What is a fundraiser? Fundraiser meaning, the main types and which raise most

The fundraiser meaning has two halves. A fundraiser is an event held to raise money for a cause, usually a charity, and it is also the person who does the raising. The sentence tells you which: “we are holding a fundraiser” is the event, “she is a brilliant fundraiser” is the person.

I’m Kevin Durham, a charity auctioneer. I work 60 to 80 events a year, and the first kind is my day job. So here are both meanings, the main types, and where the live auction and the live pledge sit among them.

What is the fundraiser meaning in the dictionary?

The dictionary fundraiser meaning is a person or an event that collects money for a particular purpose, especially a charity. Four dictionaries, four slightly different wordings:

• Cambridge Dictionary combines both: “a person or event involved in collecting money for a particular purpose, especially a charity”.
• Oxford Learner’s splits it into a person who collects money for a charity, and a social event or entertainment held to collect it.
• Collins lists the event first and the person second.
• Merriam-Webster puts the person first, and dates the word to 1881 in that sense.

In the rooms I work in, “a fundraiser” nearly always means the event.

The second fundraiser meaning: the person doing the asking

The person who raises the money is the older fundraiser meaning on record, and it covers a wide group. A parent shaking a bucket at the school gate is a fundraiser. So is a charity’s head of major gifts, and so is the volunteer selling raffle tickets at a dinner. On a gala night, those volunteers are as much a part of the total as anyone holding a microphone.

The law in England and Wales draws a sharper line. The Charities Act 1992 defines a “professional fund-raiser” as someone who runs a fundraising business, or who is paid to ask for money for a charity. A charity’s own employees, officers and trustees are excluded, and so are people paid below small thresholds set in the Act.

It matters because trustees carry the can. The Charity Commission’s trustee guidance says they must carry out due diligence on professional fundraisers, and they stay accountable for fundraising they delegate.

Fundraiser, fund-raiser or fundraising?

Fundraiser is the noun, fundraising is the activity, and fundraise is the verb. The hyphenated “fund-raiser” still turns up: Merriam-Webster and Collins’s American entry list it as a variant, and the 1992 Act uses it. All four dictionaries above give the single word as the main spelling.

What makes an event a fundraiser?

An event becomes a fundraiser when raising money for a cause is its purpose, not a side effect. A quiz night that donates its leftover kitty is a quiz night. One sold, run and timed around the money is a fundraiser event.

Most fundraiser events bring money in through several routes on the same night:

• Tickets, which usually just cover the costs.
• A raffle or tombola: small sums from almost everyone.
• An auction, where a handful of lots go to a few bidders.
• A live pledge or appeal, straight donations at set levels, and often the biggest number of the night.

HMRC doesn’t treat them the same. Its Gift Aid guidance says payment for admission to an event, and the price of a raffle ticket, are payments rather than gifts, so neither qualifies. An auction bid is a purchase too, though part of it can count as a donation when the bidder knowingly pays over the shop price. A pledge is a gift, so it can qualify.

What are the main types of fundraiser?

The main types of fundraiser fall into events, challenges, draws and direct asks. The Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s library lists types of fundraising from corporate partners and grants to auctions, events and crowdfunding. These are the ones a charity can run itself:

The auction and the live pledge rarely stand alone. They are the two big moments inside a charity gala, a charity ball, or even a boxing night.

Which fundraiser activities raise the most?

The fundraiser activities that raise the most per guest are the ones that put generous people in one room and ask them at the same time: the live auction and, above all, the live pledge.

The UK Giving report from the Charities Aid Foundation estimated that in 2024 the public gave £951 million at fundraising events, against £514 million on raffle tickets. Only 21% of people sponsored someone for charity in 2024, down from 32% in 2019.

At a single event, the gap between formats is wider still. When I worked the Jigsaw Trust gala, the charity expected £14,000 from the live auction. The auction made £27,000, and a live pledge they hadn’t even planned raised another £30,600. That was a powerful team behind a powerful charity, and it’s why I tell every client the pledge is where the real money lives. An auction raises money from the few people who win lots. A pledge asks the whole room, so it often raises more than the auction. It’s serious, but it’s not a funeral: the excitement builds as the hands go up. No format guarantees a figure, though. The room, the cause and the running order decide it.

The rules every UK fundraiser runs under

Fundraising by UK charities and third-party fundraisers sits under the fundraising code. Its 2025 edition came into effect on 1 November 2025, with standards for events and for volunteers.

Raffles have their own rules in Great Britain. Under Gambling Commission guidance, a raffle at an event needs no licence, but tickets can only be sold at the event while it is running. You can spend up to £500 of ticket money on prizes and £100 on costs, and donated prizes have no limit.

Where an auctioneer fits in

At a fundraiser event, the host decides how much of the room’s goodwill turns into money. My job is to command the room before the first lot, keep the auction tight, and then lead the pledge while the energy is still high. Whoever holds the room holds the total.

Still choosing what kind of fundraiser to run? My list of fundraising event ideas is a good next step, and my page on running a pledge explains the segment that usually raises the most. To talk through your event, call 07596 851647.