Fundraiser Ideas - Fundraising Ideas for Clubs

Are you searching for fundraising ideas? I’ve come up with several fundraiser ideas for clubs. I used to be very involved with a local organization that did charity work. Our main recipient was a boarding school for homeless girls. I visited the facility and decided that it was definitely a worthy cause. When my group met a few years ago, we wanted to come up with some creative fundraising ideas. We felt that we’d have better luck with unique fundraising ideas that we’d have with the same old events that most folks were tired of. We put our collective heads together, and I think we came up with several great fundraising ideas for clubs. One of our best fundraising ideas was to host a casino night at the club, which I’m going to tell you about here. It was very successful. In fact, we completely sold out of tickets, and we raised thousands of dollars! Our casino night was pretty elaborate, but you could do a smaller version for your fundraiser. If nothing else, perhaps this will give you some good fundraising ideas for clubs to which you belong or support.

No matter what types of fundraisers ideas you’re leaning toward, you’ll need to do lots of planning. Of course, the more elaborate your fundraising event is going to be, the more planning you’ll need to do. Our casino night was actually part of a larger event. I came up with the idea to host a “cruise night.” Our club building is large, and we planned to use all the space for our club fundraising ideas. If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you know that different areas of the ship often use different themes, so we used this strategy with our casino night, even though our casino was the biggest attraction.

We turned the large ballroom in an “open air” dining room, with an Italian buffet dinner. We covered the outside wall with star-speckled dark blue cardboard, which we purchased from a party supplies store. Behind the cardboard we placed stings of white Christmas lights and poked holes in the paper so that the lights would look like stars. Hubby made a “ship’s railing” with PVC pipes. We wanted guests to feel as if they were on a ship and looking out at the night sky as they enjoyed the meal.

We turned our lounge into a jungle bar. We made a fake waterfall and used lots of real and artificial plants. I also made a small pool at the bottom of the waterfall and created large animal cutouts to go there. I made a zebra, a giraffe, a mandrill, and other jungle critters. The tables in the bar were covered with animal-print tablecloths.

We used a fifties soda shop theme in our game room. On the walls, we used old 45 records and posters of Elvis, James Dean, and Marilyn Monroe. I also created a fake jukebox, which was flanked by two giant sodas. These really turned out great! I used plastic 55-gallon drums and carboard that had been painted with silver metallic paint. The “bubbles” in the soda were made from white balloons, with one red balloon to look like a cherry. The soda straw was made from a gift wrap cardboard cylinder.

The large cement area next to the pool became a dance club. We used a DJ to spin a variety of tunes so that guests could dance. The shelter between the pool and the building was turned into a tiki bar.

We used both dining rooms as our casino. We hired a casino group from Atlanta, and they brought all the tables, equipment, and gaming supplies. These guys were very professional. They even wore tuxedos. We decorated the walls with cards and casino signs, and we made giant sets of dice from cardboard boxes.

This is how our casino night worked: We went to local businesses and explained that we were doing a fundraiser to help support our charities. We asked for donations of cash or goods. Of course, some businesses turned us down, but I was a little surprised at how many businesses were willing to help with local fundraisers for charity. We got gift baskets, gym memberships, tanning certificates, gift certificates, jewelry, perfume, truck accessories, liquors, home décor, and lots more. We also had some services donated, including some for free pressure washing. I called a hotel we often frequent in the mountains, and they donated a free trip. The club also provided prizes like free meal vouchers, free drinks, and cash.

A ticket to our event included the buffet dinner, a free drink, and casino cash. Guests could purchase more casino cash at the event, if they wished. The casino bucks were used for gambling, and some of our guests won a lot of casino cash. At the end of the night, items were auctioned off, and people paid for the items with the casino cash. We had so many prizes at casino night that few folks left empty handed.

Obviously, you’ll need party supplies for your fundraiser. These might include wall décor, candles, tablecloths, cups, plates, napkins, and flatware. Take stroll through your local party supplies store to get some good ideas, and so some price checking. Some party supplies might be cheaper online, while other party supplies might be cheaper in your local stores. Of course, when you buy from stores in your town or city, you’ll be supporting the local economy, and you’ll get to see the actual products instead of seeing just images of the products.

You can also make some party supplies yourself, especially when it comes to wall décor and other decorations. Get creative! Enlist some creative minds to help with your fundraiser ideas.

Casino night might be a great fundraiser idea for your club or organization. I think it was so successful for our club because we live in a small town, so there’s not a whole lot to do. Our casino night worked so well because it gave people a chance to get dressed up, enjoy dinner and dancing, and spend some exciting time in a Vegas or cruise ship- type casino setting. Of course, most people also liked the idea of supporting a charitable cause. It didn’t take us long to sell out of tickets. In fact, we had people begging at the door to get in. Unfortunately, because of fire codes, we had to turn some people away. I really hated having to do this, but I had no choice. The place was already packed! As I’ve already mentioned, events like these have been great fundraising ideas for our club. Everyone had a blast, and we netted a lot of money for our charities. Not a bad fundraising idea from a teacher!