There are many ways a candidate, constituency association or political party can raise money. Always, this is best done well ahead of an election. Advanced fundraising will set you and your group up for early advertising and pre-election expenses. It is a good idea to start working on your "war chest' now, as it will set you up for success later on.

As Greens, we have a Grass Roots strength that works very well in small-scale, person-to-person fundraising. People are happy to support events that feel local and personal in nature. Green supporters are very willing to contribute to fundraising projects with products, artwork, baking and more. We only have to ask and organize the event. 

Here is a list of ideas for your fundraising committee or constituency association. Many of these ideas are super basic, but they work. Every contact we make, every fundraising sale we make, and every donation we receive put us one step closer for the next election.

Fundraising Ideas:

Cake Auction, Pie Auction, Craft Auction, Baked Good Auction:

(perogies, cheesecake, bread products, brownies, cookies, muggins, tarts, cupcakes, and so on)

Garage Sales

We have had great success with garage sales. And it’s a re-use sort of fundraiser too.

Art Auction

Online or in person.

Fundraising Dinner

Many restaurants have the option of booking a time. Printing tickets. Selling meals from a pre-set, limited menu. The charity or campaign gets a portion of ticket sales.

- The Nickel Belt Greens partnered with a company selling rain barrels a few years ago.  This is from them: They produce the barrels and ship them - and you do all of the work to sell, distribute and collect the money.  The first year we did it we sold a lot - like 100 barrels. I think the profit was about $5 or so for each barrel, so we made some money. But it was an administrative nightmare because we didn't know what we were doing and did everything the wrong way.  The next year, we were better equipped, and things went more smoothly, but the market had been saturated, and we only sold 25 barrels, so we made very little money. 

But what we did get from both of the years was a whack of contact information, photos of happy people with rain barrels, and the chance to have conversations with people that we might otherwise not have met. There were a lot of intangibles that more than made up for the lack of money raised.  But even then, both times, we did raise some money.

-You can buy Green Party of Canada T-shirts of the GPC website. Resell them for $5 more each. The wonderful thing about this is that it’s an easy $5 each time AND it gets our shirts on people!

-The Dutch auction format is great - especially if you can feed your guests first, and have a couple of people lined up to give you gobs of money, like $1,500 or $1,000. They can even challenge others to "match" their contribution, or else the EDA gets nothing.  Whoever has the mic in their hands can have some fun with this - especially if it's pre-arranged.  I know Elizabeth May is the master, but anybody with some personality and who has watched some of these could probably do quite well in pulling money out of a crowd - as long as they're fed and as long as there are a few whales whose shoulders you've pre-tapped.

-Every event we do here, we pass the hat, even if it’s not a fundraiser. I recommend tossing a $5 or $10 in so people get the idea.

-Paint night. One of those things where people pay to all paint the same picture with instructions, on different canvasses.

-suggestion from a GPC green: I'll share a couple of more. Before the last election, our candidate in Sudbury, Ontario wrote to everybody that he knew, going back decades and decades (er, not sure I should be phrasing it that way).  In his letter he told them that running for office had been his dream and that he was working with a strong and committed group of people who had a fantastic game plan - but just needed money to make it a reality, and please - this one time - could they help him out?  We raised close to $10,000 for the price of a few stamps - and what the candidate later described as a certain loss of pride and an icky feeling.  Me being me, I told him to get over it, you can't win without money - you can't even play the game without money. And his friends know that too, and they still give all that money.

-Yoga class. Certified instructor donating time. Participants pay by suggested donation. I’m a yoga teacher and have done a lot of these for charity.

-One thing that worked well for us in the last election, that cost us nothing at all, was just having the candidate ask people for money, just about every time he spoke to a group of people.  Just make sure people are about to take the cash (and that they've been pre-appointed to do this by the FA) and hand out unofficial receipts.  And always get contact information - even if the contribution is less than $20.  Give them a tax receipt anyway - and put their contact info in the database.

Sometimes the candidate would make a special point of unpinning his campaign button and giving it to a contributor.  That always makes whoever's getting the button feel just a little extra special.  Not a fundraising idea per se, but something to do during an election.  I saw that first in the Christopher Walken movie "The Dead Zone" back in the 80s.

-Chocolate & popcorn sales. Affiliate advertising on your EDA website.

-handpainted cards were a good fundraiser for the Calgary Shepherd  Eda! (My friend, Ev Tanaka’s son painted cards and the EDA sold them).

-Handmade candles as a fundraiser do surprisingly well.

-Phone-a-thon

-Volunteers grow a beard and take pledges to shave it off at an event.

-Bike-a-thon

-Singing telegrams.
The candidate or group of volunteers offer themselves as available to go to a door of choice and sing to the occupant.

Some people will pay for the singing! Others might pay for us to be quiet! Double fundraiser!!!

-Actually sarcan lets us register your EDA and when members drop off cans and bottles, it goes to that account. They write us a cheque every month. bottle and can drive

-I love this one because it fits our green ideals:

Kick the Habit!

Get people to donate to kick a habit - it could be smoking, sugar, shopping - anything! Donate the money you're saving by cutting out this habit, or get other people to donate to sponsor you. This could work particularly well for organizations that have a link to a specific habit — for instance, a charity helping lung cancer patients could encourage people to give up smoking.

-Skip a Meal.

Ask people to donate the money that would've been spent on a meal, or get sponsors to donate for the meal being skipped. This is a great way to raise awareness for hunger.

I thought this could be a great tie-in for talking about poverty and platform issues related to poverty as well. Donate half of what this makes to the Food Bank.

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Engage kids and their families on the importance of literacy and get them to promote your cause at the same time. A read-a-thon is the perfect educational fundraiser because you can help students discover their love for reading while having them obtain pledges, based on the number of pages/books they can read in a month. After the participants log the amount they’ve read, they’ll donate the funds they’ve received. To make it more fun & competitive for the kids and more community-inclusive, consider partnering with a local library to supply the books and have a small prize on hand for the student that has read the most.

I love this! It ALSO gives an excellent opportunity to talk about education portions of the green platform.

-Run a Skills Clinic:

Does your team have unique skills that might interest kids (and adults) to learn? Maybe carpentry or metalwork or even building cool science experiments from scratch? If you do, you could set up a skills clinic at your office or another location and get the word out through email & social media. Charge a nominal fee for children to sign up with a slight increase for adults for the 1-day or 2-day clinic and include a donation box on location that explains what you’re fundraising for.

-A Reverse Raffle. Everyone knows by now how a raffle works, but have you ever heard of a reverse raffle? It’s a unique way to raise funds while at other events. Whether it’s a flea market day, community fair or silent auction dinner, you can sell raffle tickets throughout the event. Then, you draw corresponding numbers out of the bowl throughout the night but unlike a traditional raffle where each number drawn is a winner, in a reverse raffle, the last ticket in the bowl is the winner. The prize in a reverse raffle is usually pretty unique and well sought after, which encourages people to purchase more tickets.

-Scavenger Hunt:

A scavenger hunt is a great event to raise funds because it’s scalable, flexible and the community can get involved. You can choose to theme the scavenger hunt around your cause or around different aspects of the community (ie. different cuisines, kids’ activities, city history etc.) and have team registration fees going directly to your cause. It’s a great way to get everyone in the community involved on working towards a common goal and discover your local area at the same time. You could even have some cool prizes available to the teams that find all the answers/items the quickest.

-Facebook:
Facebook has an advertising tool built right into it. Boost an AD asking for donations.

-Community film night. Ask for donations! Don't forget to acquire the movie rights. Watch parties for documentaries.

-A fake jail and people have to "bail you out."

-Organize a Play! (I REALLY want to do this!!!!!)

There are lots of scripts that are free to use, costumes can be sourced from thrift stores, and amateur dramatics societies are often looking for their next showcase. Sell tickets, programs, and concessions at the play you've put on, and give people a great evening out. You could even use it as a community project, or an opportunity for aspiring young actors to star on the stage for the first time (especially if your organization works with children or teenagers). A great way to invoke youth!

-Relay: (this is another one I REALLY want to do!!!)

Hold your own version of the Relay for Life! It can be done through running, biking or even kayaking — whatever fits best with your demographic and your area.

-Doggy Delight:

Drinks and puppies — what more could anyone ask for? Ask your community members to bring out their cutest four-legged pals for an adorable doggy happy hour at a reasonable entrance fee. While this event is a great fit for animal-related organizations, puppies are really just a hit to raise money for any demographic.

-Dog Walking:

Advertise to dog walk for donations. I’m seriously thinking of doing this!

-Dance Marathon: (this is another one I really want to do!!!!!)

How many hours can you keep moving? A classic dance marathon means you get pledges, and every hour you're on your feet your sponsors shell out. Will you keep them up all night, or just do daytime jitterbugs? Either way, you can also live stream your marathon so people can tune in and check on their dancers

-Garden And Plant Sale. Get started early to grow plants, or purchase them if you're short on time. If you're a garden club, have your members donate some of their favourite stars.

-Karaoke:   Karaoke can be a terrific icebreaker and community builder. You can have a general "open mic" or even do a full-on singing competition!

-Trivia Night:

Tons of people already pay for trivia at bars and restaurants, so leverage this interest by inviting them to pay an entrance fee to play at your organization. Consider making the questions specific to your cause or community for added fun!

-Chili Cookoff: (I've seen these go well!)

This event can take place in your office, in which case you'd have your employees bring their favourite dish or item or in the wider community. Whichever it is, get participants to bring a dish centred around the chosen theme. At lunch, charge a small fee to sample the food then have everyone vote for the dish they liked best!

-Walk for the Greens

A walk can be a great way to get people involved. Not only do the walkers have to spread the word about your cause in order to get sponsorships, but you can give away t-shirts that advertise what you're raising money for.

-Ghost Tour: Does your town have some haunted places? Organize a haunted walk to showcase them.

-Bingo Night (I’ve done a lot of these)

Bingo sets are generally pretty affordable and worth buying if you plan to repeat the event, but if not, party rental suppliers are a good option. Consider selling refreshments as well — Bingo can be thirsty work!

-Spa Day: handmade pampering products. Winners enjoy volunteers giving them a “spa treatment”.

-Living Room Social (I’ve had good success with variations on this).

Everyone has something to offer, and most folks are excited to share. Whether it's a knack for Greek cuisine, a best friend who owns a bakery, overnight preparation of meat in the backyard smoker, or just a pool. Encourage a group of "donors" to each plan a party for 4-8 "strangers". Sell tickets to each party online or at your silent auction. You keep the proceeds, but don't have to actually host any guests!

-Dish Smash and mural creation.:

Collect old and chipped dishes your community no longer uses and hold a dish-smashing event. It's a wonderful way to let anger out! Then people can create art with the smashed crockery.

-Coffee House: This event can take place at a coffee shop (if it's in your budget), at someone's home, or your venue of choice. It's a great opportunity to share some warm drinks and snacks with community members, and for people to showcase their talents (singing, dancing, poetry, etc).

-Musical House Concert! People pay a donation to see a live musician.

-Cooking Class: Almost anyone can plan a cooking class (you don't have to be a chef!). If you have access to a kitchen or can rent a space with one, you can put on a cooking class fundraiser in a variety of ways: i.e learn the basics of cooking, learn to cook a specific dish, learn to make some staple holiday meals or anything else you’d like to lead. Each student pays a small fee to be involved.

-Step Challenge (I like this one because it promotes good health)

Get people to pledge to walk a certain amount per day in exchange for donations (or have people pledge a certain amount for every 1000 steps).

You can also suggest to people that they drop fliers in mailboxes while getting those steps in!

-Silent Disco (I attended this for Regina Pride ) If you haven't heard of a silent disco before, it's an opportunity for people to dance while listening to their own music through headphones (or for several DJs to play music at once). There are companies such as https://www.silentevents.com/that rent everything you need to run a silent disco, so setting up doesn't need to be difficult. Because there's no noise, the disco can be held almost anywhere that there's enough space. Popular with teenagers particularly!

-Favourite Things Fundraiser

Remember when Oprah gave away her favourite things and audience members went wild? Well, gather your local business community and have them donate 1-50 of their "favourite things." Sell tickets to this special event where under every chair is a number. As the "things" are profiled (free advertising for the business!), you list the numbers of the folks who get to take home that particular thing! The best news - everyone can walk away with something. The better news — one or two lucky winners will end up with one of everything.

-Talent Show:

Talent shows are not just for middle school (although kiddos definitely love them)! People of all ages love a chance to show off. Get yourself an engaging MC and your event is sure to be a hit.