One thing that charities always need is support from people, and are powered by the support of volunteered time, money and effort. If you’re looking for ways to help, there are many ways to do so.
A method that proves to be a popular choice for those wishing to help charities is staging fundraising events, as it combines raising money for the organisation and a great deal of fun for the participants.
The more people that get involved, the more the charity will benefit, and one way to draw in the crowds is by staging an unusual event – make it as interesting and peculiar as possible to maximise participation and enjoyment.
Worm charming
If you have a spare field available, then this is something fun and outdoorsy, especially for children. Participants are given a similar sized patch of land – usually about 3m2 – from which they have to charm as many worms as possible. This usually involves banging on the ground, as worms as attracted by the vibrations. The fun of the event comes from people designing their own special brand of worm charming equipment. Money can be raised by charging an entrance fee, and by setting up stalls, raffles and refreshment stands.
Flamingo Flocking
This somewhat bizarre event appeared in the USA, but has since spread to other countries (gnomes and similar garden decorations are no doubt fine substitutes). A group will announce that they are raising funds for a charity, adding ‘beware of the Flamingos!’ Then, at night, the group will pepper a lawn in the neighbourhood with plastic flamingos. If the victim wants to have them removed, a deflocking fee is required. Once this has been paid, the victim is usually given the chance to choose the next to-be-flamingoed. Other ways to raise donations is offering flamingo insurance – paying to avoid it – or flamingo contracts – paying to have someone else suffer the consequences.
Door-to-door scavenger hunt
This is a good one for if you’re gathering substantial items to donate to charity, particularly food. Create different lists of food to gather, hand them out to groups and send them off around neighbourhoods to find the listed items (it is probably a good idea to notify people beforehand, perhaps dropping notices through the letterbox). Reward the teams that manage to collect everything on their list.
Penny Wars
Each team is given a large, clear, labelled jar that they must fill with pennies. The team with the most pennies wins. However, the aim of the game is to sabotage other teams’ jars. Adding coins that aren’t pennies – larger coins and banknotes – has a negative effect, so adding a 20p piece would negate 20 pennies in the jar. The penny war usually runs for a week, while contestants monitor their own jars to add enough pennies to balance the additions, while sabotaging their rivals.
Office fundraising
There are a number of little events you can hold in your office. Hold a fashion show and vote on the best/worst tie (not just restricted to the guys). Hold office sports days – wheelie chair racing, making the longest chain of paperclips within the time limit, etc – and get the competition going between departments. One of the best ideas is to have a baby photo competition. Have everyone bring in pictures of themselves as babies, send them around the office and the person who guesses which photo matches the office individual.
These are some of the many events you could set up in order to raise money. Whatever you choose to do, you can be sure of a fun, enjoyable day for those involved, that also gives vital support to those in need.
Adriane Killy - Adriane Killy has followed a lifelong adventure in writing, attending workshops and seminars in order to hone her craft.
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