This event might be slightly controversial, but it can also be quite fun.  A beautiful baby contest is a fundraiser in which photographs of babies are displayed in a public place (for instance, a supermarket) and voters are asked to vote with dollars.  At the end of the fundraiser, the money goes to the designated cause and the baby whose donation jar contains the most dollars (“votes”) is awarded the title of your town’s most beautiful baby.  If you need a way to get parents to enter their kids, consider offering a baby-related prize for the winner.  This prize can be donated by a baby store.

You do not only need to hold this competition in a single location; you can have photos displayed in multiple locations including preschools, supermarkets, baby clothing stores, etc. and simply total the money collected from all locations at the end of the event.  You might be able to entice some of these retailers to participate (particularly baby stores) by explaining that some people will hear about the beautiful baby contest and choose to visit their store versus a competitor’s store in order to have the opportunity to shop and view and vote in the contest.  When trying to get parents to include their babies in the beautiful baby contest, be sure to advertise for entrants at baby clothing stores.

Leading up to and during the contest, be sure to get the local news involved.

Additionally, this idea can be adapted for high schools.  Instead of being a beautiful baby contest, you could host a Ridiculous Photo Contest in which participants produce the most absurd photo of themselves to be displayed.  Every dollar would still count as a vote.

If you like this post, please follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Related posts:

1. How to Hold an Easy Baby Clothes Fundraiser
2. How to Plan a Successful Charity Cake Auction
3. How to Easily Plan a Food Bank Scavenger Hunt
4. How to Plan an Excellent Charity Fashion Show
5. The Top 22 Art Fundraising Ideas
6. School Fundraising: Vote for Artwork (with Dollars in Jars)
7. How to Plan a Successful Used Books Fundraiser
8. How to Hold an Excellent Kiss a Pig Fundraiser