Any ideas for Fundraising?

[arizonacolbys]

My husband is in the Ohio Army National Guard & he is currently in the OCS Class (Officer Training Program.) Well, he & his class have been given the task to raise a good deal of money between now & next March for a variety of different training activities & field trips that the class needs to go on.

I've never had much experience with fundraising & was hoping someone out there might have a good idea of ways for us to try & raise some money for his class. He is currently selling candles, but I just don't think that's going to be enough. Everyone from his class is located all over the state, so they basically need to earn money on their own - they can't really get together to complete any of this.

I've looked into selling Malley's chocolate bars & Entertainment books. Any other ideas anyone could give me would be a great help. Thanks so much!!

 

[Frannypooh]

I sent a PM!


Fran

 

[crisi]

Personally, I hate it when people knock on my door selling things for fundraising. Someone is making a huge profit off that wrapping paper that I don't need and can get cheaper - in addition to the funds you are raising. If its a good cause, I'd rather just write a check. Did that for our PTO this year. Sent the Happenings book back with "we don't sell or buy, but here is our donation to your fundraising efforts."

Raffle tickets are a good way to do this and still have people "get" something. If the cause is something I believe in, I'll always by raffle tickets - even if I don't like the prize (I figure the chances are small I'm going to win it). Even if the cause is something I believe in, I won't buy Entertainment books.

 

[dis4me]

Some things we have done in the past are gift auctions(lot of time), car wash, spaghetti diner, bake sales, garage sales.Some stores wil let you tag/ can in front of them to collect money.Also a fifty/fifty in most states you need a license for so be careful.
Hope some of these help

 

[Gillian]

Avon has a pretty good return for fundraising and no markups for the products. Not so sure how that would be for this type of group, though.

One thing a lot of organizations are starting to do here are vendor fairs. Find a place to hold it (school gym or cafeteria or church), call people who sell things (home party plans, small crafters, other local businesspeople) and invite them to attend for a small donation. You do need to provide tables.

The donations are either cash or a prize that can be raffled or auctioned.

Just some ideas! Best of luck

 

[Cheap-n-Dale]

One thing I have seen be profitable when it involves adults with adult contacts doing the fundraising, are these raffles for a new car. The pitch is that you only sell 200 or 250 tickets for a $100 each, the limited number of tickets, offset the ticket price. You work a deal with a local dealer for plenty of advertising in exchange for the best deal they can provide, perhaps there is even a car dealer in the group. One thing that is very important is for the organization to understand the tax laws and deductability of donations made to them.

 

[gigi1313]

joe corbi pizza is a GREAT fundraiser because you get an excellent product at a reasonable price (unlike ridiculously overpriced wrapping paper! LOL!) www.joecorbi.com (the cookie dough is also great!) [this was a great fundraiser to have delivered the week before Super Bowl!]

our youth group sells krispy kreme cards which are very popular (if you have a kk near you, just pop in and ask about them)

cushman's fruit www.honeybell.com is also an excellent product at a reasonable price and a very easy company to work with!

i just ran a golf outing for our church and it was a LOT of work, but we raised over $10,000! but w/out alot of business contacts in the area, it would be very hard to do!

i agree w/the previous poster who suggested spaghetti dinners, bake sales, car washes, etc... hoagie sales are good too...

last but not least, check into different "party" companies (tupperware, pampered chef, tastefully simple, partylite candles, mary kay, discovery toys, etc) as quite often they will do fundraiser parties where instead of "credit" (to buy their product) you can get cash for your charitable cause...

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Buttercup26]

Krispy Kreme has good fundraising opportunities, if there is one near you check into it.

 

[CarolA]

My Europe Bound Girl Scout troop has done the following so far:

Car washes (couple of hunderd a pop)
catering. (We catered a fishing rodeo and a Girl Scout training session)
Pool parties (only works in the summer unless you have an indoor pool)
Flamingos. This was one of my favs and it did very well. You get a flock of flamingos and put them in someone's front yard. You put a note on them stating that the receipeint has been "flocked" and for a donation you will move the flock to the receipient of thier choice. We raised $600 in about two weeks and plan to do it again in November. (We can't fund raise in Oct due to United Way!)

 

[arizonacolbys]

Thanks for all the great ideas Everyone!!!

You have all given me some great ideas to look into. I, too, had thought about something like car washes & spaghetti dinners, but it may be too hard to get everyone from this group together. The closest person to us is over 2 hours away & the furthest is about 7 hours away.

Thanks again for all the great ideas - we're definitely going to look into many of these!

 

[Doodlebug939]

First off let me say that I am from Painesville OH so I know where you are coming from!!!! I actually miss the snow and lake effects.

Second-Because you are in such a cold climate here is an idea that might work. I know when the military people make Cheif they have to do all kinds of things to earn money. I know that here they work with a local gas station and pump peoples gas. I know it sounds weird but it works. I would set up a sign or run an ad to say something like, Helping a Local Serviceman Raise Money. He goes to the pumps and fills people up and gets tips for it. I know that mentor can get pretty cold and let me tell you if he was to plan it right people would go there and get gas. Escpecially when the snow starts flying. I would give a person a buck or two to pump for me if it was raining or freezing.

Many people are feeling national pride and support for serviceman right now and I would use that in advertising what ever he does.

 

[CheapMom]

Personally, I hate it when people knock on my door selling things for fundraising. Someone is making a huge profit off that wrapping paper that I don't need and can get cheaper - in addition to the funds you are raising. If its a good cause, I'd rather just write a check. Did that for our PTO this year. Sent the Happenings book back with "we don't sell or buy, but here is our donation to your fundraising efforts."

AMEN! My kid's school has a direct donation campaign. They will not ask you to buy pizza, or gift wrap... 100% of your donation goes directly to the PTA. There are about 300 families in our school and the campaign raises close to $30,000 each year. So much better than selling pizzas and keeping 10% of the revenue.

 

[HillPete]

I just PM'd you!! --Hillary (in Cleveland Heights)

 

[my3kids]

Are these guys that play video games? Could you go through local high schools to find a large group of kids who play video games? What about a Madden Football tournament. Have each participant pay a $15 registration fee with the winner taking half the pot and the guard getting the other half. Might go over better with adult men peers than candles. Just a thought....

 

[JessetheCowgirl]

Several restaurants here will let you hold "fundraiser" night where your group gets 10% of all sales.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Originally posted by JessetheCowgirl
Several restaurants here will let you hold "fundraiser" night where your group gets 10% of all sales.

In addition to this, some restaurants will let you be servers on your designated fundraiser night and you get to work for tips. Is there an Officers or All-Ranks club on the base where they receive their training?

 

[lovemygoofy]

One great fundraiser that adults can do is work a major venue that hosts concerts, athletic events, or whatever. My FRG did this for 6 events and raised almost 5k. The venue paid about 150/pp and we normally sent about 10 people, sometimes less or more. We drove an hour to Nashville where the major venues were. If you have anything near you like that I would contact the manager and see what you can work out.

A different fundraiser that raises a quick few hundred bucks or more sometimes is a pie in the face. You would be amazed at how much soldiers would pay to put a whip cream pie in their CO's face, and the wives too! I personally paid alot to put one in my husband's face but it was worth it and he couldn't get mad. If you need more suggestions please feel free to PM me.

Good luck,
Tina

 

[carolb3]

Here's a suggestion for a fundraiser -- cell phone recycling/fundraiser. We may be doing this for our cub scout group. This would be a great way to combine fundraising with recycling/protecting the environment, while also providing a service to local residents in your town.

This company below will accept any phone and pays $3/phone, free shipping of phones. They recommend leaving bag hangers on the doors with a note inside explaining the program.
http://www.phoneraiser.com/fundraising_for_organizations.htm

There are other companies that pay you depending on the model of the phone, free shipping, free mailing bags, etc. They do not pay for all phones --looks like just newer ones. For example, the two old phones we have are not on the list of phones they pay for, but they pay well more than $3 for many phones on their list.
http://www.fundingfactory.com/

Those are just a couple of examples -- there are many companies that do this.

You could put a drop off box at your local library or grocery store (w/ permission of course). Then you could do the bags at the doors also. To inform the public: put a note in the school's weekly newsletter making them aware; flyers at grocery store, library, banks, etc.

 

[travelin' mouse]

Our church youth group has had great success with a dessert auction. We would combined it with a spaghetti dinner and would also have a few skits. It raised between $3,000.00 and $6,000.00. What a fun night.
Also a bean auction & dinner. We had a nice dinner and a group came in to sing a few songs ( romantic - it was around valentines day). After dinner everyone was given beans and we began to auction off prizes. They were wrapped real pretty but some were white elephant type gifts and others were legitimate gifts (lots of them were donated by local companies). It got really fun to watch people bet their beans.

Hope these help, Cathy K.

 

[frstimer128]

How about printing up a general letter stating that the soldiers are holding a fundraiser. Explain where the money goes and how it will be used. Each soldier can make as many copies as they need and mail them to family, friends and neighbors. These days, military support seems to be high so this might be an effective way to raise funds. You can do this along with a sale or raffle for extra money. If the letter is going out to people they know, then those folks may be more willing to help out. 100% profit!

Another thing would be to leave cans out at their local stores for customers to drop change into. 100% profit!

Yet another...have their local schools hold a Penny Drive. If the PTA does not want to do it, then the teachers of individual classrooms may be willing to take on the project. 100% profit!

One more....have a Benefit Tag Sale where people of your town donate their old stuff for you to sell. Just make sure to advertise well! 100% profit!


Good Luck!