
Fundraising for Washington Mind is the best kind of help you can give us, to help you we have provided an A-Z of fundraising ideas…

As a local independent charity Washington Mind rely on funding and donations to continue reducing mental health stigma, improving wellbeing and promoting mental health recovery.
We’re incredibly grateful to all individuals and companies who choose to fundraise on our behalf – Thank you! But we also know there are still lots of people, organisations or groups out there who would love to get involved with fundraising for Washington Mind. Just get in touch and we’ll arrange to drop off a box.
To have a look at or print our full fundraising pack click here…

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Afternoon Tea
Support our café Life community café by hiring one of our garden pods and treating yourself or a friend. or two to afternoon tea in our community garden. Alternatively organise and host your own afternoon tea event with family, friends, or colleagues, you could pick a theme for your afternoon tea, a celebration day or even just as an opportunity to get together with others.
Arts & crafts
Host an arts and crafts evening and charge people an entry fee.
Auction
Organise an auction, ask your friends and family to donate items and donate some of the profits.
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Bad taste
Ask colleagues to pay to express their bad taste and come to work wearing the worse tie or vibrant clothes.
Bake sale
Baking is a great hobby and your results are sure to bring smiles to everyone’s face! Share your feel good food for a donation. Why not hold a coffee morning with a difference; can you hold a caffeine free coffee morning or only bake healthy recipes?
Bingo
Host a night of bingo, invite your friends and family and donate half the winnings,
Birthday fundraiser
Creating a birthday fundraiser is a fantastic way to give back to a cause you’re passionate about on your special day. Encourage friends and family members to forgo birthday gifts and donate to your birthday fundraiser by setting up a donation page on Washington Minds Facebook page
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Cheese and wine evening
Be a wine connoisseur for the night and charge an entry fee for colleagues to try some of the loveliest wine and cheese that you have on offer.
Choose an Annual Charity
Get people throughout your office or organisation involved in choosing Washington Mind to raise money for each year. You can hold an annual voting event, during which people can give talks on the benefits of supporting us. Making employees part of the decision will help galvanise on-going support
Coffee Morning
Coffee Morning – host your own coffee morning with friends family, colleagues
To download a poster you can use click here
Come dine with me
Why not hold your very own dinner party? Invite friends to enjoy your culinary delights in exchange for a donation!
Concert
Love music, love going to gigs ask any local bands, musicians if they would be interested in holding a concert / gig for Washington Mind
Crafternoon
Crafternoon is the nation’s craftiest fundraiser! Get together online or in person with your favourite people and spend an afternoon doing some crafting, folding, stitching and sticking.
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Disco
Organise a themed charity disco event, charge an entrance free, hold a raffle or tombola with all or a proportion of the proceeds going to Washington Mind
Dog walking challenge
On your own or with a group of your friends and their fur babies take on a monthly dog walking challenge
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Eighties Night ( or day )
Whether it’s stepping back in time and wearing your 80s get up , a disco , 80’s film fest, or a roller skate / BMX challenge raise funds for Washington Mind with a bit of fun.
Extreme challenge
Why not swim the distance of the Channel in your local pool or run the length of the country on a treadmill? You don’t have to be a superstar athlete for this one – you could split the distance over a few days or weeks.
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Football Tournament
Whether you’re a professional, an amateur or simply like playing football to get fit or for fun why not raise money for Washington Mind by organising a good old charity football tournament.
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Gardening challenges or sweepstake
Choose your favourite plant and encourage your friends to sow seeds at the same time as you. Ask them for a donation, and over time you can watch your seeds change from seedlings into grown plants. The gardener of the plant that bares its first fruit or flower wins half the sweepstake donation. Donating the remainder of the winnings to Washington Mind.
Give it up
Give up something you love for a good cause! Avoid chocolate, alcohol, Facebook, using the lift – choose your challenge and ask your friends and family to show their support by contributing to Washington Mind.
Guess how many…
Have a competition to see who can guess how many items are in a jar or box. For example how many sweets are in the jar...
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Halloween party
Organise a spooky event to raise money for Washington Mind..
Happy Monday
Start your week with a smile and hold a fundraising get-together with your colleagues. Hold a bake sale to brighten up Monday and wear bright clothes and ask everyone to donate £2 to take part.
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Indoor sporting challenge
You don’t have to go outdoors to complete a sports challenge, how about competing in an indoor rowing or cycling challenge at your local gym.
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Joke box
A guaranteed laugh in exchange for £1! Print lots of jokes out and ask your colleagues or friends to donate £1 to pick one from the box.
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Karaoke night
Which of your friends and family has the hidden talent? rent a karaoke machine and hold an event in your local pub, university bar – or office. Sell tickets and ask a local business to donate a prize. You could also sell earplugs on the door.
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Lip sync battle
Hold a lip sync battle at a local venue, ask for challenges to compete against one another, overall winner becomes your local lip-sync champion for the year !
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Marathon events
Hold a sponsored marathon event such as swimming, ping pong, spinning. Set your challenge – for example, the hours or distance to cover – and divide into teams to complete it in shifts.
Masquerade Ball
Hold an annual masquerade ball and help raise funds for Washington Mind
Murder Mystery night
Who did it ? Was it colonel mustard , in the library with a book ?
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Nearly new / new to you sale
We’ve all the heard the saying ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ ,hold a nearly new sale / new to you sale and de-clutter that wardrobe and raise funds for your local charity
Night in
invite your friends round for food, drinks, a film night or a pampering session – or all of the above – and ask for donations for the privilege
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Office Olympics
Charge an entry fee which can be donated to Washington Mind, each champion who has entered the Office Olympics will participate in a number of fun events such as paper plane flying and wastepaper basketball.
Online gaming
For lots of us, playing games is how we relax, socialise and even find support. We know the gaming community is a great place to connect with people across the world. Why not host a live stream fundraiser with your friends?
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Payroll giving
Speak with your HR team to find out how employees can give via the monthly payroll. It is often possible to give to more than one charity and some employers will match what you give up to a certain amount.
Photograph competition
Do you have any top photographers? Organise a photography competition and ask entrants to donate to Washington Mind. You could even set a theme for the competition. If there are any stand out entries, you could hold an auction to raise some extra funds.
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Quiz night
Hosting a quiz at your local pub is easy to organise and a lot of fun. Be creative with quiz rounds; musical bingo, Family Fortunes or The Generation Game. Ask teams to make a donation to enter, fine people for checking mobiles and organise a raffle or auction on the night. Prizes go to the team with the highest points and best team name.
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Raffle time
– Ask your friends and local businesses to donate some fab prizes and organise a raffle.
Run
Whether it’s a fun run, the Great North Run or the London marathon there’s a running challenge for you
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Shave
Shave or wax your beard, chest or legs to fundraise for Washington Mind.
Silent disco
Organise a silent disco at a venue near you , get your playlist ready, put those headphones on and get dancing.
Sky Dive
Skydiving is one of the most exhilarating experiences you can do. Whether it's for a milestone birthday, to conquer a fear or something you've always wanted to try. Doing it for Washington Mind means you'll be helping ensure no one has to face a mental health problem alone.
Sports day
Sports days are a great way to get people together for a good cause. You could do this in a local park and include some snacks and drinks too! Ask participants to make a donation to Washington Mind and organise a grand prize for the winners.
Supermarket bag pack
Organise a backpack at your local supermarket or home and garden store and raise money for Washington Mind
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Team Challenge
Ask for volunteers from different teams to participate in a challenge of their choice to help raise funds for Washington Mind, whichever team obtains the most funds for Washington Mind win a grand prize.
Tombola
Attend a local event or fayre with a tombola, reach out to your local community and ask for items to be donated that could be used in the tombola.
Treasure hunt
ay a trail of clues for a treasure hunt. Charge a fee for taking part and have a prize at the end of the hunt. If you can get a local school or community group involved then split the money between the groups and Washington Mind.
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Uniform free day
Whether work or school participate in a uniform free day and raise funds or a proportion of the fund for Washington Mind
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Vintage tea dance
Victory rolls, headscarves, tea dresses, suits and Oxfords, take a trip back to the 40s and enjoy a 1940s themed tea dance.
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Walk for Washington Mind
Participate in a local, national or your own walking challenge and choose Washington mind as your charity of choice.
Wine tasting evening
See if a supermarket or off-license will donate a few bottles for the tasting, and sell bottles for them at the end (for a small profit of course).
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Xmas
Hold a party, go carol singing, sell mulled wine and mince pies, or provide a gift wrapping service.
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You smartie!
Did you know that a smarties tube can hold 27 pound coins? Why not offer your colleagues some chocolate in exchange for them filling the tube? How much you can raise from other confectionary containers?
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Zumabthon
Keep fit and Zumba ! either as part of your fitness group or with friends or colleagues why not organise a charity Zumbathon.
If you have any questions or would like to know more about fundraising for Washington Mind, please contact us either
Via Phone: 0191 4178043
Email info@washingtonmind.org.uk
Five-a-day for health and happiness
- Connect
- Be Active
- Take Notice
- Keep Learning
- Give