Envelope Fundraiser

This is a super easy fundraiser that can easily raise over $2,000. All it takes are a few envelopes, thumbtacks, and a bulletin board in a high-traffic area!

1. Purchase 100 small envelopes. Label them with $1 through $100 and decorate to make them as attractive as possible. Use thumbtacks to attach the envelopes to a large bulletin board.

2. Put a sign next to the bulletin board with these instructions: “Help [name] perform off-Broadway this summer with the National Theatre for Student Artists! Put the amount of money listed on the envelope inside (either cash or check payable to [name]), seal it, and then pass it in!”

3. Make sure that you’re standing next to the bulletin board for the entire day to greet prospective donors, answer any questions (about yourself, the program, or your fundraising efforts), and thank people as they leave contributions in the envelopes. You may even want to consider performing a solo musical number every 10-15 minutes to stir up interest from passer-bys.

Put the bulletin board in a high-traffic area. That could be at parent-teacher conferences, in a local coffee shop on the weekend, in the meeting hall of your church after service, at any community-wide festival or farmer’s market, etc. Because the minimum donation is so low ($1), all kinds of people will be encouraged to give. You can encourage groups of people to pool their resources and fill one of the larger envelopes (so a group of three friends who all have $5 bills could tackle the $15 envelope together!). People might also be tempted to grab envelopes with amounts that have significant personal meanings to them, like their birthdate or their favorite number.

You can also integrate this idea into your crowdfunding campaign. Check out this adoption crowdfunding campaign, which tried to fill 200 red envelopes to adopt an infant from China. It includes incredible instructions on how to use the envelopes to leverage donations for your GoFundMe.



If you’re able to fill all of the envelopes, you’ll raise $5,050! Most people are able to bring in at least $2,000 with the envelope wall (although it might take putting your bulletin board up in two or three different areas to figure out what works best!).