Nonprofit fundraising ideas your supporters get to play
Your mailing list hears from you often: the appeal, the newsletter, the year-end letter. If you're looking for nonprofit fundraising ideas that give them something different to open, here's one. We build a themed scavenger hunt bingo board with you, supporters pay to play it, and 100% of the proceeds go to your cause.
Every board is dealt from the same list of finds, and the first to fill five in a row calls a Tingo. Supporters play it out in their own neighborhoods, on their own time, with your cause on the board in front of them while they do.
How it works for your supporters
You send the game the way you already reach people: an email to your list, a post on your social channels, a QR code on the printed newsletter. Supporters pay for the game, and that payment is the donation. They join in the app or in a browser, and then they head outside to play.
If you've been looking at online fundraiser ideas, this one reaches people the same way, through a link, and then gets them out walking. It also covers what you'd usually want from virtual fundraiser ideas: supporters who've moved away can play the same themed board on their own street, in whatever town they live in now.
Fundraising game ideas built around your cause
We write the board with you, from your knowledge of your cause and ours of what makes a good find. A watershed group's board might have a heron, a storm drain marker and a creek crossing on it. A literacy charity's might send people looking for a book swap box, a reading bench and the sign outside the public library.
Every find is a small reminder of the work you do. The board carries your name, your colors and your logo.
A prize for the winner
Name a prize when you set it up, and everyone sees what they're playing for. Whoever has the most Tingos when the game ends wins it. A donated prize gives supporters something to aim for: dinner at a local restaurant, a weekend away, a print from an artist who supports your work.
A game that runs as long as your campaign
Make it a timed game, set the end date and time to match your giving day or your year-end appeal, and the game wraps up on schedule. Whoever has the most Tingos when it ends wins.
Nonprofit fundraising ideas for your board
These are the kind of finds that make a good themed fundraiser board. Yours would be built around your own cause and the places your supporters live.
For an environmental cause
- Heron
- Storm drain marker
- Creek crossing
- Recycling bin
- Rain barrel
- Community garden
- Bird box
- Wildflower patch
- Bike lane
- Solar panels
- Compost pile
- Native oak
For a literacy charity
- Book swap box
- Reading bench
- Library sign
- Bookstore window
- Someone reading outside
- Poetry on a wall
- Newspaper box
- Story time sign
- Bookmobile
- Statue of a writer
- Chalkboard quote
- Library return slot
Around any neighborhood
- Painted mural
- Flag on a porch
- Dog walker
- Mailbox with character
- Neighborhood sign
- Food pantry box
- Porch swing
- Lemonade stand
- Bell tower
- Volunteer T-shirt
- Garden gnome
- Fire hydrant
Let's build a game for your supporters
Tell us about your organization: the cause, the people on your list, and what you'd most like them to notice while they play. We'll come back with ideas for what a Tingo fundraiser could look like for you. Let's Tingo works the same way for fundraising events, animal shelter fundraisers and church fundraisers, and you'll find everything else we build on our partners page.