By Susan Donaldson, B.A. (Hons), Animal Campaigner
On the fundraising charity events for animals page, you will find many ideas of fundraising charity events and activities to help animal charities and rescues. If you are good at organising things and gaining support for events and activities, this could be your forte.
Thanks to the charity, you could survey their supporters to find out what kind of events they would most be interested in. You could do this on the charity’s social media pages.
Important
If accepting money from people in aid of an animal charity or rescue, contact them first. Involving the charity in what you are doing should help protect you from accusations of fraud and dishonesty. Many animal charities or rescues offer very useful support and publicity to help you with your activity.
Click for finding out about easier fundraising ideas for charity, and ideas of stalls you could run at events.
Contents
It is vital to publicise a local event well, and as widely as possible. Use as many media types as you can. Advertising it starts well in advance of the event, and you must keep up the
You can ask your family and friends to help you spread the word using social media networking sites. There are many pages and groups related to local areas on these sites. Search for them and publicise your event on them.
There may even be pages or groups related specifically to local area fundraising. You, and whoever you can get to help you, should share posts about your event as often as possible. Do this in as many suitable locations on these sites as possible.
Ask the charity you are raising money for to promote your event prominently on their social media pages and groups. Also ask if they can publicise it on their website.
If possible, get them to display posters and flyers on their premises for their volunteers and visitors to see. Also ask them if they could publicise it in their newsletter.
Post about your event on any social media site pages or groups related to the animal charity you are raising money for.
Have your event or activity announced on local radio if possible, or listed on their websites. Use local publications to advertise it, both on their websites and in their newspapers and magazines.
There may be some ways you could do this for free, but it may be an additional cost. This may have to come out of the money raised, unless you are willing to pay for it yourself.
You could approach these local publications to see if they could write about what you are doing. If children had the idea for the event and are helping to run it, local publications might be willing to write about it. If you can give them a good story behind their motivation, it could be a feel-good story.
Ideally, posters for both online and offline should be colourful, eye catching, clear and not too cluttered. It is essential to have all the necessary information on them. They should be displayed anywhere they legally can be in your local area.
Some ideas of where you could display them:-
Get as many people involved as you can to help you get the message out. If you have enough volunteers to deliver them, you could even post leaflets through peoples doors.
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When car boot sales and craft fairs help in aid of charities, people are invited to hold their stalls there, for a fee. The money charged for each stall goes to the animal charity or rescue, and each stallholder keeps any profits they make.
There is sometimes a small entry charge made at the door, taken from customers coming in. This can be about £1, 50p, or just a donation of people's choice.
If you would like to organise such an event in aid of an animal rescue or charity, you should contact the charity to let them know. You could ask them if they have somewhere you could use as the venue for free.
If not, there will be a charge for the hire of the venue you use. Ask the rescue to appeal for volunteers to help on the day.
The animal charity or rescue usually has their stall or two. This could be selling bric-a-brac, or drinks, snacks and cakes at the event. There is sometimes an area with tables and chairs for people to have coffee and cake.
They could also have an information stall letting people know about what the charity does, and about its animals needing homes. Depending on where the event is held, some of the rescue’s adoptable animals could be there to meet the public. They may even possibly find their forever home.
To make it worthwhile, you will want to sell the maximum number of stalls that will fit in the venue. The charge for each stall will have to be at a level where stallholders feel they will make a good profit above that.
If you charge too much, you will struggle to get people to take stalls. Charges for stalls are usually between about £5 and £10. Some venues offer the use of their tables for the stalls. At others, stallholders will need to provide their tables.
Car boot sales, junk sales, and rummage sales give animal rescue supporters the chance to have a clear out. If they take a stall, they can make some money and help the animals at the same time.
There are many creative people among animal rescue supporters, who may be good at handcrafting items they could sell at a craft fair. They can make money selling their crafts, all while helping the animal rescue.
It is vital to publicise the event well, and as widely as possible. Make sure the charity publicises it as much as possible. Use as many media types and platforms as you can. For more advice, see the “Publicising Your Event” section of this page.
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People enjoy getting together for a cuppa, a cake, and a chat. Organising a coffee morning can be an effective and enjoyable way of fundraising for charity.
Including sandwiches and other snacks is also an idea for people who prefer savoury to sweet foods. Making as many of the items as possible vegan would mean you would not be causing suffering to animals to raise money for an animal charity.
That wouldn’t make sense. There are many animal charity supporters who are vegan, so you want to avoid excluding them from being able to buy the items.
There are also people with an intolerance to animal products to consider. However, there are many alternative ingredients that can be used instead of animal products.
Many coffee mornings add extra attractions by having a few fundraising stalls there for people to browse and buy from. These can include attractions for children, such as a lucky dip and toys to buy.
Depending on whether the venue allows animals, animals needing homes could be present. Also have posters and leaflets with animals who require homes on.
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You may find that a domino night would be popular among supporters of the charity you wish to fund-raise for. If this is the case, you need a venue where you can serve refreshments, and tables and chairs. Some tables will be needed for different domino games to be played.
Some will be needed for different domino games to be played. Refreshments can be eaten and drunk at the domino tables, but you should also have some for just refreshments.
Funds can be raised by either charging entry, or charging for each game of Dominos played. Money can also be raised by selling refreshments. A selection of cakes and sandwiches can be on sale.
Among animal charity supporters are many vegans, so making food items with alternatives to animal products is a good idea. That way, you also do not sacrifice certain animals to raise funds for others.
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There are auctions and sales run online in aid of animal charities and rescues. Take a look if you would like to run one, or help run one.
There are plenty of existing ones that need people to help run them. Have a look and see if it is something you would be interested in. It is something you can do from home.
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Giving presentations and talks can earn charities donations. Not only do you raise funds, but your talks raise awareness. If there is an expectation of a donation, this should be discussed in advance.
There are local groups in most areas, such as the Women’s Institute (WI). Another group in my area is the University of the Third Age (U3A). This is a group for over fifties who like to learn new things, mainly through being given talks on a wide variety of subjects.
I gave a 45-minute presentation and talk to U3A about my local animal rescue, and the whole animal rescue effort. For doing it, they made a £50 donation to my local animal rescue.
In the presentation, I explained the history of our local rescue, and their mission/goals. I told some stories of the animals: their lives before the rescue and the happy endings they had. I even brought along two of the rescues dogs that needed homes.
As well as talking about our local rescue, I included a lot of general information about the animal rescue effort in its entirety, and the plight of companion animals. For that, I used information from the Pet Abandonment page, the How Animal Rescue Works page, as well as other animal adoption related pages on this site.
I knew I was going to be given a screen to do a presentation on, so I prepared a PowerPoint presentation. On each page, I had pictures and bullet points outlining what I was talking about.
The image below is me doing a fundraising presentation and talk at a local U3A group about animal rescue. You can see the dogs requiring homes I brought on the left.
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If you have any contacts in local schools, you could approach the schools, asking if they would be interested in a talk to students about the local animal rescue. You should involve the animal rescue in your plans.
The school may even allow you to bring a pet in, or dogs that need homes, for the students to interact with. The rescue must have public liability insurance for this to happen. The school may insist on a police check for anyone coming into the school to do talks.
The way this can raise funds is that the school may be willing to give a small donation to the rescue. This should be decided on in advance. You will also have raised awareness among the students, who will then go home and tell their families.
Talks should be aimed at the age group of the students. You should always deliver the talk with enthusiasm, varying the tones in your voice. For younger children, you should use props. Make the talk interactive, so students can take part.
Some animal rescues have agreements with schools where they can go in and give talks to the students. For this, animal rescues need volunteers. Some rescues do not have such arrangements with schools, as they do not have volunteers willing to do the talks. If they did, they may want to arrange it.
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Animal lover Adam Rickett used his celebrity connections to organise a charity football match. The actor is well known for playing Nick Tilsley in Coronation Street for a number of years. He organised two teams of celebrities to play against each other in aid of the PDSA.
Not many people have the kinds of connections. However, If you are involved with a local sports team, or someone close to you is, you have the connections to do it. Maybe you could be the force behind persuading the team to play in a charity sports game.
People would pay a fixed donation to be in the team that plays against that local team. Spectators would pay to watch. You could also sell refreshments including food, and browse this page for other ideas to incorporate, such as having a raffle, tombola, etc.
It could be a charity football, rugby, or cricket match, or any other popular sport that is likely to get interest.
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Playing games of prize bingo can be a fun fundraising charity event. It doesn’t even have to be big. You can play small games within a group of family and friends for prizes. Alternatively, if you wanted to raise more, you can organise a larger event for supporters in the community.
Each person pays 50p or a £1 a game, depending on how good the prizes are and how many people they are playing against. You can raise money whilst having a lot of fun. You will either need to make a bingo set or buy one. Furthermore, you can buy bingo books from stationers shops.
If only a small group of you are playing, there are ways you can all play and none of you have to be the caller. You can buy an automatic bingo caller, use an app on your phone, or use software programs on your computer to do the number calling.
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Stand up bingo is where the player only sits down when any number from their bingo board is called out. The last player left standing is the winner.
Each player is given a bingo board, and all players start off standing up. No pens are needed, as there is no need for players to mark numbers off on their boards. This means the same bingo board can be used for any number of games.
Once the bingo caller calls out any number on a player's board, the player sits down. In the end, there will be only one person left standing, who is the winner. As the number of people left standing gets fewer and fewer, it can get very exciting!
This is different to regular bingo because getting a line or a full house is not the aim. The aim is to be the last person left standing.
You will need a bingo set. If you do not have enough boards, you can buy bingo books from stationery shops.
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For a quiz night, there are normally teams. If it i s a rule that each team must have a certain number of people in it, it may put people off from attending who didn’t have enough people for their team. Therefore, it is good to allow any number of people, from one to, for example, four, in each team.
Sometimes entries into a quiz are charged per team, but if teams are going to have different numbers of people in, charging a lower amount (such as £1) per person may be a better idea.
Your quiz can have a number of categories or rounds, and they can take different forms.
A picture round, is where you provide pictures of people in the public eye, or brand logos, or ding bats, etc, and ask for each to be identified.
A sound round is where you could play the beginnings of songs, or the voice of celebrities speaking, or animal noises, etc, and ask for them to be identified.
An idiom round is where you start an idiom and players have to accurately complete it.
You could ask questions in separate categories, such as world records, geography, showbiz, Science, statistics, current affairs, animals, local history, cryptic questions, etc, and you could also have a general knowledge round, where questions on any subject can be asked.
Try to involve some funny questions, that might get a laugh and inject some fun into the proceedings. You may also want to include questions about the animal charity, or about animal rescue in general. It could be a good opportunity for people to learn more about the plight of animals.
Many “pub quiz” questions and answers can be found in online searches. Just remember to use a charity search engine so that you can help animals when searching!
It is good to include some questions that many people would know the answer too, so that people do not get disheartened and fed up with not knowing any answers.
Other questions should be more difficult, that fewer people would know the answers to. If there is a range of age groups attending, make sure the questions cover subjects for the different age groups to keep all participants interested and engaged.
You will also obviously need to provide quiz teams with paper and pens/pencils. You may need to use a microphone and amplifier and supply tables and chairs.
It is a good idea to provide refreshments. A suggested minimum would be tea, coffee, juice, and biscuits. You could ask for donations for tea and coffee, and sell cakes and other snacks.
In addition to the quiz, you could have some games of stand-up bingo, or prize bingo, a raffle, and other ideas on this page as part of the event.
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Fundraising for charity by holding a treasure hunt can be lots of fun for children, and even more fun if dogs are invited too.
There is normally an entrance fee, and the treasure hunt is normally done in teams, which can be groups of friends, families, or whatever people want. The teams do not have to contain the same number of people each.
The teams are all given the first clue – a rhyme or riddle about where the second clue is – and set off. Each clue should be numbered and written with permanent pen, preferably on waterproofed material. For example, you could use paper or card that has been protected with sticky-back plastic.
Each clue should be duplicated enough times so that each team has one they can take with them when they find it. Either that, or they should be asked to leave the clue stuck in place and should be given a notebook & pen/pencil to write down the clue.
Each clue the teams find gives them a clue to the next, which they must find all of, in order, until they are led to the “treasure” at the end.
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A scavenger hunt can be a fun way to fund-raise for an animal charity. It is a game where the organizers prepare a list defining specific items, which the participants need to gather, without purchasing them (that is cheating!).
Participants can work in small teams, or as individuals. The winner is to be the first to complete the list, or to complete the most items on the list.
There are variations of the game: Players take photographs of listed items instead of collecting them. They can alternatively be challenged to complete tasks on a list in the most creative manner.
There are pre-prepared lists of items easily found on the web, such as here.
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Beetle is a British party game which is sometimes called Cooties or Bugs.
The aim is for the player to roll the correct dice numbers to be able to complete a diagram of a whole Beetle.
The body parts the numbers of the dice traditionally correspond to are shown in the image, below.
You can alternatively change the beetle to another animal appropriate to the animal charity you are raising money for. You might do a rabbit, or a dog, etc. It will work as long as you have six parts of the animal to draw.
The usual rules are that before the player can draw any other body part, they must roll the number for the body. Once they have the body, the player may attach the head, or legs, but the head must be drawn before the player can draw the antenna and eyes.
The first player to draw all the beetle body parts is the winner.
A Beetle Drive is a social occasion, in which many rounds of Beetle are played.
The players sit in tables of four and take turns to throw the die.
The first player to complete their beetle shouts out “Beetle!” which stops play.
Then the winner of each group (the player with the most complete beetle in that group) will move to the table on their right (clockwise). The loser (the player on each table with the least complete beetle) will either move to the left (anti-clockwise), or sit still, depending on the rules.
The ultimate winner is usually either the one who has drawn the most complete beetles, or the one who has drawn the most parts in total.
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The animal charity needs to approach a local supermarket asking if they can collect money in return for packing peoples’ bags.
Supermarkets are used to receiving such requests from charities and usually try to find a suitable date.
To optimise the number of donations you receive, the more volunteers there are to pack bags at more tills, the better. A way of identifying who is a volunteer of the charity is also important, such as matching charity T-shirts or animal fancy dress, etc.
It is a good way of raising money because people want to avoid appearing mean right in front of others and not donate when asked if they wish to have their bags packed by a charity volunteer.
Below is a team of caring, inspiring youngsters raised funds through a bag pack in their local supermarket for the Irish Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA).
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Arrange a sponsored walk for animal lovers to bring their pets along to. People enjoy a get-together that will benefit animals. Some sponsored walks are a few miles during one day, but others are very long and involve camping overnight.
Get the support of the charity, and they can help you publicise it. The charity may provide sponsor forms, or you may have to create them. People could also be told how they can get sponsorship from people online.
You could start or end the walk at a dog-friendly pub or café, so participants could relax with each other at the end.
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To arrange a charity bike ride, liaise with the charity you wish to arrange it for. They will give you help with publicising it and other aspects. Riders should be asked to collect sponsorship to take part in the event.
It takes quite a lot of planning and organising. You will need volunteers to be marshals and arrange refreshment stops.
Sponsored bike rides are normally long, so female riders especially will also appreciate toilet stops with proper toilet facilities. Here is a guide to organising a bike ride.
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At Christmastime, you can organise people to go carol singing around peoples doors, You could alternatively get a licence to sing in the town centre, or permission from a supermarket or other large shop to sing in or outside the store.
You can all wear bibs saying what animal charity or rescue you are collecting for. Contact the rescue to see if they have bibs you could borrow.
Some people could paint their faces as animals, or dress up as animals if they have animal costumes or onesies.
If you are outside, you could have some dogs that are seeking homes with you, wearing jackets saying they need a home.
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You will need to involve the charity and gain a licence from the council to collect in the street. A town or city centre location is good, as is anywhere with a heavy footfall.
You can give out leaflets, and stickers to people who donate. Children in particular like stickers.
You could also have a stall providing information out about the charity, and their animals that need homes.
If the charity agrees, you can take some dogs that require homes. If not, take volunteers dogs that have been adopted. Dogs attract people, as they want to pet them.
Ask the charity to help you find volunteers. You and the charity could use their social media pages to publicise the event.
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This takes a bit of organisation, but this way of fundraising for charity can be loads of fun – especially if the weather is favourable.
Firstly, you need to source a location where you can get permission to have your dog show. It is helpful if it is a well-known place, so people will find it easy to get to.
The cheaper it is, the better – or the best scenario is that it is free. Parking being available at or near the site is also important.
All breeds and cross-breeds should be invited to take part in your fun dog show, with no discrimination. You should make sure you include a good number of fun categories for people to enter.
You will need to have a table where people can browse the categories and pay to enter the ones they want to. It is usually around £1 to enter each category. The table should be clearly marked, so people can easily see what it is from a distance.
You will also need a judge or two to choose the winners of each category. An announcer with either a public address system, or a loud haler will be needed. Something to rope off the show area is also necessary. The show area is typically in the centre of the field.
With it being a charity event, the aim is to get hold of all equipment for free, or for the lowest price possible, whether you have to beg for it or borrow it.
To make it a charity dog show AND fun day, you should have stalls that will also be fundraising for charity, earning money to help animals in need. A variety of suitable stalls selling things and fundraising games stalls are mentioned on this page, above.
There should also be plenty of other attractions that children will enjoy, such as bouncy castles, and if possible, fairground rides.
Be sure to publicise your charity fundraising event well locally with posters in shops, on community notice boards, adverts in local newspapers, and on social media websites.
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A charity fundraising night requires a fair amount of organisation, but can be a great success as a way of fundraising for charity. Get support from the charity.
You will need to book a cheap venue with a bar that is licensed to sell alcohol. It should be large enough to seat the number of people you hope will attend, but not too big that it may feel rather empty. Some places may offer a discount to charities.
Then there is the entertainment to consider. There should be an area in the venue suitable for entertainers to perform.
Since it involves fundraising for charity, many acts will waive their fee and perform for free. Stage hypnotists, magicians and comedians seem to go down well, as do other acts where audience participation is involved. Look for local talent who would be willing to volunteer their services.
You could even recreate Britain’s Got Talent at a local level and have it as part of the night.
If you were lucky enough to be able to get a celebrity to attend and maybe address the crowd, that would be a crowd puller.
Perhaps include a “slave auction” where volunteers offer their time and skills as a prize to the highest bidder. Skills such as DIY, gardening, cooking, and others, go down well.
Singers and bands are another option – but not so deafening that people cannot still hold conversations with each other.
A variety of entertainment is the best idea – something for everyone. Having karaoke is also an option, but it is a good idea to arrange for people to set the singing off and fill in any gaps.
Bingo can be used as part of the entertainment, as well as a way of fundraising for charity on the night. See the “Play Prize Bingo” section of this page, above.
You may wish to include a pub quiz too (see “Hold A Quiz Night” section).
Further, funds can be raised by having a raffle, tombola and any other stalls or fundraising games there you feel are appropriate.
Selling snacks that are not already sold behind the bar is one idea. A few ideas that may be suitable, and how to go about them, are on this page, above.
You can have a clearly marked table with raffle prizes on and sell raffle tickets from there, but also going round all the tables where people are seated and asking if people want to buy raffle tickets/have bought their raffle tickets yet usually creates further sales.
It is essential to publicise your event well, and it is a good idea to contact people personally to invite them.
Get ideas by looking at other fundraising methods on this page. Take inspiration from other side show stalls and ways of fundraising for charity you see, and see if they are something you could do to raise funds to help save animals from suffering.
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Here are more ways to earn and raise funds to help animals in need.
On this site, there are many varied ways you can help animals and help stop cruelty. In fact, there are so many ways that there is something for every personality type, no matter what their circumstances.
If you would like to learn more about why we so urgently need to help stop animal suffering, please see this website. It will allow you to broaden your knowledge of many types of worldwide animal abuse, giving you the ability to help animals by spreading awareness and answering questions people may have. Please be aware that you may find the information distressing, especially if you are a more sensitive person.
One great way to help animals is to share the information you have seen on this website. Doing so means more people could help stop animal cruelty, and that would make you responsible for more animals being saved from suffering. Together, we can help people help animals.