Need some fundraising ideas for Valentine’s Day? Yes, please.
When it comes to fundraising, there is one thing to be said about it. It needs to come from the heart. After all, we do it for the love of fundraising.
Valentine’s Day is a great time to have some heart. Statistically speaking, donations increase 12% around Valentine’s Day for various organizations all over the world. So, for the love of fundraising, let’s talk about donation ideas for you.
At GiveWP, donating is kind of our thing. We’re going to cover 19 donation ideas for Valentine’s Day and how to make them happen:
- Host a virtual Valentine’s event
- Create paper flower bouquets
- Organize a community walk
- Send a (virtual) singing telegram
- Snail mail a handwritten (Valentine’s) card
- Host a book drive
- Raffle sweet Valentine’s swag
- Set up a singles inspired event
- Schedule a poster contest
- Host a Valentine’s bake-off
- Support sporting events
- Partner with rescue shelters
- Host a Valentine Twitter Chat
- Create an ecard
- Share the love in Groups
- Create neighborhood window love
- Write a love-filled blog post
- Plan a random act of kindness
- Host an art show
We hope this list helps you craft the perfect fundraiser. Let’s dig in to find out how we can start spreading the love (of fundraising).
1 Host a virtual Valentine’s event
We know the virtual buzz can be exhausting, but not when you make it filled with love! Host a virtual valentine’s event that will help people remember the importance of togetherness.
Here are some cool ways you can kick off a virtual Valentine’s inspired event to fundraise like you’ve never fundraised before:
- Host a workshop like a fun craft project, tutorial or how-to where you can showcase your donation link and support at the end.
- Throw an art party! this can be done with some paints and a canvas, just go live on Facebook or Zoom!
- Host a game night. Either online or in person, hosting a game night is always fun.
- Throw a webinar or invite a featured host. Webinars are great virtual event to get the conversation going.
- Conduct a raffle. Putting together a raffle is a great idea for donation building. Here’s how to host an online charity raffle.
2 Create paper flower bouquets
Everyone loves a bouquet of flowers. Instead of spending a lot of money on flowers, you could make a bouquet for your fundraising project.
Enlist all your favorite people and see if they have craft items (who doesn’t?) in their house. See if they would be willing to participate in making some paper flower bouquets to pass out on Valentine’s Day.
Not sure how to make paper flowers? It’s easy and fun – here are some DIY paper flower tutorials by Sprucecrafts.
Side note: be sure to write a little card that goes with the bouquet about where to donate. Wink wink.
3 Organize a community walk
Ready to get moving with this fundraiser?
A great donation idea for Valentine’s Day is to organize a community walk for the heart. You can partner with your local neighborhood social sites and find out if your community is interested in supporting a good cause while getting healthy.
From planning the timeline to organizing the registration, the Balance SMB has you covered on how to plan a fundraising walk.
If there are those that can’t participate but still want to track a walk, you can offer a digital option where they can log their steps (and donate to a good cause). Either way, promoting health towards a good goal is a valid donation idea.
4 Send a (virtual) singing telegram
The thought of sending someone a singing telegram has to be the cutest donation idea to date.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to send a real singing telegram if you don’t feel comfortable. You can create a virtual singing telegram by yourself or find a company that offers this as a service. There is a great round-up of singing telegram companies that The Bash put together. Good luck finding the right one for you!
Imagine opening your email to a wonderful love-filled video. That would inspire me to donate and support your fundraiser.
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5 Snail mail a handwritten (Valentine’s) card
What feelings do you have when you open a card that isn’t a bill, mailer, or spam mail? It’s the best!
A handwritten card can be very powerful when it comes to fundraising. It not only puts a personal touch on your donation request, but it also connects you with the person behind the card.
If you can drum up some paper, stamps and envelopes – you can take some time to hand write beautiful cards that have a big impact. If you need some ideas on designing these cards or want a virtual personalized option, check out GreenVelope.
6 Host a book drive
Know any authors that you just love? It could be time to throw a book drive.
Hosting a book drive is easiest at a school or community facility. You can partner with libraries and schools to use their resources. Organizing a book drive for fundraising means that most of the books can be donated from your local community.
“Knowledge is power, and reading is one of the most effective and enjoyable ways to increase your education on any given subject. Help your community rediscover the joy of reading by organizing a book drive with your friends and family.” – TOMS
Take it from Tom, reading is fundamental. Host a book drive and pass on the love of reading!
7 Raffle sweet Valentine’s swag
Who doesn’t love free swag?
When you’re looking to drive some donations, think about hosting a raffle (virtual or otherwise) for some Valentine-inspired swag. Here are a few steps to hosting your own raffle:
- Select an online raffle option (or see our ideas here)
- Research raffle laws
- Search for an online raffle website to host your donation campaign (or use GiveWP)
- Share your swag prizes on social media and in groups
- Optional: create a landing page dedicated to your raffle/donation
If you need ideas for swag to give away check out companies like Printful, Etsy or RedBubble. It’s always fun to give swag away and see how happy it makes people. It’s a great way to really show someone you care.
8 Set up a singles inspired event
Don’t forget about all the singles this Valentine’s Day!
If you are so brave, you can set up a singles (virtual or otherwise) event to drive engagement to your fundraiser. If you have some single friends or family, gather them up! Some singles themes and ideas are:
- Set up a virtual coffee date. Virtual coffee dates are all the rage, with social platforms to meet up with a cup of joe. Perhaps a fun name like Coffee Dates and Donations?
- Host a singles game night. Whether it’s virtual or not, you can set up a fun game for singles to play.
- Organize a puppy playdate. Have a single friend that has a dog? Perhaps setting a puppy playdate at a park or organizing a walk can be a fun way to drive donations.
- Use GiveWP to set up online events and collect donations as your ticket to entry.
Here are some additional ideas on how to organize a singles event by eHow.
9 Schedule a poster contest
Getting involved with the school system is a great way to come up with donation ideas. We encourage you to partner with your local community school and get involved.
One fun way to fundraise is to run a poster contest. Schools allow donation-based activities throughout the community because it is for a good cause – you might as well get in front of a lot of people. Here’s how to create a poster contest at your local school:
- Create the details of your contest, (themes, prizes, dates, and requirements)
- Choose judges and participants
- Generate buzz online and at school
- Collect entries on your desired date
- Announce the winners!
DesignCrowd has an easy to use poster design contest platform that you can sign up for, for free. You can choose from over 500+ poster templates and start your own contest to get people involved.
10 Host a Valentine’s bake-off
If you love to bake, then this one’s for you!
Baking is a great way to personalize a fundraiser. It’s not anything new, but how you host it could be. Hosting a Valentine’s bake-off is more like a cooking show! You can invite people to participate or you can create an event to vote on the baked goods.
A fun Valentine’s bake-off could take place at a community center or school. How about this cute title – Baking for Bills?
11 Support sporting events
As many families are into sports, this may be an easy fundraising idea for you to get into.
Sporting events go on all year round at all ages. If you have a child in a sport, you can use your fundraising logic to show some support! At the games or practices, you can bring posters, baked goods, swag or raffle tickets to all the attendees.
Here are a few easy ways you can show your support through sports.
- Offer baked goods
- Create sports swag
- Start a sports raffle
- Craft posters for support
There are a lot of fun ways you can show your support of a sport AND raise money for a fundraiser – it’s a win-win.
12 Partner with rescue shelters
We want to save ALL the animals! This fundraising idea has a lot of heart for rescue animals.
One thing you may not know is that you can partner with your local vets and rescue shelters to help generate donations. As some of these are non-profit, there may be rules you have to follow, however, you can get permission to place flyers or cards at the front desk of many.
Who knows, while you’re there you may end up saving a life!
13 Host a Valentine Twitter Chat
If you’re on Twitter, you may know about Twitter chats!
Twitter chats are scheduled, recurring conversations hosted by a company or individual. Each chat is designated by its own hashtag and often features a niche topic to learn from. When the chat begins, a group of people answer the questions in sequential order. It’s really valuable and builds great partnerships!
So how do you host a Valentine’s Twitter chat? Sprout Social has a great article on how to successfully host and participate in Twitter Chats that will be helpful to get one going.
It’s time to get chatty!
14 Create an e-card
Are you feeling creative? If you’re a graphic designer or you know how to work a design template, think about creating e-cards.
You can choose to pay for an e-card or you can make one yourself. E-cards.com has a lot of options for one-time sends. Canva has great options for free designs. Either way, you can make it meaningful and impactful just as much as getting a card in the mail.
Or you can set one up on your own website using GiveWP. Check out our post on using our Tributes add-on to generate e-cards.
15 Share the love in Groups
As more and more people join Facebook, Slack, and other social groups, it’s become a great way to promote fundraisers.
According to ignite, there are more than 10 million Facebook groups and 1.4 billion people actively use the groups every month. That’s a lot of people you can reach with your fundraiser!
If you can join a few (safe) Facebook groups and engage 1-3 times a week, you can increase your chances of getting your fundraiser seen exponentially. So, get your Group on!
16 Create neighborhood window love
If you’re still stuck at home, this is a great donation idea for your neighborhood.
Gather your art supplies and your creative spirit. It’s time to paint a window! You can be the first in your neighborhood to spread colorful joy out into the community by designing your window, sidewalks, or driveway.
Want to feel all the feels? Check out this inspiring chalk and window art by Midwest Living. Not only is it supporting your local community, but it’s also spreading creativity right in your home. Children of all ages would love to participate in an art project that supports a good fundraiser. (Or even create posters to hang in your windows to make it easier for younger children to participate!)
Generate buzz around your window by sharing on neighborhood apps like Nextdoor.
17 Write a love-filled blog post
Don’t forget about the impact of a good blog post when it comes to fundraising.
Content is still king and you can blog about your donations a few times to really generate some buzz. If you’re new to blogging, you can look up some great ways to start a blog on BlogTyrant, HubSpot or BlogStarter.
If you’re a regular blogger, make this blog post special! Include your partners, friends, and family in the blog and really niche down to the importance of the donations. People love to hear a good origin story – so be sure to get personal with it.
Don’t forget to share on social media!
18 Plan a random act of kindness
Did you know that there is a “Random Acts of Kindness Day” and it’s February 17th in 2021?
Paying it forward is a great way to get donation ideas buzzing. Planning a pass-along act of kindness can not only make someone’s day, but it can also create a chain of events that spreads positivity into the world around you.
Here are some fun ways you can pass along acts of kindness in your community or while social distancing by the Waterford organization.
19 Host an art show
Have any art to donate? Perhaps you have an artist in the house that loves to create?
A great donation idea for a fundraiser is to donate art to your community or host an art show. Contact local artists for submissions. Do some research in your area and see whether other artists would be interested in taking part in your art show. Remember – all ages are welcome.
Libraries, schools or community centers may let you host an art show for free (if they know it’s for a good cause). Perhaps you could name it the Heart Art Show…you’re welcome.
Start your donation ideas for Valentine’s Day
Are you feeling the love (of fundraising) yet?
Valentine’s Day is such a special time for pitching into a good cause. It’s a great time of year to show people you love extra care, to promote a good cause and to drum up donations in a positive way.
We hope these donation ideas have helped you! These all seem like a lot of fun, if you choose to use these ideas, please share them with us in the comments below.
Good luck in your Valentine’s Day inspired fundraiser, we hope you feel all the love!
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