October 2023 Fundraising Ideas

October has some fantastic days coming up for you to include within your fundraising! Have a read below of some of our favourites to give you some inspiration...The whole month is a drawing festival - A worldwide celebration of drawing where everyone can participate! You could organise a competition and ask a local artist to be the judge! Market it to local art societies, schools and organisations such as U3A, Guides and Scouts, WI etc.

National Poetry Day 5^th October - If Poet’s day is more up your street, and there are people you’d like to meet, then you must plan a poetry eve, where folk recite poems I believe!

World Smile Day 6^th October - Competition for the biggest, longest, toothiest, lopsided, or widest smile anyone? Grab your phone or a camera and start snapping those smiles!

Grandparents’ Day 10^th October - Forget the fundraising, just say THANK YOU to them for everything they do for you!

World Singing Day 21^st October - What a perfect opportunity to dust off the microphone and host a classic karaoke night, a competition or a concert! With so much scope you can’t fail to sing up a storm of silver!

It's Spooky Season!

Who doesn’t love Halloween? Throw a party to celebrate and make much needed fundraising at the same time! People have to dress up of course, that’s half the fun, and then organise lots of fangtastic games! How about 'Hunt the eyeball' (hide some in a bowl of spaghetti!), pumpkin golf, and traditional apple bobbing! These spooky classics are always a laugh! Set an entry fee for your guests and sell some refreshments! A few more games for you to choose from could be...

• Guess the food! Can your blindfolded guests guess the creepy cuisine! Create some fearful foods and spooky snacks for your victims to eat whilst guessing what they are!
• Continue the fun with another blindfold game! This time, have your guests guess what's inside a box using only their hands! Get creative with textures by using jelly, slime, rubber insects - The stranger the better!
• Put together a spook-tacular quiz and test your guests knowledge on all things eerie...

Sign off in style!

If your place of work permits, add a tagline to the bottom of your emails telling people about the exciting Walk the Walk challenge you are taking on! Add the link to your fundraising page to make it a no brainer!

Start crafting for Christmas!

If you are crafty now is the time to knit shelf sitters, make tree decorations, ornaments and Christmas cards, construct table centre pieces, sew Christmas stockings and create wreaths! Get ideas and patterns from Google and YouTube, and once done you can sell your goodies at fairs or online! 

To find a fair and get booked in, check out this site for an example... https://startups.co.uk/premises/apply-market-trader-uk-christmas-markets/ Or sell via Facebook Marketplace... ‘tis the season to get sticking, sewing and knitting!

Photo courtesy of Pat Knight

That old favourite, a Quiz Night!

It's an old classic but a firm favourite, especially as the evenings get darker. Hire a hall or ask at your local pub to book a quiz night. Get your questions (and answers!) from [email protected]. Charge £5 or £10 for entry per person (more if you provide food), get some prizes for a raffle, and find yourself a Question Master... If you're feeling keen, take on the role yourself!

If you have a fundraising event or activity planned, take a look at our extra bits and pieces to help you... If we can help in any way, please do get in touch!

Raise money, Raise awareness, Get fit and Have fun Walking the Walk!