I’m involved with several groups that are always looking to raise more $$ to further their causes. I’d love to hear about any fundraising ideas you’ve undertaken or been involved in. It can be events or non-events. I’d like to stay away from the whole concept of selling stuff and getting a cut of the proceeds.
Bonus points if the idea has:
*High returns for the time and energy expended
*Would appeal to different generations - seniors as well as younger/middle aged adults. Children aren’t really a factor here but could be included as well.
*Something unique/original/fun.
I have to fundraise some in my job - really don’t like it! I tend to write more grants.
But, something mentioned to me often is envelope fundraising. Depending how many people you have to reach out to or at a fundraiser you mark empty envelopes starting with “$1” up to how many people you have. Let’s say you have 50 people. Mark individual envelopes from $1 - $50. People pick the envelope that they can be responsible for donating - and the goal is to get all the envelopes taken. It adds up! And can make donating affordable for younger people or those that don’t have a lot of $$$. I think 100 envelopes would net about $5000.
How much do you need/want to raise? (realistically!)
For the orgs I’m involved with, we do annual fundraising drives and do pretty well with that. However, it is always good to consider other one offs for additional funds so I’m just curious what else people do. I also spend a little time advising with other more fledging groups who don’t have the same developed base of supporters the groups I’m directly involved in have cultivated over years so looking for ideas for them as well beyond the spaghetti dinners or the bigger event center plated meal and that sort of thing.
Kind of hoping the group might have some creative, fresh ideas that might have worked for them.
Thanks for the envelope idea. One thing though is since we do the annual drive, I don’t want to confuse that with the envelopes as their annual donation.
I was on a college campus last week for Halloween (I work in higher ed as a consultant and visit campuses frequently) and they did a fundraiser where they “voted” for their favorite administrators/faculty with donations, and the “winners” got to wear some over the top costumes on Halloween. I saw a T-Rex, Unicorn, and Sumo Wrestler, to name a few.
My relative raised a ton of money for charitable organizations where she lived. Her motto was “the best way to raise money is get something free, and sell it.”
True that.
Best fundraisers I contribute to or have done.
Leaf raking. A couple of high school sports teams do this as their annual fundraiser and make a ton of money.
Can and bottle return. The most successful offered to pick up cans and bottles at folks homes. We were thrilled to have them come and take the bottles and cans out of our garage.
Band and silent auction fundraisers. We have done these with a local band. Silent auction baskets were donated. Restaurant or venue donated space. Food was donated or purchased at cost. There was a charge to come, and tickets sold for the silent auction items. Lots of work, but raises a ton of money annually.
Garden or house tours. You have to get 6-8 places to agree to be on the tour, but after that all the overhead you have is selling tickets. One of the most fun was in NJ mid-December. Homes were decorated for the holidays, and has some kind of snack...hot cider, Christmas cookies, cheese and crackers. Nothing huge but the home owner donated. It was great.
5.one group I worked with does an annual “No Bake Sale”. Basically it’s a letter asking for a donation in lieu of buying some thing or having to bake for a bake sale. Nets a couple thousand a year. We made the donations at certain levels. So a Cookie donation was $5, a Brownie was $10, Pies were $15, Cakes were $20… or something like that. People donated at their baked good level.
^^ To add to that, not only you use something free and sell it, you mobilize others (Students) to do the fund raising for you, AND make it repeatable, not just a one time thing.
My son and his HS friends offer dog walking services for a good cause. $20 per walk, after school, and all the $$ go to the charity organization. There is no time limit to the service and we send out reminders once in a while. People are generally happy to support. Everyone wins - the charity organization, the kids (for their HS resume but it’s good for them in other ways too) , the people who use the service, AND most importantly the dogs :-). 100% of earning goes to the organization, no loaded cost. All i had to do is to feed them dinner whenever they come over.
Other technique i use is organizing fun event for the adults, say $100 per person. And I keep the cost down to $50 per person for the whole event. 100 guests will give you $5000. We invited speakers, dancers, local business owners to share their work and to make the event a fun night (no speak longer than 10 mins and not boring lol). And wrap up the night with a lot of dancing. We typically find a place that would let you host the event for free (school gym, warehouse, etc…). You don’t want to do this at a restaurant, it cots a lot.
How much are you looking to raise? I’ve ran many fundraisers over the years - golf outings, galas, walks, etc. One easy to make item that does consistently well at all events and appeals to a wide range of people is a lottery ticket board. I buy a very large poster frame (the type that comes with backing and plexiglass). I take it apart and tape on very type of lottery ticket - scratch tickets, powerball, etc. in all denominations, then put it back together. I spend around $150 on the whole thing. I tape a big ribbon to the corner and it looks quite colorful and festive. It is crazy how much money it raises - several thousand $$ at some events.
Our little library has an annual car raffle. They net about $20,000 a year from it. Tickets are $100 each but they only sell 500 (I think that’s the number). They work with a local car dealership on this. The car is a fun car…and it gets driven around town for display and sale of tickets. They have never had trouble selling all the tickets.
In addition to the ticket sales, they get a few business sponsors who also help defray their overhead.
50-50 raffles. Do them at the local high school sporting events. $1 or $5 a ticket, maybe make it at some level they get a free ticket (like $1 a ticket, 6 for $5 something like that) You get half the money and draw a number for someone to win half the money.
If you are doing any kind of a raffle, bingo, anything like that, be sure to check your state law. In many states, even non-profit organizations and schools are required to have a gambling license to run raffles or games of chance. Usually the license in not expensive, particularly if it is a one time event, but you will have to pay a portion of the proceeds in tax, even if you are a non-profit. Again, usually not a whole lot. BUT if you get caught going without the license, fees and fines can easily outstrip what you raise.
Thanks for the reminder about that idea, @Gourmetmom. I went to a big fundraiser for an org for which a friend is a board member and they had a couple of these. You’re right! They were a big hit. I’m going to see if we can incorporate that idea into one of our events in 2020 barring state regulation issues.
I agree, @lolulu, about the state laws. There can be a lot of bureaucratic red tape to do things “legally”.
Absolutely check the guidelines in your state . Yes, here you need a permit to hold a raffle if you are selling tickets in advance. It’s not costly and getting sponsors helps with overhead like this
Tickets must be printed a certain way here too and numbered
I am sitting here wolfing down the most delicious smoked BBQ beef sandwich. That and smoked turkey sold here every Thursday at lunch time with chips and a can of soda for $8.95. A guy who owns the smoker does this for any group wanting to fundraise. The sandwiches are delicious and disappear very quickly. We got the dregs. Apparently, the groups hiring this guy also do preorders for friends, family, neighbors so those get picked up first.
My Ds’ band had a gazillion fund raisers for their big overseas trip. Admittedly this was 10 years ago, but they did pretty well with prepaid car wash tickets for the local car wash place. A number of locations, so it wasn’t limited to just people in the school area.
One group around here did pre-orders for grinders for the super bowl and delivered them. They got a great deal from a place near here…and made a great amount of money.
It’s too bad this wouldn’t be a great fundraiser now…but when I was in high school in the Stone Age, we sold bags of Halloween candy door to door. Everyone bought it…we lived in a suburban area where there were tons of trick or treaters. But now…no door to door sales.
My orgs don’t involve teens and I think many fundraisers that sell things are more geared to teen labor. People like to support young people. I think it would be awkward for adults to attempt many fundraisers that teens tend to do. But good ideas nonetheless in case they are helpful to others.
Leaf raking worked well for our Boy Scouts, but the scheduling/matching up with jobs was cumbersome.
Some ideas not mentioned yet that our school and booster groups do are percentage nights at local restaurants, and euchre nights…people pay to come, there is drink and food, some small cash prizes, but the ticket sales are what make the money.
