How to Hold a Breakfast Fundraiser
A breakfast fundraiser is a popular option when planning a fundraising campaign. While large-scale events like walkathons, charity golf tournaments, and galas can be highly effective, they often require extensive time and resources to organize. In contrast, a breakfast fundraiser offers a simpler yet impactful way to raise funds while fostering community engagement.
However, the success of your fundraiser will depend on careful planning and organization. Below are key guidelines to help your organization host a successful breakfast fundraiser.
Planning a Breakfast Fundraiser
To host a successful fundraising event, you must plan and prepare well in advance. This starts by bringing a team or committee together to brainstorm ideas, set a fundraising budget and timelines, and assign responsibilities. By allocating different duties to each individual on your committee, members do not feel overwhelmed and can take ownership of their part in the big picture. Perhaps someone can manage the fundraising website, where someone else works directly with the volunteers. Another person can handle securing a location and purchasing all the necessary food and materials, whereas someone else takes control of fundraising event promotion.
Some of the logistics and responsibilities for your committee include:
- Selecting and securing a good location is key. This is easy for schools, as they can use the school cafeteria and kitchen, making a breakfast fundraiser a great fundraiser for schools
- Choosing a good time of the year to hold your Breakfast fundraiser. Breakfast with Santa could be fun! Have you heard of National Pancake Day?
- Volunteer and chef recruitment
- Menu selection and food purchasing (or seeking in-kind donations)
- Recruiting music or entertainment during the fundraiser
- Incorporating additional fundraising opportunities – a silent auction and/or fundraising raffle
- Event promotion and marketing – including managing your event management website for online registration and ticket sales
Creating the Breakfast Menu
When planning your breakfast fundraiser, the menu is a key consideration. While traditional pancake breakfasts are a popular choice for school and church fundraisers, you can expand your offerings to include gourmet breakfast or brunch-style options. A more diverse menu allows you to charge higher admission fees and attract a broader audience. Be sure to include gluten-free and sugar-free options to accommodate all guests. And, of course, don’t forget to secure skilled chefs and cooks to make this all happen and bring your menu to life.
Here are some ideas to consider to diversify your breakfast menu:
- Fresh squeezed orange juice. Set up a squeezing station and have the kids handle this one.
- Gourmet coffees and teas
- Eggs prepared to order, any style
- An omelet station with pre-chopped vegetables and grated cheese
- Fresh fruit – grapes, melons, berries, whatever is local and in season
- A yogurt bar with granola or other grains
- Fresh scones, muffins, breads, and pastries – cut larger ones in half
- Gourmet or local sausages and breakfast meats
- Pancakes and waffles, with a toppings bar
Using a Fundraising Website
Our free fundraising platform streamlines every aspect of your breakfast fundraiser, from event registration and ticket sales to sponsorship management and online donations. With secure payment processing and built-in promotional tools, you can efficiently manage communications and boost fundraising efforts. These powerful online tools help you save time, stay organized, and maximize the funds raised for your cause.
Our Donor-Friendly Fundraising Software
Makes Hosting Breakfast Fundraisers Easy
Promoting the Fundraising Breakfast
Once you’ve decided to host a breakfast fundraiser and solidified the details of your event, you now need to promote it. Your breakfast website is your hub where everyone will go to find out about the event and register, but you still need to drive them to the website with traditional marketing materials. Create a press release and distribute event flyers that inform people in your community about how their presence at the event can help make a difference for your non-profit organization or cause. Be sure to include basic event details so they can mark their calendars. Invite the media to attend. This creates a wonderful opportunity to share a story about community goodwill and also provides a great opportunity for news photos. Be sure to allow for donations after the event! This way, if someone had to miss the breakfast fundraiser or a reporter chooses to run a story following the fundraiser, they can give people an opportunity to donate online by providing a link to your fundraising website.
Day of Event Operations
Be well-prepared on the day of your event to ensure everything runs smoothly. Arrive early to set up before guests arrive and conduct a run-through with volunteers. Go over key tasks such as registration, serving food and refilling drinks, cleanup, and any additional fundraising activities like raffles. Plan for different scenarios—who will greet the media if they show up? Who is responsible for refilling coffee and juice or restocking silverware? Address all potential situations to keep the event running seamlessly. If you have sponsors, display their signage appropriately and make an announcement during the event to thank attendees, donors, volunteers, and sponsors.
Additional Ways to Raise Money at the Breakfast Fundraiser
A breakfast fundraiser provides an excellent opportunity to raise additional funds, outside of ticket sales, for your charitable cause. Since you’ve gathered numerous community members in one area, it’s a perfect time to host a silent auction. Of course, this takes a little planning as well. Your organization would need to solicit in-kind donations prior to the event to auction off for your cause. Auction items can include gift certificates, sports memorabilia, theater tickets, and travel packages. Display items during your event and on a fundraising auction website where supporters place bids to win auction items. If you don’t have time to organize a full auction, fundraising raffles can be fun as well. Here you sell raffle tickets for a chance to win and then randomly select winners during the event. You can also create some fun contests and games to keep the kids engaged and enjoying themselves.
For more creative fundraising event ideas, visit our resource center.
