Extra Life Fundraising Incentive Ideas

It’s always okay to simply ask for donations and leave it at that (check out this earlier blog post for simple fundraising tips and tricks). But many of our Extra Lifers like to “game-ify” the giving process and come up with incentives for donors or challenges once they hit fundraising milestones. I’ve been collecting ideas that I’ve seen our fellow Extra Lifers share this year, and have put together a compilation of those ideas below, in case you find one you’d like to use or edit it to make it your own.

Let me reiterate that there is no pressure to attempt any of these, or do anything that would make you uncomfortable. And even if you don’t want to use one of these challenges yourself, I’m sure you can appreciate the collective creativity of our fellow gamers. 🙂 

Smorgasboard of Ideas:

Do you have a special cookie recipe? Raise chickens? Have a great sledding hill in your yard? Entice family and friends to donate with an option to win homemade cookies, a dozen eggs, or a sledding invitation for this winter. Think about something similar you might be able to use, put your donor names in a hat, and draw a winner for your unique, personalized prize. We heard of gamers offering bike repair and hand-knitted hats as donation rewards- think about a way to put your unique skills to use #FTK!

Let your spouse/child/a fellow gamer give you a “makeover” (silly or serious), or do a make-up “tutorial” on you. Stream it if you can, or post photos to social media.

Wear a white t-shirt and let your kids/friends turn you into an art-project by decorating (paint? Fabric markers? Glitter glue?) the shirt. Maybe blindfold them, depending on skill level.

Write on a t-shirt that you will wear while gaming/streaming. You could write donor’s names, or let donors choose what it says (ex. if you’re a Bruins fan they might request ‘Go Habs!’ to spite you). You could also make a “Wall of Fame” sign to list donors’ names and feature it in your stream or in social media photos.

Write donors names on your face during a stream.

Walk across a floor covered in Legos once you reach a certain fundraising milestone.

Include donors in a thank-you video or song. Some Extra Lifers compose short songs (or poems) for specific donors on the spot, or take karaoke requests. One gamer offered to write short essays- on the topic of the donor’s choice- in return for a donation.

Chance to throw a pie, plate of whipped cream, water balloon, shoot a squirt gun, crack an egg, or dump a bucket of ice water, etc. on/at the gamer.

Dance challenges; TikTok dances.

Get a tattoo (usually an Extra Life-related tattoo… Yeah. Our gamers are THAT dedicated).

Donate to add a song of your choice to the gamer’s workout playlist

Use that Extra Life d20! Create a list of 20 things you might do- 10 push-ups, jumping jacks, tell a joke, make up a haiku on the spot, ANYTHING- and roll your d20. When someone makes a donation, you roll your d20, and whatever number you roll is what you do.

Food challenges:

Eat a mayo (or some other condiment/food you are known for despising) sandwich. Or perhaps brush your teeth with mayo.

Durian fruit candy/snacks (Google it. The smell/taste descriptions are not pleasant).

Weird tasting sodas (ex. “Lester’s Fixens”) gamers have shared barf-tastic flavors such as corn, ranch, bacon, peanut butter + jelly… Or odd/gross-sounding foods, such as pickle cotton candy.

If you can handle spicy foods, create your own version of a spicy food challenges (on a scale you are comfortable with)- hot wings, hot sauces, hot peppers, Death Nuts, 1 Chip Challenge, “nitro” gummies…

Extra Life [food item name]: using foods with lots of toppings/ingredients, like nachos, pizza or a smoothie, allow folks who make a donation to choose a topping/ingredient for your food item. Nachos might be topped with cheese and salsa if you have nice donors, or tuna and chocolate sauce if you have donors who want to challenge you. You might also offer the opportunity to remove an ingredient that has been selected for a donation, too.

Hair:

Shave/cut your… head, facial hair, legs.

Wax your… facial hair, legs, back, BODY.

Dye your hair (and perhaps let donors vote on the color?).

Glitter beard.

Donation Incentives that Impact Gameplay:

Inverted screen or controller

“Tunnel vision” (cover screen with paper/cardboard, with only a small hole to see through). Or wear an eye patch, blurry goggles, etc. for a set time.

Power/weapon/ability bans.

Playing with oven mitts on.

Donations can earn a player (or their opponent) a “boost.”

Donate to re-roll.

Stand for 5 minutes of play (can be harder than it sounds if you’re well into a marathon gaming session).

Also, check out some other creative incentive ideas our fellow gamers have put to use, highlighted by Extra Life! Whatever you decide, be safe, have fun, and brainstorm to make your Extra Life experience your own!