Rake-a-Thon: ask family members or neighbours for suggested donations to clear up the garden, yard or driveway. You could even get a large group to clear a park, churchyard or school! Make sure everyone has strong gloves and bags if they take up the Rake-a-Thon challenge.

Family fun evenings: in colder and darker evenings, indoor events rule! Why not host a beetle drive, bingo or race night? You can use old horse race videos for people to place bets on, or even use wind-up toys or counters and dice to create races. You could also host a board game evening. Sell snacks and drinks to boost your fundraising.

Winter walks: get sponsored to brave the elements and hold a torch-lit hike or winter walk to raise money. Make sure you have plenty of adults to supervise and assist when organising outdoor events with children. Better still, get the whole parish involved!

Bonfire night / fireworks display: the best way to spend dark winter evenings! Make sure you observe safety requirements or work with a professional supplier where necessary.

Christmas crafts: making and sell ornaments, wreaths, biscuits, and any other Christmassy gifts and treats you can think of, preferably at a Christmas fair.

Manger on a Mission: this is a great way to remind people of the true meaning of Christmas and a novel way to raise funds. Ask students/parishioners to dress as characters from the Nativity (remember that the Scriptures don’t mention just how many shepherds and magi were present). Aim to create a complete crib set. Then take your manger on a mission tour around your school grounds, town or city. Remember to take a Missio Red Box to collect donations on the way.

A really green Christmas Tree: inspired by an idea from a mission partner in Malaysia, why not work together as parish or school to create ‘a really green’ tree from recycled plastic bottles or egg boxes? Donate the money saved on buying a real spruce to help more Missio partners to invest in parish tree-planting schemes.

Christmas light competition: challenge your parish to light up their houses or gardens for Christmas! If you can, create programmes with maps so people can tour each house, and charge a small fee for a copy. You could also do a local business version of this, asking high street shops to join in the fun.

Pancake races: hold a Pancake Day event with races and flipping competitions. Everyone gets to enjoy their pancakes after the fun – as long as they didn’t drop them!

Sponsored give-something-up: give something up for Lent and either donate the money you save or get sponsored to do it.

Lent through a Lens: Run a photo competition. Challenge students to capture images of springtime. Charge for entry and provide a prize for the winner(s). You could even introduce different categories e.g. wildlife, nature, people. Send winning entries to [email protected] and we’ll credit the photographer and use in our social media.

Egg hunt: hide small chocolate eggs around your church, school or playground. Charge families to join in for a massive Easter egg hunt! To maximise your fundraising, why not ask parishioners or local businesses to donate some eggs so you don’t need to spend money to buy them?

Easter bonnet competition: one for the children – or is it? Charge an entry fee and award prizes for the most fabulous fashionista creations! Alternatively you could get everyone involved in egg painting, Easter gardens or Easter cake designs, and sell them afterwards for extra fundraising.

Spring flower sale: everyone loves the first signs of spring after winter! Why not pot some spring bulbs – snowdrops, mini-daffodils, crocuses and hyacinths to sell to parents or as Easter gifts?

Weeding Week: calling all budding Monty Dons! While the days are sunny and warm, why not raise money by weeding gardens? Ask for a suggested donation, or sponsorship per bag of weeds.  Maybe green-fingered fundraisers could also offer to plant and prune too.

Open garden tour: people in your community who have a green thumb might be willing to open up their gardens to show the public. Make programmes to sell with a map of participating venues or encourage people to donate. Your garden in England and Wales could fund a garden or environmental project overseas!

Open air cinema: a big sheet, a projector and some fairy lights and you can host a magical movie night under the stars! Charge people entry to come and see movies on your outdoor screen. Invite whole families and make a big picnic of it.

Sports day fun: host a football tournament, sports day or outdoor activity day. Charge people to attend and sell refreshments. Prize for the tournament winners!

Sponsored swim, walk or cycle: get everyone involved in some outdoor fun once the weather’s better. Could you get sponsored to walk a certain distance, or hold a sponsored swim?

Scavenger hunt: this is a great team activity! Print off some sheets with things to spot on them. You can tailor the items to be outdoors, indoors or whatever suits your space and environment. Either get teams to tick the items off or take pictures to prove they’ve found them! Charge teams to enter and give prizes for the fastest finishers.

Big summer BBQ: hold a family barbecue, street party or big picnic for your parish. Serve up food and treats, hold stalls with tombolas and raffle prizes, even set up some games like hook a duck or skittles and quoits. The great thing about these events is that they can be as simple or involved as you like. Sell tickets to attend.

Outdoor Zumbathon: get as many people as possible to come and work out together! This works brilliantly as a sponsored event too. How long can you Zumba? Prize for the last one Zumba-ing?

Walking and pilgrimages: It’s always the right time of year for a walk! Better yet, a pilgrimage is a beautiful way to raise funds whilst really connecting with God and our global family. Find more information about pilgrimages in England and Wales here>>

Bake sale: you know what to do.

Craft sale: activate all knitters, stitchers, painters, card makers and woodworkers and put on a fantastic craft fair to raise money for mission!

Promise auction: auction off you community’s promises: a car wash, an hour’s cleaning or gardening, dog walking… Or is there someone in your parish with a gift or talent who could offer a painting, a hand-bound book, a professional photo session or a piece of needlework?

Coin trail: have a real treasure hunt as you get the whole family to find small change. Don’t forget to check all pockets, and down the back of the sofa! Make a line of coins – how far can you make your money stretch? We bet our missionary partners can stretch it further! Don’t forget to pop it in the Red Box when you’ve finished!

Bad taste / Bad tie day: involve your colleagues or students in paying to dress in their worst Christmas or birthday presents. 

Pamper evening: facials, massage, mani-pedis… We bet there’s someone in your parish who’s a whizz at pampering. And plenty of people who need some!

Table top and jumble sales: bring your unwanted bits and bobs and watch them become someone else’s treasure! Jumble sales have to be one of the oldest and most reliable fundraising events!

Karaoke night: always good fun and in the best possible taste…

Silly Sponsored events: would you sit in a bath of baked beans or risk a custard pie to raise money for Missio? Or better yet, nominate a ‘good sport’ parent, priest or teacher to get a leg wax, get dunked in a paddling pool or some similar torture for sponsorship money!