Weddings are one of the most memorable events that we share with our friends and family. And while wedding registries and gifts are still common, they are becoming less so as couples often live together before marriage or get married later in life after establishing a home of their own. This makes the momentous day a great opportunity for wedding guests to dedicate gifts to a charity or nonprofit organization. If you have a nonprofit that you hold close to your heart, here are some great ways to host a nonprofit fundraiser as part of your wedding.
Wedding Fundraising Ideas for The Bride and the Groom
- Match the Wedding Budget: While wedding spending can run high, consider matching part of your budget towards a donation to your favorite charity. Even matching 5% or 10% of the wedding budget can be a significant amount for wedding fundraising and can go a long way for an organization.
- Dedicate part of the Budget: Another strategy that can be used is to save money from being spent on certain items and use it towards donating to a nonprofit organization. For example, getting smaller centerpieces or using wildflowers and using the savings towards a donation.
- Resell Your Decor or Dress: Dresses can run in the thousands, but it isn’t a complete loss when reselling your dress. The same goes for wedding decor. Consider reselling your dress, decor, or both and using the proceeds towards your choice of cause.
- Dedicate the Bachelor/Bachelorette Party or Bridal Shower: Skip the gifts and ask friends and family to make a donation instead.
Wedding Fundraising Ideas for the Guests
- Donations Instead of Gifts: Guests often look for the gift registry for your wedding or engagement party. Instead of requesting gifts, ask your guests to donate to your favorite organization instead.
- Choose a Charity Gift Registry Website: If you opt for a gift registry, there are websites that offer matched donations based on the purchased gifts. For example, some sites will donate between 1-5% of the gift purchase price towards your choice of nonprofit.
- Crowdfunding the Engagement Party or Bachelor/Bachelorette Party: Make it a wedding fundraising affair by asking your friends and family to donate on a personal crowdfunding website towards your favorite charity.
Wedding Event Fundraising Ideas
Many traditional (and not-so-traditional) games can be played at weddings to raise funds. These funds typically go towards the newlyweds for a prosperous start to their marriage, but the funds can also go towards an organization in need.
- Wedding Money Dance: The most well-known wedding game is the wedding money dance. It can go both ways for brides and grooms: guests pay to have a dance with the bride or groom. There are many variations to it, either by pinning money to the dress, putting money in an apron, satchel, or jar, or throwing money onto the floor. The more, the merrier for a great cause.
- Bride or Groom Bartend for Tips: Whether there are cocktails or mocktails, the bride or groom can take their hand at bartending for a period of time (30-minutes or an hour) and work for tips. It’s a great way to shake things up, serving up drinks while serving a charitable cause.
- Steal the Bride: The concept of this game is that the groom steals the bride and holds her for a certain “ransom”. A jar is passed around the venue to raise the ransom from guests. Once the ransom is reached (or the jar has been passed around), the bride is free to make an appearance back at the reception.
- Dollar Dash: In a quick sprint, guests hold up a dollar (or any amount of their choice) and the bride and groom make a beeline to grab as much as they can in 60 seconds.
- Who Wears the Cake?: A jar is assigned to the bride and the groom and guests pay to vote for who they want to see caked most.
- Wedding Raffle: Guests purchase fundraising raffle tickets in the hopes of winning great prizes. All money goes towards the charity of the couple’s choice.
Tips for a Successful Wedding Fundraiser
Use a Crowdfunding Website for Donations: Any successful wedding fundraising endeavor will make good use of a crowdfunding website. A high-quality crowdfunding website offers helpful features:
- Creating Personalized Wedding Fundraising Pages for Each Couple
- Secure and Encrypted Payment Processing
- Easy Customization
- Real-Time Updates
Weddings take a lot of organization, so having a crowdfunding website will help all the more with keeping all of the fundraising details in order.
Include the Charity Gift Registry or Crowdfunding Page on Invitations: As with regular gift registries, don’t forget to include a link to the crowdfunding page or the charity gift registry page on the invitation to let guests know that all you want is the gift of giving.
Include the Goal Reached on Thank You Letters: Thank you letters are a norm for post-wedding etiquette, but with all of the effort that goes into wedding fundraising, show your gratitude to your guests by letting them know how much you were able to raise. Photos of the charity are also a great way to share with your guests about the organization that their donations went to.
Conclusions on Wedding Fundraising for Nonprofits
With these ideas and tips, it will be as simple as (wedding) cake to receive the perfect gift for your wedding day by giving back to a cause that is close to your heart. Once guests understand why a certain nonprofit organization or charity means a lot to you, they’ll be more than happy to donate on behalf of your special day.
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