Fundraising tips and ideas

Tips

• Start as early as you possibly can - don't leave it to the last minute! 
• Ask your company to support you. 
• Tell everyone you can possibly think of that you are doing this event for the Society and carry a sponsorship form with you at all times. 
• Ask friends if they could organise an event or donate their skills (for example haircutting) in exchange for donations. 
• Wear your Alzheimer's Society T-shirt as often as you can when soliciting donations. 
• Tick the Gift Aid box - it means that the Inland Revenue will pay the Society an extra 28p for every £1 that's donated. 
• Make sure the first pledge on the sponsorship form is a high one as it sets the tone for the rest. 
• Fundraise online! Visit our page on justgiving.com

Fundraising at work

Dress Down/ non-uniform day

Everyone pays £1 for the privilege of not wearing his or her suit or school uniform. People who don't take part are fined £2!

Organise an inter-departmental football match.

Players pay a fee for taking part, the best team wins a prize.

Day's Holiday Raffle

Get clearance from Personnel/ Departmental Heads; send out an e-mail to all staff with voting buttons - YES to take part and NO to decline. Go round and collect £1 from everyone wanting to take part, collate the YES replies and enter into an electronic draw to pick out a random winner! Remember to do all of this in one day to abide by lottery guidelines.

Swear box

Put a late, swear or soap box in each department. The department that raises the most money could win a prize.

Guess the Baby

Hold a 'Guess the Baby' competition - everyone pays a £1 to bring in a photo of themselves as a baby and colleagues need to guess who's who! Anyone who doesn't take part has to pay £1 too. The winner gets a prize.

Quiz nights

Teams pay to enter. Do this for work colleagues or in your local pub!

Party

Organise a party, dinner dance, wine/ whiskey/ cheese tasting evening and ask guests to pay an entry fee and hold an auction on the evening.

Smart smarties

Give out smarties tubes with your logo and details on to colleagues and ask them to return them full of money! A great way for colleagues to get rid of the spare change in the desk drawers.

50/50 club

Everyone donates £1/ month, one person wins half the amount raised and the rest goes to the Society.

Cake bake or coffee morning

Organise a coffee morning in your work canteen or café. If staff usually get free tea and coffee ask them to make a donation per cup. Ask colleagues to bake cakes and charge £1 per slice!

Lunch money

Ask everyone to bring in sandwiches for a day and donate what they would normally spend on lunch.

Fundraising in the community

As well as some of the above ideas, you could try…

Local schools and organisations

Ask your local school, rotary group, women's institute etc if they will support the Alzheimer's Society through you for a month/ week etc. You might be asked to give a talk or slideshow about what you are doing in exchange for a donation.

Pubs

See if they will hold a charity darts or pool competition, race night or quiz night in aid of the Alzheimer's Society for you.

Car Boot Sale

Ask all your family, friends and neighbours, and all their friends, to donate anything they don't need any more, then hold a car boot sale.

Musical Evenings

Ask local orchestral groups or jazz bands to perform for the Society. Raise money from ticket sales, refreshments and programmes.

Dinner Party

Either hold a dinner party and ask friends to pay restaurant prices and cook them a 3-course meal or get paid to cook a 3-course meal for someone else's Dinner Party.

Give it up

Ask your nearest and dearest to sacrifice a couple of luxury items from their weekly shop and donate the money to you.

Discos and Dancing

Hold a 60s/70s/80s etc disco. People pay to attend and have to bring a bottle of wine. Alternatively you could ask your local wine merchant to donate wine at cost and charge per cup sold. Ideas on the same theme: ceilidh, barn dance, line dancing, karaoke

Top Takeaway

Ask your local takeaway to donate a meal at cost for 10 friends. Charge them £10 each for the pleasure!

BBQ or Garden Party

Ask people to bring food and drink and charge admission!

Master Classes

Give classes in something you are good at e.g. photography, cookery, pottery, computers.

DIY

Decorate a house/ do odd jobs/ assemble those 'easy' flat-packed wardrobes - all for a price!

Gardening/ Housework

Mow the lawn, weed the flowerbeds, wash the car, clean a house, baby-sit, walk the dog, do the ironing…all for a handsome donation!

Raffle

Organise a raffle in aid of the Society - read more about organising a raffle or lottery.

Treasure Hunt

Plan a route to be followed on foot, bike, or by car. Give out directions at the start as cryptic clues that have to be solved. You could ask competitors to find things (for example a seashell, yesterday's paper, pinecone etc) en route to add interest. People pay to enter. The winner can be the first person to finish/ find all the clues or, if using cars, the person who records the lowest mileage.

Makeover Evening

Charge £5-£10 a ticket and ask local beauty therapists etc to donate their services for the evening. Each person gets one beauty treatment and pays for any extra they would like.

Tupperware/ Ann Summers/ Body Shop party

Ask your local rep to hold a party and donate a percentage of their profits. Friends pay a small amount to come along.

Jailbreak

Teams have 8 hours to get as far away as possible without spending money or doing anything illegal! Teams get sponsored and might also pay an entry fee. Award prizes for the best fancy dress, team that gets furthest away etc.

Pub Crawl

Dress up in fancy dress or your Alzheimer's Society T-shirt. Ask the landlord's permission to go round the pub, make eye contact with people and smile as you ask them to part with their dosh…and away you go! If you are doing this with a friend you could go 3-legged!

Postcard Pledges

Put a postcard and a photocopied photo of yourself in every house in your road asking neighbours to return the postcard with their house number on the back, stating how much they wish to donate.