Great fundraising ideas

Alternative gift Are you getting married or celebrating a special occasion? Instead of collecting an array of unwanted gifts, why not make a difference by asking for donations to WaterAid? Find out more about alternative giving for weddings or a special occasion.

Auction of promises Instead of goods promises of people's time, labour and talents are auctioned off to the highest bidder. Whether you do it in your office or with your friends this event is designed to be entertaining as well as lucrative.

Get your colleagues to come forward and make a 'promise' that you can put under the hammer at an auction. Also approach your Directors; they may be able to contribute to the auction with items such as air miles, annual leave days and invitations to corporate events.

WaterAid employees held an internal auction of promises at their London office in 2008 and raised over £3,000 in one hour with promises such as:

• Wine tasting evening for up to 10 people
• Making tea for a day for a whole team
• Baking cakes for a whole team
• A private swimming lesson
• A one week break in a holiday home in Marrakesh
• Handmade bags and jewellery
• The most popular of all was a day of complete silence for one of the Directors!

Bath of beans The bath of beans is a timeless classic. You can also use other disgusting substances such as tuna, soup or dirty washing up water! Get people to sponsor you in timed increments depending and see how long you can stay in!

Bingo Hold a bingo night in your local village hall or community centre. Ask people to donate some prizes and take donations from those who wish to enter. Perhaps persuade a local celebrity or MP to call the numbers!

Cake sale Bake some treats and have a cake sale in your local community or even your office.

Car boot sale Vendors hire a patch in your car park or field to sell their unwanted goods. Charge the vendors £10 to £15 for the day allowing them to keep the profit or they could even donate what they make.

Car washing You'll need a team of willing helpers, a car park, a ready supply of water, equipment and some good publicity. Make sure you give your younger washers a bit of training to avoid any damage to cars. Bring a vacuum cleaner and charge extra for an inside clean and offer a windscreen washing service for those in a hurry!

Carol singing Bring some festive joy while raising funds either in your town centre or door to door. You may need a permit for this event, please check with your local council.

Cheese and wine evenings Supply a selection of wine and cheese to taste and buy, charging visitors for entrance. This is an excellent opportunity for local wine merchants and cheese sellers to promote their produce whilst raising money for WaterAid.  

Church collection Donate the proceeds of your church collection to WaterAid. Find out more about our church appeals from our Faith groups section.

Clothes swap This is a great way to get rid of old clothes and pick up some new ones at the same time. Ask people to bring along any unwanted items and charge them for entry. Set a minimum number of items per person and ask for the clothes to be clean and in good condition. Everybody arranges their clothes onto tables and picks what they would like. Everyone's a winner!

Cinema screening Hold a cinema night in the comfort of your own home. Choose either a newly released film or a classic, make some popcorn and charge friends to join!

Come Dine With Me As seen on the popular Channel4 program, organising a dinner party competition can be great fun! Gather together four or five friends and take it in turn to host the perfect dinner party. Ask friends for a donation to enter the competition.

Computer games marathon Use a local pub or community centre to hold a gaming competition.  Ask people to donate prizes and charge for entry. You could even try to link with several pubs to create a championship!

Club night Take a good DJ and venue, donate proceeds from the door or cloakroom and maybe even create a water stand where people can get free water in turn for donations.

eBay for Charities This is an addition to the popular eBay web site that enables sellers to give some or all of their sale proceeds to charity. While listing an item on eBay you can choose to donate a percentage or all of your item's final selling price to WaterAid. Your item will feature a charity ribbon, charity name and the percentage you are donating so that buyers know that they are supporting WaterAid.
Check out our tips for happy eBay selling! 

Fantasy Football Arrange a sweepstake on this season's teams and donate a percentage of the winnings to WaterAid. Everyone can get involved and this works well with other sporting events such as Tennis, Rugby and Cricket.

Fetes and open days Schools, village halls, greens, or any big spaces make ideal locations for an event of this kind. You can charge a fee for those wishing to hold stalls or donate the profits from the stalls and charge a small entrance fee to visitors.

Garden or village open day Persuade a dozen or more people in your village to open their gardens and have a village open day or weekend. Issue a map of the gardens and sells tickets that are to be marked as people move from garden to garden. If possible open the village hall as a tea room for the day and sell drinks and snacks.

It's a knockout This type of event can be held at swimming pools or a park. You can have a day-long competition and invite local sports teams or company teams as participants, and then get a local celebrity along to present the prizes.

Jumble or bring and buy sale Decorate the hall in a watery theme and then sell, sell, sell.

Karaoke Nights Everybody likes to think they are brilliant at singing so why not test the vocal talents of friends and families in turn for donations to WaterAid. You could even make contestants dress up as a famous singer!

Non-uniform or dress down day Get permission from your teacher or boss to hold a special dress down day in return for donations to WaterAid. You could be creative by incorporating a water theme.

Quiz night It's a classic! Hold a general knowledge quiz in your local pub and charge a fee for each individual to take part. Perfect for autumn and winter evenings.

Race nights or casino nights This should be a private event: sell tickets for the evening in advance to members of your club only. Sell chips on the night which can be gambled and exchanged for prizes. Show videos of horse races, set up gaming tables and start taking bets.  Professional equipment and help can be hired for both of these events.

Raffles and tombolas Raffles are an excellent way of raising funds, either as an activity in their own right, or to supplement another event. There are certain regulations you must adhere to though - so do follow the rules! For raffles held at events such as fetes, dinners or dances tickets may only be sold on the premises during the event, no more than £250 may be spent on prizes and there must be no cash prizes.

River of pennies Ask people to place coins in a snaking line around a playground, car park or hall and give a prize to the person who guesses how many coins this will take, bank the coins and send a cheque to WaterAid!

Stage a performance of Aladdin and the Magic Bucket - the WaterAid pantomime Ask us for a pantomime pack, which includes a script, songs, costume, set suggestions and a pantomime poster.

Sponsored detox Feeling sluggish after Christmas? Try getting your friends or colleagues to sponsor you to give up smoking or drinking.

Sporting events Running, swimming, cycling, canoeing, rafting… Organising a sporting event in your local area is a fantastic way to keep fit and raise money for WaterAid! Try and find interesting routes of varying distances and link your event to WaterAid by connecting it to a local lake, river or reservoir. Participants could be sponsored extra to carry water with them, just as women and children do in the countries where WaterAid works.

Themed banquets, lunches, tea parties or picnics Choose seasonal themes such as Burns Night, Christmas or country themes and tailor the menu accordingly. Arrange the meal in a hotel or restaurant and sell tickets at a profit, or take over a canteen or village hall and do the catering yourself.

Toy duck races You'll need a few hundred numbered plastic ducks. Then get people to sponsor a duck at £1 a go and give them a note of their duck's number. On the race day set all the ducks loose on the river and watch they race to the finish line. Be sure to catch them again though!

Welly disco Find a venue such as a school, hall, barn or field and line up your favorite tunes. Charge people an entry fee to come to your disco – in Wellies – and party the night away! Sounds silly, but lots of fun.