5 Easy and Convincing Philanthropy Week Activity Ideas for Your Chapter

One of the best things about being in Greek life is the chance to be involved in the community. Nothing beats the happiness that comes with making a difference! And your fraternity or sorority’s Philanthropy Week is just the right time for that.

While your chapter isn’t required to contribute millions to your chosen charity, we know you want to make this year’s fraternity or sorority fundraising ideas get great results, anyway! But, which fraternity or sorority Philanthropy Week activities are going to be fun, meaningful, and successful?

University Trivia Game

Who doesn’t love getting hyped over trivia games? It’s a fun Philanthropy Week activity idea that costs very little but gets people excited and competitive! Making it revolve around your university also boosts school spirit.

You can host a trivia game that revolves around facts about your school, let people pay an entry fee to join, and they can win prizes based on how many points they get within a time limit. You can offer rewards like discount vouchers, exclusive merch from your chapter, and more!

Personalized Pastries

Being able to pick your favorite pastries, decorate them, and enjoy them without prepping or baking is a super fun and easy fraternity or sorority fundraising idea! Plus, it’s a cute interactive twist to the usual bake sale.

You can get some chapter members to bake cupcakes or plain cookies and lay out a bunch of icing and other edible decorations on long tables. People can buy a cupcake or cookie, decorate it, show off their cute little creations on Instagram, and enjoy a sweet treat for Philanthropy Week!

Sustainable Auction

Charity auctions are common Philanthropy Week fundraising ideas, but you can take it a step further by making it into a sustainability-focused event! Not only are you raising money for the charity your chapter supports, but you’re also promoting eco-consciousness while helping your chapter members declutter!

Gather your chapter members and ask them if they have anything they want to donate to your Philanthropy Week auction. These should be things that others can still use, whether those are articles of clothing or accessories, or stuff that they collected long ago but are probably just gathering dust now. 

Maybe your sorority sister still has that One Direction signed poster but they haven’t been into boy bands since 1D broke up. Or maybe your frat bro still has a complete collection of The All-American Rejects CDs lying around and they’re SO past their emo phase. You can even find old merch from your chapter and put those up for auction, too! The possibilities are endless!

Get Artsy

Arts and crafts activities are effective and classic Philanthropy Week ideas! And we’re not talking about NFTs or AI image generation: it’s time to get down and dirty with your hands!

For your next fraternity or sorority fundraising activity, why not let it revolve around painting, crocheting, pottery making, woodwork, leather crafts, beadwork, or paracord bracelet making? Provide your participants with the materials and some space to work on, charge a small participation fee, and let everyone have a crack at it! 

Not only did they help fund the charity of your choice, but they’re also going back with a souvenir of their own. Or some really cute friendship bracelets.

Without A Recipe

Let’s be real: you’ve watched the Try Guys before. Some of your chapter members prob still do. But we’re not here for the Ned drama. Without A Recipe is one of the many fun segments in their channel focused on cooking and, as it says, the Try Guys attempt to make things without a recipe.

Why not do something similar for your chapter’s Philanthropy Week activities? Choose an easy dish that participants can attempt blind, get people to pay an entry fee to join, and your exec team can judge if the participants truly made the thing! Can we suggest mug cakes, churros, pancakes, soft tacos, or small pizzas?

To add another twist, your participants can pay to get one of the other chapter members to help them with a certain part of the recipe, like making a quick and easy pizza dough. They can only do this once, so they also have to be strategic!

With these Philanthropy Week ideas, you’re sure to raise funds for charity and your chapter can help make a difference in the lives of others. Good luck!!