Need Fundraising Help!

[xCourxCorex]

Hi everyone,
My high school dance team has been fortunate enough to be able to go to the National Dance Team Championship in WDW in February 2007. We attended a summer camp run by UDA where we won 1st place, and a bid to Nationals. There will be about 25-30 people going (the dancers, some parents, and our coach). We've estimated we'll need around $12,000 to go, and the money needs to be in by December 1st!! If you have any successful fundraising ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Here are some we've come up with already:
Car Wash (this is one we are definately doing)
Selling flower bulbs (this has worked out pretty well in the past)
Bake Sale
Pampered Chef Party
Maybe working at the local haunted house, we will get a portion of the ticket sales for the nights we work.

Thanks!!

 

[foolishmortal]

Hi everyone,
My high school dance team has been fortunate enough to be able to go to the National Dance Team Championship in WDW in February 2007. We attended a summer camp run by UDA where we won 1st place, and a bid to Nationals. There will be about 25-30 people going (the dancers, some parents, and our coach). We've estimated we'll need around $12,000 to go, and the money needs to be in by December 1st!! If you have any successful fundraising ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Here are some we've come up with already:
Car Wash (this is one we are definately doing)
Selling flower bulbs (this has worked out pretty well in the past)
Bake Sale
Pampered Chef Party
Maybe working at the local haunted house, we will get a portion of the ticket sales for the nights we work.

Thanks!!

Bingo
Silent Auctions (get donations from area shops & restuarants)
raffles (see above)

 

[ozarkmom]

We've done chilli, soup etc dinners and pancake breakfasts. We're pretty lucky around here on fundraisers getting food donated for things like that. We also do alot of raffles. Our project graduation actually sells chances on money (people like money!).

 

[mickyzzzzz05]

If there is a fall celebration in your area see if you can have a funnel cake stand. Really cheap ingredients so you make a lot of money on them but it is messy.

Raking lawns (we asked for free will donations and made out really good)

Spaghetti supper (we had everyone donate hamburger and different sauces - bought the spaghetti and served cut up vegetables, garlic bread and pie or cake).

 

[clh2]

What about selling wreaths/pointsettias?

We have several local groups that do this, and personally, I seek out people to buy them from, because I know these items are really high quality, and I don't mind spending the money to support the organizations, since I will be spending the money anyway.

 

[Bearvet]

Our Tae Kwon Do Olympic team has used various fundraisers to help defray travel costs - car washes, can/bottle drive, candy bar sales, etc. Our best money maker is a golf tournament!! Ask businesses to sponsor a hole or cart, donate prizes, etc. The first one is a LOT of work but it gets easier after that - we usually make $4000 - you could probably organize one for late Sept/early Oct this year. We also had a parent whose company has Red Sox box seats and donated 4 tickets which we raffled off - another BIG money maker (they also have Patriots tickets, so we're working on that now). Those have been our best two fundraisers so far...

 

[clh2]

And another idea - maybe you could do workshops for Brownies or Junior Girl Scout troop related to the dance try-its or badges, and charge a reasonable fee?

 

[EthansMom]

How about babysitting for a Parent's Night Out?

 

[disneymom3]

A lot of groups around here do a fast food night. They hand out flyers to come to say, Burger King on a certain night and then usually about 20% of proceeds from each order that they turn in the flyer goes to the group.

Netflix has a good fundraiser, I think it is through fundraising.com. You hand out cards with a specific code for your group on them. Then people can sign up for a free two week trial and if they join netflix after the trial, your group gets $10

 

[bcvprincesses]

My dd's gymnastics team is planning a parents day out before Christmas so people can shop. They are having free time in the gym, pizza, movies, games and crafts. Maybe you could do somethng like this and also teach the kids a dance.

 

[barkley]

2 suggestions-

1. increase your car wash earnings by making it a pledge driven activity-have people pledge so much per car your group washes on a certain day. then do the car wash 'free/'tips only'-our local cheerleaders do this and make a fortune (i don't think anyone passes up a free carwash so they make money via pledges, and most people tip $3-$5 so they make more than they would if they set a fixed charge).

2. an area choir did a big fund raiser by advertising that they would perform 30 minutes at any christmas holiday party or function for $50. they got hired by buisnesses for office events, people throwing private parties, shopping centers-and once the local news station got wind of it and did a peice they could'nt keep up with the demand (and a bunch of people made donations). a large dance team could be broken into small groups to cover multiple events-just come up with some simple routines to standard holiday songs, maybe get some reindeer ears/red noses for the rudolph song, top hats for frosty the snowman-wear scarves and santa hats for other numbers. advertising it via flyers and such early in the fall could result in allot of bookings at $100 per hour. you might even be able to hit up a local mall to hire you for multiple shows on the big shopping weekends (our local mall has carolers and different performers throughout the holiday season).

 

[mamacatnv]

Something we do here is we get one of the Steak Houses(national chain) to come out and bbq for us at a football game. We pre-sell & at the door the dinners for $7. They include Caesar salad, chicken, steak and a soda. the steakhouse provides us the meal for $2.50 per person - this is a huge fundraiser - we usually shoot for Homecoming since the crowds are so big or we look for the next biggest crowd attendance and go for that.

 

[kelleigh1]

As a Pampered Chef consultant I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but since I'm working on a fundraiser for our bowling group, I'll share.

Think about a Tupperware fundraiser. With Tupperware, the group's take is 40% of sales. With PC, it's only 10-15%.

 

[plutolovr]

Corporate Sponsorships.

We've done this when my daughter was an all-star cheerleader.

Have someone in your organization author a letter on your organization's letterhead, stating what they're doing, where they're going and what they need. The girls/guys can hand these out to local businesses and corporations. When you get the donations in, make t-shirts for the kids to wear when they travel, on the back you can list all the businesses that donated to the cause.

This works out pretty well. It's a tax deduction for the companies, and they get some publicity. Just make sure they get sent a thank you note, and a t-shirt. You can also take a team photo of the girls with the shirts on and give the companies a plaque with the photo and a note of thanks.

 

[luvdzny]

Some of our sports teams do 50/50 raffles at the games. People can buy raffle tickets and the prize is 1/2 of the money collected. They draw the winning ticket at halftime. If you do this at every game you could earn a few extra dollars.

 

[Shelby5514]

Macy's is doing a Shop for a Cause Charity Day and any school or charity can participate. They provide you with discount coupons that you sell for $5 each and you keep all the proceeds. The event is on Sept. 16 but you still have time to sign up and sell tickets. The coupons are for 20% and 10% off and there's also a $10 coupon! So it's DOUBLE your money back!!! I'm going to do ALL my christmas shopping! Our school has already sold over a hundred tickets so that's an easy $500!!!! We just called the local store and they got us all set up with the tickets the next day!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

One of our fundraisers was "Triva Night"...our school made alot of money.
They rented a hall, did raffle baskets, 50/50, and other stuff. They did serve liquor and boy oh boy did the cash pour out then...
Basically you rented a table for your team, so if it sells out you are already ahead!

However it was a big undertaking and alot of people worked on it.

Check your area to see if "Trivia Night" is a big deal! Some people are addicted to it and it is alot of fun. Perhaps go to one and play.

I won 2 baskets that night.

 

[xCourxCorex]

Wow! These are some great ideas, thanks!!

 

[TheGirlin14G]

A movie or activity night at your elemenatry school could be a money raiser.. maybe you could do this the day after Thanksgiving since it's a big shopping day. You could check if local day care centers would be interested in something similar.

Around Christmas time bookstores such as Barnes & Nobel and Boarders that have gift wrap tables for different fundraisers - maybe check if they start in November.

My band and chorus makes sandwiches as a fundraiser - the school cafeteria and some local sandwich shops donate ham, cheese, rolls, lettuce, tomatoe, and onions - we charge $3, some of it covers a small cost for the supplies but we profit at least $2 for each sandwich sold.

Best of luck to you and your dance team!!

 

[marydmjj]

Cookie Lee jewelry consultants do fundraisers. I give 50% of each piece of jewelry sold. It is a great fundraiser for girls/women. I sent you a PM.