Twenty ways to raise money for charity - for free

Children in Need is approaching, and today (9th November) is BareFaced Day. The idea is that you raise money by going into work or school without any makeup on - and get people to sponsor you for it.

BareFaced Day is a good idea because you don't actually have to spend any money on your fundraising. And not only are things like charity skydives not for everyone, they also cost money - which is usually taken out of the total amount raised.

If you've been inspired by BareFaced Day and want to raise some money for charity for free (or nearly free), here are twenty other ideas.

Looking to raise money for charity in 2016/17? Check out our charity calendar for the top fundraising events this year.

     At work

• If you usually drive to work, get people to sponsor you to walk or cycle instead for a whole week. Who knows, you might even continue this healthy habit!
• Introduce a swear jar. Charge more for certain particularly offensive words.
• Dye, shave, grow or wax your hair and get people to sponsor you. Whether the hair is on your head, chest, legs, arms or face, it'll grow back!
• Get everyone to come into work one day in fancy dress - or just have a non-uniform day. Charge people a small fee to do this.
• Have a sponsored silence. This works especially well if you're a bit of an office chatterbox. Your co-workers might be tripping over themselves to pay you for a bit of peace and quiet!
• Organise a cake sale. Charge per cake and donate the money.
• If you work sat down at a desk, get your colleagues to sponsor you to stand up for the whole day.
• Offer to make everyone cups of tea all day - but charge a small donation per cup.
• Get sponsored not to use email or your telephone all day to contact anyone in your workplace - walk to their desk instead.
• Ask your boss if they can donate a day's holiday, put it in a raffle, and charge your colleagues for tickets.

At home

• If you're already doing Movember (or you just have a moustache), get people to sponsor you to have it waxed off at the end of the month. Ouch!
• Do favours for people in return for a donation. You could wash people's cars, walk dogs, mow the lawn or clean their windows.
• Cope for a whole day without your mobile phone, computer, the internet or any other gadgets you're constantly attached to. Your friends could sponsor you - and one of them could even follow you around and film what you get up to without technology.
• Jailbreak. You and your friends set a given amount of time (say two days) and see who can get furthest away without spending anything on transport in that time. Get other people to sponsor you depending on how far you get.
• Do a sponsored walk - with a difference. If you live in London, maybe you could walk 'around' the locations on the Monopoly board, for example.
• Everyone gives you a small donation in exchange for you telling them one thing you really like about them.
• Give up something that you enjoy for a certain amount of time - for example drinking, smoking or biting your nails. Get people to sponsor you.
• Get people to sponsor you to learn a skill - for example dancing, playing an instrument or a new language - on the promise that you'll give them all a performance once you've had enough practice.
• Cycle from John O'Groats to Land's End or swim the English Channel without ever leaving the gym. Find out how far you would have to travel to achieve these feats, and type it into the cycling machine, or work out how many lengths of the pool it'd be. Get people to sponsor you.
• Do a 'Yes Man'. Say 'yes' to everything that anyone asks you to do for a whole day, or even longer. It's probably best to tell people about this after the event, or else you'll be asked to do all sorts! Tell everyone about what you got up to and ask them to donate.