Fundraising Thermometers - get creative!

The ‘Fundraising Thermometer’ is a well-loved tool in fundraising

A helpful way to keep everybody motivated towards a common goal.  Instead of saying ‘we have another $5000 to raise before we can refurbish the clubhouse’, a picture not only speak a thousand words, but makes us all motivated to make sure that red line is filled all the way to the top!

While the traditional fundraising thermometers are great, with a little imagination, we can take this concept and make it a lot more fun!

If you are raising money for tree planting, draw a bare tree on a poster and add the right number of leaves as you progress towards your goal.  When the tree is full of leaves, you have reached your goal!

If you are raising money for a playground, get a big black and white picture made of the plan.  As you raise more money towards it, colour it in!

If you are raising money for a classroom set of iPads, draw 30 rectangles on it – as you raise enough for each ipad, stick a printed cutout on each space – everyone will know how far along you are towards reaching your goal!

If you are raising money for the library, draw empty bookshelves on a poster and stick printed book covers on it as you raise more money.

You can see that the options are limitless.  Get the kids involved in coming up with the ideas and creating your masterpiece. You can then all have fun in tracking to your fundraising goals!

images from Pinterest where you will find plenty more ideas

Written by Mandy Weidmann