Online Fundraising 7 Creative Fundraising Ideas that Boost Engagement Jennifer Gray - October 20, 2025 When it’s time to plan your annual fundraising calendar, too many nonprofits find themselves recycling the same ideas over and over. While a few reliable fundraising staples can be favorites with your community and are easy to plan, all types of nonprofits can boost their fundraising and donor engagement potential by mixing things up. In this guide, we’ll explore seven creative ideas for nonprofit and school fundraisers, how you can earn revenue from them, and what steps you need to take to host them at your organization. 1. Read-A-Thon If your school is looking for a fundraiser that also promotes good learning habits for students, consider hosting a Read-A-Thon. During a Read-A-Thon, student participants read as much as possible during a set amount of time, and their friends and family donate to support their efforts. Read-A-Thon’s guide to this fundraising idea explains how to host one: Outline key details, such as when your Read-A-Thon will take place, how long it will last, your fundraising goal, and how funds will be spent. Invest in a Read-A-Thon platform that help students track their reading progress and collect donations from their friends and family. Choose a prize model to incentivize students to participate, such as creating a prize store that students can select items from based on how much they read. Promote your Read-A-Thon to keep participation high and encourage more supporters to donate. Measure your fundraising progress to monitor how close you are to your goal and make any adjustments if necessary. Celebrate your Read-A-Thon completion by thanking the donors, students, and staff who made your fundraiser a success. 2. Shoe Drive If your school teaches middle or elementary students, you know they’re always outgrowing their shoes. Shoe drive fundraisers turn this inconvenience into revenue. To run a shoe drive fundraiser, follow these steps: Find a shoe drive fundraising partner. Shoe drive fundraising programs provide the nonprofits and schools they work with all the materials they need to gather as many shoes as possible, including collection bins and pre-paid bags for mailing back collected shoes. These partners then provide funding based on how many shoes you turn in. Collect shoes. To gather as many shoes as possible, promote your fundraiser to your greater school community. Then, offer easy opportunities for students and their families to turn in their new and gently used shoes. For example, you might have a collection bin at your school’s front office that students and parents can toss shoes in at the beginning or end of the school day. Mail back your shoes. Once you hit your fundraising deadline or collect as many shoes as possible, start stuffing them in the mailing bags provided by your shoe drive fundraising partner. Mail them out, then wait for a check to arrive in the mail. 3. Walk-A-Thon If your school is looking to get kids active, consider hosting a walk-a-thon. Walk-a-thons are perfect for elementary schools, leveraging kids’ energy and encouraging them to practice physical fitness. To host a walk-a-thon, your school will need: A track. Ensure you have a location where students can walk, run, or jog during your walk-a-thon. A basic 400-meter track is ideal for most schools. Volunteers. Recruit volunteers to help your event. These volunteers will help supervise students, run water and refreshment tables for runners, and provide first aid if there are any accidents. Donation-collecting tools. Ahead of your walk-a-thon, students will collect donations. These will either be flat donations or distance-based donation pledges, where donors will contribute based on how far the student ran during the walk-a-thon. Software can help keep these donations organized and prevent students from needing to handle money. 4. Matching Gifts Some members of your school or nonprofit’s community might be able to increase their giving potential without spending more, thanks to matching gifts. Matching gifts are a type of corporate philanthropy wherein businesses match the donations their employees make to nonprofit causes, like schools. However, many donors are unaware of whether they qualify for a matching gift. In fact, Double the Donation’s matching gifts guide reports that an estimated $4-$7 billion in matching gift funds goes unclaimed every year. This means that if your school isn’t promoting matching gifts, you could be leaving money on the table. Spread the word about matching gifts by educating supporters through marketing materials, adding matching gift information to your website, and even investing in a matching gift database. These steps will prompt supporters to research their matching gift eligibility when they donate. 5. T-Shirt Fundraiser Raise funds and promote school spirit at the same time with a t-shirt fundraiser. The keys to hosting a successful t-shirt fundraiser are: Creating attractive designs. You’ll sell more t-shirts if they have designs that supporters genuinely like and want to buy. While you should always include your school or nonprofit’s logo somewhere on your shirts, get creative with the imagery and typography to create compelling designs that resonate with your audience. Making t-shirts easy to buy. Many schools and nonprofits have merchandise pages on their websites. In addition to these, make your t-shirts available for purchase at other fundraisers, so they’re as easy to buy as possible. For example, you might set up a merchandise booth at your school’s home games during football season. Using a cost-effective platform. There is a wide range of services available for ordering custom merchandise. However, some of these are friendlier to nonprofits and schools than others. Look for t-shirt platforms that regularly host fundraisers or have discounts for nonprofits. 6. eCard Sale Product fundraisers have a mixed reputation, as many donors want to support local schools and nonprofits, but aren’t interested in buying physical products they don’t need that clutter their homes. eCard fundraisers are the answer to this problem. eCards are virtual greeting cards that donors can purchase and send to friends and family, providing a digital product in exchange for donations. To sell eCards, partner with an eCard provider. These vendors will give you the tools you need to create custom eCards for your fundraiser. Design eCards that represent your organization, appeal to any upcoming holidays, and have fun designs that supporters will want to buy. Then, create a page on your website where supporters can browse eCards for purchase. When an eCard is purchased, the buyer adds the recipient’s email address, phone number, or social media information, and the card is delivered via their preferred method. 7. Carnival Schools can bring their supporters together for a day or night of fun by hosting carnivals, fall festivals, and other activity-filled community events. These types of events require a significant amount of planning and preparation, but they have the potential for a high return on investment. For example, if you fill your carnival with games and prizes that attendees need to buy tickets to participate in, you can rake in major revenue if you have activities that genuinely engage guests. A few activities you might plan for your carnival include: Dunk tank Rubber duck scooping game Cake walk Ring toss Haunted house Corn maze Plinko Plus, you can also sell a range of refreshments and merchandise (like your t-shirts!). When considering carnival activities and food, select items that will appeal to students and parents alike. A solid fundraising idea sets your campaign up for success. Consider your audience’s interests, preferences, and demographics to choose ideas full of activities they can sink their teeth into. From there, start researching the software and resources you’ll need to set your memorable, engaging fundraising idea into motion. Category: Online Fundraising
