It seems that just about everyone has a secret family chili recipe to call upon. Use this to your advantage by getting people to share theirs through having a Chili Cook-off as your next fundraising event.
You'll want to charge an entry fee to all chefs taking part and dish out some cash prizes to the winners at the end. If you can, assemble a group of local celebrities as judges, and draw up a list of different categories that people can enter: best spicy chili, best vegetarian chili, best chili by a chef under the age of 16, and so on and so on.
You have the choice of either having all the participants bring in their pre-cooked chili or providing a suitable space where they can cook it on site. You might want to include the cooking as part of the judging process, giving out points for timing, cleanliness, technique and so on. People often enjoy watching others cook, so organize an observation area for an audience if you possibly can.
It's a good idea to have a cooking contest with a set time limit to see who can make the best chili in an hour (or a half hour for a real challenge). To raise even more money for your cause you could sell bowls or samples of the various chilies for the audience to sample.
Read our full guide to fundraising through a chili cook-off.
