1. Secure a venue. 

A truly scary haunted house requires a great setting, like an old barn, a volunteer’s Victorian-esque home, or even a decked-out school gymnasium. Wherever you decide to host your haunted house event, make sure it’s a reasonable size for the scope of your scare. You don’t want to, for example, rent out the local roller rink if your budget only allows for you to decorate half of the room. 

2. Recruit volunteers. 

Creepy décor is a must for a haunted house fundraiser, but volunteers who are ready to spook are what truly bring your haunted house to life —  and scare your supporters to death!  Use this campaign as an opportunity to engage current volunteers and reach out to lapsed volunteers, inviting everyone to come together on behalf of your cause, dress up, and scare the daylights out of your attendees! 

When training your volunteers in how to participate in your haunted house, ensure you set clear boundaries for the scaring they are and aren’t allowed to do. For example, a volunteer may be ready and willing to chase your attendees down a dark hallway with a fake chainsaw, but it might not be the safest idea. Prioritize safety and set establish clear rules. This will set the tone for easy volunteer management on the big day. 

3. Promote your fundraiser. 

Just like any fundraising event, you’ll need to heavily promote your Halloween haunted house fundraiser well in advance in order to have a great turnout and to pull in lots of revenue that can fund your mission. Take a multichannel marketing approach, leveraging all of your communication assets. This might include email newsletters, posters and flyers, social media posts, and more. 

You should also consider your target audience. Who do you expect to come to your haunted house, and how can you best reach them? If you’re targeting teenagers and college students, for example, you’ll want to focus especially on popular social media sites like TikTok or Snapchat and post your flyers in high schools and universities. 

4. Cover your liability bases. 

While all of the scary stuff in a haunted house is fake, these events come with real risks. For example, an attendee might get so spooked they start running, trip, and skin their knee — or worse! In order to cover your liability bases, make sure you have both your volunteers and your attendees sign a waiver before participating in the haunted house. This will be especially important for minors who want to walk through your haunted house. 

It’s also a good idea to reach out to your insurance agent or lawyer to review your plans to make your haunted house safe and reduce liability for your organization. 

5. Pick a theme and get decorations. 

Once you’ve secured a venue, recruited volunteers, started marketing your event, and taken care of liability issues, you’re ready for the fun part of planning a Halloween haunted house fundraiser — picking a theme and spook-ifying your venue with horrifying décor!

Start with your theme. It helps to imagine a story that goes along with your venue. For example, if you’re using an old barn for your haunted house, you might imagine that a ghostly scarecrow is seeking revenge for wrongdoings committed on the farm. Or, if you’re hosting your haunted house in an elementary school, you might choose the theme “Monster Mash.” A cohesive, streamlined theme that tells a story can be a lot of fun and guide you in your decorating. 

Next, buy or make decorations. Ideally, these will be decorations that you can use again or repurpose down the road if you want to make your Halloween haunted house fundraiser an annual event. Of course, your decorations and the costumes you make or buy for your volunteer scare team will depend on your target audience. But remember, you’ll likely have more success if you make the event family-friendly. Steer clear of too much gore and instead shoot for spooky but fun!

6. Collect donations at the door and let the scaring begin!

To make money with this fundraising idea, you’ll need to sell tickets at the door as people arrive to your haunted house on the big night. You can boost donations by selling tickets online or offering a family discount. To make a little extra cash, you might encourage attendees to give an additional donation on their way out if they loved their scare experience, or sell items that will boost the fun like glow sticks, small flashlights, or Halloween-themed treats. 

Once you’ve ironed out how you’ll make money off of this fundraiser, it’s time to throw open the doors and let the spookiness begin!