A
- "Some Assembly Required" Service - during the holidays, a service for those folks who don't know how to put all the parts together. You can help assemble toys, bikes, exercise equipment - anything gift givers and receivers dread putting together during the holidays.
- Have pre-school and elementary students produce great art and have a show. Parents and friends buy back their budding artists' masterpieces. 
- Even if you have sent out letters, be sure to carry a sponsor/donation form with you so that when you talk to people about the Relay, you can ask them to donate right then. Take those sheets with you to meetings. When you carry a sponsor/donation form with you, indicate your own contribution at the top. Make sure the top few donations form are more significant. Other people are apt to follow suite; conversely, if you start with a $2 contribution, others may follow with $2. Don't prejudge whether people will give. Let them say no or ignore your letter rather than not ask.
- Assemble everyone together in your cafeteria, or some other general meeting area, and auction off a picnic lunch your team has prepared.
- This is a great fundraiser for churches! Team members can each make a picnic lunch which can be raffled off after the service. Who could resist a ready-made Sunday dinner!?!
- Have the boss or department heads as your assistant for a day at work.
B
- Babysitters are always a commodity!
- Where co-workers pay so they don't have to bake goodies.
- Who can resist homemade yummies?
- Sell tickets and host a chicken barbecue!
...ask participants to donate their winnings!
...Have neighborhood block party...sell food and charge admission!!
- Get rid of old books you know you'll never read again. Dust those bookshelves and have a book sale! This can be a great individual or group fundraiser.
- Allow people to bid on being the boss for the day - high bid wins!
- At an elementary school, each student was given a collection envelope to take home in order to collect pledges for bouncing a basketball for one 1/2 hour. Each class in the school takes turns gathering in the front hall throughout the day to bounce their basketballs.
- Ask a local florist to donate one bouquet of flowers for given time period (i.e. January, February, and March) then have the employees take a chance to win some "springtime" for their desk.
- $1 gives you the chance to throw 2 balls (toy bowling set). If you strike your name is entered into a drawing two times. If you spare with your second ball, your name is entered into the drawing once. Team is to solicit a nice prize for the drawing.
- Go bowling with friends and collect donations for the Relay For Life.
C
- Team can wash car windows at fast food restaurant's drive through window.
during the business day for customers and employees alike.
- Secure an old car, write in bold letters CANCER across the car, and for a donation you get to "smash cancer" three times with a sledge hammer.
- "Dress down for cancer" - and employees pay to dress casually.
- Fast food restaurants team up with TV celebrities to serve up the hamburgers. The restaurant donates a percentage of the evening in support of Relay For Life.
- "A Little Change Makes a Lot of Cents" - bank and credit unions post this message at the teller line, "donate the 'cents' from your deposit to the (name of team) Relay For Life Team and help fight the war against cancer. If your check total is for $185.67, your donation is just .67 cents. We might just find the cure for cancer right in your pocket".
Some radio stations may gladly put your challenge on the radio.
- Get the boss to agree that if every team member raises their minimum $150 that he'll dress up like a pig, shave his beard, set in the dunking booth, get a pie in the face, etc. This also works well for schools! We know of a principal who has gone as far as letting the kids shave his head bald!
- Keep a change jar in high traffic areas.
- Cajun Style!
- Ask a local retailer to donate $1 for every tree and wreath sold.
- Play carols, serve cookies, decorate a tree, have pictures with Santa, and charge admission.
- Ask a local comedy club to host an evening in support of Relay For Life. Invite all teams to sell tickets. For instance, if a team sells 10 tickets at $10 each they raise $100 for Relay For Life.
- Many teams take advantage by having a craft table/drawings at these festivals.
- In a holiday mood?...Craft tree ornaments and sell them! Sell those homemade treasures!
- Collect recipes from employees and have them published, and sell them. Can be produced for approximately $2 each and sold for $7-$8.
D
- Hair cuts, manicures, massages, and charge a fee.
- NO TIME TO DECORATE...Holiday Decorating Service!
- Provide music at your campsite and other people can pay to dance with your team members.
- Spaghetti dinners, gourmet feasts, chicken barbecues, hog roasts etc.
(dinner for 2, movie tickets, etc.)
- Sock hop, beach party, disco, square dance, dance for senior citizens, etc.
Have a meal day where your team will cook and deliver breakfast, lunch or dinner to other businesses in town. Fax them a few days ahead of time to inform them of the menu, cost and how to order.
Include that in a letter with a self addressed envelope. Consider mailing to:
-Friends
-Relatives
-Co-workers
-Business Associates
-Doctor, dentist, hairdresser, barber
-Church members
-Service club members
-Christmas or Hanukkah card list
-Personal phone directory
-Recipients of your checks
- Ask every employee to contribute to your Relay team fund and in return they will be allowed to "dress down" on a specified day at work.
- An old American cancer Society fundraiser, call the American Cancer Society for Details.
E
- Take orders for an assortment of chocolate Easter eggs.
- Sell tickets for children to eat breakfast with the Easter Bunny.
- Teams generate donations by placing Relay For Life envelopes at every table, stating "Please support our Relay For Life Team and the American Cancer Society". Waitresses check envelopes after each seating.
- never have time...run an errand service.
F
- Sell corsages, your donations will blossom. Sell your extra houseplants or bouquets from your garden!
- 6+ weeks prior to the Relay, a dime from every order of fries sold on Friday from a fast food restaurant goes to your team total.
G
- This team buys the presents for those people that have no time to buy their own presents.
- Teams can set up at the local mall or in a particular store. Mothers Day is an ideal time for teams to offer a gift wrap booth.
- Host a garage sale. This can be a great individual or team fundraiser.
H
- A middle school student asked his dad if he could be on his dad's team, his dad said he had to raise his own $150 and he could. So, the middle school student asked his principal for permission for all students in the school to be allowed to wear hats @ .50 cents a day for a month. This young man, at the end of only one month, raised $1,100.
- Principal at an elementary school agreed that if ALL the teachers would raise $150 each, he would dress up like a hot dog and let the students squirt ketchup, mayonnaise and relish on him.
I
J
- An old American Cancer Society fundraiser. For a donation employees can be arrested and for an additional donation can post their own bail OR employees have a bounty placed on their head, are arrested, and are not set free until the entire bounty is raised ($100+ per inmate).
K
(at the event, when childcare tent is closed) - Offer to baby-sit and entertain the tots for a fee.
- Select three to five well known and well-liked employees. Have the employees choose the individual that they would like to see kiss the pig by purchasing a jelly bean(s) for .50 cents each. The jelly bean(s) will be placed in a jar for that individual. The individual with the most jelly beans will have to Kiss The pig.
L
- While you are mowing your lawn, mow someone else's!
- Write one letter for friends and one for business associates. If you use a computer to personalize your letter (or if you hand-write them), thank them for the specific amount they gave last year. Send letters around the middle of May for a late-June event. Consider the last pay day before the event - a time when lots of people write checks.
* Ask to have the checks returned to you by the middle of June - it's harder for people to ignore when there is a due date other that the event date.
- What a great GIFT during the holidays (Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, etc.)
M
- Rent short videos (old, classic films are great) and have a movie week during lunch hour. Charge admission and invite employees to eat their lunch while they watch.
- Ask your CEO/President to match the total raised by your team or to be the leading donor for your team.
N
O
P
Host a pancake breakfast in the months leading up to Relay -OR- at the Relay on Saturday morning. Contact the Organizing Committee if you are interested in doing this at the Relay.
- Employees can make their own contribution by having it deducted directly from their paycheck.
- Popular with school teams.
- Designate a percentage of one day's sales or proceeds and let the public know so they will buy more.
- Love pets?...walk someone's dog!
- Find which fruit is in season and sell your delicious pies!
- name every Wednesday "Relay For Life Pot Luck Day" - team members take turns preparing foods, salads. desserts, etc. and offer to employees at the workplace at a set price or a donation.
- Gather employee baby pictures, have donation jars set up as votes. The jar with the most donations wins!!! Get prizes donated for the winners.
- Think of an item that you can sell in your community. School-related items like mugs, flags, sweatshirts, bags, blankets etc. are always great. Other good items are frozen cookie dough, frozen pizzas, light bulbs, personalized notepads etc. Contact your local advertising specialties salesperson for more ideas.
Q
- Quilt made by employees themselves & sell quilt squares in honor & memory of people with cancer; squares of 4x4 for $5, 8x8 for $15, and 12x12 for $25.
Raffle off a quilt with the proceeds going to Relay for Life. Ask a local business if you can display the quilt in their storefront.
R
- Make your living room a bingo hall & invite your neighbors. $10 donations to play. Get prizes donated for the winners.
- The neighborhood teens can get together for an evening of fun and music in your family room and other parents can pay to not have the noise at their house.
- Cater a romantic dinner for two.
S
- Into photography?...Take candid shots around community, schools, etc. & sell to subject! Or take photos at a friend's wedding. Professional or semi-professional photographers could set aside a day for "babies only" and take baby pictures at a special price with proceeds going to Relay For Life.
- Get a group together for roller skating or skate boarding with each person making a donation.
- Host a spaghetti supper at a local church. Charge for dinner (spaghetti is cheap to make and you can usually get donations for the ingredients). During the meal, have donated items on display for people to bid on. You can auction off anything from beanie babies, lawn mowing services, homemade pies, collectables, etc... At a certain time, close the bids, and the highest bidder gets the item.
- Ask your neighborhood to sponsor a team. Ask a business you regularly support to be a $100 contributor.
- Teams organize bowling, hockey, basketball and soccer tournaments.
- Set up challenge matches between individuals or departments for bowling, tennis, racquetball, softball, or other sports. Charge an entry fee and admission fee.
T
- How about the profits from a Tupperware party! Ask your local sales rep about their fundraising brochure!
- Offer a dollar to win your Thanksgiving/Christmas turkey.
- Encourage sub/pizza shops to donate a set amount (.50 cents) from each cold turkey sub sold to benefit your Relay For Life team.
U
V
- Coordinate with your vendor to add .05 cents to the cost of a snack or soft drink prior to the Relay, with the extra nickel going to your team total.
- How many times can you watch Forrest Gump? Could also be coordinated with a book sale.
- Select three to five well-known & well-liked employees (must be men) and have the employees cast their vote ($1 donation) for the individual they would like to see dress like a woman. Individuals with the most votes will spend the entire work-day dressed like a woman.
W
- As with any other fundraiser, but especially with this one, the wine MUST be donated and all the liquor liability laws must be adhered to.
X
Y
- Place plastic pink flamingos, wooden cows, or even a purple & pink port-a-potties in the front yard of unsuspecting donors...request a donation for them to be removed, an additional donation for the homeowner to pick whose yard they are to be placed next, and another donation as "insurance" that they don't wind up back in their yard again.
- Hold the ultimate yard sale. This is a great individual or group fundraiser.
Z