It doesn’t matter what charity you’re raising money for, how serious the cause is or even how much money has been pledged to date, creating a video could take your charity fundraising event to the next level (or the next or the next!).

Generally speaking, the best videos are those that make the viewers laugh. Sure, your fundraising event may be for a particularly serious issue, but a bit of lightheartedness not only makes people want to watch your video, but it shows that charity fundraising doesn’t have to be based on guilt tactics or depressing pictures (think of it like this – when we’re in a happy mood, we’re more likely to be generous!).

Looking at some of the funniest charity videos created in recent years, the following five are our favourites. Some are videos created purely for the internet, others are clips of events that have happened elsewhere and are now in video form, but they all had the same impact of making us laugh whilst raising the awareness of the cause.

1. The Topless Female Trampolining World Championships

This is one of our favourite charity fundraising videos ever, as it’s absolutely hilarious but gets the message across to its target audience perfectly.

Produced for the CoppaFeel charity, in the video, comedian Chris O’Dowd (known best for his role in The IT Crowd) plays Lars Larson, the Health and Safety Officer at The Topless Female Trampolining World Championships. Showing him going about his daily duties, carrying out some tasks that many men would kill for, the reason it works so well is because it focuses on two of the most common (if not a little stereotypical…) ‘interests’ of men – comedy and naked women!

Not touching on the actual topic until right at the very end of the video, O’Dowd just gets straight to the point and explains men can get breast cancer too. There’s no thought required by the viewer, but you’re gripped by the video and have no option but to listen to what he’s saying – it really is a perfect example of getting people interested in your event through a very funny yet informative video.

2. Ricky Gervais ‘Visits’ Africa

This one may not be an actual video in the same sense as the previous two, but it brings such a lighthearted approach to a serious cause that it sticks in people’s minds for months, which is exactly what any promotional activity for a charity should do.

Created as part of Comic Relief 2007, the video appears to show Ricky Gervais visiting Africa, as so many celebrities have done over the years for the cause. Sucking you right in to believing he’s actually there, it soon materialises that it’s all been setup in the BBC studios and hilarity ensues as more and more celebrities want in on the ‘visit’ (including Bob Geldof, possibly the most famous celebrity charity figure in recent years!).

3. Malarious

I think we all know the seriousness of malaria. An atrocious disease that spreads like wildfire in parts of Africa and Asia, the most frustrating thing about it is that it can be prevented with some relatively inexpensive products – and raising money to buy these is exactly what American website CollegeHumor.com helped with when they teamed up with charity Malaria No More.

The concept is simple. We love celebrities. We also love comedy. So team them together, produce 24 videos of celebrities doing funny things, charge people $1 to download them and you’ve got yourself a winning formula!

Helping to save over 8,000 lives so far, Malaria No More and CollegeHumor.com really have shown just how beneficial video can be to charity fundraising – and once again, that you don’t have to tug on the public’s heartstrings to get their donations.

4. BEAN Shanghai Doing ‘Gangham Style’

Whether we love it or hate it, we’ve all heard of Psy’s ‘Gangham Style’ song and no one can argue with the fact that it’s been immensely popular – at the time of writing this, the YouTube video has received over 531 million views.

Showing just how beneficial it can be to capitalise on the success of something popular already, BEAN (a network of young professionals in Shanghai) created this video of their version of Gangham Style, but with a twist – throughout the video, you’ll notice lots of pink!

All in aid of the Pretty In Pink annual gala which is taking place in Shanghai this year (with all proceeds from the event being donated directly to the China Breast Cancer Foundation), this video has proven to be a great way to raise awareness of both the event and the charity as a whole.

5. Seth Rogen’s Hilarity For Charity

Although some would argue that Seth Rogen’s ‘Hilarity For Charity’ event didn’t need any additional promotion from a video, this shows that whether you’re an individual raising a few pounds for a cause via a charity dare or a global name helping to change lives by raising hundreds of thousands through a hugely popular event, a video can still be a great addition to your promotional activities.

A fly-on-the-wall style piece which follows pre-event discussions where the whole team are finalising plans, it comes to light that Seth Rogen has completely forgot to arrange a host for the event and the rest of the video follow his discussions while trying to get one sorted – and it’s all in the name of raising money for the Alzheimer’s Association.

We really do think these videos are hilarious and perfect examples of how you can raise the awareness of your charity dare, fundraising event or cause perfectly.

But if you think you could do better – or you’ve simply created your own video for a charity event – we’d love to see your work, so leave a comment or drop us an e-mail!