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Small NonProfit Fundraising Ideas

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Local community galas can be a source of fundraising for small nonprofits, even when budgets are tight.

emma setting up a small stall before the gala begins

Even at short notice, lucky bags and low-cost donated art and craft items can be sold for fundraising

We attended the Airedale Gala along with Spectrum People, and whilst they promoted their health and wellbeing services, we focused on providing a free art and craft activity but also had low-cost supplies for parents to buy.

Use What You Have or Shout Out

We are lucky in that we have lots and lots of surplus art and craft supplies so we can make up little 'lucky bag' craft kids for community event fundraising. You could gather together all the bits and pieces you have left over from your own art and craft activities and see what you could pull together, or put a request out on social media for people to donate so that you can have something for your fundraising stall - we sometimes receive pre-made craft items and cards in donations, which we collect up and give to groups who fundraise with stalls. If you are able to get surplus from us, you could make up similar lucky bags to ours.

Gala Day, Airedale

The Airedale Gala happens in the summer - a one-day event for local families to come together with stalls, small fairground rides for the kids, and food and drinks available to buy. There were local charities and organisations in attendance with stalls. Crafting4Good and Spectrum People had a shared stall offering free kids’ activities, and we also sold affordable art and craft items for £1.00:

kids 'lucky bag' craft packs
colouring books
sticker packs
other low-cost crafty bits and bobs

Early Birds at the Airedale Gala

The Gala ran from 11 am to 3 pm. We arrived at 10 am to set up which involved erecting a gazebo, unpacking tables and setting everything out for the public.

The annual gala is held in the middle of a housing estate on a large green space near a children's playground so folks arrive from every direction with pushchairs or prams and dogs on leads. Tweens and teens came in their friend groups and there were pensioners attending too. The most frequent type of visitor group was two or three mothers and their young children.

Lucky Bag Craft Packs

two craft packs filled with colourful paper, stickers and other craft supplies

The lucky bags for kids were £1.00 and featured standard items like A4 patterned paper, tissue paper or washi tape, coloured pencils and writing pencils, a packet of stickers and something 'extra' like sticky bows, paper masks or foam shapes.

These packs sold very well and were even mentioned on social media, with left over surplus packs being ready-to-go for selling elsewhere later on.

Free Supplies to Attract People to Your Stall

As usual, we had a free box with scrap paper/card and envelope blanks/partly used sticker sheets.

Learning & Observations:

This was a short-notice event. We took the Crafting4Good flag, Spectrum People provided a covered gazebo in case it rained, and we were able to get snacks and drinks from the other stalls.

We made most sales from cash and only a few card sales (with a portable card reader that you can get very cheaply these days, and connect to your phone).

The weather was overcast and it rained a little but the wind was more of a problem as several times it became very gusty and we had to anchor down flyers and generally stop things from flying away.

We've shared how we prepared for the Gala below...