It is common for there to be raffles and other forms of fundraising at events to help cover the costs of the event, or to raise money for the chapter.  However fundraising for charities and things outside of Hatting is generally frowned upon at hatting events.

If a chapter would like to do a fundraiser (for example the “Biggest Morning Tea” or a Pink Ribbon fundraiser) as an event for them, this is completely fine – but hosting something like this as an open event for other chapters to attend is not usually done.

From the official Red Hat Society handbook:
“We want to make sure that no one feels any pressure to participate in charitable events if they don’t wish to: we’re all about fun! Many hatters do charity activities as a part of their “regular” lives and prefer to keep their hatting time as pure recess time”

Things a chapter might need to raise money for include: Registration fees, Insurance fees, covering costs of food at home-based gatherings, buying special decorations, birthday cards/presents for members etc.

Some chapters choose to charge a small yearly membership fee to cover these costs, others do fundraisers (some do both).

Fundraising ideas:

  • Fines – Charge a $2 fine for forgetting to wear a hat or name-badge, or for being late.
  • Craft Auctions – If you have crafty members who can create something like hats, cards, jewellery or even baked goods, you could auction these off.  Either splitting the profits with the person donating the items, or with the chapter keeping all profits.
  • Bake sale – Have members bake cupcakes, muffins, slices and other individual portioned foods, then come together for a bake sale where everyone buys a cupcake etc. for a nominated price per item (eg $1/$2 each) with proceeds going to the chapter.
  • Cupcake Decorating – Everyone pays $2 to decorate their cupcake, with decorating items provided by the chapter (eg red and purple frosting, choc chips and other fun things).  The chapter then keeps any profits made.
  • Book Sale – Members bring old books they no longer need and these are then sold off for $2 each or auctioned to raise money.
  • Lucky Dip – Have a selection of inexpensive items wrapped up, and charge $1-$2 per go.
  • Raffle Auction –  Each member buys raffle tickets or coupons (eg 5 tickets for $1), and there are several items to raffle off, each with a bowl next to them.  Members put their raffle tickets into the bowls of the items they want (they can choose to put one ticket in each bowl or several tickets in the one bowl if they really want that item) – then each item has the winner drawn from the bowls.
  • Mystery Auction – Everyone brings a wrapped gift worth $5 or $10, in a particular theme.  People then bid on the mystery package without knowing what is inside it.  You could set a maximum bid for each item so that it doesn’t go beyond a certain limit.  The chapter gets to keep all raised funds.
  • $2 raffle – Have a prize worth $2 and everyone puts $2 into a jar as their entry to the raffle, and their name goes into a hat. The person who gets drawn from the hat gets the prize, and they then buy the prize for the next month raffle.
  • Lolly Jar – Have a jar of lollies and everyone pays $2 to have a guess at how many lollies are in the jar.  The winner gets to keep the lollies and the chapter keeps the money.
  • Cook Book – Have members send in their favourite tried and true recipes, gather them together, then have them printed and bound.  Sell the books to cover the cost of printing plus extra funds for the chapter.
  • Car Wash – Have members bring their cars along and pay a fee to have their car washed (bonus if you can rope in husbands/children to wash the cars, then all the Hatters can gather around relaxing while their cars are being washed!)