A-Z of fundraising ideas in the workplace

A collection of fundraising ideas suited to the workplace.

To help you with your Crimestoppers fundraiser, we’ve made a list of workplace-friendly fundraising ideas that you and your colleagues can get involved in. Whether you work in an office, a factory, a shop or anywhere else. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Got some ideas to share or want to help raise money for Crimestoppers? We would love to hear from you!

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A

Admit your crimes against fashion

Persuade colleagues to come clean about their crimes against fashion by wearing their most incriminating outfit to work.

Ask colleagues to make a suggested donation of £1 for taking part and choose a sensibly-dressed representative to judge! Shell suits, bomber jackets and shoulder pads welcome and why not award a prize to the worst offender!

B

Bake it or fake it

Add a twist to a workplace bake sale by asking colleagues to bring in baked or bought items. Request a suggested donation of £1 to purchase a cake and pay an additional £1 to guess if the item has been baked or faked (shop-bought) by their colleague.

C

Come clean about your crimes against music

Force your colleagues to fess up about their criminal music tastes. All colleagues to admit the most sinful single ever bought for a donation of £1 and a representative to judge who is pop’s worst perpetrator. Chesney Hawks, Venga Boys and Cheeky Girls are welcome!

D

Department £1K in a day team challenge

Crimestoppers takes an average of 1,000 pieces of information from members of the public each day. Set your staff a challenge of raising £1k in a day to help Crimestoppers continue taking valuable calls. The team to do it in the shortest time wins a prize!

E

Exercise class

Ask a fitness trainer – maybe someone you know, or from the local gym to run an exercise class for charity. Charge everyone a little bit more than the class would normally cost, but all of the extra money goes to charity. You could hold a couple of different classes, like Zumba, circuits, yoga, boxing and street dance, so that there’s something for everybody to attend.

F

Fiction book sale

Set up a crime fiction book sale in a communal area and ask colleagues to make a £1 donation when taking on the challenge of reading a chilling tale.

G

Guess the sweets

Fill a jar with sweets and ask your colleagues to guess how many sweets are in the jar. Charge a small fee to enter and give the jar of sweets to whoever guesses the closest number.

H

Heroes and villains workplace dress up day

Encourage colleagues to come into work dressed as their favourite ‘goodie’ or ‘baddie’ TV/Film character. Ask each colleague to make a suggested donation £1 to Crimestoppers (and ask those not taking part to donate £2!).

I

It’s a Knockout

The ultimate school sports day for adults. Fun is a big incentive for people to get involved but you could also reach out to local businesses and ask them to donate a prize. They’ll be helping a good cause and if your event gains press interest, they’ll also get exposure. You may need materials so if you, or somebody you know works in a school or local sports centre, reach out to them. If not, perhaps ask a neighbour if they have a hosepipe you could use!

J

Jigsaw marathon

Find willing participants to donate a small amount to take part in a jigsaw marathon. During the marathon, each person is given a jigsaw, and they race against the clock to complete it. Once the first one is complete, it's a race to the finish. The quickest to complete all of the jigsaws is the winner.

K

Karaoke nights

If you love watching The Voice or X-Factor and have colleagues that would like to unleash the star from within. Then this is the perfect idea. Buy or hire a karaoke machine, find a good space, in your office, a community hall or a local bar or pub and let your colleagues vocals fly.

Don’t forget to source a prize for the winning performer/s to inspire people to enter. Local businesses may be willing to donate prizes for best performance, funniest performance, and so on.

L

Lock up your boss

Ask a Director or CEO to take part in a fundraising activity by staying locked in their office for their hour lunch break. Set them a target of money to raise in order to be freed and encourage them to ask friends, colleagues and business contacts to help them out.

M

Matched giving

Ask your company if they will match the money raised, an easy way to increase your total!

N

Name the …

Name the teddy, bunny or bear. Whatever it is you choose, tap into people's competitive nature with a simple guessing game. Charge per entry and provide a percentage of the money raised as a prize or try to get one donated.

O

Offbeat coppers

Place a Crimestoppers donation box in a communal area and encourage colleagues to donate unwanted copper coins to our cause.

P

Promise auction

Ask everyone in your office to write down a promise of what they could do for someone else, such as baking them a cake or helping them put up some shelves. Auction off these promises to the highest bidder in the team and donate all of the money to charity.

Q

Quiz night

Can you outsmart your colleagues? Set up a quiz day/night with crime and detection style rounds such as:

Name the famous detective
Name the crime TV programme (missing letters of titles)
Match the kids’ TV/film villain to the TV show/film
True or false/Is this illegal? Examine laws from across the world and guess if real or not.

R

Raffle

Gather together some fantastic prizes and hold a raffle where people have the chance to win them. If you can’t spend lots of money on raffle prizes, ask friends if they can donate an unwanted unused item or a free ticket and see if local shops and businesses would donate something.

You can always include prizes that don’t cost you anything, for example, a week using the best office car park space or a free day of annual leave. Typically in a raffle you would change entrants one or two pounds for a strip of five tickets.

S

Skill share/auction

Get people to donate items or their skills and get everyone bidding in your auction! You could even set one up via eBay selecting Crimestoppers to receive the money from any sales.

T

1,000-a-day challenge!

Take part in a personal challenge and take on the Crimestoppers 1,000-a-day challenge to match the number of pieces of information we receive in any 24 hour period.

Run 1,000 metres, climb 1,000 stairs, bake 1,000 biscuits, whatever you fancy!

U

Unwanted presents sale

Get those old dusty, unwanted gifts together, sneak them out of the house and flog them at work to donate them to a good cause.

V

Video games night

We hope you’re sat comfortably because a gaming fundraiser could leave you up all night. Make this gaming session one that matters by inviting people to play for a donation to Crimestoppers.

W

Who’s that baby?

Ask everyone in the office to send you a baby photo of them and pin the photos up in your main meeting room. Charge a small fee for entry and ask your colleagues to guess which baby is who on a sheet of answer paper. The person with the most correct guesses wins a prize.

X

X-Factor

Get inspired by TV talent shows like X-Factor and set up a competition between your colleagues.

Y

Yogathon

Are you a yoga bunny? Try running your very own yoga class. Ask your yoga students to donate by contributing a small fee to be a part of the class.

Z

Zip wire adventure

There are zip wires up and down the country and all offer a different experience. So do your research and find the challenge that is right for you and encourage colleagues to have a day out of the office and sponsor you.