12 charity fundraising ideas for the workplace

1. 80 Days Around the World challenge

We do this challenge every year! It’s so popular we think everyone should try it.

The idea is that you ask everyone who takes part to track their weekly miles covered over 80 days, whether it’s walking, running, cycling or whatever physical exercise.

The miles are all totalled up at the end of each week and you see where you’ve got to around the world.

Start at your office and calculate how many miles it will take you to get to your next destination, whether it be London or another country. You’ll be surprised how far you go!

For added competition, everyone splits into teams to see who can cover the most miles. At the end of the challenge, you might choose to give the winners a prize or simply allow them their bragging rights.

The challenge gets people exercising, adding a little healthy competition along the way!

There are a few ways you can fundraise with this challenge. At the end of each week or every other week, see where you’ve reached in the world and have a charity buffet with food from the part of the world you’ve reached. Ask each team to take it in turns to organise the buffet and open it up to employees, asking for a donation in return.

You can also add in challenges where each team can earn extra miles. These can be totally up to your imagination!

For us this year, each team got allocated a day during the 80 Days challenge to go out and raise as much money as they could on a small budget, The Apprentice-style. Not only did this help bring different people from different parts of the company together, it helped us raise loads more for charity!

2. A 24-Hour challenge

A 24-hour challenge is a great charity fundraising idea for raising awareness. For us, we decided on a 24—hour rowing challenge!

We borrowed 2 rowing machines from a local gym, set them up in a local supermarket and kept them going for a full 24 hours. We managed to raise loads for charity (over £1,200!) and it was a fantastic (but challenging!) event that brought everyone who took part together.

The theme for your 24-hour challenge is totally up to you and is open to imagination. The busier the setting the more you’ll raise too.

3. A weekly office fitness challenge

This fundraising idea is a little similar to slimming world, but adapted so it suits people who want to gain weight too!

Have an initial weigh in, note down everyone’s goal weight, then follow up with weekly weigh-in’s for however long you choose!

This fundraiser not only helps raise money for charity, it helps people reach their health and fitness goals too.

How you fundraise with this challenge is again up to you. You could choose to request a weigh-in fee each week then charge an extra fee if the person moves away from their goal weight for extra motivation.

Again, this fundraiser is open to your imagination. You could create a little community among the people who take part and share diet and exercise ideas!

Try it out!

4. A Christmas raffle

If you’re a company that has lots of lovely, generous partners and suppliers, a Christmas raffle is a great way to fundraise!

In the run up to Christmas, reach out to other company’s you work with and let them know you’re doing a charity raffle. Be sure to let them know just where the funds raised are going.

Then open the raffle up to employees, their families, other suppliers and partners. Advertise that you’re doing a raffle through your email signature and social media to raise awareness!

Livestream it on social media if you like and get as many people involved as you can.

For our Christmas raffle in 2018, we sold over 1000 tickets for a £1 each and raffled off some fantastic prizes include holidays, tech and experience days!

5. Cakes!

There can’t be one single person in your workplace that doesn’t like cake, can there? Some office fundraisers might not be for everyone, but a cake sale certainly is.

Turn it into a competition too. We have our ‘Great Caboodle Bake Off’ every year and it’s hugely popular! Allocate some expert judges and see who can bake the best cake. Remember, it’s not all about taste, presentation is key as you can see below!

6. A charity car wash

A charity car wash is a fantastically simple and cheap way to fundraise! And unless your workplace is located out in the middle of nowhere, it can raise a lot of money for charity too!

The challenge is getting people out of the workplace to do the car wash, so it might need to be a big team effort and you might need to rotate a little.

Just make sure you have the right precautions in place and pick a sunny day!

7. A duck race… (no seriously!)

Here us out on this one, we’ve done it ourselves and its brilliant!

Get as many rubber ducks as you like (as many as you think you’ll sell in raffle tickets!) and remember to give each duck a number.

Gather together some prizes and raffle off tickets for them!

Pick a sunny day, pick a suitable river or stream and race the ducks! The numbers on the top 3 placing ducks will dictate who wins what prizes.

8. Sweepstakes (an office classic)

You can do a sweepstake for just about anything.

Guessing the weight of a colleagues newborn, the World Cup, the Grand National, Eurovision, Love Island (maybe not), a sweepstake is just about one of the simplest ways to fundraise for charity.

It’s worth keeping in mind that sweepstakes aren’t for everyone and that everyone’s beliefs and values should be respected.

When accepting donations through Just Giving, remember a gift aid can’t usually be applied where a sweepstake or some form of gambling is involved, so just keep these things in mind!

9. The office tuck shop

If you have an office tuck shop, why not donate its profits to charity? Even better, fill it with good, healthy, tasty food options and make everyone aware that the proceeds from it will go to a good cause.

You’ll be surprised how quickly the donations rack up!

10. A Pizza Day

There aren’t many people who don’t love pizza, and for those who don’t, well, we respect your life choices…

In all seriousness, a pizza day is a great way to fundraise but be sure to offer some alternative options that everyone can enjoy!

We’ve done pizza and chip butty days a few times to give our fundraising efforts a little boost. Another fantastically simple fundraiser that requires little effort!

11. A Big Team Fitness Challenge

Okay, technically this one is cheating as it’s not in the workplace, but we can explain!

Not only is it a great sense of achievement reaching the top of a mountain or crossing the finishing line in a marathon, but it’s a great way to raise loads for charity!

Get a group of you together in the workplace, set a challenge and train and prepare for it together while raising awareness of what you’re doing and who you’re fundraising for.

Need some ideas? Here are a few of the most popular ones!

• 3 Peaks Challenge
• Snowdon
• Ben Nevis
• Kilimanjaro
• London 2 Paris cycle ride
• London Marathon
• The Greater Manchester Marathon
• Abersoch 10K

12. Donate a coffee

How many of us have a shop bought coffee or cup of tea every month? Sometimes every week or even every day!

If everyone in your office donated the cost of one of their shop bought coffees each month it could really add up each month and especially across a whole year!

This is a really simple and easy charity fundraising idea! If the funds raised go directly towards a charity challenge your completing it could even get more staff signed up to donate!

We’ve tried most of these charity fundraising ideas in our workplace and they’ve been very popular! As long as your fundraising idea includes as many people in your workplace as possible, you’re on to a winner. Try them out!