Winter Fundraising Ideas To Heat Up Your Campaigns

Published on
December 4, 2020

Between the freezing temperatures, the rush for year-end giving, and planning for the next year, your winter fundraising ideas could lose heat (get it?)

But that’s the last thing you want. With 30% of all annual giving happening in December, this time of the year is highly crucial for your nonprofit. With average fundraisers bringing in less-than-average gifts, you can’t let it go to waste. 

To help you with that, we’ve done the heavy lifting and compiled a list of 8 creative winter fundraising ideas that also adapt to the new norms we need to follow. 

Online winter fundraiser ideas

At this time, you can’t create a plan for winter fundraisers without a few online fundraising ideas. Apart from safety, there’s also the fact that 54% of donors worldwide prefer to give online with a credit or debit card.

Here are a few online winter fundraising ideas you can incorporate into your plan. 

1. Winter wear fundraisers

Designing and selling winter wear like sweaters, hoodies, or sweatshirts is an excellent winter fundraising idea for two reasons:

  1. It provides donors with a tangible incentive, making them more likely to donate/purchase.
  2. The merchandise subtly markets your brand and raises awareness when people use it. 

With tools like Bonfire, you don’t need significant investment in raw materials or manufacturing. All you have to do is select the merchandise you want to sell, upload a design, and promote the fundraiser. Once people start buying the merchandise, the profits are wired to you. 

Winterwear-fundraiser

Pro tip:
Use generic designs to appeal to a larger audience: It may be tempting to design the apparel with just your logo, but it may not attract many buyers. Think about it: How many times do you wear your nonprofit’s T-shirt? 

To appeal to the masses, you need a generic, creative design that people would be open to wearing more regularly. You can add your logo (in fact, you should). Just make it small but distinct.  
Alternatively, you could add a motto that appeals to people – for example, “Give a hoot, don’t pollute.” by Woodsy Owl, the owl icon for the United States Forest Service.

2. Virtual game night

The holidays are usually a good time for friends and families to bond. Make the experience more exciting for them with a virtual game night fundraiser. Here’s what you need to do:

  • Select the games you want to play. You can choose one from this list.  
  • Choose a video conference platform or apps like Zoom or Houseparty to host the game night.
  • Select the incentives for winners to encourage participation. Preferably something tangible like a sweater (hey, how about something from the merchandise you’ll be selling online)
  • Create an e-vite for the event. Include the meeting link/app name and other details about the fundraiser in the invitation. Promote it on your social handles and ask people to spread the word. 
  • Send out reminders before the fundraiser begins. Text message reminders are a good idea since they are personal, and people read texts almost immediately (at least 90% of people do within 3 minutes). 

Raise money by charging a small entry fee. You could also display a donation link during the game and remind people how the money will help. 

Lastly, don’t forget to have fun!

Virtual-game-night-fundraiser
Source: Noteworthy – The journal blog

Pro tip:
Engage the whole family with different categories of games: The adults may not enjoy the games kids want to play and vice versa. Make sure the event appeals to the whole family with different options of games to play. While adults could play games with kids, let them also have the option to play games with adult friends.

Check out how to set up and send text reminders to your contacts:
Text message reminders: Send immediate alerts to your contacts

3. Virtual movie night

If gaming is not something your audience is into, you could turn to another everyday family activity: movies! 

Hosting a virtual fundraising movie night is quite similar to a game night:

  • Select a movie that you want to show. This could be a traditional holiday movie or a movie your nonprofit might have created, like “Fundamental” by the Global Fund for Women. You could even survey to find out what people would like to see.

With CallHub, you can automate the whole process over text. Learn more about setting up text surveys here.

  • Choose a tool that lets people connect their devices to stream a movie. Kast and Kosmi are tools you can look into. 
  • Create an e-vite to the event with all the details and send it out. Make sure to include why you’re raising money through the fundraiser in it. Ask people to share it with their network, too. 
  • Send out reminders before starting to increase participation. 
Movie-night-winter-fundraising-idea
Source: Nerdist

Pro tip:
Make the fundraiser more engaging with a chat option: Some tools, like Teleparty, allow you to chat and share your favorite moments during the movie, as in the image above. This makes the experience more fun as it feels like you’re actually together (or at least gives that illusion)

Making the experience more exciting in this way can help you attract a larger crowd. You can also pin the donation link in the chat to serve as a subtle reminder. 

You’ll raise money by asking for donations to your fundraiser. Make sure to provide the donation link before and after the movie, too. 

4. Peer-to-peer fundraising

Between a personal friend and an unknown organization asking for help, who would you instead support? 

Your answer is probably the friend. It is for almost everyone. With a friend, the credibility factor drives people to act. Peer-to-peer fundraising leverages this factor to help you raise more money. 

For P2P fundraisers, you ask your strongest supporters to raise money on your behalf. Here’s how to set it up online:

  • Select a platform for P2P fundraising. With tools like Classy, your supporters can create customized fundraising pages to raise money. Alternatively, you can also enable people to set up P2P Facebook fundraisers.  
  • Create branded resources for fundraisers. These include images for web pages, emails, etc., with your logo, impact statement, acceptable color themes, and other relevant elements. 
  • Promote the campaign. Let people know they can fundraise for you. You can send out an email, post it on social media, or, better yet, send out a text blast. Texts have high open rates (98%), so you can be sure that your message will be read.  

While peer-to-peer fundraisers can be run throughout the year, their importance increases during the winter when people are more involved in giving.

Pro tip:
Introduce a little healthy competition to maintain the momentum: There’s a good chance that people may lose the motivation to push their fundraisers.

With a little competition, you can keep their motivation high. Display everyone’s fundraising progress on a single page for everyone to see. You could also set up challenges (like the fastest fundraiser) to provide winners with incentives. 

5. Winter favorite’s recipe book

Who wouldn’t love to cook a traditional holiday meal during winter? But not many people would know how. This simple winter fundraising idea can solve that problem and raise money for your cause. 

All you need to do is: 

  • Compile a list of winter favorite recipes you want to include in the book.
  • Ask people to write down the recipes with some personal tips. Ask your volunteers, staff members, and supporters to help you. 
  • Design an eBook with all the recipes and tips and sell it online for a nominal fee. Create a landing page with the eBook, details about what’s included, and a donation form to direct users to. 

Make sure to let people know that the proceeds go to charity to drive more people to buy it. Encourage people to share the landing page link with their network, too. 

You could also add an option to donate a custom amount (above the minimum price you set) on the landing page. Knowing that the proceeds go to charity, people might be inclined to donate more. 

Here’s an example of Food Writers for New Zealand selling their e-cookbook for Covid relief. 

Recipe-ebook-winter-fundraiser

Pro tip:
Use videos to make the eBook more engaging: Apart from the recipes, add an explainer video along with each dish to make the eBook more appealing. It’s easier for people to follow a recipe while watching a video

Creative winter fundraising ideas

While the online fundraisers above can help you raise good money, it’s always helpful to have a little diversity in your fundraising plan for two reasons:

  1. It reduces your reliance on one type of campaign, mitigating the risk of lower reach. 
  2. Different campaigns help you reach different groups of people and, hence, a much larger audience. More people equals more potential donors. 

So consider including some unique winter fundraisers in your fundraising plan

1. Holiday wrapping service

In December, families are often stressed out by shopping for gifts, decorating their homes, etc. This winter fundraising idea can help reduce that stress by taking one task off their plate.

  • Partner with local businesses to set up a gift-wrapping station. If finding businesses is a problem, you could also set up a station in a neighborhood.  
  • Get the raw materials for the station. This includes wrapping paper, tape, scissors, pens, etc. It would be great to have ribbons, tags, and cards as add-ons.  
  • Decorate the station and put up signs indicating that the services are for charity and what the proceeds will be used for. 
Gift-wrapping-winter-fundraising-idea

Charge a small fee for wrapping each gift. You could charge extra for add-ons like ribbons and tags. 

Pro tip:
Have a donation box at the station for extra donations: People may want to give more because the proceeds are for charity. Therefore, having a donation box is recommended. Plus, if your station has distinct signs about the cause, even people walking around may donate without getting a gift wrapped. 

2. Hot chocolate stand

Another stress that people would have during the winter is the cold weather. You can also offer to help them with that with a glass of soothing hot chocolate. 

A hot chocolate station is a simple, low-cost winter fundraiser you can run in any neighborhood. All you need to do is:

  • Procure everything you need for the standhot chocolate, an insulated container to store it in, cups, cream, etc. You can add cookies and sweets as chargeable add-ons. 
  • Set it up in a prime location in the neighborhood. Alternatively, you could set up a table at an event, such as a school football game. 
  • Promote the fundraiser through texts, social media, and emails. 
  • Set up a mobile donation process. For the safety of your volunteers, avoid accepting cash. You could either use an app to receive donations or set up text-to-donate.
Hot-chocolate-station-winter-fundraising-idea
Source: GoFundMe

Pro tip:
Use the hot chocolate stand to grow your SMS list: While you’re pouring out the drink, strike up a conversation with the people, letting them know about your organization, work, campaigns, impact, etc. 

Ask them if they would like to help in other ways. If they seem interested, have them send in a keyword to your shortcode. Set up a text message autoresponder to send a link to the relevant page in response to the keyword. This can help you grow your support base, too. 

3. Christmas tree disposal service

Let’s face it; most families do no know what to do with the Christmas tree after the holidays. Be their knight in shining armor, solve that problem for them, and be rewarded with gifts for your winter fundraisers. 

Here’s what you will need to do:

  • Create a landing page with details about this service. Include a form for relevant details like name, address, etc. 
  • Promote the landing page everywhere possible. Let people know you can help them with the problem in exchange for a small gift to your fundraiser. 
  • Rent a truck for the day and go around houses, picking up trees and taking them away to dispose of them. 

Most cities have a tree recycling program to remove the tree from your hands for free. Alternatively, you could partner with an environmental nonprofit (if you’re not one) and replant the trees. You can use images and the impact of this collaboration for future nurturing campaigns. 

Christmas-tree-disposal-winter--fundraising
Source: Town of Winchester

Pro tip:
Pair the Christmas tree disposal fundraiser with collection drives: Since you’ll be visiting houses to collect the trees, use this opportunity to collect other goods that people may not want anymore. After the holidays, people often dispose of preloved goods like clothes, shoes, etc. Ask them to hand them over to you instead. You can exchange these goods for money through sites like clothingdrivefundraiser.com

You May Also Like 17 Unique Ideas for Christmas Fundraising (with Examples to inspire you)

Collecting donations from winter fundraisers

Apart from practical ideas, another challenge you must tackle is collecting donations. Since collecting cash is not safe, you need online alternatives. The two most popular ways are: 

  1. Online donation page
  2. Text-to-donate through SMS opt-in

Let’s look at what you require for each in detail. 

Online donation page

For every winter fundraiser you run, you need an online donation page. You will come to this page to complete the donation process. Here’s what the page should comprise:

  • A simple donation form with all relevant fields (name, email, pre-selected amount, etc.).
  • Mission statement – what you plan to achieve with the proceeds.
  • Diverse payment options – credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, Venmo, etc. 

You can make the page more appealing with visuals that induce the right emotions, such as empathy and happiness, to encourage people to act immediately. 

With tools like Unbounce or Instapage, you can easily set up a landing page.  

Text-to-donate through SMS opt-in

Sharing the link to an online donation page can be pretty challenging. If someone at your hot chocolate stand wants to donate, dictating the link or putting it on a poster may not be as straightforward. Sometimes, people may not read the link correctly, get a spelling wrong, etc., which may lead to drop-offs. 

A text-to-donate system can help you avoid that. To donate, a person needs to send a keyword to your shortcode and receive the donation page link; it’s that simple. 

You need a mass texting tool to set it up. 

  • Rent/select a shortcode and a keyword of your choice for the campaign:
Setting-up-text-to-donate
  • Set up the automated response to be sent (with the link)
Setting-up-text-to-donate
  • Schedule and start the campaign. 

You can also promote the keyword and shortcode through other channels to collect donations. 

To conclude

I hope these winter fundraising ideas inspire your campaigns for the holidays. You could either adapt them as they are, with a sprinkle of creativity or use them as a basis for your own ideas. 

No matter what, remember that these winter fundraisers are an integral part of your year-end fundraising, the most important time of the year for nonprofits. 

To maximize the output of your fundraising, you need practical ideas to implement and the right strategies to promote them, too. To know more about these strategies, check out our post: Fundraising strategies to exceed your year-end giving goals

Feature image source: Victória Kubiaki

Nandhaan Verma Linkedin
Nandhaan is a marketer with nearly 5 years of experience researching & writing about communication for nonprofits, advocacies, & political campaigns. His insights have empowered multiple organizations to streamline communications & drive change.