pass the hat

From the practice of placing money in a hat circulated to collect funds from a small group.

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pass the hat (third-person singular simple present passes the hat, present participle passing the hat, simple past and past participle passed the hat)

1. (idiomatic) To ask for money, especially from a group of people; to solicit donations or contributions.
   • 1885, Mark Twain, chapter 20, in Huckleberry Finn:

     Then somebody sings out, "Take up a collection for him, take up a collection!" Well, a half a dozen made a jump to do it, but somebody sings out, "Let HIM pass the hat around!"

   • 1988 February 14, Richard Tremblay, “A Boat With A Sail”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 30, page 5:

     A consensus developed that those individuals who believed in this type of activism would pursue it independently, while enlisting help from interested members. When financial contributions were called for, we would "pass the hat" rather than tap our meager treasury.

   • 2008 December 5, Martha Ann Overland, “In Asia, American-Style Fund Raising Takes Off”, in Chronicle of Higher Education, retrieved 11 Dec. 2008:

     The institutions are opening development offices, hiring professional fund raisers, investing in slick billion-dollar campaigns, and trotting out their presidents to pass the hat.

• take up a collection

• whip-round