A great way to bring in some needed funds with little effort is by hosting a ‘restaurant fundraiser night’ at local chain restaurants in your town.

Many restaurants will give a percentage of the profits from a specific evening, while others may give $1 from certain entrees ordered. The key to this event is that your group will do the promotion of the event at the restaurant on an off-night, which brings in more paying clients to the restaurant on a night when they normally would not eat out. It’s a win-win situation for both the group and the restaurant.

Here’s an updated list of restaurants that typically host restaurant fundraising nights. As with any franchise, it would be up to the local owners and managers. My son’s Kindergarten school gave us a listing of restaurant nights for the entire year, so in some areas, these nights are highly sought after and should be scheduled well in advance.

ALSO- hosting a special event at a local ‘mom n pop’ restaurant or other independent or locally owned restaurant/ pub is another great idea! Don’t get discouraged if you live in a small town or have no chain restaurants. The local restaurants may want to push business for a random Tuesday night to bring more people into the restaurant. You can use the same system in place for working with chain restaurants. Or, you can devise your own percentages and opportunities with the local owners who may be more willing to work with a local nonprofit group.

Participating Restaurants:
Outback Steakhouse (special lunch hour fundraiser)
Sweet Tomatoes
Jersey Mike’s (15%)
Burger King
KFC
Rio Bravo
Fuddruckers (20%)
Ruby’s
Chik-Fil-A (20% for a night, plus coupon calendars and cheesecake sales)
Sonic
Dairy Queen (DQ dollars)
CiCi’s Pizza
Black-Eyed Pea
Tortuga’s
Ponderosa
McDonald’s
Big Boy
Pizzeria Uno
Friendly’s
Zany Brainy
TRU
Pizza Hut
O’Charley’s
Brusters Ice Cream
Boston Market
Fazoli’s
Applebee’s (pancake breakfast)
Chili’s
Subway
Baja Fresh
Loco’s Deli
Chipotle
Taco Cabana
Panera Bread (Dough for Dough, coupon slips)
Papa Murphy’s
Wendy’s
Arby’s
Cheddar’s (find a location)
Fish Daddy’s
McAlister’s Deli
Max & Erma’s
Mongolian BBQ
Maggie Moos
Margarita’s (Full Moon Madness nights)

If there are others that you know of that are not currently on this list, please leave a comment below so that I can add it. Your help in identifying regional restaurants will do wonders for fellow nonprofits looking for creative new fundraisers! Thanks!

Updated: 4/15/08