35+ Virtual Fundraising Ideas to Reach and Inspire Donors
Flexibility has become increasingly important to donors in recent years. Your supporters want the option to engage with and give to your mission anytime, anywhere—hence the continued popularity of virtual fundraisers.
Donors are accustomed to interacting with nonprofits online, and your fundraisers should align with those preferences. Fortunately, livestreaming technology and other virtual event tools make it easy to host a wide range of online fundraising events and campaigns.
The key to virtual success is choosing the right fundraising ideas and formats for your audience.
To guide your strategy, we’ll explore the benefits of hosting virtual fundraisers and share our best virtual fundraising ideas, organized into these core categories:
Use the links above to jump to a specific section, or follow along with us from the top. You’ll be planning your next virtual event, campaign, or engagement opportunity in no time!
Benefits of Hosting Virtual Fundraisers
Moving your fundraisers partially or fully online is vital in today’s evolving fundraising landscape, and not just because donors expect it. Virtual campaigns and events come with a wealth of benefits for your organization. When planned well, they give your fundraisers:
- A wider reach: Open the door for supporters across the country to contribute to your campaigns, not just local donors.
- Increased accessibility: Virtual fundraisers are easier for donors with busy schedules, travel limitations, and varying levels of ability to participate. Plus, you can easily generate closed captions and follow web accessibility guidelines with the right tools.
- More cost-effectiveness: You won’t need to budget for all the costs associated with in-person fundraisers, such as venue rental, catering, and physical signage.
- More chances to attract new supporters: Online fundraisers are easy for supporters to share with friends and family, potentially introducing your cause to brand-new audiences.
- Additional data tracking capabilities: Event and donation page software streamlines data collection, helping you analyze attendance, average gift sizes, and much more.
Explore our list of fundraising ideas below to find the best option for your organization and start tapping into these key benefits.
Virtual Fundraising Ideas for Campaigns
Open up all sorts of new opportunities by adapting longer, time-bound campaigns to include fun virtual elements like online events, mobile bidding, and peer-to-peer fundraising.
These are a few of our favorite ways to incorporate online tactics in any campaign:
Ambassador Fundraising
Ambassador fundraising campaigns take traditional peer-to-peer fundraising to the next level. In these virtual campaigns, you’ll recruit loyal ambassadors to broadcast your message online and secure more support from their networks of friends, family, and colleagues.
Ambassadors are natural additions to any larger virtual campaigns or events you host. For example, ambassadors can solicit online donations or secure more registrations leading up to your online gala or auction. Just be sure to empower your ambassadors with plenty of resources and incentives! Then, recognize their efforts and express your gratitude for their help.
To learn more, check out the complete OneCause guide to ambassador fundraising.
Giving Days
Giving days are another effective way to structure your virtual fundraising campaigns because they make it easy to hyper-focus your efforts.
Giving Tuesday is an extremely popular example for the year-end season, but feel free to come up with your own unique giving day for other times of the year, too. Develop a complete campaign strategy to promote your giving day, tap into your social networks, get donors excited, and celebrate with live-streamed festivities.
Virtual Challenges
Viral challenges have been a mainstay of digital fundraising over recent years. The move to virtual engagement has only made it easier to engage donors with funny or unique online challenges.
Come up with a unique challenge for supporters to complete and set up a virtual campaign center to track progress.
Explore this success story to see how Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County used virtual challenges and events to exceed their fundraising goals.
Online Donation Campaigns
A classic online fundraising campaign is another surefire way to engage virtual audiences.
Give your campaign a specific goal and theme, and go all-in on promoting it to donors. Focus on communicating your goals and how support will translate into a tangible impact on your mission. Using virtual fundraising software makes it easy to centralize your strategy and incorporate other engagement tactics like gamification into your campaign.
Awareness Campaigns
Sometimes your goals might revolve more around raising awareness for your mission than simply securing donations.
A virtual awareness campaign is a great way to spread the word about your cause and reach new audiences of potential supporters. Develop a multimedia awareness campaign to highlight your mission, a specific project, or a cause-related issue. Social media and live-streamed community events are excellent choices for boosting engagement and growing your base of support.
Google Ad Grants
Google Ad Grants take your online fundraising to the next level by promoting conversion-optimized landing pages to motivated prospects. Through the Google Ad Grants program, eligible nonprofits can earn up to $10,000 in ad credits per month. This free funding requires zero solicitation from donors.
After you meet the eligibility requirements for the program and are approved, you’ll strategize how to best allocate your grant money and target the keywords your prospects are searching on Google. Or, you can turn to a Google Ad Grant management agency to handle eligibility confirmation, account creation, keyword research, and even account reactivation if you ever encounter issues.
By harnessing the power of Google Ad Grants, you’ll boost your site’s visibility and convert casual internet surfers into dedicated supporters in no time! Just know it’ll take some time to find the right keywords, track campaign results, and perfect your ads.
Matching Gift Drive
Corporate matching gifts are an underutilized source of nonprofit funding. Through these corporate philanthropy programs, donors’ contributions might be eligible for financial matches from their employers. That means a donor can easily maximize their donations just by submitting a form to their employer.
The only way to know if you’re missing out is to promote the concept of corporate giving programs and ask donors to check their eligibility. Or, you can leverage a matching gift automation platform to automatically locate these opportunities. Tools with auto-submission functionality allow donors to submit match requests to their employers from your donation confirmation page rather than spending time finding and filling out forms.
In addition to matching gift campaigns where a major donor or corporate sponsor matches all gifts made within a certain time period, consider hosting a general matching gift drive to spread awareness of corporate opportunities. This is a great way to multiply the fundraising revenue you’re already earning—plus, you can do it all virtually!
Virtual Fundraising Ideas for Events
By taking your events online, you can offer new experiences, fundraising tactics, and engagement opportunities to donors. These are a few of our favorite virtual fundraising ideas for events:
Virtual Auctions
Charity auctions have always been reliable fundraising events for nonprofits. Now, with the help of mobile bidding tools and virtual event software, it’s easier than ever to take your auction virtual!
In many ways, virtual auctions are even easier and more cost-effective to plan than traditional live or silent auctions. To host an online auction, procure the perfect range of items, set up your virtual event website, plan engaging live-streamed activities, and start promoting your auction to donors. Bonus points if you recruit ambassadors to secure even more registrants for your virtual auction!
To learn more, check out our complete guide to online charity auctions.
Virtual Galas
The traditional annual gala is a classic nonprofit event that brings supporters together for a night of entertainment, fundraising, and celebration of your mission. With technology that makes virtual events more feasible and engaging than ever, virtual galas are the natural next step for nonprofits.
Use online fundraising software and live-streaming tools to create a complete virtual gala experience. Incorporate a variety of live ceremonies, multimedia presentations or videos, auction or raffle activities, sponsor shout-outs, and live donation appeals into your schedule for the evening. Using dedicated virtual fundraising software makes it easy to include a range of engaging activities in your gala while still offering guests a centralized, enjoyable experience. Plus, you can add virtual components to live galas to create more wide-reaching hybrid events.
Wondering if a virtual gala is the right move for your nonprofit? Explore these 5 signs you’re ready to succeed with a virtual event.
Virtual Walks & Runs
Try adapting a traditional walkathon or charity run to take place virtually! Using centralized virtual event software, you can launch a peer-to-peer style fundraising campaign leading up to your virtual walk. Then, plan an engaging schedule of challenges and activities for participants to complete remotely. Your participants then log their activities in your campaign center, generating donations and pledges along the way.
To see this tactic in action, check out how Hill Country Ride for AIDS adapted their 20 year old bike ride tradition for the virtual sphere.
Discussions & Roundtables
Community-building events like discussions, Q&A sessions, and roundtables are also easily adapted to the virtual sphere. Organize a virtual event to raise awareness and facilitate discussion around your mission. Your director, board members, and local experts or authorities all make great speakers. Use virtual event software to host your discussion and make it easy for supporters to join in.
To learn more about these types of virtual events, check out our guide to planning virtual conferences.
Viewing Parties
Viewing parties are a simple but engaging way for supporters to stay connected to your mission. Are there any documentaries relevant to your mission that supporters would be interested in seeing? Your organization might even produce its own video content to highlight your projects and mission.
Using dedicated virtual event software will make it easy to centralize the experience and incorporate additional fundraising and live-streamed discussion elements. Just be sure to make your virtual event as engaging as possible to keep viewers tuned in!
Telethon Live-Streams
Telethons are classic charity events that translate well to virtual settings. This virtual event idea does require heavier planning due to its duration, but offering supporters a unique and engaging telethon live-stream can have significant benefits.
Plot out an evening (or a full day!) of streaming activities, including speakers, multimedia presentations, Q&A sessions, and messages from supporters and constituents. Use a classic fundraising thermometer or other gamification techniques to drive donations leading up to the event’s finale.
Virtual Classes
Have unique expertise to share with your community? Try hosting virtual classes. Subjects directly relating to your mission will be your best bet, but the sky’s the limit, especially if your organization works with a variety of partners in the community. Think about what your supporters will be interested in and leverage your organization’s existing resources when possible.
Set up an online event center to host the classes, and charge participants a registration fee at the start. Classes can be a great way to strengthen ties with donors by delivering real value and a new experience that isn’t just about fundraising.
Virtual Happy Hours
Virtual happy hours and gatherings are a more casual way to engage with supporters. These events are fairly easy to plan, requiring only the right technology, a promotion plan, and a loose schedule of topics to discuss.
These events are ideal for smaller groups of supporters, so try targeting your virtual happy hour to a specific segment of donors or volunteers. Or, you might host a series of weekly virtual happy hours to let everyone have a chance to join. Just be sure to follow the same virtual event best practices that you’d use for a larger-scale live-streamed event.
Head over to our complete overview of virtual fundraising events for more ideas, examples of successful events, and steps for planning and hosting your next event.
Virtual Fundraising Ideas for Year-Round Support
How can your organization continue raising money online when a full-scale virtual event or campaign isn’t the right move? Virtual fundraising ideas are perfect for generating year-round support and engaging donors. Use these ideas to launch quick fundraising drives or supplement your calendar of campaigns.
Here are a few of our favorite virtual fundraising ideas suitable for any time of year or organization:
DIY Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Do-it-yourself peer-to-peer fundraising allows supporters to launch their own individual fundraising pages at any time. This tactic is extremely useful for generating year-round revenue. For example, supporters might be eager to solicit donations for your cause on their birthday in lieu of receiving gifts from friends. You get the donations, and the supporter can feel proud that they’ve helped your organization.
Learn more about supporter-driven fundraising with the OneCause peer-to-peer fundraising platform.
Raffles & Penny Socials
Easier to plan than full virtual auctions, raffles and penny socials can be effectively adapted as standalone virtual activities or as part of broader events. Procure one or more exciting prizes, and then use virtual fundraising software to sell digital tickets to participants. If you’ve already used silent auction software in the past, other ticketed auction-style events like raffles are easy to set up. You’ll just have to get the word out to donors to maximize ticket sales.
Check out our complete guide to penny socials to learn more about these adaptable fundraising events.
Viral Challenges
Everyone remembers the 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge, right? That viral challenge was a huge win for The ALS Association, helping them raise over $115 million! Try creating your own unique challenge for supporters to complete and share online, along with a dedicated hashtag and clear instructions for donating to your cause online.
Online Merchandise
Branded merchandise is a classic year-round fundraising idea for nonprofits. The move to virtual has made it more important than ever to offer easy ways to buy your merchandise outside of in-person events. Online merchandising platforms can help you create your own merch shop or even empower P2P fundraisers to create their own team shirts!
Gift Card Fundraisers
Whether it’s for a birthday, holiday, graduation, wedding, or other special occasion, a gift card can come in handy any time of year. With a gift card fundraiser, your supporters can buy gift cards to many of their favorite businesses and contribute to your nonprofit at the same time!
To get started, you’ll need to partner with a gift card fundraiser platform. Their fundraising experts will set up your nonprofit’s account and provide the app your supporters will use to purchase digital gift cards. A percentage of every sale goes directly to your organization, and these small contributions add up over time to make a big difference!
Social Media Contests
Hosting a social media contest for your supporters is a low-stress way to boost engagement any time of year. Come up with a contest that relates to your mission and is easy for followers to join. An enticing prize, a dedicated hashtag to track entries, and a deadline will be essential.
Try using a social media contest to promote your other fundraising tactics. For instance, encourage supporters to share their most creative or funny photos of themselves wearing your nonprofit’s t-shirt. Or, ask followers to share your post about an upcoming event and then pick a lucky winner who helped spread the word. Get creative to come up with the perfect idea for your own audience!
Wishlist Drives
Wishlist drives are another easy way to generate support for your organization without necessarily asking supporters to make donations. Create an online wishlist of the tangible goods your nonprofit needs. Products relating to your mission will be most effective, but dedicated supporters will likely be happy to help with more mundane items like office supplies, too.
Include a link to your wishlist on your nonprofit’s site to give donors easy access and an alternative to making financial gifts. Just be sure to let them know about the opportunity to support your work through these in-kind donations!
Donation Perks
A little incentive can go a long way! Consider offering a special perk for donations above a certain threshold during a set period of time. Inexpensive perks like access to your members-only newsletter or content can be great choices. If you’re looking to really drive donations, try offering free event tickets, t-shirts, or discounted memberships in exchange for donations during your drive.
Community Partnerships
Your nonprofit’s partnerships can be valuable resources. Partnering with other community organizations can help grow your audience and simplify planning campaigns or events. You might even partner with a local business to launch a lightning drive during which they’ll match donations. Explore your partner network and get creative to find new fundraising opportunities.
Collection Drives
Classic collection drives are a surefire way to engage supporters without asking them to make donations. Collecting goods or supplies for your nonprofit’s constituents will allow donors to have a direct impact on your mission. Collection drive organizations can even help you raise money by collecting simple items like used shoes.
Crowdfunding Project
For some of your nonprofit’s projects and initiatives, crowdfunding might be the way to go! This online fundraising method involves creating a campaign page, usually on one of many leading crowdfunding platforms, that explains what you’re raising money for. Then, encourage supporters to share your project far and wide. Effective social media marketing is essential for success with crowdfunding.
Note that crowdfunding works best for especially eye-catching or emotionally compelling, time-bound projects. Raising money for your annual fund might be best left to a traditional fundraising campaign or virtual event.
Pledge Drives
Pledge drives are perfect for quickly generating a lot of buzz and support. These fundraising campaigns involve encouraging donors to pledge their support in the form of donations to be collected later. By making it easy and fast for supporters to make pledges (and provide contact information for later follow-up), your nonprofit can secure support from a wide audience.
While pledge drives are often held in direct response to a crisis, they can be effective for annual fundraising when planned well. This tactic is used regularly by public broadcasting stations, for instance. Explore your options if a pledge drive sounds like the right move for your organization!
Virtual Fundraising Ideas for Schools
Schools, PTAs, sports teams, and other affiliated groups need fundraising ideas that are family-friendly and easy to participate in. Here are our top options for engaging online school fundraisers:
GivingTuesday Fundraiser
One of the easiest fundraisers to take online is GivingTuesday—the international day of giving and generosity held on the last Tuesday of November. These campaigns rely on the power of social media and the urgency of channels like text messages to raise large amounts of money in a single day.
Any school can host a GivingTuesday fundraiser by setting a goal and spreading the word online. You’ll need a mobile-friendly donation page and several social media graphics (get inspired by the post above from DeSales High School!). Then start to promote the campaign, reminding supporters to donate to your school throughout the day to help you reach your goal.
School Merchandise Sale
Your school likely already has a supply of branded merchandise that you sell to students and families. Raise more money by taking this fundraiser online with a virtual merchandise store. This way, long-distance relatives, alumni, and other supporters can easily purchase merch from anywhere.
Once you’ve created an online storefront, encourage students and volunteers to spread the word. You might make announcements during the school day, share the link on social media, or even make flyers with QR codes.
Virtual Read-a-Thon
A read-a-thon is a classic educational fundraiser that younger students love participating in. Students can set up personal online fundraising pages to collect donations or pledges in support of their reading journeys. Then, they record how many pages or minutes they read throughout the fundraiser, which might last a few weeks or months. At the end, students tally their reading totals and your school earns funds!
Give donors options to make this virtual fundraiser more flexible. They could either make a donation of their choosing (e.g., $50 or $100) or pledge a certain dollar amount per hour that the student reads. Those who pledge will donate when the campaign ends based on the student’s results (e.g., a $10/hour pledge = $100 for 10 hours of reading).
Virtual Movie Night
Choose an age-appropriate film for your audience and charge a small admission fee to watch it together. Use an online tool like Teleparty to sync up everyone’s screens and open a live chat.
For a bonus fundraising opportunity, pair your movie night with online popcorn sales. Supporters can order popcorn from your school ahead of time, and then enjoy their favorite movie snack on the night of the event!
Social Media Scavenger Hunt
Hosting a scavenger hunt is an engaging way to connect families and give students a fun challenge over summer break. Just compile a list of household items or local landmarks for participants to find and encourage them to tag your school’s social media accounts when they take a picture with one. Not only will it drive engagement with your current donor base, but the social media activity will help introduce your mission to new audiences!
Charge a small admission fee to enter the contest, and don’t forget to offer a prize for the person who finds every item first!
Online Book Club
If you’re looking for a long-term fundraising strategy, consider starting a book club that participants can join for a monthly fee. Choose books from your school’s library or partner with a local library for a wider selection.
Students and community members alike will love reading a book in community and coming together once a month to discuss it online.
eCard Fundraiser
Another great option for year-round virtual fundraising is to offer eCards on your school’s donation page. Design branded greeting cards for holidays and celebrations (birthdays, graduation, congratulating student athletes, etc.) that community members can send for a small donation.
For added incentive, let donors add a personal message when they send a virtual card. This way, long-distance family members can easily surprise students with heartfelt congratulations.
Video Game Tournament
Are many of your students gamers? Choose one of their favorite online video games and encourage anyone to participate in a friendly competition while supporting your school. Players can join from anywhere, and other supporters can cheer them on by watching a livestream of the event.
Offer one or more prizes for individual winners, or let groups of students participate as teams. Make sure to include a live chat during the stream so everyone feels the energy of the event.
Student Photography Contest
You likely have some students who are aspiring photographers, so why not empower them to show off their skills in an online contest? Students can submit entries, then anyone in the community can browse the photos and donate to vote for their favorite.
This virtual fundraiser is a great way to show off your students’ talent while driving important funding for your school.
Get Started with OneCause
Powerful missions need powerful fundraising software! The OneCause Fundraising Platform makes giving modern, flexible, and seamless to drive deeper engagement and grow your fundraising. Take a look at this versatile all-in-one fundraising software that meets the expectations of today’s donors.
Exploring Virtual Fundraisers Further
Virtual fundraising is here to stay. Online campaigns, events, and engagement opportunities are popular among donors and nonprofits alike for several reasons—and they’re likely to remain critical to a well-rounded fundraising strategy for years to come.
By investing in the right virtual fundraising software, studying up on effective strategies, and learning from the success stories of other nonprofits, you can start raising more online in no time! If you’re interested in learning more about virtual fundraisers, check out these additional resources:
- How to Plan & Host a Virtual Auction: Full Nonprofit Guide. Silent auctions are powerful, revenue-driving events—whether in person or online. Explore steps for hosting a successful virtual auction.
- 50+ Phenomenal Fundraising Event Ideas to Skyrocket Giving. Looking for additional event ideas that resonate with your audience? Discover more options in this list.
- Top 10 Ways to Use AI in Fundraising Today. You can run better virtual fundraisers with the help of AI. Learn the best ways to incorporate this new technology into your organization’s fundraising.
