Fundraising ideas

Hi peeps, before I frighten you all off this is not a thread begging for donations, sure if you want to donate you are welcome but all I really want from you good people are ideas, advice and maybe some contacts if you know people who may help. Along with helping me I hope some of the ideas generated could help others too, there are lots of people around here doing wonderful things for charity I'm sure?

Anyway my conundrum at present is that I am aiming to raise £5000 by next April for three charities, all in aid of children with disabilities, my son has special needs, one of the charities is his school, so is a cause that is close to my heart.The other charities are The Children's Trust and Phabkids. Google them to find out more.

Now in order to gain interest I have committed to running 3 marathons in 3 weekends over April 2011, first one a track marathon in Llanelli, the next  Brighton Marathon and the final one London. Apart from normal networking of friends and family and getting my students arranging charity events as part of their Welsh Bac studies I have the following plans.

1. A charity auction/disco/karaoke night in a local rugby club during February. I have already secured the premises for free. I plan on selling tickets for £5+ depending on what I can arrange for the night to make it more desirable.

2. I am negotiating with my daughter's school to use their track for the first marathon which will be part of a funday for the local community, people can pay to run with me, stall holders can pay for a pitch etc.....

I can't really see myself arranging anything other than these events because they are going to be quite a handful logistically but would like your advice on how I can promote the two events  and possible organisations to contact for items to auction. If you do have ideas as to how else I could raise money easily that I am not already doing feel free to suggest them mind.

I appreciate that 3 marathons in three weekends is a drop in the ocean compared to some of the inspiring feats people are completing nowadays but as I said at the start I am not after your money just looking to generate ideas etc, not just for me but other charity fundraisers out there.

Think will try that smarties tube one this week.

I had a bake sale and raised about £50 when I was raising cash for GNR sponsorship. I left a selection of hand-made cakes and biscuits around my office, with a jam jar for cash donations, and a note explaining what I was doing and where they could find my justgiving page. I did it on payday too, so people were feeling generous.

Also, your employers might have a matched giving scheme, where they donate a some in addition to your fund-raising. My employers give you 1/3 of what you've raised, up to £500. It all helps.

What about having a "bingo square" with predicted finish time or something similar?
Say ten minute blocks from 3 hours to 5 hours or similar, 3.00 - 3.10, 3.11 - 3.20 etc.
Ask for a pound a square and whoever guesses right wins a bottle of bubbly or choccies paid for by you, so charity gets everything.  Given the amount of runs you're doing, you could do a combined finish for the 3 marathons.  I plan to do something similar when I do a 1/2 Ironman later this year, all adds up.

And good luck!!