Charitable Organizations Try Fun-Raising

It started gradually-a video at the top of your Facebook newsfeed, a couple more the next day. But by the end of the summer, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge dominated the news (and, of course, social media), all while raising more than $115 million for the ALS Association. The fundraiser may have been unconventional but-as many Central Ohio organizations know-sometimes you've got to step outside the box to benefit a good cause. Here's how their chartiable events stack up.

Since 2010, wedding planners Emilie Duncan and Kasey Skobel-Conyers have raised money for Mid-Ohio Foodbank meals by auctioning off incredibly elaborate cakes-like an Archie Griffin bobblehead in 2013-at an event that pairs desserts with doing good. columbuscakesforacause.com

Raised to date: More than 100,000 meals

With 40 floors and nearly 900 steps, the Rhodes Tower is the perfect place for the American Lung Association's annual stair-climb event, which raises funds for lung-cancer research.

Raised to date: $225,000

Established in 1989, the AIDS Resource Center Ohio's biennial gala and live auction is the largest charity art auction in the region. That first year, 115 artworks were auctioned, and the event has since grown, featuring works by local and national artists and galleries.

Raised to date: More than $4 million

The Women's Board of the Columbus Museum of Art puts a fun spin on the game of darts. The more darts you purchase, the greater your chance of winning an original artwork. Confident throwers can enter a drawing for a chance to hit the museum's version of a dartboard.

Raised to date: $25,000

Families cheer on their rubber ducks-purchased for $5 each (or up to $100 for a colony)-as they're dumped into the water and "race" toward the finish line. Previously held on the Scioto River, the event took place at the Marina at Creekside Park in 2014. Money raised benefits the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Raised to date: $308,267