Best fundraising ideas?

Question

I'm part of a team for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life walk. Last year we raised $10,000 mostly through corporate sponsors, but haven't been able to have much luck in that area anymore. We are severely lacking. Any other great fundraising ideas?

I am part of a small organization (a college club), and we do not have the means to do anything that would involve us spending much money. I am also from Orlando, Florida, which is a huge city and it would be very hard to involve prominent people in our mission.

Answer 1

People love to Eat. I have been on a Board for a Family resouce center and we use to do Roasts.
You invite a local celebrity, like the Mayor or someone else popular and then hold a roast.
You set up a table and have invited guests of about 10 and then invite others to get involved. You sell tickets with a buffet and silent auction. You can sell tickets to individuals or sell tables of 8 for businesses. In order for this to work, you really need to have a popular person to be roasted. If you have a real celeb in your town see if they will donate the evening. You can even have dancing.
The ten at the head table each gets to make jokes and talk about the person getting roasted. Make it fun and interesting.
Have a raffle for the Celeb tie or underwear. That was always a great laugh and you would be surprised to see just how many people love that feature. They get the underwear or tie in a box wrapped like a gift but you have another pair to show the audience. Use discreation though.

We raised lots of money doing this in a smaller city of 30,000. It works good when everyone knows everyone. So if you are a big city stick to a group that all knows of each other like government employees or teachers.

Good Luck

Answer 2

Hi. Your cause is of particular interest to me. My father was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, and I would love to help you and the ACS raise money.

I'm an independent distributor for a company that makes a cleaner burning, all-natural (100% biodegradable), truer scented candle. Candles that contain a petroleum based paraffin leave black soot on the jars and house walls. I believe we also breath this into our lungs. The candles I sell do not produce that black because of the all-natural ingredients.

We offer a very generous fundraising program. For every jar sold, the group makes $5. So if you had 25 people who each sold 10 candles, your group's profit $1,250. There is no cost to the group. I provide all the materials.

On average about 85% of all families buy candles at least once a year, and candle fundraising programs have been as successful, if not more so, than most the products (gift wrap, chocolates, magazines, etc..) sold today. The jars burn for approximately 90 - 100 hours so they are a good value for the money.

Please visit my website for more information or to request a free fundraising packet. You can find my contact information there as well.

Whatever you decide to use as your fundraiser, if you and your group put forth the effort you should be successful.

Best Wishes.

PS. Location is not an issue either. I am currently helping a church in Mississippi raise money, and I live in Vermont! :)

Answer 3

Unfortunately on a small budget it can be very difficult to raise money. However if you are willing to do a lot of smaller fundraisers you may be able to raise the money you need. Some restaurants are willing to give you a portion of the money they take in on a certain day. You just contact them in advance, choose the day, and then do all the advertising you can to get as many people as possible to the restaurant that day. You could also talk to one of the local beauty shops. I have been to a fundraiser where a beauty shop was willing to donate all the money the took in a particular day. When I was involved in a program called the Explorers and helping them to raise funds I simply wrote letters to local businesses asking them if they could donate an item to be used at a chinese raffle. I was flooded with gift cards to restaurants, furniture, camping equipment. They only cost involved was setting up a decent looking display. I have even been to a cow pie derby where people purchase a square of grass that is marked off and wherever the cow goes to the bathroom then that is the winner. You could easily get a store to donate a prize for the winner. The only downside is the clean up. You could get a large group of friends and have people sponser you and do a bowl a thon. Get people to sponser you for so much money per pin you knock down. Or a dance a thon could be fun. Have people sponsor you for each hour straight that you can keep dancing. Lots of women like scrapbooking or bingo so you could possibly do something with that. You can organize a cook-off with something like chili or wings and have people pay to enter the cook off and then pay to sample all the food. You could talk to a golf course in the are and ask them if on a certain day you can have a long drive contest. Get a company donate a prize and then charge anyone who wishes to enter the contest $5 or $10. There is always doing carwashes. My final suggestion to you would be to see if you can get some businesses to donate some items to put on a small carnival for kids. Parents like me love taking their children to fairs but we also spend a ton of money so they can take home that bear they really wanted to win. I hope something I suggested may be helpful. Best of luck.

Answer 4

It seems to me that those folks with cans standing in front of grocery stores do pretty well. They certainly have no overhead! If they would ever offer to help a person out with their carts or lifting heavy items from cart to car they might REALLY collect some good $$$$.

No kidding, if a person that honestly cared about the cause they were collecting for was knowledgeable and enthusiastic I bet they could raise a decent amount on a one-to-one basis. Bet ya' that a day spent that way is harder, and requires more energy and commitment than a fundraising event tho'.

Answer 5

Hi, congratulations for being involved!
I have two things you might consider:

1. Through the ACS in your area, you may be able to make contact with people who have been through their program, who need help at home. I'm talking things like mowing lawns, removing rubbish, cleaning house, doing minor household repairs, moving/lifting, computer assistance, washing windows, petsitting etc etc.
You have the satisfaction of helping someone AND the donation that they make for having the work done.

2. I belong to an organization who "wraps" for Barnes and Noble at Christmastime. B&N have a program where they provide all the supplies ie wrapping paper, scissors, tape, gift cards and a location in their stores, and you do the gift wrapping for donations. They have a different charitable organization in the store every day and you commit for different time frames.
You will need to contact the manager at a B&N near you and see what is available.
We raised $67K for our charity this way this last Christmas.

Lori

Answer 6

how about a 10k run instead of a walk?
In years past we always chose a product we liked and then asked if we could sell it for a percentage of the cost.
Since Trump's Apprentice weekly has fundraisers on their program why not check that out and then contact the sponsors of the products you like.

Answer 7

Taking a great and long time tradition from my Father, I believe we can all start to help children by giving to our local church and synagogue. These organizations are in touch with people in need in the community, especially families with small children. They also donate many other things besides money. i.e. clothing, medical supplies, food etc. to people inside and outside the community. Also it is a great place to get started with community service. One brick at a time is all it takes.

Answer 8

Selling charm bracelets is a great way to raise funds for relay for life.

Answer 9

Perhaps you could convince prominent people in your town / city to shave their heads. We did that where I work (12 on staff). Four of us had our heads shaved and raised $22,000.00 in a town of 5000 people.

Perhaps some people could have their long hair cut and donate it to "Locks of Love".

It could work.

Answer 10

Find wealthy people that survived cancer to contribute