I need last minute fundraising advice!!!

[ban26ana]

I'm doing this race with TNT. It's basically the only way I can pay for it. Well, I'm still short of my goal by A LOT. I'm disappointed that life got in the way of my fundraising, that people aren't responding to letters/emails/Facebook requests, when I give to every single person who asks me. But most of all, I feel like I've let down dh's aunt, who's currently battling leukemia.

So help me raise money. Does anyone have any ideas for last minute good fundraisers? I put my fundraising website on Facebook every other day and I barely have any takers.

 

[FFigawi]

I think a more personal approach will be more effective than a generic listing on Facebook. My friends who run for TNT or other charities send emails to people individually and make a personal appeal to them directly. That has gotten a much better response than anything else they've done. I also know people have asked bars or restaurants to help them out with happy hours. Of the $10 charged, for example, half goes to the fundraising and the other half to the establishment.

 

[monte]

When I was fundraising for TNT, I mailed letters out, handed them out, emailed and spoke to people about why I was on the team. I know that the TNT mentors have great fund raising ideas and are there to help you in any way. Good luck, if I could do it, you can do it. Keep your head up!

 

[bunnyfoo]

If you work with a lot of different vendors, service providers, contractors etc. try hitting them up for money. I've done that a few times at work and if the company is donating, they tend to give more than an individual - $250 or $500 were not uncommon donation amounts. Even if it was the individual contributing, I would get $50-$100. But do take John's suggestion and go with a personalized email. People tend to respond better that way.

 

[KristinU]

Write a personal story about your DH's aunt, let your friends and family get to know her through a bio written by you in an e-mail. A girlfriend of mine did TNT a couple of years ago and went and met a little boy with leukemia and his mom - she wrote a short story about her visit, about the little boy, and his mom...their story from her own mom-perspective. It really was touching and helped put a person and a true need with the request for donation. I had a cousin that I never knew die of leukemia before I was born, I was named after her...so of course I donated

 

[fashionista311]

my friend went around town, and got a bunch of local stores to donate items (rather than $) and invited everyone she knew for a raffle. i think she charged like $5/ticket and held it a local bar. i think she was able to work with the bar to give her a percentage of sales as well. i'm sure it was a ton of work to plan the whole event...but she was able to make $500+ in one night toward her goal

 

[fashionista311]

also if you work for a large company - they might having a matching funds program (i.e. if you donate $500 to a cause, they will donate another $500 as well). that will cut your fundraising events in half alone

 

[TnTsParty]

I did this year and last year's Goofy through a charity - Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research and I seemed to have gotten most of my donations through personal emails to people I knew. Didn't really get anything from my Facebook friends even though I posted it on there numerous times. At Rally we run in honor (or memory) of a Rally Kid and I make sure I put his story in my email and on my fundraising page. Another thing that my friend at work did for me was go around to the employees and got donations - $1 here, $5 there really added up and doesn't seem to be too much of a burden on people. I appreciated any amount as it all added up to a good cause in the end.

I suggest like other's said write up a story about your DH's aunt and her battle with leukemia and send out personal emails to anyone you can think of. Good luck with your fundraising. I know it can be tough sometimes but hang in there.

 

[ban26ana]

Thanks everyone. I've done the emails, I've told the story. Even people in dh's own family haven't donated. I don't understand that. I'll try talking to a local bar. That sounds like a good idea.

 

[TnTsParty]

Maybe you have to get on the phone and call the people you have sent emails to - they too have life getting in the way of things. I know I had a few that were like that - they wanted to donate but if they didn't do it right away they forgot and of course its not first thing on their minds like it is yours. Sometimes people need another friendly reminder. Especially those that are in DH's family and personally related to DH's aunt.

 

[saysay]

Talk to your mentor or someone at TNT. THey know how to raise the $$. But the happy hour idea works here! My friend in TNT does a happy hour with a silent auction and raffle prices. They made alot of $$ that way...but I think she worked with a few other people. Good luck! Remember your TNT resources aer there to help you succeed...in running AND fundraising!

 

[tippy77]

If your DH's aunt is able, you also might see if she would reach out to people she knows. When a friend of mine was going through treatment for lymphoma (now in remission!), he sent out fundraising solicitations on behalf of a friend who was running a race in his honor. I donated, and I wouldn't have otherwise because I didn't know the friend who was running. Good luck!

 

[minniebeth]

I just wanted to say, good luck and stick with it. I know how hard it is, we just did the WDW Marathon weekend for a fundraiser and your challenges are the same we faced.
Best wishes!

 

[verticalchaos]

Good luck!

I had been debating running the NYC Marathon in November with a charity when I don't get in through the lottery but ultimately decided against it because when I sat down and ran the numbers, it would cost me WAY more (like at least $3000) to do it with TinT or another charity when I paid for what I wasn't able to raise than it would to just wait a year and pay the main entrance fee. Even counting the 9 NYRR races I will have to do for guaranteed entry into 2012. Still clocks in at less than $300 for doing it sans charity.

 

[FLORIDA_GIRL]

I feel for you...raising the funds for TnT when I ran with them in 2010 was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I think it was much more difficult to raise the $3800 for TnT than it was to run the actual marathon.

A few of us on my team ended up doing a Yankee Candle fundraiser...if you check out their website you can get the specifics, but you get back 40% of the purchase price for each item sold. I was able to raise about $200 from selling a few candles to family members.

I was also able to raise about $400 just standing out in front of Wal-Mart asking for donations. You just have to coordinate with your local store to secure a date on their calendar. I did this on a Sunday from about 12-5 pm. I wore a TnT t-shirt that I bought for $5 through the TnT online store and I set-up a table decorated with a TnT banner that one of my coaches gave to me at no cost. But the thing that helped me the most at Wal-Mart was bringing my 10 year old son with me to help ask for donations...it's harder for people to say no to a cute kid

Good luck with reaching your goal...you're doing a wonderful thing!

 

[stampingoddess]

10 years ago I did my first marathon through Joints in Motion and needed to raise about $2,500. Some of the things that I did were a garage sale- and asked family members to donate items to sell as well. At the "checkout" table I also had a bucket for donations. Another fundraiser was bagging groceries at a store where customers usually have to bag themselves. The store let me bring others with me and for about 3 hours on a Saturday morning (prime grocery shopping time) we bagged groceries and had donation buckets at each cash register.

Since my fundraining was so long ago, not sure if these would still work today, but it's worth a shot.

Good luck.

 

[mla1977]

I just fundraised for TNT for the WDW maration and had to make a last minute scramble for money. If you are up against a deadline, try sending out an email to everyone saying "I still need to raise $xxx. If I don't have that money in my account by xyz date then my credit card will be charged for that amount. Any amount you can contribute is greatly appreciated and will help me reach that goal. And don't forget - your entire donation is 100% tax deductible!"

I was able to raise about $500 in 2 days with that last email blast. I also took the same message and mailed it to everyone I know on Facebook. Not just a wall posting but a personal message to everyone. (I may have also told them that I was taking a break from fundraising for a year )

 

[mickeymiller]

First of all, congrats on getting your fundraising started! Raising support for a worthy cause can be super rewarding. But obviously, if you're not an official non-profit, it can be really tricky finding a good way to build support for your cause.

One route you might want to consider: setting up a homepage for your group on a fundraising website. Having a group homepage online makes organizing and fundraising infinitely easier ... And though the majority of fundraising sites require you have official non-profit status, many good ones only require that you are a group - and will give you plenty of the tools you need.

For example, one good site is Meet Up (meetup.com), who allow you to fundraise directly to your account, and register a group without having an official non-profit status - and they cover groups around the world, while giving you some tools to do event management. But the tools they offer are a little limited outside of fundraising.

Another good option would be Empowered.org (empowered.org), a platform that also helps small groups fundraise and organize (regardless of non-profit status). They also work for international groups - and offer a fair amount of useful tools, like the ability to organize your group or to create volunteer activities and fundraising campaigns for more targeted ways to raise support.

Or you could always try to send up your own PayPal account to link to you directly to help you fundraise, but this is a little trickier and a bit inflexible.

Good luck getting started moving forward! Hope that helped.