Fundraising Ideas for Our Water Friends
There are many problems affecting our oceans and the animals that live there. From litter ending up in the ocean, to overfishing, and oil spills, our water friends face many dangers. But there are many different ways that you can help! Check out this list of different fundraising ideas and other ways to help protect ocean creatures.
T-shirt Fundraising
T-shirt fundraisers are a great way to gather donations and promote a cause. Supporters not only help a great cause, but they also get a little memorable tee in return. The fundraising potential is endless! Launching your campaign on inktothepeople.com makes the process super easy and free! You don’t have to keep track of inventory or take care of shipping, just launch your design and promote it on social media!
Make Your Own Clean up Crew
In 2021 so far, over 6 million tons of plastic waste have ended up in the ocean. Even if it originated inland, it can still be carried to the ocean by streams and rivers. Organize your own local cleanup crew to pick up trash and prevent it from entering waterways, and ultimately the oceans! Some groups will charge a small participation fee that can be donated. You can even design a custom t-shirt for your cleanup crew, launch a campaign on inktothepeople.com and donate the funds!
Another major issue is single use plastic bags. It is estimated that around 300 million plastic bags end up in the Atlantic Ocean every year. This is especially dangerous because animals like dolphins and sea turtles will eat them thinking they are squids or jellyfish and they can die from it. Instead of using disposable bags when shopping, try a reusable canvas tote. You can even create your own on inktothepeople.com with a message or image to spread awareness about protecting ocean life!
Organize a Local Educational Event
Maybe you want to bring more awareness to these issues? The more people know about ocean creatures, the more they will care about them and want to help protect them. Organize an event in your community to celebrate World Whale and Dolphin Day and educate people about the issues ocean creatures are facing. Launch a campaign on inktothepeople.com to get t-shirts for your event and donate the proceeds to an ocean conservation nonprofit. We have several templates available to get you started.
Host a 5K Run
Hosting a 5k run is another great way to raise awareness and funds for our aquatic friends. At the events you can have people use hashtags on social media, display information about issues that sea creatures are facing to educate the public, and hand out t-shirts to race participants to spread awareness. You can make the event more eco friendly by offering recycling receptacles to reduce littering and encouraging runners and event viewers to bring reusable water or providing paper cups at watering stations instead of single use plastic bottles.
Electronics Recycling Drive
Incorrectly disposing of electronics is bad for the planet. However, plenty of electronics can be recycled and recycling centers will often pay you a small amount for your electronics! So holding a recycling drive is another way that you can raise money to help save the dolphins. Have people in your community bring in their old laptops, cellphones, tablets, cameras, etc. Don’t forget to keep your audience updated by letting them know when you reach milestones like “100 phones collected” or “50 laptops donated.”
Penny Wars
Penny Wars are a fun way to fundraise by channeling people’s competitive spirit! Have participants sign up for teams and offer a prize for the winning team. Penny Wars work by setting out a collection container for each team to collect their team’s donations. The goal is to collect the most money through coin donations. Any paper money donated will subtract from that team’s coin donation total. For example, if Team A raises $30 in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters but Team B donates $5 in paper dollars to Team A’s collection container then Team A’s total is $25. The full $35 collected is donated to the Team A’s charity but only coins count towards the final total for the contest. This collection method is popular with summer camps, schools, or in the office. Be sure to keep participants updated on the totals to encourage more donations for the team!
Bake Sale
An oldie but a goodie, bake sales are another great way to fundraise. Gather some volunteers and bake your best treats! Make sure to create a sign-up sheet where volunteers will let you know what baked goods they will be bringing so that you don’t end up with too much of the same thing. Also be sure to have them include an index card with the ingredients list in case any of your customers have any allergens they need to avoid.
Donate to a Non-profit!
After all that fundraising, I bet you’re wondering where to donate the funds to? There are several nonprofits that work to help ocean life. Here is a list of some organizations and how they are helping to protect sea creatures.
Oceana — Ocean seeks to increase biodiversity in the oceans by changing policy and regulations in places that govern most of the world’s marine life.
The Ocean Conservancy — The Ocean Conservancy aims to protect the ocean for future generations.
Project AWARE Foundation — Project Aware is a movement by scuba divers around the world to protect the oceans. They focus on cleaning up debris in the oceans to make the oceans safer and healthier for ocean creatures.
The Dolphin Project — The Dolphin Project is an organization that aims to protect dolphins around the world by educating the public about captive dolphins. They also retire or release captive dolphins when they can. Their mission is to end exploitation and slaughter of dolphins and put an end to dolphin captivity.
There are plenty of ways to fundraise for your cause. From a lot of effort to no effort at all there is a way for everyone to get involved.
So stop Wishing and Start Doing! Launch your T-shirt Fundraiser today!
