Team fundraising (also called “group fundraising”) is what “strength in numbers” looks like for nonprofits. When your supporters come together to fundraise as a team, they’re able to raise more for your cause than they could have as individuals.
But what kind of fundraisers are fun and engaging for teams? In this article, we’ll share 15 team fundraising ideas your nonprofit can use to inspire your supporters to fundraise together.
What Is Team Fundraising?
In team fundraisers, people who support a cause team up with their friends, family, or coworkers to raise money for that cause. When a group like this joins together, they’re widening your organization’s pool of potential donors by spreading the word among their networks and asking their friends, family, and colleagues to donate.
Teams work together to raise their goal amount and, hopefully, come out on top as a leading fundraising team. And who doesn’t love a little friendly competition for a cause?
Let’s dive into a few engaging team fundraising ideas for your next event.
15 Creative Team Fundraising Ideas
While we’ll cover group events like something-a-thons and races, it’s important to remember that people can do team fundraising without participating in a team-based activity.
Whether they’re rallying around a shared fundraising goal, reveling in friendly competition, or inspired to be generous because their friends are being generous, team fundraising is an effective way to get people to fundraise for your cause (and be super excited about it!).
Here are 15 team fundraising ideas you can use to rally your supporters and crush your fundraising goals.
1. Races (Like Fun Runs or Serious 5Ks)
For the fitness-minded in your community, running races like 5Ks or fun runs as a team is a classic way to raise funds. These fundraisers become more creative and engaging when you add a tie-in to your cause or an unexpected element!
Want to put the “fun” in “Fun Run”? Get creative! Attach an ‘80s theme and ask people to wear neon running attire. Or, as another example, an animal rights organization might put a fun, mission-related twist on a race by asking participants to run the last mile with a dog.
2. Themed Challenges
A challenge—even if it’s a silly one—can raise serious funds. Ask teams to take on a task like walking a certain number of miles or steps (quirky modification: in costume), growing a mustache (quirky modification: put on a fake one and post it online), or giving up coffee for a set amount of time (quirky modification: whoever caves and has caffeine first has to donate $50 more).
While they’re doing the challenge, teams are also asking people to join in on the challenge and donate to help reach their goal. You can even theme the challenge around your mission and encourage people to tag your account on social media (of course, the more fun, quirky challenges will have a higher reach online!). This is an engaging way to raise awareness for your mission and raise funds as teams battle it out.
3. Bike-a-Thon (or Spin- or Swim-a-Thon)
When it comes to team fundraising ideas, there’s no shortage of something-a-thons you can choose to do. To name a few, there are spin-a-thons, swim-a-thons, and—thank goodness—walk-a-thons. A bike-a-thon, for example, is a great way for teams to push their physical limits while raising funds for a mission they care about (“Cycle for a Cause,” anyone?).
Participating teams can raise money online leading up to the “-thon” (through a peer-to-peer fundraising page, for example) or collect pledges based on the distance or time they complete.
4. Family Fun Walk
Families make a great fundraising team. A family-friendly walk fundraiser can encourage families in your community to get together to do something positive and generous—especially around the holidays (AKA “giving season”).
You can encourage families in your community to sign up as a team or allow multiple families to team up to form mega-fundraising teams. They’ll get in the community spirit, set collective fundraising goals, and walk together (in festive attire or themed costumes if you want to make it even more fun) while raising funds for your mission.
5. Companies in Competition
Turn corporate or small business “rivalries” into a force for good by challenging local companies to team up and compete for a cause. There are many ways you can encourage company vs. company fundraising efforts, including donation drives or corporate team peer-to-peer fundraising, where companies go head-to-head to see who can raise the most money.
If you’re worried this might get too spicy in your community, consider pitting teams from the same company against each other (in a friendly, team-bonding way, of course). Marketing vs. Sales could be very fun.
6. Read-a-Thon
Another “-thon,” but this time, there’s no physical activity required! This team fundraising idea is ideal for library associations or literacy-focused nonprofits, but any organization can do it if its audience is interested. In a read-a-thon, participants form teams and are challenged to read as many books as possible within a set time frame.
These teams can accept donations throughout their read-a-thon or collect pledges per book or page read. It’s the perfect team fundraiser to combine reading and fundraising in a way that makes a real difference (and attract cozy types who don’t want to run at 6 AM but will read from 6 PM–12 AM if it means their favorite literacy nonprofit gets the funding they need).
7. Team Trivia
Host a trivia night where teams compete to win while raising funds for your cause. Teams can collect donations leading up to the event, or you could charge an entry fee for people to come to watch the teams compete.
To make things even more fun and engaging, you can tailor the trivia themes to your nonprofit’s mission and grant perks to the team that raised the most money before the event (they can purchase a hint, phone a friend, receive extra points, etc.).
8. Cook-Off
Bring out the home chefs, real chefs, and food lovers in your community by hosting a cook-off fundraiser. Teams will prepare dishes (chili is a popular cook-off option) for a panel of judges or attendees.
The fundraising magic can happen in any number of ways—each team raises funds peer-to-peer-style leading up to the event, teams sell cook-off event tickets, attendees “vote” for their favorite dish with a donation, etc.
9. Sports Tournament
This idea is another way to engage your supporters who love to run and jump (or just have a competitive side). Teams will compete in a charity tournament where their participation raises funds for your organization. You could call it something like “Hoops for Hope” for basketball or “Kicks for a Cause” for soccer!
To raise funds, teams pay an entry fee, get sponsorships, and collect other donations. Winners and top fundraisers get a prize at the end of the tournament.
10. Battle of the Bands
This team fundraiser accomplishes at least two purposes: giving local musicians and stage to showcase their talent and giving your organization a crowd of music lovers who will donate to you to see the teams of musicians perform.
The bands (teams) will donate via entry fee and perform in front of an audience, who can donate to vote for their favorite. To extend your reach and raise more, consider selling exclusive event merch and streaming the event live while encouraging viewers to donate online.
11. Eating Contest
Eating competitions make great fundraisers (and entertainment). Think of a classic hot dog-eating contest, pie-eating showdown, or hot wing challenge.
Each team competes to see who can eat the most hot dogs, pies, or hot wings in a set period of time while supporters pledge donations per food item they consume. Alternatively (or additionally), you can charge each team a fee to enter the contest and accept donations at the door for entry into the event.
Just make sure you have plenty of napkins (and perhaps liability waivers) on hand!
12. Video Game Tournament
Multi-player video games = team fundraiser gold. Host a video game tournament where participants form teams to compete in games like Mario Kart, Tetris, Warioware, or FIFA.
Participants can raise funds through their team entry fees, an online fundraising page before the event, or livestream donations during the event. Video game tournaments are a great fundraising opportunity to reach young supporters and a broad audience online. They’re also filled with opportunities to raise extra funds by offering donation-based power-ups or other advantages.
13. Competitive Bowling
It doesn’t always seem like the most aggressive sport, but bowlers can be very competitive. Encourage the bowlers in your community to put their competitive spirit to work for a great cause. This is also a fantastic opportunity to partner with a local bowling alley!
You’ll ask bowling teams to pay a tournament entry fee and then raise additional funds through donations from the people who come to watch them compete. You can make your tournament more fun (and your fundraising more successful) by securing sponsorships for awards like “most strikes in a row” or “most eccentric bowling style.”
14. Scavenger Hunt
Turn adventure lovers into fundraisers with a team-based scavenger hunt. This is a fun idea for helping people explore their community while fundraising. Your supporters will form teams, make a donation (their hunt entry fee), and race to complete challenges or find items you’ve hidden.
You could boost donations by allowing participants to earn bonus points when they secure donations or sponsorships for their team.
15. Golf Tournament
Charity golf tournaments are a classic team fundraising idea where teams compete on the links for the cause. These tournaments are also full of opportunities to maximize funds raised, such as charging entry fees for teams, selling sponsorships for each hole, accepting in-kind donations to use as prizes, selling snacks or drinks on the course, or offering a “mulligan” (essentially a do-over or extra shot) in exchange for an additional donation.
Team fundraising is a powerful way to bring people together, encourage friendly competition, and maximize support for your nonprofit’s mission. Whether through physical challenges, creative competitions, or community-centered events, there are countless ways to engage teams in raising funds.
The key is to choose an idea that aligns with your audience’s interests and makes participation fun and rewarding. No matter which approach you take, team fundraising helps strengthen connections, boost engagement, and ultimately drive greater impact for your cause.
Plan Your Next Team Fundraising Event with Confidence
To make your next event the best one yet, you’ll need more than team fundraising ideas—you need a clear plan in place to make it happen.
Go from idea to impact by checking out the Nonprofit Fundraising Event Planner. It’s a comprehensive, step-by-step guide that walks you through every stage of the event planning process (no matter which type of event you’re planning), from selecting your fundraiser type to promoting the event and even following up with attendees.
Visit the planner today for the insights and resources you need for a successful fundraising event!
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