Fundraising Ideas! by Jen

LiBerry Fest - Heather Marek

2025-11-14 22:38:23 UTC

I stumbled across this awhile back on Facebook and thought it was such a fun idea. This is a big event put on by the John Trigg Ester Library in Ester, Alaska. It is a music festival and pie competition. They auction off the winning pies and other pies (not in the competition) get sold by the slice. This could also be done on a smaller scale with just the pie competition at a local fair or event if you did not have the resources for a full music festival.

Fundraising Ideas

lmelde1 — 2025-11-16 01:03:47 UTC

They got an author to sign 100 murals and then they sold them to patrons. They sold the murals to patrons for 210 per print. The patrons who purchased the mural would get a free one-year membership to the library! There was another one in Elm Grove, Wisconsin that sold huge "bookie cookies" for fundraising, the cookies were over 4 inches in diameter and sold for their Memorial Day bake sale. Another in Random Lake, Wisconsin that promised to raise $200,000 toward the renovation of the auditorium to the library. They held many fundraisers including, bake sales, pizza sales, candy sales, rummage sales, quilt raffles, pancake breakfasts, a holiday homes tour, a "Kids R Kute" contest, cabin fever reliever (a talent show), tulip bulb sales, Christmas holly sales, Valentine's Day cheesecake sales, used book sales, and a campaign for direct contributions!

Antique Appraisal

2025-11-17 18:43:11 UTC

This is a program that was done by a library in my county back in April, that the Friends group at my library will be doing next year. Mark Moran, a professional antique appraiser, will be visiting and appraising items brought by people in the community. Patrons have to sign up, and will pay $15 for the appraisal. The $15 is split between paying for his appearance and a donation to the Friends.

The Monticello Library said it was a very successful event and they are hosting him again this year.

-Sarah Carpenter

Family Feud Night - Claire Sohrweide

2025-11-17 19:05:31 UTC

I saw that the Muehl Public Library hosted a Family Feud night that looked pretty fun! They made it a community event by basing the game on a local survey they took, which made the night more fun for everyone there. The free admission kept it accessible, and they raised money with a raffle for cash and prizes, plus food for purchase. This event gives everyone a fun night and celebrates libraries and community too. I think this fundraiser can easily be changed to fit each community; you can take a survey specific to your community, or you can change the game to a themed trivia night, or jeopardy, and change the questions to fit topics the community knows.

Masquerade & Silent Auction

canderson265_1 — 2025-11-18 01:19:07 UTC

I found this event that I library I use to leave close to did this past October. I like how they are combining their silent auction and an intriguing event that promises mystery, fun, and surprises. Grabbing attention with a themed gathering and adding a masquerade event will draw attention and get people to come have fun and take a look at the silent auction that will make money for the library. I’m actually thinking of doing something similar in my community to reach patrons that I might not otherwise.

Library Mini Golf - Carissa Briski

2025-11-18 11:40:13 UTC

I found a fun unconventional idea for a fundraiser, library mini golf! Trumbull (CT) Public Library staged a mini golf course to raise money for the libraries that were damaged in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. They were able to donate $40,000 from this event and they have since packaged their model. I think this would be a fun event for everyone and there have been no reports of damage to the building or the materials.

Holiday Silent Auction- Betty Mccoy

2025-11-18 15:41:30 UTC

I was actually able to help my local library this month to gather donations for their holiday silent auction. It is running most of the month of November and all the funds raised will go towards programming and other needs of the library. I had so much fun helping send out donation requests as well as having the privilege to personally drop off a couple donations from my community. Most of the items collected were gift certificates from local businesses and had made or hand picked gift baskets.

The friend's bookstore. Elijah Burzinski.

2025-11-18 17:37:50 UTC

Friends of central Arkansas libraries is a nonprofit organization that raises money and support for the Central Arkansas Library System. And it functions as a "Friends of the Library" group, which are common non-profit support organizations for public libraries across the country.

The friends of the central Arkansas Libraries sells Books: Both new and old, Gifts: Including literary and novelty goods, Local crafts: Handmade items from local artists, such as pottery, jewelry, and paintings, Book totes, Membership: Friends of CALS memberships can be purchased, which may include discounts at the bookstore and galleries.

Only a couple of hours can make the equivalent of several weeks of sales.

All money raised in the sale goes to Six Bridges Book Festival, book club kits, and youth programs. And to other programs and services that are not covered by the library's main budget.

All of this can easily be done in my own community as the library can make people aware of the sale happening by radio, Facebook, On the library web site, and flyers around the library. The sale can happen in the basement as there is plenty of room down there.

Seasonal Train Event- Abigail Baker

2025-11-18 18:57:22 UTC

I found this event that the friends at the LE Phillips Library are running, starting December 6th to the 27th. It is run by volunteers of the Standard Gauge Model Association, and features toy trains from 1906 to 1940. There's also a scavenger hunt! I think this is a really great event, especially for families to bring their kids to. This isn't set up as a fundraising event, but I think it could easily become one by either charging a small fee, such as $5 for adults, or by some other method!

Gift Wrapping-Amy C Webb

2025-11-18 19:36:46 UTC

This one jumped out to me since it is the holiday season. Instead of selling wrapping paper... providing gift wrapping services for people. I know malls are pretty much a thing of the past but using a school gym, cafeteria, or other large meeting space and wrapping gifts for people. You can charge by size, number of gifts, or other divisions. I like size because that can be easier to set prices. For people that want to volunteer but can't wrap they can act as cashier, crowd control, helping customers with carrying items, or just runners doing whatever tasks need to be done. I really love how this can be done by pretty much any age group but would probably work best with high school and up especially for having the younger people help.

Blind Date with a Book / Cards - Amy Weaver

2025-11-18 20:15:20 UTC

Our Friends group has started wrapping "like new" donated books (selected after their biannual book sales) - in a unique way so there is a pocket on the front. They add decorations (stickers, ribbon, etc.) and tuck fun things into the pocket like a fun bookmark, sticker, or tea bag). They also add something about the book on the front, like genre, Goodreads rating, and maybe a short description or the first line from the book. They have been selling these for $5 each and have sold out the two times they did it this year already. They made $170 during our last book sale just on the "Blind Date Books". They also had an experienced card maker who was trying to use up some of her stash, donating cards to their "sale shelf" at the library. We sold them for $1 and they were more beautiful than a Hallmark and very popular!

City-Wide Scavenger Hunt

2025-11-19 03:16:08 UTC

I think a City-Wide Scavenger Hunt would be so much fun. You could have a participation fee for the teams and/or have sponsors for each of the clues or items/locations. Bayfield has a lot of tourists in the summer so it could also be a fun thing to offer to people that aren't from here to get to know the town a bit better. I love the idea of people running around town trying to figure out clues and complete tasks, all for a good cause!

~Rose Havlik

Board Game Competition

2025-11-19 16:16:32 UTC

The idea here is to pick a board game (maybe one each week) and have a bracket elimination competition, you could even spice it up and have each bracket have a different board game. Picking classic games such as chess, catan, or scrabble or silly interactive games for younger audiences such as sorry, connect four, or uno. You would have a entry charge (for bracket entry) and prizes. For kiddo events, they might be pocket change like a dollar, for adult events 5-10 depending on the prizes at stake. Of course you would also have extra games for other patrons to play as well!

Similarly you could host rarer games such as Blood on the Clocktower, Exotic TTRPGs, or competitive card games such as Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, or Yugioh, with a professional host, and a entry fee and prizes. Games such as these benefit from professional adjudicators for high stakes play, which will give the event more of a formal feel. Also sometimes it can be hard to find local professional sources for these sorts of games (save MTG lol) so it also doubles in potentially bringing in new patrons!

These would likely be beneficial as part of a series of events, rather than one isolated fundraising event. Also it creates fun for the community, and if it goes well could be the start of something larger!

Chaser M

Coffee/Tea at the Library

2025-11-20 22:51:42 UTC

I wanted to combine my favorite things coffee/tea and books. My idea would be to have people pay a certain amount for a cup of tea or coffee. I think that this would be fun to combine with a library book sale. I like the idea of having this event outside, but in October/November. People can drink their hot drinks in front of the library, while they are looking at books. I think that this event might be a fun thing for people to come to that don't use the library often. I think I would plan it for a Saturday morning at 9 to around 4. I think that this would give people enough time so that they would not have to feel like they needed to get up really early on Saturday. I also think that it would be fun for people to maybe do a little Christmas shopping! Marretta Osthus

2025-11-21 01:59:27 UTC

This was a fundraiser idea that I found from the Nashville Public Library that I thought was unique. They pick a book theme and create an afternoon of family friendly fun. It's a way to showcase programs at the library like story time, puppet show, crafting etc. but also have food, games, visits from storybook characters, and face painting. It's also an opportunity to partner with community partners as well, especially for smaller communities. The Nashville library charges tickets for the event which may not make it accessible for everyone, but depending on the communities there's plenty of opportunity to figure out how to make it work for different communities.

Baking Competition - Emma Cassman

2025-11-22 02:32:58 UTC

I think a great fundraising idea would be having local community members volunteer and bake baked goods for a competition, other community members could pay for entry/voting or buy any extra baked goods after the voting. The event could be themed around pies, cookies, cakes, or be a general baking competition.

2025-11-22 03:34:26 UTC

10 x10 Sharing Skills and Knowledge

I think an interesting fundraiser would be to find 10 community members who have a skill or knowledge that is valuable and desired by other community members. Every day for 10 days the library has one of the community members volunteer to teach an hour class on their expertise. The goal would be to get 10 participants to sign up in advance, for each class, at a suggested donation cost of $10 per person. Ideas could be: growing plants from cuttings, food preservation, garden prep/seed saving, book binding, how to change a tire on a car, a cooking class, home maintenance, mending, chair yoga, knitting, computer skills, a dance lesson…there are so many options! The goal is $1,000 in 10 days, and connecting community members.

Read-a-thon

2025-11-22 20:30:33 UTC

I love the idea of hosting a read-a-thon and being able to contact local community businesses to sponsor individual readers, or when the goals of minutes or pages read are met. Not only would this be a community-driven fundraiser, but also promote reading and literacy.

Library Mini-Golf Fundraiser

2025-11-24 00:40:54 UTC

Transform the library into a full mini-golf course for a weekend fundraiser! Each section of the library becomes a unique hole with creative, book-themed obstacles—mystery mazes in the mystery section, fairy-tale castles in the children’s area, and “Dewey Decimal Drop” ramps in nonfiction. Staff and volunteers can design the holes using recycled materials, cardboard, and withdrawn books. Families, teens, and adults can pay a small fee to play through the stacks. Offer additional add-ons like scorecards, small prizes, and a “hole-in-one challenge” at the final hole. Local businesses can sponsor individual holes for extra funding and publicity. This event brings new visitors into the library, encourages community engagement, and creates a fun, memorable experience—while raising money to support programs, technology upgrades, and library services.

Recipe Exchange

2025-11-25 01:20:13 UTC

I think it would be a great idea to have a get together and share recipes that have been handed down in the family, new recipes people haven't tried yet, recipes that look good, recipe ideas for kids, any other recipes that people would have an idea for and bring them to the event.

I also think it would be a great idea to make a few examples to go with the recipes. It will also be a draw for people to participate. You could even put up a donation jar for people to donate.

Bingo Event - Tanner Semb

2025-12-15 09:34:21 UTC

I think a good idea for fundraising would be a bingo day. The prizes for the winners could be books, or maybe they could be other things either purchased for the event or donated from individuals or other organizations in the community. Bingo fundraisers were strangely common in my hometown and I always enjoyed going to them with my mom when I was a kid.