6 Events You Can Host with Fewer Than 10 Volunteers

A major fundraising event can raise significant revenue for nonprofit organizations. Undoubtedly, larger organizations have an advantage when it comes to recruiting manpower for their fundraisers. But smaller nonprofits can run successful fundraising events even with much smaller volunteer bases. This begs the question: what types of events lend themselves to smaller nonprofits with fewer volunteers?

We’ve thought up six fundraising events you can host with fewer than 10 volunteers.

Scavenger hunts

Scavenger hunts and other treasure hunting games have existed for hundreds of years. That’s plenty of time to perfect scavenger hunt events! It’s possible to run a successful scavenger hunt with 10 or fewer volunteers – especially if you’re in a city with public art installations, unique architecture, and places of historic significance.

Rather than a list of items guests must collect, a new twist on scavenger hunts is having teams take pictures to cross found items/locations off their lists. You can list the scavenger hunt items by name or hint at them with riddles or obscure historical facts.

If going the picture taking route, you can largely eliminate the need for volunteers. You’ll only need volunteers’ help to create clues and tally up the teams’ points to determine which team won.

Want to make gathering their photos even easier? Create a unique Facebook Group for each team, set a scavenger hunt time limit, then base their points on the correct items photographed and uploaded to their Facebook Group. Make sure to elect a team leader and make them a moderator of the group so that they can upload images and post to the group. You could even do the same thing on Instagram! Just make sure all participants tag each of their scavenger hunt photos with a specific hashtag so you can find and track them easily.

The day of the event, volunteers can man the registration/donation table, sell snacks at refreshment stands, and pass out the teams’ scavenger hunt lists.

Tea parties

Another great fundraising event idea you can execute with a handful of volunteers is holding an English-style tea party. This type of event creates a captive audience in a low-key, relaxing atmosphere. Your volunteers should be tasked with brewing different kinds of tea and serving tea to the guests. Designate a couple volunteers to wash teacups between servings of tea while the rest serve the tea and collect cups for washing. Encourage conversation among guests and insert yourself into these chats by milling about and talking to those in attendance.

Offer easy-to-eat finger foods at the table that are prepared ahead of time by a restaurant or bakery. Present them elegantly at the tables on ceramic plates that match the tea set you’re using. Let your guests help themselves to the food. Prepare centerpieces ahead of time and rent a venue that provides tablecloths and furniture rental for your event. They can set up the tables and chairs ahead of the event and you and your volunteers can easily clean up when it’s over. To make the event more interesting, award prizes for best tea party outfits. The winners can be decided by popular vote. Provide examples of high tea styles attendees can emulate or parody.

Documentary/film screenings

Another great fundraising event idea you can execute with a handful of volunteers is holding an English-style tea party. This type of event creates a captive audience in a low-key, relaxing atmosphere. Your volunteers should be tasked with brewing different kinds of tea and serving tea to the guests. Designate a couple volunteers to wash teacups between servings of tea while the rest serve the tea and collect cups for washing. Encourage conversation among guests and insert yourself into these chats by milling about and talking to those in attendance.

Offer easy-to-eat finger foods at the table that are prepared ahead of time by a restaurant or bakery. Present them elegantly at the tables on ceramic plates that match the tea set you’re using. Let your guests help themselves to the food. Prepare centerpieces ahead of time and rent a venue that provides tablecloths and furniture rental for your event. They can set up the tables and chairs ahead of the event and you and your volunteers can easily clean up when it’s over. To make the event more interesting, award prizes for best tea party outfits. The winners can be decided by popular vote. Provide examples of high tea styles attendees can emulate or parody.

Performance events (plays, concerts, poetry readings)

Nonprofit organizations that work to promote and preserve the performing arts can benefit by showcasing their organizations’ offerings. An easy way to accomplish this with few volunteers needed is to invite the community to come see plays, concerts, or poetry readings hosted by your organization. You’ll want to charge for tickets. Your volunteers can also help set up the sound equipment for events like poetry readings. For more involved performances like concerts or plays, it’s likely that members of the crew already possess the knowledge to set up the lighting and sound for their shows. This frees up your volunteers to take tickets and act as ushers.

Small venues make it possible to give guests one-on-one attention and convince them to give. Larger venues earn you a large, captive audience you can ask for support during the opening, intermission, and conclusion of your performances.

Art exhibitions

Fine arts nonprofits can also showcase what donors made possible. Rather than using a live performance to draw a crowd, an art exhibition allows for an elegant event to showcase artists’ work and potentially sell pieces that benefit both artist and nonprofit. Volunteers can set up the event, greet guests, and pass out brochures. Not many are needed for this type of intimate event.

Ask participating artists if they’d like to offer any of their work for sale. For those taking you up on the offer, broker a deal so that your nonprofit earns part of the profits of any potential sales during the exhibit. Invite your donors to see the art your organization’s artists make. You can charge for tickets or accept donations at the event.

Have the curator prepare a presentation and ask for donations during the event. Make sure your fundraising department is in attendance, making connections, and building relationships. If you’ve invited well-known supporters to attend, this could make a good opportunity for a major gift ask.

Volunteer days

For nonprofit organizations offering hands-on services, a way to engage supporters with a fundraising event with only a few volunteers is to ask loyal donors to act as volunteers themselves. A volunteering day event brings donors together to experience the work your nonprofit does by engaging in that work alongside you.

Invite supporters to join you in cleaning up a local park, preparing lunches for the homeless or children who can’t rely on school lunches, walking adoptable dogs, etc. Whatever hands-on work you do creates an opportunity to further connect your supporters with your organization. You can ask donors to register for a fee at your event or offer free registration and conclude the event with an ask to supporters so that you can continue this important work. They’ll see the effort you put in to solve problems in your community, and it strengthens your case for support.

The event can be conducted on site at one of your locations or in a public venue if you need more space. Because your guests are also your volunteers, not a lot of manpower is needed to set up and execute the event. A bonus of this event is the extra help from guests during the event lightens the load for your regular staff and volunteers.

Conclusion

Smaller nonprofits without an army of volunteers can still run successful fundraising events. Knowing types of events that don’t require a lot of volunteers to set up, execute, and tear down can benefit nonprofits of any size! Don’t give up on fundraising events if your pool of volunteers is a little shallow. Focus on events that complement your organization while not requiring significant amounts of work to pull off.

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