6 ways to raise money for charity through your existing events

You don’t have to be a fundraising expert or even organise full-on charity events to raise money for a good cause. As an event creator, you’re already pretty well set-up to donate to a charity that’s close to your heart. Think about it: you’ve got an established audience who’s likely to share similar values to you, and you’ve got your own brand and platform that people trust. 

From setting up voluntary donations at the point of ticket sale to partnering with one or more charities – there are plenty of ways you can make raising money through your events a long-term goal. Let’s take a look 👀👇.

1. Give your attendees the chance to donate at the point of ticket sale

Giving your attendees the option to donate to a chosen charity when they buy tickets is an effective, low-maintenance way to raise money for charity through your events.

When you sell tickets online with Ticket Tailor, this is super easy to do thanks to our handy donations feature. All you need to do is set up optional donations, and your attendees will be offered the chance to donate an amount chosen by them (you can suggest an amount if you like) – or not at all. Simple. 

2. Pledge to donate a set amount per ticket sale

If you’re passionate about turning your events business into a force for good, you might consider pledging to donate a set amount for every ticket sale you make. How much you choose to donate will depend on the scale of your operation and what's feasible for you – as an example you could pledge to donate 1p or cent per ticket sale, or a pound or dollar per ticket sale. You could make this a permanent fixture, donate for a set period of time (say a year or a few months), or simply do so for one event every now and then. 

Tip: If Ticket Tailor is your online ticketing service of choice, even better! We also donate 1p per every ticket sold through our platform to climate causes 😌. 

3. Partner with a charity or organisation

Seeking out a long-term partnership with a charity or important cause can be a great way to give back. Doing so will enable you to discover how you can help in the most impactful way – for example, the charity you work with might be keen to use your events to not only raise money but raise awareness, too. All sorts of cool collaborations can arise from such partnerships, as we’ve learned through our work with causes like the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Rainforest Foundation UK, and Oceans Conservation Trust!

4. See if any of your suppliers or sponsors want to get involved

Getting the people you work with involved in your fundraising efforts can help make your contributions go even further. Food and drinks suppliers might be keen to get in on the action – they could set up a donation point at their stalls or bars, for example. Or, your sponsors might want to collaborate, helping to spread the word about your chosen charity, in turn, increasing donations. 

5. Get creative with charity cocktails or themed drinks

Designing a special charity cocktail or themed drink can be a great way to pledge money to charity while getting your attendees involved in a fun, creative way. To do so, simply promote that a specific drink off the menu at your event is for charity, with all sales proceeds going to your chosen cause. Easy.

6. Run an official annual or bi-annual charity fundraising event

If you’d rather channel your efforts into one or two bigger events each year – simply choose a couple of dates from your existing events calendar and turn these into official charity fundraiser events. As you’re doing this on a less regular basis, you could pledge to donate all ticket sale proceeds for these events to charities (minus the basic cost of putting on the events). Essentially, you’d be saying: we’re not going to make any profit from this particular event – we’re going to donate all profits to our chosen cause. 

Be sure to get set up for Gift Aid if you’re in the UK

If you’re raising money in the UK, make sure you’re making use of the government’s Gift Aid scheme, as this effectively increases all donations made at zero cost to you or your attendees.

What is Gift Aid and how does it work?

Gift Aid is a government scheme that means registered charities can claim tax back on any charitable donations made to them (at a basic taxpayer rate). This means they can get an extra 25p per pound donated – at no extra cost to the person who’s donating. 

If you plan on raising money for a registered charity through your events – it’s super easy to accept Gift Aid through the Ticket Tailor platform. Head here find out how >

Raising money for charity from your existing events crowd – closing thoughts

For those event creators who find the idea of putting on large scale charity events daunting, there are lots of smaller, less high-maintenance ways to make fundraising a long term goal. Even if your efforts feel like a drop in the ocean at first, the beauty of these techniques ☝️ is that they really do add up over time. Your best bet is to start small, and see where things take you. You might be surprised at the impact you – and your events – have 💪. Good luck!