Warmer air, fresh flowers, and spring fundraising ideas are on all of our minds as the seasons change. Spring is a great time to jumpstart your fundraising campaigns with new ideas and quick donor events.
Here, we’re trying to help you get in front of the challenge of creating new ideas for the season. With 26 options for spring fundraising, this list has you covered.
Just remember that too many campaigns too close together can result in donor fatigue, so pick just one or two ideas to implement this spring (and save the rest for later).
Table of Contents
- Community Art Project
- Car Wash
- Meal Night at a Restaurant
- Digital Scavenger Hunt
- Host a Speaker
- Easter Egg Hunt
- March Madness Bracket Challenge
- Bake Sale
- Raffle or Virtual Auction
- Release New Swag or Merchandise
- Host a Virtual Dance Party
- Plant Sale
- Host a Sailboat Race Online
- Earth Day Cleanup
- Flower Delivery for Mother’s Day
- Paint Night with Spring Theme
- Field Day Games
- Community Picnic
- Father’s Day Fishing Rodeo
- Launch a Spring Photo Contest
- Run a 5K
- Walk-a-Thon
- Challenge Another Nonprofit
- Dedicate Spring Birthdays to Your Cause
- Partner with a Business for Matching Funds
- Host a Viewing Party
1. Community Art Project
There’s no better way to kickoff spring than with a community art project. Find a place to paint a mural and allow people to vote on designs with a donation (the idea with the money votes/dollars wins) or create art in a new sidewalk or walkway project with bricks or steppingstones that donors can “purchase” with their names or in honor of others.
The best part is you can run this entire campaign online and you are helping to beautify your community.
2. Car Wash
A car wash is the ultimate spring fundraising idea. It works so well because you can get teams of all sizes and ages involved.
Level up your car wash campaign with a “skip the line” option for online donors. Allow donors to contribute online and email them a pass to skip the wait for an immediate car wash.
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3. Meal Night at a Restaurant
Many restaurants partner with nonprofit organizations for fundraising nights where a portion of sales benefits your cause. Find a restaurant in your area and invite the community to join you for a meal and good cause.
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4. Digital Scavenger Hunt
A digital scavenger hunt can give your community a reason to get outside this spring. Send your donors on a scavenger hunt with prizes as incentives. Just make sure that your entry donation to play exceeds anything you spend on prizes. Try to work with partners to get them donated.
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5. Host a Speaker
As the weather warms, people want to get out more. Host a speaker that will have wide community interest at an outdoor amphitheater or venue. Charge a donation admission with the ability to buy tickets in advance on your website.
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6. Easter Egg Hunt
Organize a community Easter Egg hunt and charge a small fee for children to participate. (But don’t forget to include the option for an additional donation on the registration form.) To make the most of this event, consider including extras at the egg hunt, such as a silent auction for parents or face-painting for kids to encourage additional giving.
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7. March Madness Bracket Challenge
Get in on the craze of the sports season with your own March Madness fundraiser. Allow donors to buy into the bracket – think $10 per bracket or $25 for three entries – and then send a link to make picks in a custom pool using a tool such as the ESPN Bracket Challenge. You can automate it all with a GiveWP donation form that includes information about the challenge right on the email receipt.
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8. Bake Sale
A bake sale is a tried-and-true way to engage your community and generate donations at the same time. Host a sale in a public location with baked, donated goods. Remember to put out a tip jar for additional fundraising ability.
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9. Raffle or Virtual Auction
Virtual auctions or raffles haven’t always been easy to do online, but fundraisers have adapted to be able to raise money while providing a return to the highest donor. (Note: Some areas have legislature governing raffles, so please abide by your local laws.) Create a Form Grid using GiveWP to include all items. Each prize is awarded to the highest donation (or a random donation). Set up your rules and you can run the entire fundraising campaign online.
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10. Release New Swag or Merchandise
Design a new hat or shirt and offer orders online. This spring fundraising idea is designed to help generate interest in your organization and provide residual advertising all year long. When it comes to spring merchandise, a short-sleeve T-shirt, baseball cap, or beach towel are seasonally ideal. And don’t forget to add a donation option to your shop!
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11. Host a Virtual Dance Party
You’ve probably heard of a silent disco, so why not have a virtual dance party this spring. Registrants can walk, dance, rocking-chair, or hula hoop in the privacy of their own home, while still getting involved with your organization and raising money at the same time. Whatever event you are using as a fundraiser, you can use a GiveWP form for registration.
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12. Plant Sale
Start from seeds or collaborate with a local farm to host a plant sale. You can add a virtual component as well with eCards that feature plants native to your region.
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13. Host a Sailboat Race Online
There’s nothing like a little healthy competition to move donations along. For this fundraiser, come up with 4 (or more) things you’d like to see funded that are about the same cost. Then let your donors help you choose with their dollars. The race takes place through progress goal bars displayed through a GiveWP form grid. The competition adds a sense of urgency that gives donors even more of a reason to give.
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14. Earth Day Cleanup
Do good for Mother Nature with a spring fundraiser. Host a park or river cleanup and challenge teams with donor-based challenges for picking up the most trash, unusual items found during the cleanup, or most team members participating. This can be a great way to encourage corporate donors to help better the community and your cause.
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15. Flower Delivery for Mother’s Day
Mobilize your team and “sell” flower delivery for Mother’s Day in exchange for donations. Partner with a florist or garden shop to create bouquets or single flowers that your team can deliver and bring a smile to the faces of moms.
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16. Paint Night with Spring Theme
Paint nights can be a fun seasonally themed fundraising idea. Pick a spring theme for the artwork and bring in an art teacher to walk your class through painting something together. Charge for each spot in the class and offer add-ons that can result in additional donations on-site.
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17. Field Day Games
Host a spring field day with childhood games for adults and kids. All you need is a park or open field to play tag, run races, and toss discs. Charge admission in the form of a donation.
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18. Community Picnic
Exchange blankets and a natural setting for a donation and host a community picnic this spring. Your organization can create a nice picnic area with blankets (and maybe live music) for groups that bring their own snacks for an afternoon of outdoor enjoyment. Level up your picnic with food trucks for easy snacking or vendors (that donate a portion of proceeds back to your cause).
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19. Father’s Day Fishing Rodeo
Let’s go fishing. A fishing rodeo with prizes for top catches can be a fun way to engage fathers and children while supporting your nonprofit organization. You just need a few prizes and can set up an online registration through GiveWP forms. You can use Form Field Manager to add additional fields as well.
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20. Launch a Spring Photo Contest
Get the community involved with your organization this spring through a photo contest. Ask for participants to showcase their favorite spring photos, vote on the favorites, and use them to create social media images or a calendar later. You can charge a donation to enter the contest or as voters to pay with a donation ($1 equals 1 vote).
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21. Run a 5K
Foot races are especially popular in the spring and can be a good way to earn recognition for your organization as well as money. Here’s your goal: Partner with an organization to put on the race that will share proceeds with you as a benefactor of the race. Many race organizers will choose a nonprofit to support as part of their spring 5K races.
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22. Walk-a-Thon
For a lower impact, activity consider hosting a walk-a-thon (either in person or virtually). Participants vow to walk a certain distance based on fundraising goals.
This is a great opportunity to use the GiveWP Peer-to-Peer add-on, which allows your community to raise money in the traditional peer-to-peer style or through team fundraising.
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23. Challenge Another Nonprofit
In 2019, we found this fundraising idea from a GiveWP customer who competed with a similar organization in another town to see who could reach their fundraising goal first within 24 hours. It turned into a win-win for both organizations, and it’s a spring fundraising idea you can easily replicate.
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24. Dedicate Spring Birthdays to Your Cause
Host a birthday dedication campaign on your website, just like the Facebook Birthday Fundraisers! If your organization turns another year older in the spring this is the perfect birthday celebration.
Alternatively, you can ask donors to share for their spring birthdays. And because you are hosting the birthday celebrations on your website, you control the donor data and receive all the donations in just a few days.
This is another spring fundraising idea that goes well with the peer-to-peer add-on.
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25. Partner with a Business for Matching Funds
Leverage a matching funds partner this spring to boost donations from their employees and take advantage of the company match. This is a great opportunity to set up a goal bar to reach for the total donation the business will match. You can also use a donor wall to see donations as they come in. People will love the crowdsource feel of this challenge to give together and watch the impact of matched donations.
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26. Host a Viewing Party
From professional sports to local championships, spring is playoffs time. Host a viewing party for a certain team or sport. Create a donor challenge to pick the most popular team, charge admission for the event, or have donation games and challenges at the party to keep the momentum going.
Which fundraiser idea will you try first?
You can build any of these spring fundraiser ideas on your website using GiveWP. Our Pro Plan gives you access to every add-on at an affordable cost and includes a free 30minute website audit. Get started with the Pro Plan now to create your ideal fundraiser.
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