Pledge It

Tips & Guides

Performance-Based Fundraising Ideas

Performance-based fundraising (pledging per mile or pledging per rep) is an excellent way to unleash the potential of your community to raise money by enabling participants to collect pledges for every activity they complete. Here are some of our favorite examples of creative and successful campaigns.

1. Virtual Mileage Challenge

Uplifting Athletes challenged their community to get involved in a virtual fitness campaign by walking, running, biking, or any other type of activity. Their goal was to collectively complete 7,000 miles to raise awareness for the more than 7,000 known rare diseases. Participants were not restricted by the type of activity, their fitness ability, or even geography. Participants around the country tracked their mileage, earned pledges, and made every mile count for Uplifting Athletes!

More information: Uplifting Athletes 7,000 Miles Challenge

2. World’s Largest Improv Scene

An Improv Nonprofit had its sights set on a new accolade and a unique fundraiser. The goal was to have the most performers in one improv scene ever recorded! Supporters pledged per performer on stage during the big scene. The entire community was able to come together for a night of fun, entertainment, and counting performers on stage.

3. Golf Marathon: Not a traditional golf event

First Tee of Greater Charleston did not want to do a typical golf outing, so they challenged each of their passionate supporters to complete 100 holes of golf in just one day. During the weeks leading up to the event, friends and family showed their support by pledging per hole of golf played. Participants engaged in friendly competition on the course as well as on Pledge Its virtual fundraiser leaderboard. The result was an extremely memorable and successful event.

More information: First Tee of Greater Charleston 100 Hole Hike

4. Hot Wing Eating Challenge

A local organization teamed up with their United Way Chapter for a truly unique fundraiser. Participants set out to eat as many hot wings as possible. Pledges were based on the number of hot wings each participant ate. Together, the entire organization survived hundreds of hot wings and raised funds for United Way!

5. Burpee-A-Thon

OUTAthletics has a strong history and connection with the fitness industry, particularly within the CrossFit community so when deciding how to create a new, engaging peer-to-peer fundraiser, their choice was clear. OUTAthletics created their burpee-a-thon because performing burpees was accessible to nearly everyone in their community, could be completed virtually with no fitness equipment and created a challenging competition to appeal to their fitness-minded audience. During the weeks leading up to the event, participants recruited supporters by asking their network to pledge per burpee completed. On the day of the burpee challenge OUTAthletcs relied on Pledge It's performance-based fundraising and real-time leaderboards to showcase a fun and unique virtual fitness challenge.

More information: OUTAthletics Burpee-A-Thon

Other unique and notable campaign ideas:

Archery Point Challenge - Archers participated in a skills challenge and received pledges based on the amount of points they earned. They used the sport they love and this interesting challenge to support families of local cancer patients.

Free Throw Challenge - A community in need of a renovations to their creative arts center asked individuals to participate in a free throw challenge. Anyone with a basketball and hoop was encourage to participate. Each participant collected pledges and donations based on the number of free throws made out of 100 attempts. This fun and active challenge was both simple and effective.

Bird Watching - A nature conservatory set out to raise funds to support land preservation. When deciding how to celebrate the benefits of conservation, bird watching was at the top of the list! So the conservatory offered their community the opportunity to join the Bird-A-Thon and collect pledges for every bird species spotted during their event. Performance-based giving inspired the conservatory's supporters to raise money for an important cause while doing what they loved.

Movie Marathon - A nonprofit in search of a winter fundraiser used their love of movies to make a difference. The result was a movie marathon, movies with one specific actor were watched throughout an entire month. Donors pledged based on the total number of movies completed by the end of the 4 weeks.

Weight Loss - It can be hard to stay motivated while trying to lose weight. That is how one weight loss journey was turned into a fundraising campaign. Donors pledged per pound lost and proceeds benefited a worthy nonprofit. Truly a win-win.

Share this Story:

Published on January 29, 2021

by Suzanne Rupe

Talk to an Expert

Are you a nonprofit looking to get started?

Talk to an Expert

Copyright ©2024 Pledge Platform IncTerms of ServicePrivacy Policy