Coming on top 3 among the top 7 of the biggest holidays for spending and the top 6 of the top 10 on Digital Marketing Statistics and Metrics is Valentine’s Day. According to the National Retail Federation, this spending is continually rising as consumers plan to increase Valentine’s Day spending to nearly $26 Billion.
And because Valentine is fast approaching, this means an opportunity to spawn revenue not just for businesses but for nonprofits as well. Yet for this opportunity to work, as an event planner, you must have the right idea of how to generate income for your nonprofit organization.
Without heartwarming Valentine’s fundraising ideas, you will not be drawing interest and enthusiasm from donors for your nonprofit. To help you with that, we have come up with Valentine’s fundraising ideas to help you raise funds for your nonprofit fundraising.
Easy Valentine’s Day Fundraising Ideas for Charities
Valentine’s Day is a day of love and intimacy and a day to give affection and to do acts of kindness. What better way to do it than to give to fundraisers and charities? Here we have a list of some cupid-approved Valentine’s fundraising ideas for nonprofits:
-
Romantic-themed Fundraising Campaign
Inspire sweethearts celebrating Valentine’s Day to donate to your organization. Instead of lovers buying expensive materials as gifts for each other, why not encourage them to put their money into a good cause?
Be sure to market your fundraising campaign through multi-channels to reach more donors. You can use your nonprofit’s social media to promote your campaign. Use your social media to create themed posts with compelling hashtags, social media takeovers by influencers, interactive content, teasers, or teasers and sneak peeks. You can also make a countdown on your event’s website, create blog posts, emails, or buzz marketing. What a great way to give love on Valentine’s Day.
-
Sweets For Your Sweet, Sugar For Your Honey
Take advantage of this age-old Valentine’s tradition of giving sweets to sweethearts. Hold a candy-making or chocolate-making event. What a fun and unique way to have a date with your special someone. I would attend this, given the chance.
Couples who would like to avail of tickets for the event can buy them through an online platform. You can partner with Event Espresso for your event registration and management needs.
-
Gift Box and Flowers
Put together a gift box with matching flowers and sell it to couples who will enjoy the items on the gift box together on Valentine’s Day. Include items such as chocolate bars, baked goods, wine and cheese, or a movie ticket.
Make it extra by including a donation certificate to your nonprofit in their name.
-
Silent Auction
Hold a silent auction event. Reach out to your connections to assemble items to auction off.
Do not limit your auction to romantic getaways, a date night coupon, a movie screening date night, dining experiences, spa packages, fine arts, antique pieces, sports memorabilia, or precious jewelry and gems.
Encourage donors and sponsors of your nonprofit to create or donate anything they would like to auction off. It would also be great if you have Valentine-related items such as romantic books, love-themed quilts or blankets, watches, handbags, vintage or classic cars, fine China, vintage cameras, etc. that participants can bid on.
-
Auction Date Night
An auction date night hosted by your nonprofit is a splendid Valentine’s fundraising idea. It can be a romantic date night for couples or a single affair for the bachelors and bachelorettes who are looking for love.
To boost fundraising you can auction off a date for bachelors and bachelorettes. Or you can leverage it and make it more fun by auctioning off eligible bachelors and bachelorettes themselves.
-
Footloose and Fancy-free Night
Your nonprofit can also hold a singles night for unmarried adults and singles who are unattached. You can host a speed dating fundraising event for a small fee or with a registration fee. It will be a lovely opportunity for singles to meet like-minded individuals.
Create a welcoming and heartwarming atmosphere for participants to connect and interact with others. After the speed dating rounds, auction fancy dates, outdoor dates, fun dates, etc. for the participants to bid on and try to win.
-
Family Love Affair
Valentine’s celebration shouldn’t have to be limited to lovey-doveys. It is also a wonderful idea to include the whole family in the festivities and your fundraising efforts. You can host a family game night, trivia night, or a family craft night at a local venue where families will register for your event as a team.
Include a variety of prizes to be won on your family love affair and not just a grand prize. Prizes such as; earliest registrant, biggest family, the best team, etc. To make group registrations easier, partner with Event Espresso or Event Smart, the best event management and ticket sales software.
-
Galentine’s Day
What’s a Galentine’s Day you say? “Oh, it’s only the best day of the year. Every February 13th, my lady friends and I leave our husbands and our boyfriends at home, and we just come and kick it, breakfast-style. Ladies celebrating ladies. It’s like Lilith Fair, minus the angst. Plus frittatas.”
This is how Leslie Knope, a fictional character of Parks And Recreation, an NBC comedy described the now-popular, Galentine’s Day! Galentine’s Day that Knope created reveals her distinct character; excessive generosity and wholehearted sincerity.
Make the most of this fictional holiday and host a wine-tasting party, dance party, potluck party, or waffle party. And celebrate the joy of female friendships and female empowerment through your Galentine’s Day event.
Galentine’s Day can be a great addition to your events for Valentine’s Day fundraising since this happens the day before February 14. What’s great is that single ladies can celebrate Valentine’s Day even without a date.
-
Caffeinated Date
To help local businesses, partner with a coffee shop that serves connoisseur coffee. Who could resist this one? I can already smell the coffee’s aroma. What’s great about this is that it can be sold throughout February and not only on Valentine’s Day.
Let your partner coffee shop serve a limited edition coffee to be served throughout February. A certain percent of the profit from the limited edition coffee goes to your nonprofit. Create a love-related name for the coffee like; I love you a latte, swoon-worthy brewed coffee, love you mucho cappuccino, etc. to make it more attractive.
-
Valentine Breakfast
The sky’s the limit with Valentine’s fundraising ideas if you do not limit yourself to the boring intimate date night. Start Valentine’s Day with a hearty breakfast and host a Valentine’s breakfast event.
Encourage cooking enthusiasts in your network to volunteer to cook and serve breakfast in support of your nonprofit. Or invite a celebrity chef that supports your mission to increase attendance. Look for local establishments to rent out as your event venue or partner with a local restaurant. A romantic local coffee shop is also a great venue.
Ask sponsors and donors to purchase tickets to your breakfast buffet. It is also best that you promote your event ahead so that people who share your cause or potential donors will know of it and will make plans to attend.
-
Baked with Love, Bake Sale
Bake sale is a proven and tested top dog activity you can do to raise money. So why not do it during Valentine’s season? Connect with a local bakeshop to make and sell sweet Valentine’s confections such as cookies, bars, cupcakes, or any sweet treat to sell on Valentine’s Day. Then take a percentage of the profit from the confections revenue for your nonprofit.
To maximize bringing in funds for your nonprofit, offer pre-orders and bulk orders of the pastry. Or offer customized heart-shaped cakes and cupcakes. You can also sell these confections to another event of yours like your Galentine’s event or display the baked goodies on local stores.
-
Yoga, Meditation, or Exercise Sessions
Ask a local meditation or yoga instructor or a Zumba coach for an afternoon of meditation or exercise. Sponsors, donors, and attendees can make a small donation to your organization aside from buying tickets to join the exercise event.
Look for a suitable venue or partner with a local gym. Give out gym discount cards for group registrations or discount cards from any corporate sponsorship for every registration.
Valentine’s Day fundraising can also be done for schools. It’s a perfect way to engage students and make them aware of your mission.
Valentine’s Day Fundraising Ideas for Schools
Aside from giving love and acts of kindness, Valentine’s Day is also a great day to do acts of generosity. Schools are well-deserved recipients of these acts of generosity. Giving to schools is enriching as schools are where future leaders are trained and equipped.
Yet before you plan for your Valentine’s Day fundraising to schools take note of some of the important factors. One of which is your target audience; is your fundraising directed to parents? To corporate businesses? Or local businesses?
Another thing is the students’ and community’s health and safety. Always think about and take care of the welfare of the student and the local community when you plan out your Valentine’s event. One more thing to consider is the monetary goals; how much you will raise will largely affect the kind of fundraiser you will do.
Lastly, think about the timing. Will the event be held during weekdays or weekends? Will it be a pre-Valentine or post-Valentine event? Do it as a pre-Valentine event. In that way, target donors’ money is still intact as they have not yet bought it for flowers or sweets
Read on to get inspiration for your Valentine’s school fundraising ideas.
-
Candy Gram
One of the most popular sweet treats to give to someone on Valentine’s Day is a candy gram. Candy gram is a sweet treat with a lovely message attached to it. Candy gram fundraiser is a famed holiday fundraising for a charity or a school.
Select affordable candies that you can buy in bulk at a low price, like heart-shaped lollipops or chocolate roses. Wrap 2 or more candies together with a ribbon and attach a heartwarming note or a Valentine’s Day card to create a charming candy gram. You can then call it Candy Hearts-a-gram to make it more appealing.
Sell the candy grams you created throughout the campus on Valentine’s Day. As a tip to leverage profit, create separate prices for different kinds of notes to attach to the candy gram. You can also sell it in bulk to corporate sponsors and donors of the school who then can give it to their workers or staff as a sweet treat during valentines.
-
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fundraiser
This fundraiser is great for both elementary school and high school and is not restricted to Valentine’s Day. Encourage participants to register online or parents to register on their behalf for younger kids who would like to participate as sellers.
Give registrants brochures of the different cookie dough options to sell. Sell your chocolate chip cookie dough by tub; large or small cookie dough tub, pre-portioned cookie dough tub, dry-mix cookie dough, or sugar-free cookie dough.
Get creative and make cookie dough selling more exciting by making a contest out of it. Reward the most number of cookie dough sold, the most tubs sold for large or small options, and so on. You can also include the fastest to sell out.
As a tip, include flyers explaining your organization and mission to buyers of the cookie dough. This way buyers will know that they are not just buying but putting their money to a good cause by supporting a fundraising campaign.
-
Battle of the Bands
There are many ways you can raise funds through a battle of the bands, making it a great event to host for your Valentine fundraising. Aside from selling tickets to event attendees, you can raise additional funds by charging bands who will compete for a registration fee.
Another is to have attendees vote for their favorite performance with a dollar. Still, another is to sell merchandise as a fundraising product during the event or have a booth where attendees may get a temporary tattoo for a dollar.
And you can also sell raffle tickets to attendees who would like to meet the bands backstage. Another way is to seal a sponsorship deal with a local business. This may require a lot of event planning but it will be quite rewarding, especially with your fundraising efforts.
-
Valentines Cook-Off
On valentines Day host a cook-off contest on the school grounds. Cooking enthusiasts can register for your event for a fee to be able to join the contest and they will have to register as a team. Then advertise on social media and different advertising channels.
Then sell tickets to your events. Every attendee will be the judge at the cook-off. The most number of meals sold will be the winner. And again to boost fundraising, secure sponsorship from local stores or businesses or local farmers to your Valentine’s cook-off.
-
Valentine’s Day Yard Sale
Yard sales can be a great way to bond and it is not just for lovers. On Valentine’s Day, host a yard sale at a local venue (a gym, a school, etc.) Gather pre-loved items, gently worn clothes, or anything volunteers are willing to donate to your Valentine’s Day fundraiser.
Include on your yard sale an auction of donations such as collector’s items, limited editions, or first-edition of different stuff at the end of the day. Take pictures of the items, especially the ones for auction, and post them on your social media pages to create a buzz for your Valentine’s event.
Going viral through buzz marketing is an avenue to get the attention of corporations and businesses. Creating a buzz will make them interested in becoming a sponsor for your organization.
As an event planner, it is also best that you create an event page not just for your Valentine’s event but for all your events. That way you can create an online donation form to make donations to the school, your organization, or any cause you are promoting, easy.
Virtual Valentines Fundraising Ideas
Virtual fundraisers are another viable way you can raise funds for your organization. Plus, virtual fundraisers are effective to the same degree as in-person events. Maximize fundraising efforts by hosting virtual fundraising and be motivated by these ideas:
-
Online Auction
Post pictures and information about the auctioned items to your social media pages and event page so that the target audience can have time to view the items ahead of time. This will also help in promoting your online event.
On the day of your event, take time to explain your organization and the reason for your fundraising to connect with your audience. When your audience is connected they are likely to bid higher and bid more as they understand that they are doing it for a good cause.
-
Movie Marathon
A marathon of wholesome movies is a delightful way to spend valentines with a loved one or the whole family. Choose a movie that’s entertaining and closely related to your cause to encourage support for your mission.
To promote your event instead of selling tickets use the word “donate” on your event website or your marketing. This way the target audience will know that they will not just be watching a movie but will also be supporting an important mission of an organization.
After the movie, create breakout rooms for discussion to stir up more interest in your cause and to encourage engagement and donations to your organization from the audience.
-
Online Talent Show
Talent shows are a fun way to showcase different talents while supporting an organization. Why not create one of your own? The target audience can register online as presenters or as an audience for your event.
To make it more fun and boost fundraising, make it an enjoyable contest such as; the most-love presenter. Audiences can donate an amount as a vote to their favorite presenter. The most amount raised will be the winner of the contest.
-
Valentine eCards
Valentine cards are a classic yet effective way to raise funds for your organization. Make and sell Valentine eCards on your social media pages or your organization’s page. To create designs for your eCards, connect with local artists who are willing to donate their talents in design.
You can also ask celebrities and influencers to donate their talents through designs. Then charge a premium for designs by popular influencers and celebrities to boost fundraisers. You may also sell premium eCards for a limited number only.
-
Webinar
Webinars are not just informative tools but are also effective tools for raising funds. Set up a Valentine’s webinar related to your cause and charge a small fee for attendees to join. Invite a resource speaker or an influential person to talk about your mission.
Explain that ticket sales are going to support your mission and not for profit. It is also best to offer sponsorship tiers during the webinar for any interested donors.
When you have a virtual event. It is best to create a clickable link that participants can give to your charity and Valentine’s fundraiser by inputting their credit or debit card numbers. Or utilize an online giving platform.
Event Espresso Helps You Create a Successful Valentine’s Day Fundraiser
Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to re-captivate donors and sponsors of your organization. And to encourage new ones. It is also a perfect opportunity to raise funds for your mission through a Valentine’s event. Consider these ideas a sweet treat from Event Espresso for your fundraising efforts.
Create a successful Valentine’s fundraising event for your nonprofit with Event Espresso. Valentine’s is fast approaching, so don’t delay, start your free trial now! Tell us more about your experience with your Valentine’s fundraising by commenting below.
0 Commentaires