Tens of millions of people participated in Giving Tuesday this year, raising $3.1 billion in a single day for charities worldwide.

While these numbers may sound promising, they represent only a modest 0.6% increase over last year’s giving, which falls considerably short of the current 3.2% annual inflation rate.

Furthermore, Giving Tuesday, the nonprofit organization behind the charitable event of the same name, reports that the number of individual donors was down about 10% this year.

For charities struggling against inflation, reduced giving rates, and ongoing concerns of a looming recession, traditional fundraising methods such as raffles, bake sales, silent auctions, car washes, and 5Ks may no longer be enough to fund their causes.

For this reason, many savvy charities seek unique partnerships and out-of-the-box ideas to achieve their fundraising goals.

This winter, the child sponsorship program Compassion International is partnering with popular gaming platform Roblox to raise awareness and provide relief for children and families impacted by the growing global food crisis.

Through Compassion’s new “Play to Heal” initiative, when Roblox players purchase certain in-game items and user-generated content (UGCs) from games including Anime Champions, Arsenal, Emergency Response: Liberty County (ER:LC), Silly Simon Says, and Toilet Defense Simulator during specified timeframes, 100% of the proceeds will be used to help families in need.

With over 70.2 million daily active users, many of whom are young children, Roblox offers Compassion access to an entirely new demographic of donors they are unlikely to reach through traditional fundraising efforts, including Christian conferences, galas, or direct mail advertising.

This isn’t the first time Compassion International has used unique partnerships to increase its reach, fight poverty, and share the Gospel, and it won’t be the last.

Nearly half of the NFL’s punters are expected to participate in Compassion’s new “ Punts for Purpose “ initiative this season, where NFL punters agree to make a generous donation for each punt they land within the 20-yard line.

“I was hopeful others would want to get involved but had no idea it would be this many!” Atlanta Falcons’ punter Bradley Pinion said. “Seeing half of the punters in the NFL participate in ‘Punts for Purpose’ during Week 14 is crazy to me. It is truly humbling to have other punters join in on something my wife and I are so passionate about. I feel like you can see God at work!”

Donations from the punts will be used toward funding 500 child survival centers, which will help moms and babies in poverty receive proper prenatal care, education, nutritious food, clean water, access to medical care, a birth assistant during childbirth, and a community of spiritual and emotional support.

Northwest Battle Buddies, a nonprofit dedicated to helping U.S. veterans battling PTSD receive professionally-trained service dogs, believes in using adrenaline, adventure, and music to motivate people to give.

This past August, Northwest Battle Buddies hosted “ Rappel for Purpose!,” an event where members of the public signed up and rappelled over 530 feet down the U.S. Bancorp Tower, better known as Big Pink, in Portland, Oregon. The one-day event brought in $98,778.

For U.S. Army veteran Michael Curtis, however, a one-time adventure wasn’t enough. He’s committed to supporting Northwest Battle Buddies through paddleboarding the Columbia River from the Canadian border to Astoria, Oregon, first in stages and then again in a single 900-mile trip.

To date, he’s completed four of the five stages and raised $56,000, but his multi-year journey hasn’t been without hazards.

In 2021, an unexpected 100,000-acre wildfire forced Curtis to reroute at the last minute, leading to a severe injury in which he lost 90% of the use of his hands and arms due to a collapsed disk in his neck. This hasn’t stopped Curtis, though.

“I am still limited by my injuries and experience extreme cramps and pain in my hands and forearms due to the nerve damage/palsy, but I am adapting to it,” Curtis says. “I will never be where I was before the accident, but it’s enough of a recovery to drive on to meet my goals.”

Curtis plans to complete the final leg of his journey, about 150 miles from the Canadian border to Grand Coulee Dam, in the summer of 2024 despite his injuries.

“Partnership can be a really powerful tool when it comes to fundraising and amplifying your efforts for a nonprofit,” explains Rachael Groll, Founder and CEO of She Hears.

“I’ve seen local businesses donate their products or profits from a particular product, movie theaters offer space for nonprofits to sell tickets and keep the profit, service providers donate funds from pop-up events, and hotels donate the profits from a particular room.

“There really is no limit to the ways that partnerships can help organizations move towards their fundraising goals.”

While professional football games and dangerous multi-year paddleboarding expeditions may make national news headlines, charities of all sizes and levels of influence can use creative, strategic partnerships to foster more random acts of kindness and raise the funds they need.

This article was produced by Media Decision and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks. It was distributed by The Associated Press.