Organise a mass aerobics session either in the club or at a local school, church or community centre to attract others who are not currently members of your club. Participants could be sponsored and/or be charged to enter.

Hold a competition and people pay to enter.

Why not offer your services to cater at dinner parties - don't forget that includes the washing up!

Not just cakes and cookies - include low fat foods and healthy alternatives.

Work out a safe and scenic route and ask all participants to gain sponsorship. Ask SCI for T-shirts and sponsorship forms!

Ask everyone to bring in an auction item. Bidders then write down their pledges, and the highest pledge wins. Should be held over a long period of time.

Collect unwanted books from friends/colleagues and hold a book sale at your club/school/work.

Designate a day when, for a fee, all colleagues/staff have the option of their car being washed.

Save your coppers and 10p’s and get friends and colleagues to do the same. Ask SCI for collecting boxes.

If possible, get local suppliers to provide some cheese and wine. Sell tickets in advance. Could be combined with other events such as an evening.

Ask local bands or orchestras to play a concert and donate some or all of the ticket money. Or hold your own.

Organise a friendly cricket match with a local club/school/company or against a local cricket team. Players could raise money per run scored/wicket taken.

Organise an all day event where people are sponsored for every hour of the day they are on the dance floor.

Great fun and you can get ideas from several newspapers who hold their own. Alternatively hold a team sweepstake during a major tournament.

Organise a tournament and ask your club to sponsor it.

If you have the knack with plants, get a few started from seed or cuttings, and sell them on to family & friends or at a fair, particularly for students in new homes!

Hold an indoor event where you hire horse-race films (Special films/videos of 8 horse races are available) and sell ‘tickets’ on each horse. The winning tickets get a percentage of the takings for each race. You can make up race cards or ask local companies to name and sponsor a horse for each race. The films are played in random order.

Ask your friends and family to donate money to SCI instead of receiving gifts on special occasions.

Auction items you no longer want on the internet through sites such as Ebay or QXL. A quick and easy way to raise money for charity!

Sell tickets for an evening of awful singing at a pub/bar/club/school hall or private venue; you could get people to donate money to stop their friends from singing or invite companies/schools to send teams.

Ask your company to match whatever your work colleagues raise, and tell people this when asking for sponsorship.

Do you smoke, or do you have any other habit you would like to give up? Here is your chance – give up, get healthy and make money.

Ask colleagues to bring in photos of themselves as children, their parents, their pets. Everyone pays to enter a competition to guess who belongs to who.

Ask friends to come to an evening. Everyone offers to do something like ironing or cutting the grass. Hold an auction to buy the promises.

Challenge your friends to a quiz night. If you charge for entry and snacks fundraising is a no-brainer! Ask your local landlord to run a pub quiz with part of the takings going to charity. Some pubs do this regularly. Find your nearest one.

Charge an entry fee for individuals or teams to take part; questions could be on a set theme or general knowledge.

Ask local businesses to donate items and hold a raffle. Many people are only too glad to buy tickets in support of a charity.

Marathons, half-marathons, 10k runs 5k runs, Fun Runs. Get sponsor forms from SCI.

Hold a dinner party for friends and family using simple ingredients, but charge the guests as though it was a meal out.

Charge an entry fee for a knockout competition (each heat can be best of three matches), perhaps with a final for which you might charge admission. Again, get pubs/clubs/local businesses/other schools to send teams or individuals who are sponsored per ball potted.

Work those connections and gather all your acquaintances together for one huge party. You could make it a reunion of some sort, or a leaving ball for school or college.

All events should be guaranteed to slow down the fastest athletes (e.g. three-legged race, sack race, wheel-barrow race, egg-and-spoon race) etc. Enter teams for a small fee and award prizes for each race or for the winning team. Could be part of a general fundraising day with stalls, sideshows, refreshments or barbeque.

People are sponsored to swim a set distance. The most able swimmers can set standards.

Everyone must dress up according to a theme. This could be a toga, sporting heroes, star wars etc.

After Christmas we all have those inevitable scratchy jumpers or socks we’d rather pass on. Get together with friends and have a giggle and a sale, or ebay them and donate the money.

Show a recently released film, and invite friends to come and watch it. Charge them for sofa space, snacks and even a meal.

Get yourself sponsored to do a walk. Maybe make it a little different, like a cross country challenge or a mountain trek.

Your own earnings and savings can also be a contribution towards your fundraising. Start saving regularly, or even get some additional shifts or work to boost your income and therefore your fundraising!