The Top 20 Tips on Raising Funds

Not sure how to start fundraising or short of fundraising ideas? The World Land Trust (WLT) has 20 top fundraising ideas that will inspire you to get your fundraising started.

If you have any pictures from fundraising events please email them to us and you or your school could appear in the WLT Young Fundraisers' Hall of Fame.

Not sure how to collect your funds? Find out about online fundraising or download our schools' donation form.

20 Easy Ways to Fundraise

1. Get Active

Choose something challenging, maybe walking 5 miles, swimming 100 lengths or even eating 50 doughnuts and get sponsored to do it.

2. Go Casual

Ask your teacher if your class can have a charity 'own-clothes' day and ask everyone to pay £1 to wear his or her own clothes. If you want to give it a twist, wear green or dress as animals.

Why not ask your teachers to get cultural and sponsor them to sing at school

3. Grow your Own

Buy a packet of seeds, plant them and let them grow. Then sell the bigger plants for a bigger profit. Get the whole class to join in.

4. Get Cultural

Get together with friends and hold a recital for your family & neighbours. You could sing songs, play an instrument, recite poems or tell jokes.

5. Get Eating

Organise an afternoon tea party at your house. Ask your neighbours to bring cakes, biscuits and drinks, and charge people 50p entrance.

6. Go Without

Give up something you would really miss, like sweets, TV or your mobile, & get people to sponsor you for each day that you manage to go without.

7. Rainforest gift list

Ask friends, relatives, or even Father Christmas for half an acre of threatened wildlife habitat for a Christmas or birthday present.

Instead of a snake, cover your favourite animal or WLT project country in coins

8. Watch out for wildlife

See how many different sorts of birds or butterflies you can spot – set a time limit and a target and get people to sponsor you for each different species.

9. Get Helpful

How many of your neighbours have dogs? Ask them if they would be willing to plant five trees in Brazil in exchange for you walking their dog for two weeks. No dogs? Try offering to water their garden when they go on holiday.

10. Make a Snake

Organise a money snake. Mark out a long wiggly line 30 metres long, and get people to donate their 2p pieces to complete the money snake. When it is finished, you will have £25 - enough to buy a quarter of an acre of forest.

11. Stop Talking

Hold a sponsored silence. Ask your parents and neighbours to sponsor you to keep quiet! You could ask them to sponsor you for the whole day or per hour.

Hold a bring and buy sale and donate the money you raise to WLT

12. Get Cleaning

Get together with your friends to clean the cars in your neighbourhood for a fee. Or clean the cars in the school car park during lunch hour. Make some ‘Green Clean Car’ stickers to give to the owners!

13. Get Baking

Ask your teacher if you can have a bake sale at school during a break. Then get together with your friends and parents to bake lots of cakes and biscuits.

14. Get Flying

Have a paper plane competition. Ask if you can use the school hall, and charge a small entrance fee. You can have all sorts of different classes, like furthest distance flown, fly the plane through the hoop and most unusual design.

15. Get Selling

Ask your teacher if you could hold a bring-and-buy sale for your class, or even the whole school! Bring in your old toys and books to sell, and donate the profits to saving wildlife.

16. Get Spelling

Organise a sponsored spelling bee for your class, using 'environmental' words.

Get fashionable by making your own jewellery and then sell it at school

17. Get Washing

Ask your parents if they would buy half an acre of rainforest on your behalf, in exchange for you doing the washing up for two weeks.

18. Come Dancing

Ask your teacher if they can help you organise a school disco, and donate the proceeds to WLT.

19. Be Creative

For those talented artists out there; design a Christmas card or other craft that is easy to make lots of, and sell them to your family & friends.

20. Get Fashionable

Ask your parents/friends to donate their old clothes and hold a 'recycled' fashion show for your school or neighbourhood. You can charge for admission and refreshments and all the clothes will be for sale, of course.

Remember to email us any news or photos about fundraising events - we will feature items sent to us in our Young Fundraisers' Hall of Fame.

Do you have any fundraising ideas of your own? Enter them below in our comments section.