Company Fundraising Ideas

There are many things you can do as a team or a company to fundraise and take the pressure off of individual fundraising. Getting creative with your fundraising is a sure way to receive more donations. Below are some best practices shared by some of our most successful JA Bowl-A-Thon teams and companies.

Jeans-4-JA

• Companies can elect to sell Junior Achievement stickers to their employees to wear jeans at work for either $5 a day or $20 for the week! This is a fun and easy way to raise money – we have the stickers ready for you!

Bake Sale

• Companies host bake sales either inside or outside of the office and then give proceeds to their JA Bowl-A-Thon team or fundraising page. This is a great way to try some baked goods!

Sample Sales

• If your company sells merchandise or receives prototypes from vendors, this is a great way to get rid of that inventory and fundraise for your Bowl-A-Thon You can invite employees or open the invitation to anyone- it's up to you!

Company BBQ

• Companies can host a BBQ at work where the proceeds of the food can be donated the JA Bowl-A-Thon. We know there are some great chefs out there!

Chili Cook-off

• All you have to do is recruit your community’s best chili chefs to cook a pot of their delicious stew. Then, set a time and date, and sell tickets to your supporters and community members to taste each one! You can either charge an entrance fee OR have people vote by putting a dollar into a jar in front of their favorite chili.

Silent Auction

• Have your company host an auction of donated items at the office or at the actual event with the proceeds going to the JA Bowl-A-Thon. Think of all the treasures you may have lying around the house!

Office Book Sale

• Have folks from around your office or friends and family donate gently used books to your cause, then set up shop over lunch one day!

Contests to earn money at JA Bowl-A-Thon event

• You may not have expert bowlers in your office, but someone has to have the high score right? Hold contests where a senior executive will donate money to the fundraising page of the person with the highest bowling score. Some great ideas we have seen are for: best score, turkeys and highest team scores.

Hold internal fundraising competitions between offices

• What better way to spark fundraising than a little friendly competition? Challenge another office in your area to a fundraising competition. Set a deadline for the day before the event and see which office can raise the most money and watch the donations come rolling in!

Individual Fundraising Ideas

We know that it can be intimidating to ask friends and family to donate, which is why we have created a list of individual fundraising ideas to help you reach your goal.  Below are some best practices shared by our most successful JA Bowl-A-Thon participants. 

Use your talents

• Cater to your strengths and offer them at a cost. For example: set up a photo booth and have your team take LinkedIn photos for $10 each.
• Teach a lunch-n-learn about an interesting topic you’re passionate about – charge a $5 fee to attend your talk.
• Teach a fitness class – if you’re considered a fitness guru in your community (or even if you’re not!), you can put your knowledge to good use and teach an exercise class to raise money. You could even hold a series of classes and offer a discount to those who buy tickets for multiple sessions.

Guessing Games

• Set up a jar full of candy (usually something small like jelly beans or M&Ms) at your desk or in your office break room. People can guess the amount of candy that they think is in the jar, paying $1 per guess. Be sure to put your jar in a public and high trafficked location for the most guesses and donations. The winner takes home the entire jar and you get money toward your fundraising!

Chores for Change 

• Write a list of "chores" you're willing to do for a donation. $10 to pick up coffee one morning, $20 will buy your donner a free desk cleaning, $30 and you'll drop off and pick up their dry cleaning, $80 to babysit for a friend one night, $100 to clean the office fridge, etc. The only limit is your creativity! 

Beard Challenge

• If the men in your community are willing to participate, you can host a “Beard Challenge” to raise money for your cause. People can donate $5 to challenge someone in the community to grow a beard for a week. $10 would be two weeks; $15 would be three weeks, and so on.

Capitalize on Big Events 

• Have a birthday coming up? In lieu of presents, ask your friends and family to donate to your JA Bowl-A-Thon page. Remember to share why supporting JA is important to you!  

Sell Krispy Kreme Donuts

• If you provide JA’s Tax ID number (84-0430495) to Krispy Kreme, they will sell you donuts at a discounted rate so then you can sell them for a profit. This is a great idea if you are located in a large office building where you can target people who aren’t participating in the event. To order, click HERE.

Sell Butter Braids

• When you work with Butter Braid through their Integrity Fundraising platform, you can sell Butter Braid pastries for $12 and earn $5 of the profit. All you have to do is contact Butter Braid and talk with a representative to set up your account. Then you go out, sell Butter Braids for two weeks, and collect cash and checks. Once the two week time period is up, you will cut a check to Butter Braid for their portion ($7 a Butter Braid) and keep the rest to be donated to your JA Bowl-A-Thon page. To set up your Butter Braid fundraiser, call 303-688-1780 or visit their website.

Sell Daffy Apples

• Order a discounted case (includes 24 apples) of either caramel with crunch apples, red with crunch apples or caramel with peanut apples for $16 total and sell each apple for $3. To order your case, send THIS FORM to Daffy Apples and call them at 303-288-7830 or visit www.daffyapple.com to set up your order!