My husband and I are trying to get funding to start a new business. We have an opportunity to receive funding but we have to go through a program to show that we would be good entrepreneurs. The program entails raising funds for a non-profit organization over a 10 week period by doing 5 different fund raising events, each 2 weeks in length, over the 10 week period. Our goal is a minimum of $500 raised per each event. Ok moms and dads, this is where I need your help. I need your best fund raising ideas: thoughts, ideas you've implemented, ideas you've seen done, etc. Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated. It may help you to know what organization we are raising funds for. The organization is Va-Path, which is a non-profit created to house and prepare homeless veterans for placement in the workplace.
We decided to check into this "opportunity" further and although we don't have proof, it appeared to be a scam! When we checked the addresses out that were listed, they were both mail centers. The only thing that seemed legit was that the organization was registered with the state. We decided NOT to pursue this as we did not want anyone donating money to something we couldn't verify was 100% legitimate.
If you decide to do some kind of pampered chef/avon/jewlery party....I sell Scentsy (wickless candels) and would be willing to donate a large majority of the comission I would make for the party. Otherwise I like the carwash, silent auction and raffle ideas.
Car wash, yard sale and have people you know donate items, bake sale, some form of banner that can be hung in your new work place if there is going to be a store that allows other businesses to advertise, but will not effect what you do.
- jar at a local gas station or restaurant with your 'cause' written on the jar
- silent auction
- raffle where you "DONT have to be present to win". This one is my favorite. Get local places to donate gift cards or products. Get your friends to donate their goods/services (mary kay, lawn mowing, etc). Then sell tickets $1 each or 6 for $5. My local volunteer fire dept does this every year and raise a lot of money. I am happy b/c I won 5 things last year! I love that we DONT have to be present to win. We sell the tickets a month before the drawing, so plenty of time for people to get their paychecks in and write a check and mail it all in.
update: Saw that you are in San Antonio .... If I were you and you end up needing donations for one of your fundraising events, I would go, along with your Va-Path fundraising letter to the following places to ask for donations:
Academy
HEB
Aveeno (downtown by the Pearl Brewery. Their services are cheap, as they are done by students. Haircut for $15 or $20 I think, pedicures, facials)
Walmart
A local car wash place (The Wash Tub)
a local car dealership - they may donate an oil change
Bass Pro
Home Depot or Lowes
Places downtown that locals don't often go to: Guinness Book museum, Buckhorn museum, Ripleys Believe-it-or not museum, etc
When I was working in an elementary school, we did a family kickball tournament to raise money for Race for the Cure. We had local businesses sponsor teams and provide light refreshments. We partnered with the local state troopers and they "challenged" us to a game as the day-ender. It was a blast and got families out enjoying the nice weather and raised a ton of money!
It literally cost us nothing b/c we got everything donated. Families paid a nominal fee to register (covered the cost of their team shirts) and the rest was just time and scheduling.
My mom is a member of a charity group that recently did a "ladies tea" and it was wonderful! They went through a local hotel and arranged a package at a discounted rate on a Sunday afternoon and did a formal "high tea".
People sponsored tables and the ladies wore fancy dresses, hats and gloves and LOVED it! As a culture, we don't dress up very often and I was shocked by the number of women who were loving the idea of purchasing a table and inviting their friends to "high tea".
My daughter's field hockey team has partnered with Pie Town (they also serve sandwiches and quiches besides pies) to sell gift cards worth $20. Pie Town then gives the girls 1/2 of that. People seem VERY willing to pay for something that they actually get ALL of (instead of paying $10 for a roll of wrapping paper that you could purchase anywhere else for $3).
The High School just did a raffle for gas cards. They got the local Sports Medicine place to underwrite them (one for $1,000 and another for $750) and then sold the raffle tickets and they did the drawing at homecoming. Last year a realtor underwrote it. They only printed 1000 tickets so you had a fairly decent chance to win - even if you only bought 1 ticket. We sold the tickets for $15 each, 8 for $100 and 25 for $250, but would have sold MANY more tickets if we'd done it for less. Say print 2000 and sell them for $5 each instead. Most realtors are in a group and have the entire group donate and print their logo on the back of the tickets. If they donate $2,000, then you've got the cost of the printing covered too!!!
One of your events should be that old standby, the garage sale. It's amazing how much those things raise! Everybody can come up with something they don't need/want/use, and they are more willing and able to part with stuff than with money. To make it less cumbersome, you can limit the clothes somehow. Sell high-value items on eBay. Place an ad on craigslist (not sure of the category - wanted? volunteer?) to solicit donations and help. I'm not sure if the ad will cost you anything, but even if it does it's worth the small fee for the exposure you'll get. Make sure to advertise your sale, too. I wish you good success in your fund-raising and your business!
• Silent auction.
• "Walk A Mile in Their Shoes" Come, bring gently used shoes and pay $25/person (or more!) for a wine/cheese cocktail party. Hand out Va-Path info at the event. Could do a silent auction there. can donate the collected shoes AND the money!
• 50/50 Raffle ticket sales based on the local lottery at $5-10 per ticket (split proceeds
• Walk-A-Thon Have members sign up and get sponsors giving flat donations or per lap donations -- do at a local high school track.
• Have a HUGE Avon/Pampered Chef/Jewelry party/book campaign if you know anyone in those lines and see if you can get them to donate a % to your charity
• Car Wash for Charity/Donations accepted
• Use a local restaurant and have them offer free appetizers on a certain night/drink specials and a % of the profits
My family has done fundraisers for events in our church or to help send people on mission trips and one that usually works great is a donation or paid dinner plate. We would usually do a spaghetti or pasta since they go further and either take donations per plate or charge $5 and we've raised quite a bit. We've done both at our house and at a location. Have fun with it.
candles
cookie dough
candy bars
wrapping paper
snacks
This came to my mind. (an idea from the past). Mark on the concrete a HUGE outline of ...a house with your home name on it...or...an American flag...or an Eagle...or all..(like on a basketball court). Start in the middle with filling in with quarters,,the goal being filling in the whole picture...Have a patriotic theme with music, red and blue drinks (the kids love those) and a small game section like they do at schools for Halloween ,,,,oh, a dunking booth... ( Have a dollar container for the elderly who cannot get down on the ground and fill in the shapes. ) 2. Have a board built of your HOUSE and then have contributors "buy" a brick for the house and cover the house. Your goal is easily be able to be seen as it is filled. You can use colored paper cut into brick sizes and tape on there or poster board. cut into brick sizes. Add the contributors name. Best wishes. Great job.
First of all, congrats on getting your fundraising started! Raising support for a worthy cause can be super rewarding.
One route you might want to consider is setting up a homepage for your group on a fundraising website.
Raising support online is much simpler and more tidy than raising funds via cash or check (most sites can link donations straight to your bank account through a merchant processor). And having a group page gives you a central place to post information, photos and let people know what you do - this helps you promote your cause to friends, family and whoever else you want.
There are plenty of sites these days that help groups meet their goals - here are some good options:
First Giving (www.firstgiving.com) is a solid one. They charge about 5% on donations raised and have a simple structure to set up your page (though you may have to be a certified non-profit to register with them).
If that's the case, another option is Empowered (www.empowered.org). They process about 3.5% on donations raised, offer lots of tools to help organize/fundraise, and I know they support all small groups, regardless of non-profit status.
And you could always try to send up your own PayPal account to link to you directly, but this is a little trickier and a bit inflexible.
Good luck getting your fundraising going, I hope this helps!
