slo’s THURSDAY 4/13 poll - Fund Raiser

[slo]

Do you participate with fundraisers?
If yes….what was the last fundraiser you paid for?

*For the poll, I tried to think of the most popular ones. I’ve done several in the past that aren’t listed. Please post any answers that aren’t listed in the poll. This could be a good way for people to get fundraiser ideas if they ever need to do one for an organization.


For Me…..It was popcorn for the local HS softball team (in March)
Shortly before that it was a monetary donation to the local HS baseball team (in February)

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I voted "other".... DH got a couple of those "discount coupon cards" the local school kids were selling.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I bought Girl Scout Cookies!

And I think DH donated to a walk or run or something the other day.

 

[1420Elexismc]

I “round up” on many things or add on a dollar to most purchases when it’s an option…usually St Jude’s comes up more often than other charities

 

[nw6675]

I saw a segment on the news about a boy who started a mobile trailer that was set up like a shop for homeless. They could go in and choose ("shop") what toiletries, socks, etc. they might need. It was such a sweet story and kind boy so we decided to give.

 

[Kitty 34]

We ordered popcorn from my granddaughter's preschool.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

I attended a reverse raffle fundraiser for our son’s high school after prom in February. I didn’t win anything, but it was fun!

 

[WDWEPCOT]

I work for a charity we have scaled back our events over the years / we do one big event now yearly - golf event in the fall but we have micro events - mailing constantly

 

[luvnwdwgal]

We have 3 young granddaughters in Catholic school. They’re always selling something, usual food. Last one was candy bars, before that it was cheese.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Monetary donations to whatever seems to come along.

 

[Micca]

When kids come by selling stuff for school we always buy something. For a while they were selling coupon books which were handy (as long as you use the coupons.)

 

[RUDisney]

My favorite fundraisers have been flower sales in the spring and coupons to a local dairy that only takes cash. I never have cash, so I never go there for ice cream and theirs is amazing! I keep the coupons in my car for easy, on the go, usage.

 

[loves to dive]

Monetary donation, gave a bunch of stuff to Goodwill and bought tickets to the annual BBQ Chicken that the local volunteer fire department does every year. We don't go get the chicken, just buy the tickets.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I believe my most recent one was money to a friend's son's travel basketball team. They were doing one of the "fill the calendar" fundraisers.

I also bought Girl Scout Cookies recently.

 

[ronandannette]

Outside our normal giving I always try to keep my eyes open for causes that I care about, for one-off donations. I think the most recent was a cash donation towards relief for the Egypt/Syrian earthquake victims. My next will be a donation to a “defence fund” related to a major local concern. We do regular donations to our city’s food bank and homeless shelter but I don’t consider those “fundraiser” type of campaigns.

The Girl Guides rang the doorbell on Sunday selling cookies, but neither DH or I had any cash and they don’t take alternate payment.

 

[ronandannette]

I work for a charity we have scaled back our events over the years / we do one big event now yearly - golf event in the fall but we have micro events - mailing constantly

Just curious - are these efforts effectively? I get TONS of this stuff and practically never respond to it. I sometimes wonder about the resources sunk into the glossy printed materials and the postage.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Honestly I think it’s a waste most people HATE it with a passion and feedback is don’t waste money on it - we’ve scaled it back - if people want to give they will they know you are there - you make yourself known at events if you ask me but no one ask me people don’t like getting fleeced it’s that simple - I think people lose track of that in the big picture
I myself HATE the commercials on TV nonstop they drive me nuts - the amount of money they spend on TV in insane - use it for your charity
I will say MY charity has all overhead cost covered by one of our donors so the donations go to the Veterans! That is something people inquire about when donating - which they should

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Our mailings are emails mostly and yearly letter - nothing fancy - no glossy here we keep it simple and cheap !!

 

[soccerdad72]

Raffle of sorts - it was a gift card raffle for our son's after prom, where every day during the month they gave away gift cards that were donated. Actually, we donated gift cards as well and bought tickets for the raffle.

Next weekend, we have a big charity dinner for an organization that my wife is on the board of. They haven't done an in person benefit since Covid, so it'll be interesting.

 

[_19disnA]

I like to mostly give shelf stable food products, bottled water, etc. when various local charities are doing collections. Feel that way the item is more likely to actually end up in the hands of needy families instead of giving money that might end up being used to pay 'administrative' expenses.

I NEVER donate to any of those 'charities' advertising on TV. I am not donating to fund their TV ad time. If most of what they collect goes to pay salaries of the staff, they you are really running a business pretending to be a charity and likely only a tiny % of donations ever go to whatever cause they support. Many people probably don't realize that just because some organization is setup as a 'non-profit' does NOT mean the workers are unpaid volunteers. I think the laws regarding 'non-profits' need to be modified to eliminate the loopholes. If only 2% of the donations go toward the actual cause you should lose your non-profit status and be considered a business and pay taxes like all other businesses.

Lately there is some religious organization spending a LOT of money of vague TV ads. No idea who they are and it gives you some website to go look at..............think I will pass on that one too.