Right now, a woman in your family, friend group, or at work is affected by breast cancer. According to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation, “An estimated 28,600 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every year in Canada…and these statistics indicate that if these trends continue, 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime.”

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and it’s an opportunity to join the fight, whether that’s through awareness, fundraising, or both. Breast cancer is a disease that we can do something about. Early detection (get risk assessed at 30 and regular mammograms starting at 40!) often has a good prognosis. Hand in hand with that is raising money for breast cancer treatment and breast cancer research—the more we know, the better the treatments, and the closer we get to finding a cure.

Whether you’re celebrating someone thriving after breast cancer, supporting those currently affected, or honoring those we’ve lost, a hybrid (in-person combined with an online fundraiser) breast cancer fundraiser is a great way to maximize your reach and money raised.

5 Breast Cancer Fundraising Ideas

1. Ride, lift, bike, or swim for the cure!

Galvanize your friends and local community with an “a-thon” peer-to-peer fundraiser! It’s a fun way to raise money for breast cancer treatment while spreading awareness. What is a peer-to-peer fundraiser? Basically, supporters raise money on behalf of your cause. A good example is almost any kind of “walk for a cure” event, which is essentially an “a-thon” fundraising campaign with a peer-to-peer component. Participants promote their involvement—and ask for donations—through social media.

Here are the basics of hosting an a-thon breast cancer fundraiser:

• First, choose an activity people will get excited about. For instance, if you’re active at your local Crossfit, then you could have a Lift-A-Thon. Or maybe everyone in your community loves to go on fall foliage walks—you could host a Peep at Trees for Pink-A-Thon!
• Decide on a fundraising goal and whether you want people to pledge their support by the mile, chapters read, weight lifted, or steps taken.
• Set up your a-thon fundraising website so that people can participate wherever they are and on their own time (within your fundraiser’s date parameters, of course!).
• Enlist participants by partnering with your gym, yoga studio, rec center, or library. Get your friends to sign up and share your a-thon through social media. If you’re partnering with a local business, ask them to encourage their followers to sign up or sponsor participants, too!
• Ask everyone to wear pink clothing or a pink ribbon, and share images of themselves participating using a hashtag unique to your event. This will help draw attention and inspire others to support or participate.

2. Meditate for the cause

• Partner with a local meditation or yoga studio to offer a class or series for which the fee goes toward your cause that people can attend in-person or virtually.
• For the folks at home, Livestream the class and invite participants to make donations.
• Spread the word on social media and distribute printed posters with QR code that direct to your fundraising event site or class scheduler.

3. Sell the (baked) goods

Everyone loves tasty, homemade treats, so why not host a Bake for Breasts bake sale? Maximize the number of people you can reach in person and through social media by teaming up with your place of worship, rec center, or community organization.

Two common concerns about holding a bake sale are the venue and payment—both of which are addressed by adding an online fundraiser  element to your bake sale. Doing so will widen the net of potential customers while making you less reliant on a lot of foot traffic. Plus, payments and accounting are simplified.

The basics of hosting this kind of hybrid breast cancer fundraiser are below:

• Set up your bake sale fundraiser site. This way, people can purchase their items right from their phone’s browser. In addition to including details on your event benefitting cancer research or medical expenses, include information about regular screening and regular mammograms to help spread awareness.
• Don’t forget to indicate on your sale fundraising site when and where supporters can pick up their baked goods! This can be anywhere from your driveway or community center to a local business partner’s parking lot. 
• Market the fundraiser throughout your community using printed postcards, posters, lawn signs, and stickers bearing a QR code that directs straight to your bake sale site.
• Bake all the things. Make them pink when possible! For bread loaves, consider getting a flour stencil in the shape of that iconic ribbon.

4. Cook up a cure

• If the food event you have in mind is block party style, consider selling event tickets with sales benefitting your chosen breast cancer organization. You can issue event wristbands on site to make it easy to discern who has paid.
• Add a virtual element to your cookout by putting together a food sale event much like the bake sale fundraising event outlined above. This will allow supporters to purchase, pick up, and deliver meals for those recovering from treatment!

5. 50/50 Raffle

Though there’s no catchy name (yet!), a 50/50 raffle is an easy way to raise money for an individual facing medical expenses or for an organization like Breast Cancer Canada.

The best thing about a 50/50 raffle is that you don’t have to worry about finding a terrific prize—the idea is that 50% of raffle ticket sales are allocated as prize money while the remaining funds benefit your cause. So, the more tickets you sell, the larger the pot! Depending on the raffle laws in your area you may be able to run a hybrid raffle where you run an online raffle as well as sell printed raffle tickets in person.

The caveat with a 50/50 raffle is that while it can act as a standalone fundraiser, our customers find more success when the raffle is part of a larger event benefitting the same cause.

Ready? Set? Make a Difference!

Fundraising for breast cancer is more than just collecting donations—it’s a powerful way to bring communities together in the fight against a disease that affects so many. 

If you’re looking for a better way to manage your fundraisers, we’d love it if you tried Eventgroove! Our nonprofit fundraising platform is a powerful tool to help you drive your efforts to new heights. Plus, our integrated printing services make ordering printed flyers, event tickets, and invitations branded to your fundraiser easy.