if you have a supporter orsister charity in anearlier time zonewhy not connect to showcase your work and get the party started early?

But times are tough..........

And people are going to say 'no', so it's important to keep going.

• Find out who hascontacts with local shops and businessesand use them.
• If you don't have any, I’ve had a lot of success by just starting at one end of a High Street andgoing into each shop in turn, asking for the manager and making an ask.
• I usually try toposition myself next to the tills,where customers can overhear, because that can make saying no a bit embarrassing.
• What if the shop/shopping centre won’t donate, or let you run gift wrapping, or sell stuff? Simples,ask them to sell for you.At the tills, because you get more sales than on the shelves. Christmas cards, crackers, decorations...
• Still no luck? Before you start out, blag a local printer to create someChristmas appeal stickers for your collection tins. If they say no to your original plan, give them a Christmas appeal tin.
• Success, but you’re not finished yet.Invite them to make their Christmas support a permanent arrangement. When you go back after Christmas, thank them profusely, explain the real difference their kindness has made and offer them a replacement tin.

The Government has more money than you do, so get them to contribute too:

• Gift Aid can be claimed on your Christmas tin and bucket collections using thesmall donations scheme.
• If you're VAT registered, claimVAT exemption for your fundraising events.

And you could probably do with some help too:

• Get your trustees to join in. ThisCharity Excellence resourcegives you 20 ways in which they can do that and ideas about how to get them engaged to do so.
• And maybesome extra volunteerstoo; try the great people atReach Volunteering.
• And with lots of people isolating, maybe consider somemicro-volunteers?
• Or somepro bono marketingto get the message out there -Pimp My Cause.
• Needprizes for your auction or raffle - contact Charity Escapes.

Christmas isn't just a fundraising opportunity - other ideas

It's been another tough year, so don't forget tosay thank you to your supportersat Christmas.

• And too many charities talk about it, but don't actually thank staff and volunteers. Even if you're one of the great ones that does,an extra thank you for the brilliant work they doisn't wasted.
• Or even go one better, by nominating your awesome volunteers for afantastic free stay in a posh hotel.Apply toRoom To Reward. It's completely free.
• Is it time toarrange your Christmas party?
• And how about ahandwritten Christmas card from the CEO,directors or trustees?
• And if you're one of those great charities that gives staff a little something extra, if you avoid cash or cash vouchers, you can alsoavoid paying tax-more here.
• And don't forget to give them ashout out on your social media.
• It's also time toupdate your Christmas card listfor stakeholders and, not least, funders. Remember to put more into those you most need to engage. Ideas I've used in the past have included circulating an entire pack of cards at the start of a trustee meeting and inviting everyone to sign them. You can do the same with staff and beneficiaries.
• It'll be even lonelier for some this year, so if you can,send a card to your beneficiariestoo.
• Ordering cards branded for your charitycan work well and you can sell these too, and if it works for you,handmade cards by staff/beneficiariescan work really well.
• GotGoogle Ads? Get your Christmas campaign set to go with some sweetseasonal key wordsand awesome adverts, to get those donations rolling in.
• Anddon't forget your social media- here are5 tips on running a Christmas campaignand, for inspiration, some of thebest charity Christmas campaignsto create a bit of Christmas cheer. We could all do with some of that right now. Get started by...
• Nominating your charity/CIC for a £1000- Ecclesiastical's launches its12 Days Of Givingeach Christmas.

And being Scottish, I'm pretty miserable....

Let it snow...... or rain, blow, whatever, but don't get caught out by the mundane stuff we sometimes overlook.

• Make sure you've taken all reasonable steps to reduce your energy costs - there are lots of ideas in this Charity Excellenceenergy saving resource.
• You don't want the heating to fail, just as it arrives, so you've had yourboilers servicedand repaired the'couple of loose slates'that might just turn into a huge problem, right? If it doesn't look good, get somepro bono property advicefromLand Aid.
• And, when did you lastreview your insurance?
• And in case it does go horribly wrong, is yourstaff contact list up-to-date?
• Or better still do you have acascade list,where one person phones several people, who them phone others in turn; much quicker and easier?
• Do you have an up-to-date, workablecontingency plan?Even if you manage to come through a Game of Thrones type winter unscathed, the pipes might burst come Spring........ Maybe you should have checked the lagging last October, when you still had time to do something about it.
• And, finally, if you'reclosing or reducing servicesover Christmas, get the message out early and clearly to everyone.

Back to fundraising, but remember to keep everyone safe. Here's theFundraising Regulator's guidance.

Showcase your Christmas campaign with some PR

• Make a video and get it out on social media. Here's how to make aChristmas videoon a shoestring budget.
• If you don't have great social media reach,join your local town and village Face Book groupsand post in those.
• Andmaximise any PR opportunities- a shout out by your local radio station or an article in the Media. Here's how towrite and pitch a press release, how to get into thelocal and regional mediaand Pressat offerfree UK press release distributionto non-profits.
• If that won't work for you, try yourlocal parish or village newsletters/magazines.

And Fundraising isn't just for Christmas...........

It'an opportunity to better engage your supportersand turnone-off involvement into ongoing support in 2023. Make sure that youappropriately thank everyonewho supports you.

Christmas helper badges, thank you certificates, social media shout-outs, mentions in posts and press realeases, photo opportunities, letters, e mails, phone calls, whatever works for them.

I wish you every success and a fantastic 2023.

And, A Present For You!

A registered charity ourselves, we provide 8 online health checks, the huge information hub, Quality Mark and 3 online directories.

• Funding Finder- click through to more funders than any other grants directory, categories for Crisis Funding, Core Funding and Small Charities & Community Groups and60+ downloadable grant lists.
• Help Finder – find advice, pro bono support and free services and products, including companies that make financial donations and provide raffle prizes.
• Data Finder- finds data for funding bids, fundraising research, impact reporting, planning and campaigning.