What is a Charity Challenge?
Charity challenges are organized campaigns or events that are hosted to raise funds and awareness for a charitable cause.
Nonprofit organizations are always looking for ways to raise money and gain attention! Charity challenges are a powerful way for nonprofits to inspire individuals, raise funds, and push limits for a noble cause. They provide a sense of mission with the social aspect of charitable giving… and a bit of healthy competition.
Charity challenges are one of the most engaging and successful methods of fundraising out there! Learn about why you should host charity challenges, how to create an effective challenge, and trending challenge ideas!
Why you should host a Charity Challenge
Charity challenges benefit everyone involved. The organization raises funds, expands their nonprofit outreach, and markets themselves on a higher level. With the impact of social media, challenges are a great advertising tool for charities. For participating individuals, a charity challenge is an opportunity to support a cause they feel passionate about. Plus, taking part in them is fun and exciting!
Charity Challenges Amplify Impact
Challenges have the potential to reach people everywhere! A thrilling challenge will catch people’s attention and encourage participation from all over, especially with email and social media marketing.
Charity Challenges Raise Awareness
Through the involved individuals, the media, or word-of-mouth, more people are hearing about your charity. Increased awareness allows for your charity to grow in numerous ways! More people will have exposure to the cause and want to get involved and spread the word to others!
Charity Challenges Raise Money
Any type of organization can host a charity challenge! Any challenge, whether big or small, can become an impactful money-maker. Since the charity supporters are in the driver’s seat, nonprofits can minimize their expenses. People participate in a challenge as a way to support and raise money for the cause. Also, spreading the word about participants’ goals and accomplishments can inspire the public to provide their own funds!
Charity Challenges Foster Community
Charity Challenges allow people to come together and build relationships with people they may not otherwise meet. Especially with teamwork challenges, people can connect with one another while competing for the same reason.
Charity Challenges Inspire Action
Challenges are a great way to motivate individuals. They can inspire people to take action for the benefit of your charity! For nonprofits, challenges are a great starting point that will lead to bigger and better things.
How to create an effective Charity Challenge
Creating a charity challenge only takes a few simple steps!
First, choose your challenge. Think about your mission, goals, and overall charity cause. Choose an activity that aligns with your nonprofit and benefits a cause that people will want to support. The more exciting the challenge, the more it will attract your audience’s attention.
Next, plan the logistics of the challenge. When and where will it be? Will it be for a fixed period of time or kept open for sign-ups? Will it be held in person, virtually, or in a hybrid structure? Decide if the challenge should require peer-to-peer donations or a flat registration fee. There are countless ways to plan your challenge and it is completely up to you. Just be sure that it aligns with your charity’s mission!
Then choose your tools. This means any supplies and essentials you may need for the challenge. This also means choosing the right platform to connect with your audience. For example, creating an Instagram or Facebook account allows participants to tell their stories or share their progress with you and their fellow competitors! This is a great way for people to encourage one another and get pumped up about the challenge.
Last, recruit volunteers and participants. Planning for any campaign requires a solid team, and a charity challenge is no different! You should form a volunteer team to help run the logistics and spread the word to as many people as possible. It is also important to encourage your participants to share their involvement with others in-person or through social media. This will lead to even more eager participants!
10 Charity Challenge Ideas
Virtual Steps Charity Challenges
Since this is a virtual challenge, people from all over can get involved! Simply give participants a window of time to get as many steps as possible. When the time period is over, have each individual report their completed step count to your organization via email. You can send the winner a virtual medal for them to share on social media. Participants can have their family and friends sponsor their effort!
Photo Charity Challenges
A photo challenge is not only a fun and creative competition, but a great way to increase charity awareness! Create a themed challenge that uses a selfie or other photo as one of the methods of participation. Come up with a unique, campaign-specific hashtag to keep track of entries and engagement.
At the end of the month, host a sponsored raffle and use each shared photo as a raffle entry. Randomly pick an image or have people vote to determine the winner.
Scavenger Hunt Charity Challenges
A scavenger hunt is a perfect opportunity to tie your organization to the challenge! Create unique questions that relate to your nonprofit and put each question at a different nearby location.
People can walk, bike, or drive to the pre-assigned locations and answer the questions at each site as quickly as possible. The team that either finishes first or completes the most questions in the time frame wins the challenge! Give all the teams an opportunity to donate however much money they want to the charity.
Polar Plunge Charity Challenge
Re-energize your nonprofit community with an ice-cold plunge! Whether you host your plunge in a pool, beach, or lake, it will grab people’s attention! A polar plunge is an effective opportunity for peer-to-peer fundraising where supporters can raise money on behalf of your organization.
Similar to those participating in nonprofit endurance challenges, plunge participants can ask their friends and family to come out and support them!
Relay Race Charity Challenges
Put a fun spin on the traditional 5K or 10K. Host a team relay race and runners can ask their friends and family for donations or to purchase event tickets. To make things even more entertaining, have each leg of the race include a fun obstacle, like a three-legged or egg-on-spoon challenge!
Karaoke Night Charity Challenges
Partner with a local bar or restaurant to host a karaoke challenge! People will pay an entrance fee, which will go toward your organization, and enjoy a night of entertainment and singing. To make things more interesting, have your supporters vote on the best karaoke singer! At the end of the night, present the winner with a fun prize.
Local Business Competition Charity Challenges
What better way to raise money for your charity than to involve local businesses? There are many ways to do this. For example, collaborate with a nearby coffee shop to name their next specialty drink. Encourage the community to get involved by having them cast their votes, with each vote leading to a donation.
Another idea could be to involve local restaurants. People can eat at a restaurant on a particular night, mention your charity name, and 10% of the profits go to your organization!
Not only will this generate funds, but it will positively strengthen the community and attract attention to your charity!
Eating Charity Challenge
Not only do some people love competing in an eating challenge, but it is one of the most entertaining challenges to watch! You can draw in people of all ages to compete and support. Whether you serve pies, hot dogs, or doughnuts, contestants will be ecstatic to compete.
To keep costs as low as possible, solicit local shops or bakeries to donate food for your event. They can advertise their brand and you can save money!
Bake-Off Charity Challenges
There are people who love baking and people who love eating baked goods! A bake-off is a great challenge for everyone. For this event, you’ll need some sort of theme and lots of willing participants. Charge a small entry fee and sell tickets to the main event for all your hungry guests. When the baking is finished, have the guests vote on their favorite sweet treat!
Basketball Tournament Charity Challenge
Although standard basketball games are fun, putting a spin on it may attract more potential supporters. Involve exciting games like free-throw, dribble, and dunk contests. This way, individuals of all ages can participate. You can either charge a flat registration fee or have supporters raise funds through peer-to-peer fundraising.
