Fall is a prime fundraising season, with crisp weather, community spirit, and a calendar full of events. It’s crucial that your organization engages its supporters as the holiday season inspires them to spend valuable time with their families and contribute to a good cause. In fact, many nonprofits raise as much as 30 to 50% of their annual revenue between November and December alone because of holidays like Giving Tuesday.
Whether you’re organizing for a school, church, or nonprofit, the right fall fundraiser can energize your supporters and help you reach your financial goals. In this guide, we’ll walk through how to organize engaging campaigns like:
- Outdoor Events
- Creative and Arts-Based Fall Fundraising Events
- Hybrid and Virtual-Friendly Fall Fundraisers
- Fall Holiday-Themed Events
- 4 Tips for Success
Let’s get started!
Outdoor Events
1. Costume Walk-a-thon
Cost: $
Effort: ✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆☆
A costume Walk-a-thon is a great twist on a classic idea. Walk-a-thons are popular events among a variety of fundraising organizations because they are fun, low-stress, and highly profitable. In this version, add extra seasonal cheer by encouraging participants to complete the Walk-a-thon in their Halloween costumes. It’s a perfect way to enjoy the cooler weather and celebrate creative costumes while raising money for a good cause.
Walk-a-thons are great because they appeal to children, teens, and adults alike. Participants love getting to spend time with fellow fundraisers while walking and engaging in healthy competition to see who can raise the most money for your cause.
If you’re unfamiliar with how Walk-a-thons work, check out this explainer:
- Step 1: Participants gather pledged donations per unit of distance walked, or they receive a lump sum donation for their participation. Use Walk-a-thon fundraising software to manage pledges and create shareable fundraising pages for participants.
- Step 2: Participants complete the Walk-a-thon, tracking their distance. To ensure consistency, use mile markers, phones, or fitness trackers.
- Step 3: Donors fulfill their pledges based on the walker’s distance. Most pledges will be per-lap or per-mile donations to one or more participants. The total distance that the participants walk determines the size of their final gift.
- Step 4: You receive the funds! All funding from pledges goes directly to your organization after the event.
Make your costume Walk-a-thon a hit by providing refreshments for walkers, offering sign-making materials for spectators cheering on their friends, and awarding prizes to the walkers with the best costumes.
2. Fall Festival
Cost: $$$
Effort: ✔✔✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆☆
A fall festival complete with carnival games, raffles, and fall-themed concessions is a surefire way to attract supporters for a day of fundraising and fun. This idea requires significant planning and some upfront investment, but if you have the resources, it can be a huge revenue booster.
Charge an entrance fee for your festival or sell tickets that attendees exchange for each activity. Here are some popular fall festival attractions to get you started:
- Corn mazes
- Concessions like apple cider, kettle corn, and donuts
- Petting zoo
- Cake walks
- Bounce Houses
- Face painting
A fall festival has the potential to be your organization’s biggest event of the year. Tailor your festival to your community’s interests to maximize revenue.
3. Drive-In Movie
Cost: $$
Effort: ✔✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆☆
This blast-from-the-past event is perfect for a cool autumn night. Participants will love bundling up in their cars to watch a movie with their friends and loved ones.
To make this event a success, you’ll have to either rent a venue or set up your own projector and speakers. To avoid legal trouble, be sure to secure the proper licensing and rights for showing a movie and the permits needed to host an outdoor event.
Choose a seasonal movie to boost interest in your event and spread the word throughout your community. You can sell tickets in advance and day-of, and boost your revenue by selling concessions like hot chocolate, popcorn, and candy.
Creative and Arts-Based Fall Fundraising Events
4. Dance-a-Thon
Cost: $
Effort: ✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆☆
Dance-a-thons are profitable, exciting fundraisers that engage your whole community.
First, fundraisers collect pledges based on the amount of time they stay on the dance floor or the number of songs they dance to. Then, at the Dance-a-thon event, they dance the night away! Some Dance-a-thons can last as long as 24 hours, but adjust the timeframe to what works best for your organization. Remember to provide plenty of water to the dancers, and take song requests before the event starts to encourage participation.
This event is easy to plan. All you need is space to dance and some good music, and it’ll be a guaranteed hit with all of your supporters.
5. Fall Talent Show
Cost: $$
Effort: ✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆☆
For organizations working with children, a talent show is the perfect chance to showcase your kids’ skills and individuality. Encourage participants to get creative with their acts, and you’ll be surprised by how many unique talents there are in your community.
Sell tickets to parents and friends in advance or at the door, as well as concessions. You can even record the show and sell DVDs to parents afterwards. Talent shows are sure to be an unforgettable event for participants and attendees alike.
6. Multicultural Fair
Cost: $$$
Effort: ✔✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆☆
Fall isn’t just about Halloween and one perspective on Thanksgiving. Celebrate your community’s diversity by holding a multicultural fair that celebrates autumnal traditions from around the world.
Invite stakeholders from various cultures to share stories, favorite foods, and any other traditions they typically follow for their respective fall events. Charge supporters an entrance fee and sell concessions to boost your revenue.
Hybrid and Virtual-Friendly Fall Fundraisers
7. Read-a-Thon
Cost: $
Effort: ✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆☆
The Read-a-thon is our favorite virtual-friendly event. For schools, hosting a Read-a-thon is a perfect way to raise money while encouraging students to take an interest in reading. Students can even raise money while doing their homework!
For a Read-a-thon, you can take pledges based on minutes spent reading to ensure all children are rewarded for their effort, no matter their reading level. Use a reading tracker to allow kids to log their minutes.
You’ll be surprised how the donations can add up, as donors are likely to be more generous knowing that their money both supports a good cause and encourages reading.
8. Online Silent Auction
Cost: $$
Effort: ✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆
An online silent auction allows your supporters to support your fundraiser from anywhere.
The key to a good auction is desirable items. Tailor your offerings to your community’s interests and desires, and provide auction items at a range of price points so everyone can participate. For a little extra seasonal spirit, try including items like vouchers to go apple picking or a basket of Thanksgiving decor for this year’s holiday tablescape. You can even auction off services for local community members, like leaf raking.
To cut back on upfront costs, try asking supporters for in-kind donations to serve as your auction items.
9. Fall Cookbook
Cost: $
Effort: ✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆
Bring your community together by asking supporters for their favorite fall recipes and compiling them into a cookbook. Food is a powerful means of connecting people, and your community will love learning about fellow supporters’ family recipes. You can even ask each contributor for a short blurb explaining where their recipe comes from or any stories they have about preparing it.
Once you have the collection of recipes, bind them and sell them to community members as a cookbook. You can even make this an annual tradition and get new recipes every year!
Fall Holiday-Themed Events
10. Haunted House
Cost: $$
Effort: ✔✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆☆
A spooky haunted house gets supporters into the Halloween spirit. This idea can be very profitable, as ticket purchasers frequently visit the house multiple times.
Rent a space or use a large multipurpose room to create different “rooms” with a different creepy theme, or design one narrative that participants follow through their journey in the house. Some popular themes include surgical suites, possessed children’s toys, or rooms haunted by a particular ghost. Just remember to always have a safe word so guests can leave the house early if they get too scared.
Haunted houses are a blast for the event volunteers, too, as they get to wear spooky costumes and perform a role.
11. Turkey Trot
Cost: $$
Effort: ✔✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆☆
Many families cherish the tradition of having a fun, active morning before preparing Thanksgiving dinner. The holiday season puts people in the mood to give back, making it a perfect time to have a fundraising event.
A Fun Run appeals to both new and existing supporters. To host a Fun Run, determine the distance of your run, secure the proper permissions from your locale, and have participants sign an activity waiver.
To raise funds, charge a participation fee and ask participants to gather pledges from friends and family members. To garner more support, provide easily shareable materials for participants to post on their social media.
Adding some seasonal cheer to your event can make it that much more special for participants. Appeal to families by providing Thanksgiving-themed crafts and activities for kids, like coloring books or miniature races where kids can run, hop, or waddle like a turkey. You can also set up a photo booth at the finish line with fun props and offer thematic concessions like apple pie.
12. Thanksgiving Dinner
Cost: $
Effort: ✔✔
Fun: ☆☆☆☆
Bringing your supporters together to share a meal and think about what you’re grateful for is a meaningful way to build community while raising funds.
Invite volunteers to prepare their favorite Thanksgiving dishes to create an eclectic Thanksgiving spread, or create a list of your own and ask volunteers to sign up to bring a particular dish to have a more classic assortment. For a dinner event, sending personalized invitations to your supporters can make it feel that much more special.
Make the ticket purchase worth it for your supporters by making sure your venue is well-decorated, and be sure to make a plan for supporters to write down or share what they’re thankful for.
4 Tips for Success
Whether this is your first or hundredth and first fundraising event, 99Pledges is here to help. Here are our top tips for making your fundraiser a hit:
- Define SMART goals. “SMART” stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Starting your planning process with a clear goal in mind will help you make decisions that directly support that goal. The right goal will motivate your team and push you to do your very best.
- Seek sponsors. Sponsorships can be a game-changer, especially for events like Walk-a-thons and Dance-a-thons. Local businesses love to show their support for good causes like yours, and they’re often willing to offer valuable resources like large donations, venue space, or in-kind donations in exchange for some recognition. It’s a win-win; you achieve your goals that much faster, and they get to foster goodwill in the community.
- Multichannel marketing. To ensure your fundraiser’s success, you need participants and volunteers. Use multiple communication methods, including printed flyers, email, texts, and social media posts, to get the word out. Make sure your communications provide consistent information on the date/time of your fundraiser and that you link to ticket purchase or volunteer signup forms.
- Use a fundraising platform. 99Pledges’ fundraising platform makes hosting peer-to-peer fundraising events like “a-thon” fundraisers a breeze with easy setup, customizable donation pages, flexible payment processing options, simple donation tracking tools, and tailored communication tools. Best of all, 99Pledges has no startup costs and no platform fees—all you have to pay are standard credit card transaction fees.
Additional Resources
Choosing the right fundraiser for your organization means understanding your community’s specific needs and desires. Feel free to add your own creative touch to any of the ideas on this list; customizing your fundraising strategy to suit your target audience and your organization’s goals increases your chances of success.
For even more fundraising ideas, check out these examples:
- 20+ Amazing PTA Fundraising Ideas for Every Occasion. This guide will help you find easy and profitable ideas for your school fundraiser.
- 55+ Genius School Fundraising Ideas: Shatter Your 2025 Goals. Find the right school fundraiser for any age, any time of year.
- 30+ Awesome + Profitable PTO Fundraising Ideas for Schools. Learn more about fundraising for sports teams and the most profitable events for your organization.
