Heads or tails: the fundraising game of chance that only requires a coin.
What is it?
Heads or tails is a fundraising game of chance where participants pay to play and then compete to guess whether a coin flip will result in heads (put hands on head) or tails (put hands on tail). This keeps going until one person remains standing. The winner gets a big prize. The prize can be a percentage of the proceeds or a unique prize that was donated. The cost to play and the prize is up to your organization.
How do you play it?
You sell access passes to the game where everyone who purchases can pick up a wristband or they have some kind of indicator that they paid to play. During the event (when it is a live event), your MC tells everyone with an access pass to stand up and then the fun begins. Each person will be told to pick heads or tails by putting their hands on the body part to indicate. Then a coin is flipped and the winners stay in the game. Everyone else sits down. Once there are 10 or so people left, you can have them come to the front of the room and play until one person is left. The winner gets a prize. The prize can be a percentage of the proceeds or a unique prize that was donated.
Can it be played virtually or online?
Yes, it absolutely can. Community Sailing of Colorado (see above) accomplished this very recently. In our latest Pivot to Virtual Customer Success webinar they shared how.
By selling access to the game as instant items, they were able to involve people all over the country and ended up getting more players than they would normally get in a live event. This increased their amount raised even more so. The players each were sent a Google document to fill out their heads or tails guesses and each day leading up to the gala there was a coin flip. If you got it right you were still in the game and if you got it wrong you were eliminated. These videos were all from celebrities in their world and are actually quite hilarious. With this method, and having the campaign run for several days, you can also have people who sign up multiple times.
Pricing is totally up to you and depends on your donor base. Typically, we see pricing around $20-25.
Related:
Games of chance for fundraising campaigns
Wine pull: the 411
12 ways to keep volunteers involved with online fundraising
Kelsey Woodworth is the Content Marketing Manager for GiveSmart and an Auburn University graduate. Her finger is on the pulse daily for innovations in fundraising, community building, donor relations, and event trends. Kelsey lives in New York City.
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