How to Raise Money with a Fabulous Charity Knitting Party

Want to raise money for charity with knitting and have fun doing it? Try throwing a party

Once upon a time, Nellie the Knitting Nut and her friend Kitty (the original owners of Knitting for Charity) found that their knitting circle was a little tired of their usual “knitting and donating” routine.

They had a hankering to get more of their community involved with their charitable activities. But short of teaching everyone to knit (a daunting task!), what could they do?

That’s when they decided to throw a silent auction shindig!

Here’s what they did. And what you can do, too, if you’d like to get your community more involved in your knitting group’s endeavors.

How to Hold a Charity Knitting Fundraising Party

When you think about it, nonprofits do this sort of thing all the time. They have fundraising parties that may involve $100-plate dinners or enormous thousand- or even million-dollar auctions.

Your group can easily do something similar. No, of course you don’t have to charge $100 a ticket, nor do you need to have auctions with opening bids at $50,000. But you can easily put together your own auction or raffle party.

The first steps of planning your own charity knitting party:

• Choose a local program, a national organization, or an overseas mission.
• Figure out a date that will work for everyone in the group. (Make sure it doesn’t conflict with any major town events.)
• Decide what everyone will knit.

For the last decision, you have a couple of options.

First, you could each knit a few squares for an afghan, put it together, and then have a raffle. You may also want to consider a few smaller prizes as well.

Or, you could each knit a collection of items and auction them off separately.

(You may want to avoid knitting clothing that fits only one size. Scarves, cowls, and stretchy hats are good ideas; sweaters, socks, and tight-fitting hats, not so much.)

For ideas on what you could knit for a charity fundraising party, take a look at my charity fundraising series!

Other Elements of a Successful Shindig

Food is an excellent way to kick a party up a notch! You can make it as simple as you like; a cookies and punch reception is always appreciated. Of course, if your group loves to cook and/or bake, you can offer more elaborate refreshments.

Consider asking local businesses if they would be willing to pledge to match each dollar you raise. This is particularly a good idea if you’re raising money for a local organization.

Where to have your shindig? You can have it at a group member’s home, at a church reception hall, or a rented public hall.

You might even be able to find local entertainers willing to lend their talents to the cause. (Nellie said their party had bellydancers! I wish she’d taken video.)

In addition to bringing the fun of such a party to your community, an event like this can generate a lot of goodwill. Can you imagine how it good it might feel to attend a party where the object is to raise money for a great cause?

Think of how you feel when you donate something you’ve knitted for someone in need. It’s a lot like that!

So if you’d like to try something to break out of your usual routine for folks in need, why not consider a charity knitting party?