A man celebrating with his arms in the air as he runs along the towpath

Fundraising ideas

With over 2,000 miles of canals and rivers to run, walk, pedal or paddle along, you’ll be spoilt for choice for beautiful places to set yourself a challenge.

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Help transform our canals and rivers

Our work simply couldn't happen without our amazing fundraisers, which is why we need you.

Looking for easy fundraising ideas? Whether you're a first timer or regular supporter, we'll help you every step of the way. We've listed our fundraising suggestions to get you started.

A
- Arts and crafts workshops: Encourage local artists to create canal-inspired and raise money with an entry fee
- Auction: Sell unwanted items around your house
B
- Bake sale: Selling tasty treats at your school, office, or within local community are excellent ways to raise money for charity
- Book collection and distribution: Organise a charity event to sell unwanted books and raise money
C
- Clothing drives: Gather unwanted, unworn, and old clothes to sell
- Car wash: Help clean, polish, and buff local cars with this easy fundraising idea
- Charity marathons: Lace up your trainers and set yourself a challenge – whether that's 26.2 miles running along the towpath or a marathon roller skating competition
- Canalathon: Sign up to our challenge to walk or run 26.2 miles across one month
- Coffee mornings: Get together and enjoy your favourite brew while raising money for charity
- Canal clean up events: Organise a litter-picking fundraising activity along your local towpath
D
- Dance-athon: Who can keep moving on the dancefloor the longest?
- Dinner party: Pick a theme and raise money with a nice meal
E
- Easter egg hunt: Challenge the kids to find as many eggs as possible while raising money
F
- Football match: Organise a football charity event and compete to score the winning goal
- Fancy dress day: Dressing up as your favourite book or movie character makes for excellent school fundraising ideas
- Fish-athon: Grab your rod and head to your local canal stretch to raise money while fishing
G
- Give something up: Ask friends and family to sponsor you to go without something you love or attempt to kick a bad habit
- Grow a beard: Put down the razor and raise money for charity
- Golf match: Golf days are perfect charity events
H
- Hiking challenge: How far can you hike along the towpath?
- Head shaving: Shave your hair off for sponsorship money
I
- Improv night: Encourage everyone to let their inner thespian shine with an improv night
- Iron man challenge: If running isn't enough, combine it with a swim and bike ride to boost your fundraising potential and set yourself a challenge
J
- Jazz night: Organise a jazz concert for charity
- Jumble sale: The perfect way to rid yourself of unwanted clutter and raise money
K
- Kayaking: Get your paddle and get fundraising with a charity kayak race
- Karaoke: See who has what it takes with a charity karaoke party
- Kick a habit: Earn sponsorships while kicking a bad habit
L
- Learn a new skill: Take up a sport or learn something creative with sponsorship
- Loose change collection: You'll be amazed how much you can raise with a change collection
- Livestream fundraising: Take advantage of social media to spread awareness of your charity events
M
- Mountain climb: You may not find any mountains along our network, but a run or hike up some of our steeper and longer lock flights certainly counts as a challenge
- Music contest: Hold a local music contest to raise money
N
- Netball tournament: Meet on the court for a charity netball match
- Night-time walk: Gather a group to do a sponsored midnight walk – but remember to bring a torch and avoid walking by water in the dark
O
- Obstacle course: Race each other to the finish line
- Open mic night: Organise a local open mic night to see who's got hidden talents
P
- Plant trees: Do something for nature while raising money
- Penalty shootout: Who can score the winning goal?
- Poetry day: Inspire your friends to write about our canals and raise money by performing your works of art
- Pot luck event: Get everyone to bring a dish to contribute
Q
- Quickest time contests: First to complete an egg and spoon race or fastest to knit a jumper
- Quiet hour: Can you go an hour without speaking?
- Quiz night: Test everyone's knowledge with a charity quiz night
R
- Raffle: Charge a fee for tickets to raise money and the winner gets a prize
- Running for charity: Whether it's 100m, 5k, or a half marathon, our canal towpaths our perfect places to stretch your legs
S
- School disco: Turn the lights off and put the music on, donating money raised to charity
- Sports day: Ready, set, go! Raise money with a long jump, 100m, and two-legged race
- Street party: Befriend your neighbours with a charity street party
- Sweepstakes: Whether there's a World Cup coming up or Olympics, get everyone to chip in and the winner gets a prize
- Sponsored silence: Fundraise by staying quiet for an hour, a day, or even a week
T
- Talent contest: Give everyone a chance to shine
- Toy drive: Round up your old toys to sell and donate the proceeds to charity
- Tombola: Run a tombola to raise money
- Treasure hunt: Put together a treasure or scavenger hunt for your local community
U
- Uniform-free day: Show up without your uniform in return for a small donation
- Upcycling: Transform older items into something new to sell
V
- Vegetable growing: Test your green thumb and sell your produce
- Vintage sale: Got an eye for finding rare treasures? Set up a stall to sell vintage wares
W
- Walk: Challenge yourself with a sponsored walk
- Wedding gifts: Instead of presents, ask for a charity donation
- Window cleaning: Offer to clean your neighbour's windows for a small donation
- World record attempt: Create a buzz by going for a world record
X, Y, Z
- Yoga marathon: Stretch out your body with a yoga challenge
- Zumba session: Push yourself to raise money with a tough Zumba session

Get your free pack

Request your free Let’s Fundraise! pack full of ideas, inspiration and advice to put your fundraising plans into action

The impact of your fundraising

The money you raise will do so much for our canals and rivers, for the communities who enjoy them, and for the wildlife that depends on them.

Three Canal & River Trust volunteers chatting and litter picking on the canal towpath

£250 keeps canals clean

Your fundraising could pay for 25 litter pickers to help our volunteers to remove rubbish from the water.

Kingfisher mural on the wall of a canal towpath

£1,000 brings art to the waterways

The money you raise could fund a community canal art project, bringing people together and enriching lives.

£3,000 helps water voles thrive

Your fundraising could help create 100m of canal-side water vole habitats to help nature thrive.

Download your free pack today

Man holds up paddle next to canoe after finishing the Avon Ring

Darren, canoeing the Avon Ring

After discovering the wellbeing benefits of our canals, Darren took on the first ever solo canoe navigation of the Avon Ring as a fundraising challenge

Get in touch

If you have a question or would like to chat about fundraising for us, get in touch – we'll be happy to help! Email us at [email protected].

Other ways to fundraise for us

Last Edited: 24 July 2024