When you think of Valentine’s Day, you probably don’t think of successful fundraising efforts. But, Valentine's Day fundraisers are a lovely way to raise money for your nonprofit. Donors are in a generous mood, and giving to a good cause is always a more caring and romantic gesture than “giving” to a large corporation.
We’ve come up with 21 fresh Valentine fundraiser ideas to help your nonprofit standout and share the love.
Best Valentine's Day fundraising ideas for school.
A few virtual valentine's day fundraiser ideas.
Valentine's Day fundraiser ideas that are full of love.
Easy Valentine's Day fundraising events.
Funny Valentine’s Day fundraisers.
Popular Valentine’s Day fundraisers.
Best tips for making your Valentine’s day fundraising successful.
Best Valentine's Day fundraising ideas for school.
When it comes to Valentines Day, schools are where it’s at. From day cares to high schools, students love making cards for mom, asking their crush to dance, or working up the courage to send a candy gram.
Explore our top fundraising ideas for schools:
Get creative with candy grams.
Set up a table in the cafeteria or hallway so students, teachers and parents can purchase and send candy grams to their friends, teachers, or colleagues.
Get creative and include a custom wrapped candy gift option (like Hershey’s Kiss) or part of a love song with every message.
Valentine’s Day dance.
A Valentine's Day dance or party is a perfect valentines day fundraiser for schools.
You can sell tickets, get volunteers to make lovey-dovey drinks and snacks, ask a DJ to help out, and decorate your gym or cafeteria in red and gold for a fun and memorable afternoon or evening. And, if you've got younger kids to plan for, maybe a pizza party or craft workshop would work just as well.
Craft workshop.
Teachers, students, and parents all love a good old fashioned craft workshop.
Students can make their own Valentine's Day cards, gifts, and crafts. You can provide the basics and ask for a donation for any of the extras you might have. (Think gold paper, candies, picture frames, delivery, etc.)
Blind date book sale.
A blind date book sale is a great Valentine's Day twist on classic fundraising event.
Collect donated books and wrap them in some love-themed gift paper. Label them with intriguing clues rather than titles so people can purchase a book without knowing the title. You can even set up a few comfy nooks and sell some Valentine's Day drinks and snacks so people can get to know their new books.
And, if your students are a little older, consider holding your event in a local coffee shop. (The barista might even create a Valentine's day drink!)
A few virtual Valentine's Day fundraiser ideas.
It’s easy to forget that there are more and more couples out there doing the long distance dating thing. Help them out by hosting one of these virtual Valentine's Day fundraising events.
Love themed art auction.
Organizing an art auction or silent auction featuring love-themed artwork is a pretty perfect way to celebrate Valentine's Day, raise money, support local artists, and help donors find creative and original gifts.
Reach out to local artists or art students who are willing to donate pieces for your cause and use an eCommerce site to set up your virtual art love themed art auction.
Virtual speed dating.
A virtual speed dating event is the perfect way for singles to mingle without the stress (or cost) of heading out to a restaurant or bar packed with couples.
Plan a few ice-breakers, sell tickets, hand out a few suggested questions, and then set up break-out rooms for people to get to know each other. Every 2-5 minutes, switch!
Online dinner for two cooking class.
Cooking together is an intimate and romantic way to spend an evening. But, what about all those long distance couples out there? Well, an online dinner for two is as romantic as it gets for them.
Partner up with a local chef, kitchen store, or restaurant to offer a dinner for two. Send them the ingredients or a shopping list, have the chef walk everyone through preparing their meal, and then leave them to it.
Valentine's Day fundraiser ideas that are full of love.
Okay so, all of the ideas in this list are full of love. But, these fundraising ideas for Valentine's Day take love to the next level.
Date night raffle.
It doesn’t get any more valentine-y than hosting a raffle for a romantic date night out. The prize could including dinner at a local restaurant, movie tickets, or even an afternoon at a spa.
Romantic movie night.
A movie night featuring romantic films is a lovely way to spend Valentine’s Day.
Movie theatre’s are great, but they’re not the most romantic places on earth. So, set up a bunch of cozy and private nooks, sell drinks and love-themed snacks, and put on a love-filled movie or two.
Couples cooking class.
Cooking together is an intimate and romantic way to spend an evening. Partner up with local restaurants, chefs, or a kitchen store to offer a couple's cooking class. You can sell flowers, pre-made deserts, or a wine tasting event to raise additional funds.
Nothing but love songs karaoke night.
What better way to show your love than to serenade your partner?! And, a karaoke night is probably the best way to do that.
Attendees can sign up to sing their favourite love songs or dedicate songs to others—all for a donation of course. Make a night out of it by selling drinks and snacks to raise funds.
Set up a kissing booth!
This one’s pretty self-explanatory. But, it works! All you need is a booth (or table) with a few hearts and some brave volunteers to provide the kisses! You can even charge different amounts for different kisses.
Oh! And remember to recruit a variety of people. Everyone has their type!
Easy Valentine's Day fundraising events.
Not all of us have the time to plan an epic romantic gesture for our Valentines fundraiser. So, we came up with a few easy event ideas.
Valentines Day pyjama party.
A cozy pyjama party with activities like board games, movies, and a hot chocolate bar sounds like a pretty perfect way to spend Valentines Day to us!
Chocolate tasting workshop.
Partner up with a local coffee shop, chocolatier, or bakery for a chocolate tasting event. Donors and their partners can pay to sample and vote on their favourite chocolates. You can even up your fundraising efforts by selling heart shaped chocolates.
Couples photo shoot.
Ask a local photographer to set up a couple's photo shoot.
Set up a booth with various backgrounds and props so participants can make their photo, theirs.
You can offer different packages (digital, prints, framed, etc.), sell flowers, and even partner with a local hotel so couples can extend their romantic outing.
Funny Valentine’s Day fundraisers.
The fastest way to someone’s heart? Laughter. Or is it food? Maybe both…
Love your pets photo booth.
The only thing people love more than their pets is taking pictures of their pets.
So, partner up with a local pet store or animal shelter to set up a Valentine's Day-themed photo booth for pets where pet owners can pay for a professional photo of their furry friends.
Puppy snuggling booth.
We’ve all heard of a kissing booth, but have you heard of a puppy snuggling booth?!
It’s easy and arguably a lot more fun than your classic kissing booth. All you have to do is set up a cozy space full of adorable puppies from a local animal shelter and ask donors to pay for a cuddle and a photo with the puppies.
Anti-Valentines Day party.
For every person who just loves Valentine's Day, there’s one who could really do without. (They may not even think it's an official holiday.) But, that doesn’t mean they aren’t willing to contribute to your cause.
Plan an "Anti-Valentine's Day" event for those who just aren't fans of the holiday. Include activities like breakup piñata smashing or worst date storytelling. Oh, and make sure your decorations, drinks, and snacks are decidedly un-Valentine-y.
Popular Valentine’s Day fundraisers.
If you’re into tradition and classic gestures of love, these ideas are for you.
Valentine’s Day coupon book.
A Valentine's Day coupon book is a fun way to encage your whole community.
Create a coupon book with Valentine's Day discounts or special offers from local businesses and be sure to include a QR code to your donation page. The tricky part: planning ahead.
Rose sale.
It might be cliché, but that doesn’t mean people don’t love it!
Sell roses individually or in bouquets (you can team up with a local florist). Consider offering different colours and packaging options and offer delivery for an additional fee.
Heart health awareness campaign.
We often forget that Valentine's Day is about showing your loved ones that you, well, love them.
What better way to do that than to remind them to take care of their (and your) heart by coupling up with a local health organization to host an event focused on heart health.
You can raise awareness by hosting health screenings, workshops, and fitness activities, with proceeds going to your cause.
Best tips for making your Valentine’s day fundraising successful.
Now that you’ve got a few fundraising ideas for Valentine's Day, you have to plan it. Don’t worry! We’ve got a few tips to help with that too.
Find an online fundraising platform for nonprofits.
This may sound obvious, but the sooner you find a fundraising platform the easier your life will be. We’re partial to the free ones like Zeffy.
We know, this sounds like we’re promoting ourselves, and we are. But, hear us out. Choosing a platform that fits your needs while saving you money is an important step in organizing any event.
Choose a memorable name for your Valentine's Day fundraiser.
We thought we’d add this one to the list because finding a name is often left to the last minute. We’re not saying you need to spend hours on coming up with the perfect name, but a little thought can go a long way to making your event more memorable.
Here are few examples:
Nothing says I love you like puppy snuggles. (For a puppy snuggling booth.)
Kisses for [insert your cause here].
Share the love. (For a candy gram fundraiser.)
Cook up a little love.
For the love of [insert your cause here].
Put your heart into it. (Heart health awareness campaign.)
Lonely hearts speed dating.
Accept in person payments at your events.
It’s almost always worth selling drinks, snacks, tickets etc. at your events. Zeffy’s Tap-to-Pay app is a 100% free way for your nonprofit to accept in person payments via debit or credit card. And, all you need is an iPhone.
Reaching out to local businesses can be intimidating.
Keeping your overhead low is important for every nonprofit and a good way to do that is by asking local businesses to lend a hand. We’ve created a few resources to help:
How to get corporate sponsors for your nonprofit.
How to get companies to sponsor you.
How to write a sponsorship proposal.
Make your Valentine’s Day fundraiser a success with Zeffy.
You may be busy planning your nonprofit’s Valentine's Day fundraiser, but finding a platform that’s customizable so you can create and host as many different events as you need and, most importantly, help keep track of sales, attendees, meals, raffle tickets, merch sales, etc. is probably a good move.
Luckily, Zeffy can do it all (or almost all).
A few examples of what Zeffy (or other event registration platforms for nonprofits) can help you with:
- Event ticketing for half a cart, individuals, dinner only, or just donations.
- Raffle ticket sales.
- Meal choices and dietary restrictions.
- Group creation and peer-to-peer fundraising options.
- Tax receipts.
Most ticketing platforms will cost you around 7% of the ticket price. Zeffy's different. Zeffy doesn’t charge any fees (we even cover transaction fees) for any of our services. So, 100% of what is paid actually goes to your nonprofit.
