Fundraise for Oxfam
Climate change costs lives. And right now, thousands of people are taking action to fight its devastating effects on the world's poorest people. All those actions add up to something powerful. Join them and do something Here and Now.
Denim day
An all-time favourite! Get permission for everyone at work to wear their jeans on a Friday. Not only will they love you for their comfort and ease, they’ll be delighted to pay a £1 for the privilege.
- Fine non-denim wearers double for not pulling on their jeans.
- Offer a prize for the person that turns up wearing the most denim.
- Talk the boss into letting you offer a half-day as a raffle prize. Promote this before your event and be sure to tell everyone they need to wear jeans to buy tickets.
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Football-top Friday
So your office already wears jeans? How about football tops instead? With the new season just getting into its stride, many will be delighted to have the chance to brag about their team.
You could also have a football forecast competition for the weekend’s matches. £5 to enter, £20 to the winner. Gooooooooooaal!
- Rugby, cricket, hockey, running and any other sports top are just fine!
- Got a Spurs fan in your office? Organise a whip round for them to wear a West Ham top. They can opt out, but only if they match the whip round. Here’s a £115 example.
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Bad hair day
Organise a mass bad-hair event. Play your team’s next football match in tinsel wigs. Get everyone in church to wear a pink afro. Get people to use their heads to help people affected by climate change.
- Hats would work just as well.
- Is anyone brave enough to get the clippers out? This could be the highlight of your bad hair day.
- Add in a leg waxing auction – bids for who whips off the wax strip.
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Sunday best
Done with dressing down? Then dig out your tux, top hats and ball gowns and spend the day in sheer glamour instead.
If your office or club has gone to the effort of dressing up, you’ll be ready for a night out. What about talking to your local bars about hosting a cocktail night. Negotiate reduced drinks and charge £5 for people to attend. Cheers!
- Combine your dress up day with your own boutique sale – ask people to bring in a high quality donations and put on a lunch-time sale.
- Is anyone in your office brave enough to go through a ‘TV style’ makeover?
- Invite people to partake in high tea. Cucumber sandwich? Or a slice of cake for £2!
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Change what you wear
An altogether fashionable way of fundraising. It’s also a great way to get a lot of people involved. Our advice is to give people lots of time to prepare and to remind them as the big day approaches.
Keep up to date with Oxfam’s fundraising news – sign up and we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest fundraising news and examples of how Oxfam is using your money.
Dig out loose change
Ask your co-workers for their change as they leave each day, for a week. Not only will they enjoy the silence as they walk home, but they’ll save a fortune in pocket repairs!
Ask the Reception team to help, they’d be a great ally. They’ll also be able to ensure it stays safe.
- Send round a weekly running total, nothing motivates like progress.
- If you have a large meetings or work socials – take your collection box along.
- Get visitors to donate too.
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Raid a piggy-bank
Time to put what’s in those piggies to good use! Ask all of your friends to clean out their piggy-banks and make a loose change mountain.
Make some papier mache piggy banks with your class mates and get your whole school collecting.
- Trade piggy-bank contents for chores.
- Hold a talent show – hand round your empty piggy bank at the end to fill it up for Oxfam.
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1p 2p collections
Secretly most people know that they’ll never get their spare change to the bank. Convince them to give you their 1p and 2p collections. Explain how these tiny coins can make a difference, not just collect dust.
- Ask your employer to give matched donations, this will really motivate people.
- Get office departments to compete against each other. Who can weigh in with the biggest change collection?
- This idea will work just as well outside of work – for example at church or at a school fete.
- Don’t forget to check the twenty pence pieces you get – they might be worth a whole lot more!
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Treasure hunt
Send the kids on a treasure hunt - the sofa’s probably hiding a few quid. By the time they’ve been through the house, they’ll be on their way to conjuring up £5. Get them to challenge their friends to try and beat their total. They’ll magic up a pile of cash in no time!
- When the kids have searched their own home, send them to grannies, or their aunties, or next door.
- Incentivise the kids with well hidden treats.
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Organise a change collection
The Royal Mint estimates that there is £380 million worth of loose change in homes in the UK. Can you convince 10 friends that they should put their coinage to a very good cause?
Keep up to date with Oxfam’s fundraising news – sign up and we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest fundraising news and examples of how Oxfam is using your money.
Supermarket sweep
Get all your friends to buy cheaper brands of cereal and washing powder in their weekly shop and collect all of the money they’ve saved. Every little helps!
- Send round a supermarket price checker so everyone can see where they’ll make the biggest savings.
- If people don’t want to switch brands, how about eating vegetarian food for a month and donating the money they save?
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Bake off
Turn an ordinary mid-week day at work into ‘cake bake off day’. Recruit as many cake bakers as possible. At £1 a slice this could be a tasty solution!
- Cup cakes are a great option as you can boost your collection with a buy-two-get-one-free offer.
- Try and include a savory option. Bizarely not everyone has a sweet tooth!
- Try and increase the number of bakers you can recruit by sending round recipies in advance of your chosen cake bake off day.
- Remember, Fair Trade goods will make you cakes taste even sweeter!
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Friday night film night
Ditch Friday night on the town and get your friends over for film night! Ask them to donate the money that they would have spent to Oxfam. Their clear head on Saturday morning will be just one of the differences this Friday night could make.
- Remember to have an interval – and offer your guests popcorn and icecreams at charitably increased prices.
- If you’re inviting real film buffs, you could host a film quiz after the movie. A small entry fee will help your fundraising total tick along nicely!
- When you’re collecting donations during your film night, remember to ask everyone who pays uk tax to tick the gift aid box on our sponsorship form. This will increase their donation by nearly a third.
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Park the car
...for a month; change how you get into work each week. Skateboard in week one, tandem in week two, and so on! You'll be fitter and changing the world by week four.
- Work out how much petrol money you’ll save and make this the first donation to your collection. Ask everyone to match, or part match the amount.
- Organise a sweepstake with people guessing how much weight you’ll lose over the month.
- Send round weekly updates, remember to include the milage you’ve covered as well as a link to your Justgiving page - hard work is a great motivator for donations!
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Change what you do
How about changing something about your self for a while? And asking your friends to do the same thing. Or you could change what happens at your work or club for a day?
Keep up to date with Oxfam’s fundraising news – sign up and we’ll keep you up to date with all the latest fundraising news and examples of how Oxfam is using your money.
Why fundraise?
- What your fundraising efforts could achieve
- The human cost of climate change: Sufia's story
- Examples of Oxfam's climate change projects
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