Fundraising Idea: Christmas Meal for Friends

You may not be thinking about your Christmas dinner quite yet, but it might be a good time to start… invite your friends round for a Christmas meal at the beginning of December and ask them to donate £10 each. It is a great deal for them, for £10-£15 they get a (hopefully) tasty Christmas dinner!

Why?

• Past volunteers have raised between £30-50 per dinner they have cooked, so it is a great start to your fundraising and an excellent opportunity to tell your friends about your plans for next summer (and maybe encourage them to go with you!!).
• Christmas is a busy time of year and arranging to see all your friends can sometimes be difficult, so get a date in the diary early and get to see all your friends at the same time.

Time for some Christmas dinner

How?

Arrange a date and invite all your friends, start a Facebook group if it is easier! Tell them a little bit about your project and let them know it will be £10/£15 a head.

If you aim to get ten people attending you will have £100/£150, so if you keep your costs down as much possible then the more of that will go towards your target. You could ask a couple of local retailers/grocers whether they would be willing to donate any vegetables, meat, wine etc. towards your meal as you are raising money for charity.

How can I make the most of the event?

Making the most of an event doesn’t necessarily mean asking your friends for more money, we understand that asking friends for money is difficult (we have also been there!). So you can use this opportunity to get your friends discussing other fundraising ideas, see if they would be able to help organise an event with you and/or seeing what connections they might have that will help you (from venues to businesses that might sponsor you etc). One of our past volunteers talked about her project to her friend and that friend later mentioned it to her Grandad who was a member of a local Lions Club and they sent our volunteer a cheque in the post for £300 – so you never know where one fundraising dinner might get you!!