GIVING DESTINATION IDEAS*
This list was created to be “idea starters” for your organization. You will need to make changes to make the idea fit with your organization and identify ways to raise money using the idea. If you need additional help, feel free to contact the Kearney Area Community Foundation – we’re here to help!
A Giving Destination is an event held by a participating Give Where You Live organization in order to invite donors to experience Give Where You Live on a more personal level and build excitement in the community. Hosting a Giving Destination on December 1 brings the community out to learn more about your nonprofit and provides your donors with a place to make donations. An event of any size or type invites friends to join you in watching the community’s generosity grow and grow!
Remember, the Kearney Area Community Foundation’s office closes at 7:00 p.m., so make plans in advance if your event will have checks or cash to turn in to KACF to be counted in the day’s fundraising total. If you are holding a late-night event, contact KACF to brainstorm creative ideas to get your donations counted!
This is also your chance to teach the community about your organization – hand out pamphlets, share your event and progress on social media, invite them to come back to visit again on another day! For more specific information, see Giving Destination Tips & Guidelines in the Nonprofit Toolkit.
Lastly, and more importantly, don’t forget to register your Giving Destination with the Kearney Area Community Foundation by filling out the registration form and submitting it to KACF by October 31 in order to take advantage of the KACF Give Where You Live marketing campaign.
1. Don’t Quit Your Day Job: Invite your potential donors to come sing karaoke! The crowd votes for the best (or worst) act by putting money into the singers’ jars. Coins = good singer. Dollar Bills = bad singer. The best and worst singers will each get a prize. The donations go to your organization!
2. Hunk A Hunk A Burning Rub: Hold a BBQ competition and sell the results for supper!
3. Bail Me Out: Choose someone important and set their “bail bond”. Imprison him/her in a jail cell or handcuffs until public donations “bail them out” when the bail bond is reached. The largest donor during that time wins the right to choose the next “prisoner” and you start all over again!
4. Frying up the Funds: Hold a Rocky Mountain oyster fry.
*These “Giving Destination” ideas were the product of a service learning project from a group of students from the University of Nebraska – Kearney in 2014 and were refined by the Kearney Area Community Foundation. We sincerely appreciate the partnership with UNK – without their help, this list would not be possible.
Updated on 1/9/18 Page 1 of 7 5. Grounds for Change: Sell coffee and invite conversation at a location of your choosing. Tell your visitors how their dollars and cents can mean big things for Kearney. Don’t forget the to-go cups!
6. Pick Their Poison: Identify members of your organization or public figures who will let the public vote on the torture they will receive! Examples: temporary hair dye, dancing the Macarena, dressing up like a super hero, etc. Make the poisons social-media-friendly!
7. Guess the Baby: Gather embarrassing baby pictures of your board or staff – we all have at least one! Display the pictures and hold a contest to see who can guess which baby picture belongs to whom!
8. Bingo: Set up a bingo game and invite players to join. The first card is free, but they can buy up to ten bingo cards in order to better their chances at getting a bingo! Each additional card is $5.
9. X Marks the Spot: Sell bowling balls at $5 each. Have each player roll their ball down a hill or towards a target to try to come closest to the bull’s-eye! The closest ball to the center wins a prize. Keep the game going as long as you’d like! Think of ways the players could challenge a friend!
10. Pop-it! In this game of chance, you will fill a room with balloons and ask your visitors to pay a fee to pop a balloon! Put winning tickets in with an assortment of losing tickets. Identify “winner” and “loser” prizes to make the game interesting! Post pictures on social media to share the fun.
11. Date Auction: Seek out eligible bachelors and bachelorettes in the Kearney area and hold a live date auction for a romantic evening in a popular restaurant. You could also incorporate the auction into a singles dance!
12. Scavenger Hunt: Hold a community-wide scavenger hunt that takes your participants all over town! Teams register to participate for a chance to win a prize! You could sell “clues” to teams who are willing to pay to get ahead! Who says scavenger hunts are just for kids?
13. Pitch-A-Thon: This is perfect for a softball or baseball fundraiser! Rent a radar gun and charge people to see how fast they can throw a ball. Encourage community members to challenge each other to a pitch-off to see who’s top dog!
14. Break-a-Buggy: Get an old car from the junkyard and a sledgehammer. Charge people to take a swing, but don’t forget the safety glasses!
15. FOOD FIIIGGGGHHT! Create several really disgusting food choices and place them in individual bowls for a food fight. Charge people $10 to get in with one complimentary bowl. If they run out, charge extra for another bowl.
16. Ticky, Tacky: Hold a tacky “debutante ball” or prom party and encourage participants to dress in a tacky outfit or tie.
17. Gift Wrapping Service: Tis the season! Hold a gift-wrapping booth at the mall or your office in exchange for free will donations. Offer your customers complimentary hot chocolate while they wait.
Updated on 1/9/18 Page 2 of 7 18. Piñata Contest: Challenge groups to create their own piñata and fill it with their own concoction! You could string up multiple piñatas and allow participants to buy a swing at one of the piñatas. Who says the piñata has to be filled with candy? The piñata that lasts the longest is the winner!
19. Deck the Halls: Challenge homeowners to an outdoor holiday house-decorating challenge! Expand the competition by separating the competition by geographical area or categorize by decorating element (most lights, biggest Santa, best manger scene, live animals, etc.).
20. Chef Challenge: Organize a potluck inspired cooking challenge. Participates bring their dish for a lunch or supper crowd. Charge entry for the meal and let them vote for the best dish of 2016! Looking to serve a bigger crowd? Offer cooking competition categories (side dish, main dish, casserole, dessert, etc.) and limit the number of entries in each category for more control.
21. Penny Wars: Two or more groups compete to win your fundraising competition. Each group has a collection bucket to hold their coins and dollar bills. Pennies count positively toward the group’s point total while coins and dollar bills count negatively.
22. Doodles and Noodles: Hold a spaghetti feed and invite parents and children to create their own piece of artwork. You could have ideas ready for them or let them go wild!
23. Lincoln for Kearney: Send a penny to potential donors with a note for them to stop by your Giving Destination on, December 1, to return the penny and donate a $5 bill. (Lincoln is on the penny and the $5 bill).
24. Battle of the Bands: Gather some local bands and hold a mini concert in a local pub or eatery. This is your chance to challenge your musical friends and see how good they really are!
25. Poker Tournament: Plan a poker tournament or poker run for December 1. Don’t like poker? Try pitch, canasta, board games or scrabble!
26. Happy Wheels: Organize a wheel chair obstacle course and challenge community members to a timed challenge to raise awareness about developmental disabilities.
27. Giving Tree: Place envelopes on a Christmas tree in a central location with a price tag inside ranging from $1-20. Visitors can pick an envelope and give a gift. (For tiered giving, include envelopes of different colors: blue = $1-20; red = $21-$50; white = $51 – 75; etc.).
28. Telephone Game: Challenge your existing donors to a telephone giving chain. Give them ideas for who to call and how they can give! No time for phone calls? Use the same idea by sending a text with the website donation link, or tag friends on social media!
29. Stuff It! Organize a list of things your organization needs! Choose an unusual vehicle, object or location to “stuff” full of those items! Your collection is done when you’re stuffed!
30. Death by Chocolate: Indulge. Offer different chocolates and complimentary foods for sampling. Invite the community to stop by, have a delicious snack and learn about your cause!
31. Facility Tours: Increase awareness of the organization by giving tours to the community.
Updated on 1/9/18 Page 3 of 7 32. Worker Bee Auction: Gather volunteers and auction them off to help buyers with a home project or errand.
33. Inky Information: Donors receive temporary tattoos that inform/promote the organization. By wearing them all day, they remind and inspire others to give!
34. Runway Magic: Plan a themed fashion show. Have the audience vote on the best and worst dressed. Encourage participation by having contestants find their own sponsor!
35. 50/50 Raffle: Sell tickets during your event for a fixed price. Put all the tickets in a bucket and draw the winner. The lucky winner gets a portion of the money as their prize!
36. Executive Service: Partner with a local business and ask management to serve breakfast or lunch to their workers. Attendees give a free will donation to support your cause.
37. Smoothie Operator: Find a simple smoothie recipe (one that will let you substitute many kinds of fruit so everyone can have something they like and set up a smoothie stand at work or school.
38. Can-struction Challenge: Turn can sculpting into a competition! Host a contest for the best canned food sculpture. Create categories: funniest, scariest, biggest, etc. Canned food gets donated to the food bank at the conclusion of the challenge.
39. What Are You Eating? Guess the nutrition game for health advocacy groups – have samples of food that people try to guess the calorie/sugar content. Charge a penny per calorie for the foods they want!
40. No Coat Challenge for Homeless: The challenger pays money for the “challenge” to go without a coat for the day. If the “challenge” doesn’t want to, they can pay a fee to get their coat back!
41. Beef, It’s What’s For Charity: Sell tickets for a steak dinner on December 1.
42. Toy Sailboat Race for the Cure: Have participants make their boat out of a set list of supplies and race their boat on December 1! Don’t forget to provide an indoor pool for the race.
43. So You Think You Can Drive: Mario Kart tournament to bring a little healthy competition into the mix! Include a couple of “old school” video games to bring in gamers of all ages!
44. Exchange for Change: Participants can sell an article of clothing off Kearney Exchange Facebook page and give the money to your organization for donations. A great way to hold a rummage sale in the winter!
45. Fitness Challenge: Reserve a local gym and advertise the different challenges available. People can pay to challenge someone else in the community to a fitness challenge of their choice! Loser makes a donation!
Updated on 1/9/18 Page 4 of 7 46. Makeup Mix Up: Challenge community members to declare December 1 as a no makeup day for the ladies and instead, the men must put on makeup for the day. Guys and gals pay $10 to your charity to avoid the mix-up! Use this as a social media challenge and tag friends and family across the state!
47. Dreaded Duds: Participants wear the oldest/ugliest thing they own. Friends and co-workers can pay to make the participant keep their outfit on the whole day! Post pictures to social media to encourage gifts from around town or even the state!
48. Late Night Snack: Hello all night-owls! Invite your guests for a late night snack and to help you with last minute donations online to meet your goal! Be sure to have laptops, tablets or cell phones to make mobile gifts online.
49. Music Video Contest: Participants create a music video of why they love living in Kearney. Ask them to jam out to their favorite song and share with friends to encourage support.
50. Photoshop Contest: Photoshop someone's face to a picture. Have the creator of the photo make a donation and post the picture to your social media page! Entries may be judged and could include different categories (pets, humor, celebrity look-a-likes, etc.).
51. Roger Dodger: Hold a dodge-ball tournament. Encourage area businesses to put together teams – last team standing wins!
52. Rope Wars: Organize a good old-fashioned tug-o-war. Encourage groups of friends or coworkers to come out and tug! Challenge family against family for some good wholesome fun!
53. A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words: Organize a coloring contest. Include different age groups to make the contest fair and interesting! Parents can enter their children’s drawing by turning it in at your Giving Destination on December 1. Post winners to social media!
54. Sponsor a Shuffle: Participants can collect sponsors to play in a shuffle board tournament. All money is donated to the charity/organization.
55. It’s Chili Outside: Host a competition for the best chili. All entries could be sold as part of a soup supper.
56. Storage Wars: Encourage people to donate the contents of their old storage unit for a charity auction or rummage sale!
57. Brunch Buddies: Hold a brunch or tea. Invite special guests to attract attendees.
58. Kiss the Snake: Participants can pay money to have a person/organization member of their choice kiss a (non-venomous) snake. Make your fundraiser mobile by taking the snake on the road!
59. Seize the Day: Host a Carpe Diem type speaker for spiritual, personal or professional inspiration. Charge admission.
Updated on 1/9/18 Page 5 of 7 60. Jump Start the Day: Host an aerobics class to kick start the day. Participants bring a donation to participate in the class.
61. Fundraising Flapjacks: Organize a pancake feed and encourage free will donations. Everyone needs breakfast!
62. Mommy and Me: Mothers with young children can come and participate in creative bonding activities. Nice way for mothers to get out and meet other young mothers!
63. Story Time: Invite amateur speakers to come and tell their best story. Consider different categories: best, funniest, worst, scariest, etc.
64. Puppet Show: Cater to parents with younger children and create a puppet show in exchange for a free will donation.
65. Live Radio Broadcasting: Have a radio station set up on site and have people donate to put in song requests. Anything goes!
66. Milk and Cookies: Bring the kids after school and enjoy some good ole milk and cookies.
67. Penny per Second: Charge 60 cents/minute for participants to play on inflatable games and obstacle courses. Fun for kids or adults!
68. Pie-A-Guy (or Girl): Participants can pay money to throw a pie at a member of the organization. You make the rules!
69. Wheel of Fortune: People who donate can spin a wheel to win different prizes (can include pencils, t-shirts, gift cards or donated items).
70. Role Playing Activity: Participants can gather into groups and put on short skits that would help them understand different causes/issues the organization deals with. List different roles on slips of paper and have the participants draw their character!
71. Curse Jar: Place a curse jar at your favorite locations. Offenders pay the price! Repeat offenders can pay big!
72. Crafts for Charity: Participants can come and purchase different materials to make a craft project. The craft could also be something that would promote the organization.
73. Scrapbooking for Charity! Organize a scrapbooking marathon and invite the community to come by and work on their own memory books! Have them pay by the page or by the hour!
74. Bucks for Basketball: Organize a basketball tournament to be held on December 1. Players can show their skills (or lack thereof!) and spectators can participate in a “March Madness” style bracket competition.
75. Piece of Cake! Gather your dessert-baking friends and host a bake sale. For extra fun, hold a cake walk and post winners on social media.
Updated on 1/9/18 Page 6 of 7 76. Caroling for Charity: Participants can pay money to have a singing Christmas-gram sent to a person of their choice.
77. Movie Screening: Choose a film that would promote the organization/cause and host a family movie night.
78. Taco Thursday: Organize a taco feed for free will donations.
79. Dance: Host a dance for junior high students. Charge admission at the door.
80. Trivia Night: Charge teams to participate. Have trivia questions for different age groups and include some trivia about your organization.
81. Up All Night: Spend the evening sending status updates and tweets to friends to encourage them to give at all hours of the day! Remember – a Golden Ticket is drawn every hour, so make the clock work for you!
82. Rock-a-thon: Each participant pays to rock in a rocking chair for a certain period of time. Hot chocolate will be provided and it’s a good way to meet people and start a conversation.
83. Hawt Dogs: Hold a hotdog eating contest. You could charge admission or encourage participants to solicit a sponsor!
84. Strike Gold: Start a campaign where you ask volunteers to donate old gold jewelry to turn into cash.
85. Buy a Brick: People will purchase a brick to build a new walkway or building for an organization.
86. Shoot for the Stars: Have a nighttime s’mores campfire. Too cold? Host a s’mores party indoors!
87. Denim Days: Challenge area businesses to support you by declaring a denim day for employees who pay a fee!
88. Hallway Carnival! Organize a “street” carnival in a local school or mall. Be sure to plan this during after school hours.
89. Would You Rather? Start a social media game challenging your friends to a game of “Would You Rather?” Example: “Jane, would you rather donate $100 to Make-A-Wish or eat a red hot chili pepper and donate $10?” The “tagged” person must either make the donation or complete the challenge and tag someone new. If they choose the challenge, encourage them to post a video of themselves completing it!
90. Deal or No Deal. Invite your donors to play a suitcase guessing game similar to “Deal or No Deal”. Incorporate giving levels and prizes.
If you have any questions regarding these tips, please contact Judi Sickler at [email protected] or (308) 237-3114
Updated on 1/9/18 Page 7 of 7