Fundraising Ideas for Small Groups: Creative Ways to Make a Big Impact

Small nonprofits face multiple challenges when planning an effective fundraising event. For one thing, smaller charities tend to have more compact staffs where most members come from an administrative, not fundraising, background. This puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to coordinating events, not to mention creating marketing campaigns and hosting galas. 

Name recognition is another issue. Everyone knows large nonprofits like the Salvation Army or Greenpeace -- but not everyone is familiar with your local church charity. This makes it difficult to attract supporters and guests to your charity events, especially if you try to expand your support network by hosting virtual or hybrid fundraisers. 

Small groups may also have a limited set of resources to work with -- which could mean smaller budgets, fewer volunteers, and limited sponsors. This creates challenges for small nonprofits (which must make sure not to strain their resources) and charity event guests (who may not receive the support or treatment during a gala which will motivate them to make donations).

Fortunately, along with the challenges, small groups come with several opportunities for innovative fundraising. Having a compact staff also means you can cut through the bureaucracy that slows down larger nonprofits, enabling you to implement your new fundraising ideas right away.

You can also pivot faster and make changes to your fundraising activities if you discover they aren't popular with your target audience and therefore can't generate a good return on investment (ROI). And while you may not have as many volunteers or staff members as a bigger charity, your supporters are typically very invested in your mission and eager to participate.

To see how you can capitalize on these fundraising opportunities -- while navigating the challenges your group faces -- here are some of our favorite fundraising ideas for small groups. By the end of this article, you'll have a better idea of what it means to hold a fundraiser for your smaller nonprofit, effective (and low-cost) fundraising galas, and how to maximize participation at your next event.     

Understanding the Basics of Fundraising for a Small Group

At the core of every successful fundraiser is a nonprofit's ability to understand the needs and interests of its target supporters.

When you know what your donors and supporters are passionate about, it's easier to frame your mission in a way that resonates with them. You'll also know the type of events and activities they like to participate in, which influences the type of fundraisers you host.

Will more of your supporters attend a charity concert? A wine pull? An online or live auction? What type of auction items will yield the most bids from your core supporters? What games will sell the most tickets? All these questions need to be asked by your event planners before you start assembling your fundraiser.

It's equally important to know how to meet your supporters where they are. This could mean hosting an in-person fundraiser, a virtual gala, or a hybrid event based on if your donors enjoy (and are capable of) meeting online or offline. This also means diversifying your fundraising methods, from applying for grants, forming partnerships with local businesses, or engaging in some grassroots fundraising by creating a crowdfunding campaign.  

As you can see from the examples above, fundraising events can take on many different forms. This is advantageous for nonprofits who can focus on the type of events that will generate the highest ROI while staying within their budget limits. Hosting a large-scale concert headlined by Taylor Swift may be beyond your means, but that doesn't mean you can't appeal to your supporters' love of music by hosting a Battle of the Bands event between local popular bands.

Likewise, knowing your supporters' needs and interests helps you make more informed decisions that can fuel ROI. For example, you can create better donor engagement at your auction events by going after the type of auction items they're willing and able to bid high prices on.

If that turns out to be five-course meals at famous restaurants, this may motivate you to build partnerships with the local eateries in your area. On the other hand, if your donors simply want to feel more appreciated in their day-to-day lives, a private parking space may generate the most enthusiastic bidding for the night (and won't break your budget).

Bottom line: knowing the group dynamics that run through your support network allow you to make choices that lead to successful charity events. More importantly, having a clear picture of your donor and supporter interests inform you how to leverage the existing strengths of your small nonprofit -- or discover how to develop additional advantages by forming partnerships or investing in new fundraising technologies.  

Creative Fundraising for Small Groups

Here are some of the most creative yet simple ideas for small group fundraising that we've learned yield nice results for the nonprofits and charities in our client list:

Charity Auctions

This one might be so regularly recommended that it's become something of a cliche, but we'd be remiss if we didn't emphasize how effective charity auctions are for nonprofits -- especially smaller nonprofits. Every year, we see multiple charity and nonprofits raise thousands by hosting a charity auction with the proper items, marketing, and support team.

Of course, it's not enough to just throw together a bunch of unsold items from previous garage sales and get one of your board members to be the auctioneer. Smart nonprofits know that successful auction events take plenty of planning long before the first item goes up for bid.

To begin, it's important to assemble the proper support staff while you're still in the planning stage. If your organization doesn't already have an experienced fundraising team and event planner, then it's useful to hire an outside organization to walk you through the steps. Incidentally, many professional auctioneers also offer event planning services, and it's to your advantage to get them involved as early as possible since they'll be running your main event eventually.

Have a firm grasp of the theme of your auction and the type of auction items you'll need. Plan enough time to gather these items. If you determine your audience enjoys bidding on gift baskets, your staff should not only be collecting donations for the basket items but also blocking out enough time to assemble them into attractive gift baskets. Alternatively, if you want to go more upscale and offer high-end items like vacation packages, then researching consignment agency policies can show you how to acquire high-ticket items without accidentally becoming liable for unnecessarily high fees. 

Marketing your charity auction is another must. As always, learn what social media channels your target donors frequent and how they learn of upcoming events. Having an active Instagram account linked to your nonprofit (and your supporter network) lets you promote photos of your big ticket auction items in order to build anticipation among your followers. Likewise, creating an email campaign where you can regularly inform subscribers of your upcoming auction, highlight popular items, and even provide a link to an online silent auction they can participate in before the main event are all great marketing tactics.

As stated, hiring professionals is important to host a successful auction. This is particularly important when it comes to your auctioneer. A professional auctioneer can keep your guests hyped up and start bidding wars between generous patrons. They can describe your auction items in a way that make them more attractive and biddable. And they can remind your audience of why they're donating by educating them about your mission -- making your brand more recognizable.

For these reasons, we highly recommend investing in a professional auctioneer who can help maximize your return. Our partner network offers a good place to find experienced auctioneers, as well as event planners, consignment agencies, and tech support to help with charity auction software.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

Your nonprofit may have a limited network of supporters, but that doesn't mean your partners aren't passionate about their mission. Peer-to-peer fundraising lets them express this passion by letting each supporter build their own fundraising website which they can circulate among their social networks. Proceeds from each site are then collected by your nonprofit to fund your activities.

Not only is this an excellent way to raise revenue, it helps expand your overall support network by letting your volunteers and staff members let their friends, families, and co-workers know about your mission. Many of your new contributors may then be interested in partnering with your nonprofit on a more regular basis, allowing you to connect with other people.

To start your own peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, it's important to have the right online fundraising platform. A platform like PayBee can provide your supporters with not only the necessary software to build multiple fundraising sites but also the ability to organize these sites so your nonprofit can collect the proceeds easily and accurately.

Successful peer-to-peer fundraisers are also often built around a bigger event to attract more supporters. For instance, if you know that both your supporters and their social networks are into athletic events, then a walk-a-thon or dance-a-thon provides them with the chance to get out and raise money for your cause by exercising. They can then create peer-to-peer fundraising websites to collect pledges or donations from their friends and family, who are more likely to contribute if they appreciate the cause and the activity.

Scheduling the right day(s) for your peer-to-peer fundraiser is also important. For example, many nonprofits report record contributions on days like Giving Tuesday where communities are encouraged to donate, volunteer, and give back to their communities. Alternatively, you might schedule your campaign for a date that's more personally significant -- like the day your nonprofit was founded or a more local giving day.

Market your fundraiser effectively. This includes letting your supporters know well in advance what you're planning to do and providing them with all the information, schedules, and links that will guide them to build and share their own peer-to-peer fundraising websites. This also includes promoting your fundraiser in tandem with your supporters to attract more attention. Essentially, the better you handle communications, the more effective this fundraiser will be. 

Raffle

Another tried-and-true activity, the raffle is a great fundraising idea for your nonprofit. By offering a raffle prize that ties into your guests' interests, your nonprofit can sell raffle tickets and raise revenue well in advance of your main fundraising event. 

In some ways, a raffle offers the same appeal as a charity auction, with guests competing for a chance to win a favored prize while raising money for a good cause. But where some guests may shy away from auctions due to budget restrictions, the relatively low price of a raffle ticket (and the ability of your nonprofit to offer discounts on multiple raffle tickets) encourages participation.

Highlight these benefits early on. Market your raffle prize via social media and provide links for guests to purchase raffle tickets in advance. Offer bulk discounts for those who buy large quantities of tickets. And generate additional excitement by emphasizing the limited time to purchase the tickets by making announcements at your event two hours, an hour, and half an hour before the final raffle drawing.  

Online Fundraising Ideas for Small Nonprofits

These days, more and more donors are becoming accustomed to giving online. While the COVID-19 pandemic may have made virtual fundraising more mainstream, the fact is virtually all smart phone owners are comfortable making contributions with just a few quick taps on their mobile devices.

This should motivate your team to not only make your donation pages mobile friendly but also embrace the wide range of opportunities offered by online fundraising. Below, we list some of our favorites. 

Donation Pages

All modern fundraisers -- regardless of whether you're holding a virtual or in-person gala -- need to have an attractive (and mobile friendly) donation page. 

This is the page you'll direct your potential attendees to when you're marketing your fundraiser so they can make contributions early and learn about your fundraiser. This is also the page guests can access at your event by scanning the custom QR codes you'll display around your venue so they can donate on the spot. Put simply, your donation page is where most donors go to contribute, so it's to your advantage to build a memorable and user-friendly one.

When constructing your donation page, use a simple fundraising platform like PayBee that's user-friendly and will allow you to customize pages to your specifications.

Keep your copy short. Offer a compelling headline and a brief explanation of what you're raising money for and how it will benefit the community. Create a call-to-action button with simple text (like "Donate Now"), providing visitors a clear and simple path to donate.

Limit the fields you want visitors to fill out to necessary ones like their name and contact information. This improves user experience and makes it more likely visitors will complete their donations. However, also make sure to include a recurring donation option (usually as a check box), as donation pages are known to bring in more recurring revenue for nonprofits.

Make sure your donation page is mobile friendly. As stated, more people are donating directly from their smart phones, so you want to make this process easy on them.  

Crowdfunding

Peer-to-peer fundraising sites allow your supporters to reach out to their social networks on behalf of your nonprofit. Crowdfunding sites, on the other hand, allow your nonprofit to reach out to a wider online audience and request donations to one single crowdfunding website.

Both methods capitalize on the large sums of money you can raise from many people by asking each person to only contribute a relatively low amount. However, since crowdfunding provides a more centralized way of fundraising since it only requires one website. This also means any changes and updates can be made by a single person or team.

When hosting a crowdfunding campaign, be sure to:

• Set a clear goal for how much you want to raise (and what you're raising the money for)
• Set a clear timeline for how long you're giving contributors to help you reach your goal
• Build a website that clearly communicates your mission, your fundraising goal, your fundraising timeline, and how visitors can donate (usually through a simple link)
• Promote your fundraiser through social media channels, marketing emails, personal connections, and word-of-mouth. Even if you're opening up your fundraiser to a large online crowd, it pays to focus your attention on smaller groups that connect with your mission (and are more likely to donate), so learn how to connect with such groups online.  

Social Media Campaigns

Social media is an excellent way for all nonprofits to reach out to wide audiences, enabling you to not only collect donations but also educate others about your mission and recruit more supporters.

When deciding on your campaign, keep the interests of your target audience in mind. If they frequent a photo-friendly site like Instagram, for instance, developing a funny photo campaign related to your nonprofit can attract a lot of interest. People can post amusing photos connected to your mission with hashtags linking them to your nonprofit's Instagram account. This raises interest and awareness in your organization and you can also create donation pages where visitors can donate to vote on their favorite photos, allowing you to raise money.

Other social media sites offer ways for users to promote and raise money for your organization. Facebook, for example, enables its users to create birthday fundraisers where they can request donations from their friends for a specific nonprofit. Not only will this provide you with revenue, you'll also gain more publicity about your nonprofit and your mission.   

Low-Cost and Easy Fundraisers

Maximizing your ROI without straining your financial resources is a big challenge for small groups like yourself. Below, you'll find some budget friendly fundraising ideas that are extremely popular with donors and supporters. 

Community Clean-Up Day

If the purpose of your nonprofit is to get people involved in taking care of your community, then community clean-up days provide a fun way to turn your mission into a game. Promote a competition among separate groups of people assigned to pick up trash in different parts of your local community.

People can pay to compete for some nice prizes and you'll have plenty of opportunities to educate potential supporters about your greater mission. This fundraiser provides a great chance for media coverage, so inform local TV stations and YouTube content creators about your event.

Walking Tours

These are great activities especially if your nonprofit is linked in some way to your community's parks, businesses, or community organizations. Offer to provide walking tours to groups (for a fee/suggested donation) of famous landmarks, hiking trails, museums, or even your nonprofit's own headquarters). Provide interesting facts and historical stories to entertain your audience and/or team up with a local expert who can provide their own unique perspective on these places.

Consider offering tours that appeal to your target audience and/or the season. Ghost tours of reported haunted sites could be very popular during October and the fall months. A VIP-access tour of a museum or government building provides a sense of exclusivity. And an outdoor hike is very appealing to exercise enthusiasts, especially when the weather is good. 

Used Book Sale

Great for school organizations and libraries, used book sales provide a way for your nonprofit to get rid of your excess book stock and donations by selling them back to the community. This can be an ongoing fundraiser (as many libraries have used bookstores within the building) as well as a special event for students and book collectors eager to buy discounted textbooks and rare items.

Make sure to promote your book sale in advance online and within your local community. Incidentally, websites like Bookscouter provide ways of selling your used books to buyback companies, which offer another way of generating revenue. 

Car Wash

One of the easier fundraising activities, car washes are very popular activities for school fundraising. With so many vehicles on the road, it's a given that many people need their cars washed, and many will be more than happy to donate to your cause in exchange for a clean car.

Be prepared to invest time in working out the logistics of your event. Decide on an outdoor venue that receives a lot of traffic during the hours of your event and provides easy access in and out of your volunteer car wash. Design eye-catching marketing materials, including both physical signs and online social media ads to alert potential donors to your event. And make sure to take advantage of word-of-mouth publicity by getting your staff and volunteers to promote your event to their social networks well in advance of the actual car wash.

Make sure to secure a large group of volunteers and prepare them for the event. This means making sure everyone has enough sponges, water hoses, and cleaning supplies to take care of all the cars. This also means your volunteers should be trained in the proper way to hand wash cars quickly and efficiently. Take stock of your volunteers' skill sets and assign them to the positions they are best suited for (greeters, washers, donation collectors etc.). Making sure to plan for all your essentials will make this fundraiser go smoother for both volunteers and donors. 

Trivia Night

Trivia nights can be low-key, low-budget events held at your favorite bar or restaurant. Build yours around a particular interest of your supporters -- like movies, sports, pop culture, or anime. Offer a prize (or prizes) related to these interests and charge a tiny fee (or suggested donation) to participate. The bar or restaurant owner might also offer discounted food and drinks -- or simply offer their space for free in exchange for the enhanced business. 

The nice thing about trivia nights is that they're so low budget and easy to host that you can make them a regular weekly or bi-weekly event. Trivia nights also provide a fun way for your supporters to socialize and engage in some friendly competition by forming their own teams, so you may find this low-cost fundraiser provides you with some of your steadier streams of revenue.  

Maximizing Participation in Fundraising Activities

One of the great advantages of small groups is the passion your members have for your mission. This is particularly true of nonprofits and charities that are just starting out and eager to make an impact in their community.

Of course, this dedication also requires incentive, which is why it's good to have a set of strategies to get all your members involved in fundraising. This requires you to learn more about your volunteers and take their needs and interests into account. Keep the following in mind:

Learn why your volunteers are participating

Why do your volunteers want to join your nonprofit? The reason often vary. Some might be looking for a way to socialize with like-minded people. Some are recent retirees trying to stay active. Then there are younger volunteers seeking to learn new job skills or add to their resumes by joining a nonprofit. 

Take an active interest in your volunteer backgrounds. Get an idea of their motivations during their initial interviews and offer surveys to get an idea of how they'd like to help your nonprofit. This will come in handy when you decide how you want to use your volunteers' talents and skills.

Assign volunteer roles based on their interests

Now that you have a better idea of who your volunteers are and what motivates them, you can use this data to assign them to the roles they'll best thrive in. Someone interested and experienced in working face-to-face with people might be great for registering guests at your galas. On the other hand, a volunteer who's more comfortable working alone on graphic design projects might be a better fit for your marketing team.

Use effective communication tools and tactics

Effective communication clarifies how your programs and run and what every volunteer is committing to. Hold orientation meetings that detail the type of programs you offer and the role(s) volunteers fill within each one. Send out regular emails informing volunteers of upcoming events and the types of volunteers you need for them. And use an effective platform that lets volunteers sign up for events and reminds them of their commitments.

Above all, be sure to communicate that your staff is available to answer questions or hear concerns. The more your supporters view your nonprofit as an effective partnership, the more likely they will be to volunteer for your events and activities. 

Provide training 

Effective nonprofits provide mandatory training for all new volunteers (as well as refresher courses for current volunteers) to ensure everyone knows the rules and regulations of their organization. This is of particular importance if your nonprofit works with a population like children or abuse victims, requiring volunteers to understand the legal and ethical issues of working with such groups, along with any standard practices.

In addition, while it's great to use the talents and skills your volunteers bring to your NPO, some volunteers join nonprofits hoping to improve or expand their skill set. You can offer opportunities for this by allowing these volunteers to shadow and assist more experienced members in your financial, marketing, or event planning departments. In time, this could become very useful as these volunteers can replace volunteers who leave or help run new programs as your group expands. 

Offer incentives for volunteering

Volunteering for a cause you believe in might be a reward in and of itself, but that doesn't mean you can't offer additional incentives for volunteering. This could a nice luncheon for volunteers who spend their afternoon running an event. This might also be a chance to see a stage play or performance alongside the communities your nonprofit is working with. And if your volunteers enjoy a bit of healthy competition, you can even offer a prize for the volunteer who benefits your group the most (like the volunteer who brings in the most donations for their peer-to-peer fundraiser).

Thank your volunteers

Sometimes, simply acknowledging your volunteers' efforts is the best way to encourage group participation. This can be as simple as verbally thanking volunteers during an event or sending a thank you email to all participants. Other nonprofits might choose to post photos of members volunteering on their Instagram, along with a written thank you.

Of course, if you do want to go all the way, an awards ceremony can also offer excellent engagement strategies for volunteers. You can provide certificates of appreciation, highlight volunteer accomplishments, and showcase the impact their efforts have made in their community. Knowing that they've made a difference -- and are being acknowledged for it -- is often the best way to motivate your volunteers.

Creating Your Ideal Fundraiser

Having a small group doesn't need to limit your fundraising opportunities. In fact, with the ability to raise money online and offline today, nonprofits have even more options to generate revenue for their programs. From classic charity auctions to modern peer-to-peer campaigns to low-cost options like walking tours and clean-up days, your fundraising team can choose from a wide range of activities designed to appeal to your supporters.     

That said, to turn your idea into fundraising success, it's critical to have a deep understanding of both your donors and your volunteers. Build your fundraising idea around your donor interests. Know the type of auction items or raffle prizes your supporters are most eager to bid on or buy tickets for. Appeal to their needs.

Are they the type of group that's more interested in a ghost tour or getting a good bargain on their next car wash? Do they prefer making donations on their mobile devices, or engaging in spirited bidding wars? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you know how to maximize your resources.

Small nonprofits tend to have compact staffs and volunteer networks, so it's important to consider their needs as well. How do your volunteer skill sets align with the fundraiser you want to host? What training do they require and how will you communicate their responsibilities to them? Knowing how to coordinate your staff for your fundraiser creates a better experience, not only for your guests but for your volunteers as well, helping you retain them for future programs and fundraisers.

To navigate these challenges, it's useful to invest in online platforms with user-friendly fundraising software. An effective platform helps your event teams communicate with each other. They enable you to customize your donation pages and online campaigns with ease. And when it comes time to analyze your fundraiser and see where you can improve, fundraising software will have already automatically recorded the data you need to research.

PayBee offers all these services and more. Our intuitive fundraising platform has helped nonprofits and charities launch many successful peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns and design winning donation pages. What's more, our partner network offers access to experienced auctioneers, event planners, and tech experts who can provide your group with any needed expertise. Rather than get you to compete with larger nonprofits, our software and support network helps you take advantage of your size by quickly and effectively adapting to the fundraising opportunities available to you.

But don't just take our word for it. Sign up for a free demo of our online platform and see what our software can do for your next fundraiser. Take part in a mock charity auction that shows how much money can be raised in a virtual setting. Ask our support staff your technical questions and form an effective action plan for your upcoming gala. Working out the next steps in your fundraising plan starts with learning about the resources available to you, so sign up for a free demo today!

META DESCRIPTION: Small nonprofits may not have the same resources or brand recognition of larger charities, but that doesn't mean their fundraisers can't be successful. Here are our picks for the most effective fundraisers for small groups.

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