So, your team or workplace is interested in raising funds for Chapter, we’ve put together a list of ideas to help get you started.
Like most charities, Chapter relies on the support of generous donations to help us to deliver our services and make a real difference to those affected by mental ill-health. Raising funds through your workplace, team or office is a great way to bring people together, provide team building opportunities and have an awesome time in the process!
We’ve put together a list of ideas to help get you started. Of course, you don’t have to use any of these, perhaps you’ve got a few great ideas of your own. Pull your team together and get those creative juices flowing… we can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Don’t forget to take photos or videos of your fundraising efforts and tweet us @ChapterMH.
Thinking of raising funds for another charity?
Great! At Chapter we’re a huge supporter of other charities, and we hope this list will have an impact far beyond Chapter. We wish you luck with your fundraising adventures, don’t forget to tweet us @ChapterMH and if you find this list really helpful, maybe you’ll consider a small donation to say thanks!
Here it goes…
- Chapter Challenge – Take part in Chapter’s £50 challenge – split your staff into teams with each team given £50 from Chapter. Whoever raises the most is the winner!
- Office Raffle – Dig out all those unwanted gifts and clothes you’ve never worn and organise an office raffle
- Film Night –Turn your board room into your very own cinema, grab some popcorn and blankets and charge colleagues to vote on which film they’d most like to watch and all-you-can-eat access to the snacks.
- The Great Bake Off – Run a bake off in your office or workplace and combine it with a bake sale, who doesn’t love a tasty cake?
- Sponsored Local Challenge – Get a team together for a sponsored challenge such as a bike ride to Liverpool, or a walk around Chester’s city walls.
- Fancy Dress – Pick a theme for a fancy-dress day and ask for donations with a prize for the winner.
- Donate Your Pay – Ask colleagues to donate an hour of their hard-earned cash and see how much you can raise. You could even ask some of the managers and directors in your team if they would be happy to donate a day’s pay – it’s a great way to get them involved if they’re too busy to join in with other fundraisers.
- Themed Dress Down Day – Hold a regular dress down day for your office such as Purple Fridays
- Yoga with Pets – Organise a yoga class in your workplace and bring your pets along.
- Skill Bidding – Put up a poster in your office kitchen or staff room and encourage your colleagues to list their skills. Maybe you’ve got a team member who can crochet or a budding musician in your midst. Ask colleagues to place bids on receiving a one-hour lesson with that person and their skill. Share expertise and fundraise all at the same time!
- Feeling Fit? – Get out the office and organise a team day out at your local assault course – who will be your workplace champion?
- Curry night – Food is always better when its shared with others. Buy ingredients for a curry, cook it and turn your meeting space into your very own curry house. Charge an entry fee and auction off the hottest dish on the menu.
- Quiz Time – Whether you host it in your workplace or find a local venue, quiz nights are a great social event in your office calendar and a great way to raise donations, maybe charge a small entry fee per team. Don’t forget to provide an awesome (or funny) prize for the winning team!
- Dye Your Hair – Dye your hair a funny colour (Purple and Orange is Chapter’s brand colours!) and get sponsored!
- Swear Box – Put a swear box in the office and ask people to donate £1 every time they swear
- How Hot Can You Handle? – Buy bottles of chilli sauce and charge your colleagues to find out who can handle the most spice!
- Bring Your Neighbours Together – Host a networking event for companies in your building or estate and charge a fee.
- The Most Important Meal of the Day – Full English, continental or maybe something more exotic, hold a fundraising breakfast in your workplace.
- Christmas Dinner – Charge a little extra for your Christmas dinner this year and donate the money that’s left over. Or why not take donations at the table.
- Shrove Tuesday – Hold a pancake flipping contest in the office to mark Shrove Tuesday. Who says pancakes are just for February or March – why not hold a pancake day any time of the year?
- Guess the Baby – Ask your colleagues to send you a baby photo of them and pin the photos up in your workplace. Charge a small entry fee for the chance to guess which baby is who. The person with the most correct guesses wins a prize – maybe a personalised baby grow?
- Charity Birthdays – Why not consider swapping birthday celebrations for a charitable donation. So instead of buying cake and a card, give some money to charity in honour of the birthday person.
- Hold a ‘Come Dine with Me’ style competition and ask participants to pay to enter
- Office Cycle. Ask round to see who own an exercise bike and get them to bring it into your office or workplace for a week. Set a target, maybe the distance of your nearest river, the total of all your teams ages or the distance between your business premises. Encourage your colleagues to have a go and make a donation each time they cycle.
- Environment Conscious? – Cycle or walk to work for a week and raise sponsorship for Chapter while reducing your carbon footprint. What’s more, it’s a great way to keep fit!
- The School Tuck Shop. Remember those days when all your pocket money went on the school tuck shop? Why not recreate it, order some retro sweets and treats (cash and carries offer great discounts when you buy in bulk) and run a daily tuck shop for a week!
- Christmas Gifts – If you’re creative, why not make some imaginative Christmas gifts and sell them to your colleagues?
- Fitness Fanatic – Every workplace has one – encourage them to offer bespoke training plans for £20 a pop, maybe they could take place over the lunch hour?
- Cookie Monster – 4th December is National Cookie Day! Get everyone to bake cookies and sell them in your workplace.
- Ho Ho Ho! – Dress as Santa for a week and pick up sponsorship from your colleagues
- Considering Going Vegan? – Take the vegan challenge and give up meat and dairy for sponsorship. Or who not organise a vegan buffet at lunchtime.
- Email Signatures – Set up an online donations page and include the link in your email signatures. It’s a great way to remind your colleagues why you’re fundraising, and you might be surprised how many external contacts pitch in with generous donations!
- Local Art – Find some local undiscovered artists and ask for a donation of their work to auction
- A grape-way to Fundraise – have you got a sommelier in your workplace, or maybe someone who things they are! Organise a wine tasting evening and charge an entry fee. Don’t forget to remind your colleagues to leave the car at home that day!
- 5-a-side Anyone? If you have the stamina get colleagues and friends involved in a sponsored 24-hour football or netball game.
- Jailbreak – Take on a sponsored jailbreak with colleagues and see how far you can get from your office in 36 hours, don’t forget to set a spending limit! Or, if the prospect of spending the night with work colleagues doesn’t appeal, see how far you can get on public transport in a day!
- Bingo – Organise a bingo night and charge an entry fee to take part. Split the proceeds between the winner and Chapter. Why not shake it up and instead of using traditional bingo calls adopt millennial bingo calls – Avocado on a plate… 38!
- Bucket Collection – Got a few hours you can spare for charity? Run a bucket collection in a local town centre (don’t forget to get permission first!).
- Charity Boot Sale – Get your colleagues to have a good clear out at home and organise a team boot sale for charity. Don’t forget to check all those cupboards in your office to see what gems are lurking – remember to get permission before you sell anything that belongs to your employer!
- Company Car Wash – Get some sponges and buckets and roll up your sleeves to offer a car washing services at lunch times.
- The Beans – An old fundraising favourite – bathe in a bath of beans for sponsorship!
- Sponsored Swim – Swimming is great for both mental and physical health, so who not take a dip and organise a sponsored swim with your colleagues.
- Abseil For Charity – Conquer your fear of heights and arrange an abseil.
- These Boots Are Made for Hiking – so climb Snowdon for sponsorship and ask your employer to match it!
- Lunchtime TED. Find four colleagues who have an interesting skill or experience that they’d like to share and run your very own TED talk. Ask them to each prepare a 15-minute session and invite colleagues to make a donation to join in at lunchtime.
- Office Jargon – Every workplace has it… Bust the office jargon by putting in place a fine for anyone caught using them!
- Office Karaoke – Hire a karaoke machine and charge £1 a song (perhaps charge people to stop you from singing!)
- Charity Chocoholic – Ditch chocolate for a month and get sponsored. Maybe best not to do this the same week as your charity tuck shop!
- Guess the Sweets – Fill a jar with sweets and charge colleagues to guess the amount.
- Survive the Wild – go on a survival weekend in the Peak District and raise money through sponsorship!
