If you work in an office, have a bake sale - im fortunate enough to work in a call centre, and i raised over $700 from a bake sale. People love baking, and eating things too :)
Another office idea I had was that I bought a hockey jersey online (email me if you want the specific link) and i got a deck of cards - i wrote "winner" on the face of one card, and taped all 52 face down onto a bristol board. You sell the cards for $5 each, and have the person write their name on the back of the card with a marker. When they are all sold, you flip them over to find out which one was the winning card. the person that wrote their name on the winning card gets the prize. $5 x 52 = $260 if your in a really nice office, you can up the cost to $10 ($10 x 52= $520)
The prize can be anything that would attract enough buyers.
We also had a 50/50 draw in the office raising over $460 - half goes to the winning ticket, you get the other half. tickets can be sold for 1 for $2, 3 for $5, 10 for $10 etc
Host a bbq for friends. Ask that they donate rather than bring something - be up front about the fact that you'll be funding this yourself if you don't raise the money. Hit up local retailers to donate some/all of the food you will serve.
