Macmillan’s 100 ways to raise �100,000 in Welwyn Hatfield

The cash-raising ideas form part of the charity’s drive to raise �100,000 in this, its centenary year.

The WHT has linked up with Macmillan, which has its Herts HQ in Welwyn, to help it reach the six-figure sum.

Other wacky suggestions include the classic ‘baked bean bath’, a tug-of-war and even sponsored firewalking.

Kerry Briars, Macmillan’s Hertfordshire and Essex fundraising manager, told the WHT: “We are urging local people to get behind the appeal and start organising some of their own fundraising events to raise much needed funds for the charity.

“We have listed a variety of ideas for you to get involved with and we will support you with anything you may need for the event.”

She added: “Why not join the Macmillan birthday celebrations and organise a party or even organise your own royal wedding fundraising party.

“There are so many ways to fundraise so for our very own fundraising pack please call me on 01438 712012 or email kbriars@macmillan.org.uk.”

Macmillan’s full list of fundraising ideas:

1. Sponsored give it up – so we begin. And with our first idea it’s not what you do, it’s what you don’t do. Why not give something up to raise a few bob? Chocolate, shaving, talking, driving, Facebook.

2. Fire walking – don’t try this at home. Not unless you call in the experts. Fire-walking instructors can teach you to walk barefoot over red-hot embers without doing the hot shoe shuffle. Now that has to be worth a lot of sponsorship

3. A day to remember – Valentine’s day, St Patricks day, shrove Tuesday – they’re tried and tested, but how about an Elvis Presley Memorial Day fancy dress party or a celebration lunch for National Cheese on Toast Day?

4. Strut your stuff – hit the catwalk. A fashion show can take many themes. For example, ask friends and family to donate old or unwanted clothes and hold a ‘recycled’ show. Persuade a few friends to indulge in the modelling career they’ve dreamed of and you’re off

5. Derriere derby – go back to your childhood and hold a musical chairs competition. All you need are some top tunes and plenty of chairs. What could be simpler than that?

6. Jailbreak – preferably dressed as prisoners, sponsored teams set off from a real jail and are dropped off at a mystery location without money or a mobile phone. They must then blag their way back whilst getting the public to hand over some cash. Legally, of course.

7. Fancy dress party – fairies and gnomes, animals and birds, heroes and heroines, country and western. Fancy dress is a long-standing favourite and ideas for themes, and the fun you can have when dressed up are endless.

8. Take a baked bean bath – get sponsored to take the plunge in a bath full of beans. Onlookers and supporters can also pay �1 to top up the bath with a can of beans over your head.

9. Halloween party – get your teeth into organising a spooky event

10. Summer sizzler – fire up the Barbie, invite family and friends, get some burgers, buns, sausages and sauces. Grab a few beers and soft drinks and ask for a tasty donation for the gorgeous grub.

11. Stags and hens – boys will be boys and girls just wanna have fun, so what better way to indulge those sexual stereotypes than holding a hen or stag night for Macmillan. Nuns’ outfits are optional.

12. A bloody great fundraiser - stick a swear box in an office or social club to raise some money. And if people’s worst crime is not swearing but doing something else that causes offence, then get them to pay for this misdemeanour. Rumour is that �10,534 was raised in one year at the House of Commons when politicians were penalised for not answering the questions they were asked.

13. Fun run – a contradiction in terms? Not on your nelly. Make it an event for families and put on a party afterwards and you’re well on your way to a great day out for everyone.

14. Pamper party – host an evening of indulgence for you and your friends. Slap on the facemasks, get the nails painted and enjoy a foot spa. Oh, and don’t forget the chocolate!

15. Dress down day – people will pay top dollar not to have to wear their usual work clothes or uniform. They’ll probably pay even more if they can wear the top of their favourite sports team or some kind of fancy dress. Did someone say cowboys and Indians in the office?

16. Pin pals – encourage family, friends and colleagues to give �1 to Macmillan for one of their funky pin badges, available from your local fundraising office on 01438 712012.

17. Office Olympics – try your hand at speed typing, synchronised chair swivelling or fast letter franking. There are many events you can compete in to become an office Olympics champion.

18. A recipe for success – gather together all of your family’s and friends’ mouth watering recipes and create your own cookbook.

19. Sponsored silence – shhh! The less said about this the better. A great idea for a group of noisy kids or adults. Parents, teachers or work colleagues are sure to pay good money to see how long they can keep shtum. Silence is golden, especially when it raises money.

20. Treasure hunt – shiver me timbers! You can’t go wrong with a treasure hunt. All you need to do is devise some cunning clues on how people can get their hands on some booty and away you go.

21. What a difference a day makes – donate a day’s wage and encourage others to follow your shining example. Ask your employer to match your donation.

22. Dunk and donate – if you are going to hold a coffee morning to raise money, make it part of Macmillan’s main fundraising event – the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning.

23. Swing into action – hold a golf competition. Or if playing golf isn’t your bag, you can always raise money by being a caddy, cleaning balls or finding them when they fail to hit the fairway.

24. Tug of war – old vs young. Women vs men. Dunkers vs non-dunkers. Marmite lovers vs Marmite haters. Whatever the division, a game of tug of war will decide who is best.

25. Learn a skill – drumming, skateboarding, juggling. Get sponsored to learn that skill you’ve always promised to master.

26. Trade up – in America, in 2005, Kyle MacDonald started with one red paperclip and traded it for a pen; twelve trades later he had a house. Start with a Macmillan green pin badge and you might end up with something valuable that you can auction off for Macmillan.

27. Guess the weight of...colleagues’ newborn babies, the huge cake that is the first prize in the ‘Guess the weight’ competition, anything and everything you can think of that will fit on a set of scales.

28. Learn a language – thought about learning French, Spanish or another language for years now? Well, there’s no time like the present. Encourage a few friends to learn with you. And get people to sponsor you for your efforts.

29. Luck of the draw – its all about the prizes when it comes to creating interest in a raffle. So have a think about what would get people as excited as a teenage girl at a boy band concert if they won it.

30. Christmas party

31. Space hopper race

32. Sweepstake – hands up who hasn’t taken part in a Grand National sweepstake? Ah the sheer excitement of randomly picking the name of a horse and then willing it on to victory – hopefully. But let’s think beyond racing’s big day. How about holding a sweepstake for a reality TV show or a football tournament.

33. A bit of am-dram, darling? – encourage local amateur dramatic groups and musical societies to perform in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. You can raise money through ticket sales, programmes and refreshments.

34. Caption competition – choose a funny photo from your last holiday or office party and hold a caption competition. Entrants pay per caption and the winner receives the framed photo to display on their desk. If it’s an embarrassing photo, people might pay you not to display it.

35. Karaoke night – Robbie, Tina, Freddie or Jacko? The choice is yours.

36. Easter egg hunt – you know the drill. Hide some chocolate and charge friends, family or colleagues to hunt for it. Be inventive with your hiding as well, everyone loves a challenge when there’s chocolate at stake. And why wait ‘til Easter? You could hunt for chocolate at any time of the year.

37. Sponsored walk – put a new spin on an old favourite by getting people to walk backwards, in fancy dress, or get them to follow a route that takes in the weird and wonderful of your local area.

38. Through the keyhole – who would live in a house like this? Does your house reflect your personality? Find out in our ‘through the keyhole’ challenge. Take a photo of your home and get colleagues to snap their abodes too. Then guess who live where.

39. Hang up your phone – raise money whilst improving your communication skills. Ditch your phone for a day, or better still a week, and find other ways to make contact. Write a letter to your mum, meet up with your friends and chat face to face. Donate the money saved on calls and texts.

40. Who’s the baby? Competition

41. Auction of promises – persuade your friends and colleagues to donate their skills, expertise and services for auction. Lessons in sport, music, dancing or languages; home-baked cakes and meals; ironing and other household chores. Try persuading local restaurants, theatres and leisure centres to offer meals, tickets and other goodies.

42. Bonfire night – an explosion of fundraising potential. How about asking for a pound for the guy? Hold a competition to design a guy. Sell hot dogs, baked potatoes, mulled wine. You’re sure to have a night that goes with a bang.

43. Ransom and release – all you need are some willing VIPs (very important prisoners) and somewhere to hold them captive. Then it’s up to the VIPs to get their friends, family and colleagues to stump up the cash so they can be released.

44. Spelling bee – all you need is a dictionary.

45. Cracker race – how many dry cream crackers can you eat in a minute? All you need are cream crackers, a glass of water for when you finish and a brush to sweep up all the crumbs.

46. Card games evening – bridge, rummy, whist, pontoon, poker or even snap or Top Trumps. A card games night could be one big deal. Pick a card any card....learn a few card tricks and amaze your friends.

47. Quiz evening

48. Guess how many.....can go in a.....sweets in a jar is a classic but how about footballs in a car, baked beans in a bucket, pound coins in a sack, the list could go on.

49. Having a ball – you shall go to the ball; especially if you organise it yourself. Get out your glad rags. Dust off your top hat and tails. Pumpkins and glass slippers optional.

50. Get knitted – baby clothes, scarves, jumpers. Put your knitting needles to good use and start creating some woollen wonders that people will donate money to Macmillan for.

51. A close shave – fancy being bald, sir? Madam? Think of the benefits. Having your head shaved means no more bad hair days and no more money spent on styling products. Or how about we whip off that beard?

52. Be an exhibitionist – get in touch with local artists and ask them to donate artwork. Organise a sale, auction or exhibition with an entry fee.

53. Talent competition – bring the x-factor to your street, school or workplace. Everyone’s got a party piece they’d love the chance to show off for a good cause. Wannabe Simon Cowell can stand in judgement. Or how about having a good old-fashioned clap-o-meter?

54. Gift of life – if it’s your birthday coming up, suggest to your family and friends that instead of giving you presents they make a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support. This can also work for weddings, or any special occasions that involve gift giving.

55. Step to it – exercise your right to raise money by walking to work. Donate the money saved on fares, petrol or parking and keep fit while you’re at it. Now that’s what we call multi-tasking.

56. Country fair/farmer’s market – these local events can support Macmillan by donating a percentage of sales, holding collections, and pay to enter country-themed games, like ‘guess the weight of the pig’.

57. Quote quiz – collect as many quotes from movies or song lyrics you can and test the trivia knowledge of friends and family. Charge entry to the quiz with a prize for the winner.

58. Wacky races – ducks, snails, sheep, toy cars or even babies.

59. Don’t go to the pub – invite everyone over to your house instead. What about the beer money? Donate it to Macmillan.

60. Pupils vs teachers – hold a quiz morning where pupils pit their wits against teachers. Or how about a school idol competition or pupils versus teachers football match?

61. Retail therapy – sacrifice three luxury items from your weekly household shop and donate the money you save. Encourage friends and colleagues to do the same.

62. Blooming marvellous – hold a plant or flower sale.

63. Barn dance – don your neck ties and cowboy hats and swing your pants to some good old country music.

64. A smooth move – a sponsored waxing will put the proverbial hairs on your chest whilst literally taking them off. It’ll also bring tears to your eyes and possibly a few expletives to your lips, but its all character building stuff and will turn you into a real smoothie.

65. Give change, change lives – ask your friends and colleagues to empty their pockets every evening for a week. Their small change can make a big difference.

66. Eyes down – with over three million people regularly playing bingo in the UK, you’re bound to get a full house.

67. Pooch pampering – set up your own doggy grooming parlour. From Chihuahuas to Great Danes, there are plenty of pooches who could do with a spruce-up. A bow in the hair is a nice touch and will keep your hair out of your eyes whilst you wash the dog.

68. Get smartie – a tasty way to raise money. Give your family, friends and colleagues a tube of smarties and, once they’ve eaten them, ask them to fill the empty tube with �1 coins. They can hold �27 in �1 coins.

69. A turn up for the books – turn your old paperbacks into hard cash by holding a book sale of all those old holiday page turners and unread classics gathering dust on your shelves.

70. Battle of the biceps – put brute force to the test and pit your strength and skill in an arm competition. Keep those elbows on the table.

71. As seen on TV – big brother, dragon’s den, ready steady cook, the X factor, family fortunes, blue peter, swap shop or maybe just your local news or magazine programme. Get people to sponsor you to appear on TV.

72. Host a luncheon

73. Do the iPod shuffle – organise a party and get people to pay for the privilege of playing their tunes from their iPod.

74. Photo competition – say cheese and ask kids and adults to show off their photography skills. Themes for your competition could be ‘the view from my window’, ‘my family’ or anything else that will get people snapping away.

75. Up for the challenge – ask your friends to set you a fundraising challenge.

76. Dance marathon – it’s a case of bop till you drop with this one. Well, not literally, but expect to swing your hips and tap your toes until the early hours.

77. Don’t take the lift – why spend hours doing step-ups in the gym? Ditch the lift and take the stairs. Get sponsored per step. You’ll make money while shedding the pounds.

78. Cheese and wine evening – cheese and wine go together like love and marriage, a horse and carriage, or a cup of tea and a biscuit.

79. Job swap – sponsor your manager to work in reception. Or how about auctioning off the boss’ job for a day? People are sure to pay good money to enjoy the perks that come with being numero uno in the workplace.

80. Car wash – if you had a pound for every car with ‘clean me’ scrawled in the dirt on the back window…well now you can…a car wash is bound to clean-up. In fact, it’s a wheelie good idea.

81. Get crafty – organise a local craft fair selling and demonstrating handmade goods: home baked cakes and pastries, jams, preserves and pickles, basket weaving, knitwear, tie dying and screen printing…to name quite a few.

82. Rag day – get a group of colleagues together, don some fancy dress and make a collections around your office. It’s a lot easier asking fro money when dressed as a clown and encourages donations, especially when armed with a custard pie.

83. Come dine with me – create your own version of the popular TV show. You and a few friends all host a dinner party. At the end of each evening you all rate the food and the host’s performance. Make a donation to take part and make sure the winner receives a prize for being ‘the hostess with the mostest’.

84. Bag it up – simply ask your local supermarket if you can bag customers’ shopping ad ask for a donation for your service.

85. Go the distance – get a school or club to cover a distance using pound coins. It could be a mile or it could be the length of a school hall or playing field.

86. Time is money – get a group of friends or colleagues to pose for a calendar, with profits from sales going to Macmillan.

87. Car treasure hunt – put some va-va-voom into the weekend by getting teams to take to their cars and hunt for a series of clues. But who will get to the treasure first and be king of the road?

88. What a corker – unleash the wine critic within by holding a wine tasting with a group of discerning friends. You could draft in a local wine expert to help train your taste buds. Ask for a cheeky little donation for the wine tasters.

89. Happy holiday – make your boss the most popular person in the office by getting them to donate a day’s holiday as a raffle prize.

90. Face painting – are you a tiger or a pussycat? Bring out the animal in you.

91. Macmillan challenge events – feeling adventurous? Join Team Macmillan and take part in some incredible events overseas.

92. Virtual challenge – get sponsored to swim the English Channel in your local pool or cycle America’s route 66 without leaving your own gym. All you have to do is work out how far they are and then cover that distance. And remember, you don’t have to do it all in one go.

93. Indoor games evening – go traditional with some pub games – dominoes, skittles or shove ha’penny, anyone?

94. Bring and buy sale – Macmillan proverb; one man’s unwanted Christmas jumper is another man’s golfing sweater.

95. Shiny happy people – have you noticed how many people wear less than shiny shoes? Offer your colleagues a quick shoe-shine in your work’s reception.

96. Darts competition – game on! Step up to the oche and hit those bullseyes and treble tops. A game of arrows is popular with all ages.

97. Toast the nation – sample the food, drink and music of another country for an evening.

98. Supersize my snack – make your own giant chocolate bar or packet of crisps.

99. Bad taste day – there’s no accounting for taste. Or is there? Ask colleagues or friends to pay to express their bad taste. Get everyone to come to work or go out in their worst tie, bad hair or most garish clothes. And those that refuse pay a fine.

100. Speed dating – play cupid by organising a matchmaking event. As well as being a great way to match up your pals, it’s a sure fire way to raise oodles of cash.