Ideas to help you ace your fundraising at University!

As we are becoming more involved with universities around the country we wanted to share a few fundraising ideas targeted at students (although most can be adapted for everyone!) So here are some of our favourites to get you thinking about how you will reach your fundraising goal…

1.Sponsored Washing Up  

So the first idea is one directed more towards first year students living in halls, which is sponsored washing up! We all know how notoriously messy students are, with first years often gaining themselves the worst reputation. Between lectures, nights out and cooking for themselves, students can find it hard to find time for tasks such as washing up. So why not grab a few housemates, some washing up liquid, rubber gloves and sponges and start knocking on your neighbours doors. See if they would be willing to give you a £1 per head to do the dishes, if there are 6 people then that would be £6 a flat. If you get chatting to them you can tell them about Think Pacific’s work and they might give you some extra donations… a couple of afternoons work and you could have made £100 towards your goal!

• Top tip: Make sure you go round with a friend, it’s always good to be cautious entering strangers houses even if you do go to the same uni (plus this means half the washing up for you!)

2. Sponsored Exercise Class

Another great idea could be to organise sponsored exercise classes at the gym. The rules might vary on this between universities, at some places you may need to rent out the space and pays for the instructor but be able to keep the takings from the classes which is between £5-10 a head. A cheaper way to do this could be to go to the union and see if any student clubs would run a special class and donate the takings. For example a pole fitness taster, or maybe an art and wine night! 

• Topic tip: Approach many different clubs, if you get positive responses from them all you can organise more than one event!

3. Donated Textbook Sale

At the beginning of first term and the end of third term you might be able to find some generous students to donate you their old textbooks to sell. Many students will have bought theirs second hand for £5-10 and probably won’t mind giving them away. You will need to put leaflets up around campus so people know you are looking for book donations. It could be a good idea to ask if box can be kept behind the reception at the student union so students can hand their books in. Remember to ask your housemates and course mates to donate if they can and help to spread the word. Once you’ve collected enough books ask permission to hold a book sale on campus or in the library. Decorate your stand Fijian style and share photos of the book sale on your university’s Facebook page – this will encourage people to come and grab a bargain, or may even lead to Facebook sales. This could be extended to all book types, or could be substituted with a clothes or Xbox game sale – why not try all three! Anything that doesn’t sell can be reshared on university social media or sold on eBay.

• Top tip: Make sure you’ve got a Paypal account set up so you don’t miss out on sales from students who don’t carry cash!

4. Beer Pong Tournament 

Beer pong is a sport known to bring out the competitiveness in many – so why not harness the power of the pong and use it to get people excited about your project with Think Pacific. As beer pong can be quite a messy ordeal it’s a game best played outdoors. The easiest way to organise a beer pong tournament would probably be to invite friends and friends of friends to partake in the match in somebody’s back garden. 

Firstly, you want some great prizes to get your contestants psyched about the tournament. By enticing friends with prizes you can also charge a bit more to reach your fundraising goal faster. Big shopping chains can be a good point of call for gift vouchers, popular clubs also might give away event tickets and local attractions/tours could be willing to give away a couple of free experiences. Remember to check at the university club and bar for great giveaways too.

Once you’ve sourced your prizes it’s time source your beer. The optimal way to do this would be to approach some local breweries or pubs to see if they will donate any casks of beer. Another option is to save (and clean) your 4 pint milk cartons and take them round to various brewers/pubs – asking for smaller donations might increase your success rates! Alternatively, you could buy the beer yourself and charge a bit more to cover your costs, or ask friends to bring their drinks of choice.  

If you really want to impress your guests get some decorations and throw in a BBQ too, if you can get 20 friends over for £10 each, that’s £200 in one night! 

• Top tip: Remember not everyone likes beer so be sure to have some alternatives like soft drinks on offer!

5. Sponsored Activity

Instead of just asking friends for donations why not put in a bit more effort and organise a sponsored group event. This will also give you a chance to talk to everyone about your upcoming project in Fiji. Ideas include hosting a dinner, film night or a garden party with live music. A friend managed to hire a portable projector and do an outdoor screening of ‘UP’ at the lake outside our halls. She put out fairy lights, bean bags, blankets, popcorn and sweets – this was a hit as many people had never been to an outdoor cinema!

6. Pub Quiz

There’s a reason this is a popular fundraising activity amongst student groups – because you can rake in a lot of money in one night! Many bars and pubs are happy to let you host charitable quizzes, while the rules between them will vary this is mostly free as you bring in more customers who will purchase drinks. If you ask around amongst your peer group you’ll probably hear about some popular venues in your local area. 

Like the beer pong tournament, for a pub quiz you will need some motivating prizes! If you can source enough prizes a raffle can help you earn some extra cash, you can throw in some low cost joke prizes as well. 

Get some friends to help you come up with some rounds of questions. Pub quizzes have a tendency to go on too long, 10 rounds can be tiring so consider sticking to around 5-7. It’s useful to include a round relating to your project or Fiji to give participants some background information about the cause they are supporting. 

To liven up the night and keep people on their toes you could throw in some flash rounds such as sudden death, or an act it out question where a nominated (unbiased) person acts out clues to the two lowest scoring teams to see who can grab the extra point first! 

If you are like me and find it difficult to think of interesting trivia questions then a great alternative to a quiz is bingo night. Bingo is definitely trending amongst students right now, it could be easier to organise and might be a welcomed change to the classic quiz!

We hope these ideas help inspire your fundraising and give you an insight into how to have fun while fundraising. The ability to fundraise is a great skill to have and can give you a fantastic confidence boost before you embark on your project with us in Fiji.

We are excited to see you in Fiji once you’ve aced your fundraising goal, just remember – be patient, stay focused and have fun!