Find out just how competitive your community members are by advertising a bake-off. Charge a small fee for entering the contest. Limit the bake-off to cakes and pies or include cookies, scones and other treats. Choose three judges who divide a slice or piece among themselves to critique, and sell off the rest of the goodies to raise more money for your cause. Award the winner with a new pie pan and an inexpensive trophy. Give the first and second runners-up ribbons.
Ask members of your group, club or school to donate bags of large potatoes. Use these potatoes in a potato bar. Fish fries and spaghetti dinners can be expensive, time-consuming undertakings. However, potatoes are relatively easy to prepare since all you have to do is bake and serve, allowing those who attend the fundraiser to create their own spud masterpieces. Bake these potatoes in three large chicken smokers or grills to accommodate a large crowd. Line a long table with bowls of sour cream, butter, onions, bacon bits, and other vegetables and trimmings. Charge a set fee or allow donations of any amount.
Invite students and friends to raise money so they can put a pie in your face. Anyone who raises at least $10 in pledges gets one pie. For every $5 over that amount, another pie is added to their arsenals. Charge spectators a buck just to watch. This fun and easy fundraising idea all but guarantees plenty of laughs and, of course, a huge mess.
Charge people a dollar to guess how many gumballs are in a large jar. The prize is the gumballs and a gift certificate for two to a local restaurant or a cash prize. Run the contest for a month, moving the jar to a different location each week to expose more people to the contest. Display it at restaurants, gas stations or grocery stores. Next to the jar of gumballs, place small envelopes onto which contestants write their names and phone numbers and place their guesses. Inside the envelopes they place their money and slip it into another jar that is emptied each day.