Looking for some new "big $" fund-raising ideas for Non-Profit Animal shelter.?

Question

I work at the Humane Society in my town, and we have 4 major events to raise funds aside from doing the mail appeals. Two of the four events are much more profitable, and A LOT more work of course.
If you have idea's that you believe would make a excellent fundraiser. PLEASE share them. I am looking to "step-up" the current rut we are in and bring more people together and raise some money to expand our shelter.

Thanks

Answer 1

I volunteer for a local SPCA. There are lots of grants out there. A good fundraiser that takes very little work is street collections. We get permission from the police, pick our corner (between PetSmart and Petco) on a very busy intersection, decorate paint cans to look like animals, wear our organization's shirts, have some one with a poster sitting further down from the corner so they know we will be there, and walk up and down just like the rest of the beggers. We collect over $1k usually in four hours and do it once or twice a month. Oh and one person drives by and exchanges the cans so no one is out there with a lot of cash. In the past, before standing began to bother me so much we put together a table with a few things to sell outside WalMart-with their permission. We have posters of dogs and cats for adoption, cans for donations, a few sales, but talk to tons of people and have gotten lots of new members and gotten quite a few animals adopted. Everyone goes to WM. We found one where we do so much better. We also take our animals to Petco and Petsmart on the weekends and they are ever so cooperative in helping us get animals adopted. They also have grants they issue. Our mayor put out a moritorium on the killing of animals at the shelter. He, his family, his staff and anyone that wants to help talk to people at the local large flea market where they take dogs from the shelter to get them adopted. He also ran out the puppy mills operating at the shelter. A lot of animals are getting adopted.

Answer 2

Off the top of my head...

I think a fun idea would be to host some type of dog "pageant" where prizes and ribbons would be awarded in different quirky categories, such as best costume, best talent, most glamorous "hairstyle", canine with the most attitude, dog who looks the most like their owner or the most like a celebrity, etc.. I'm sure you can think of more creative ideas. You could contact local businesses in your area, explain the details of the event, and appeal to them to sponsor it by donoting prizes. This could be good advertising for them. As for raising money, you could charge a fee for contest entrants, charge admission to the event, and sell refreshments. You might even be able to get media coverage.

Or what about something similar to those walk-a-thons? Except this would be something like walk-a-dog-a-thon. A lot of charities raise money this way.

That's all that comes to mind right now. I'll add more later if I think of any. Good luck!

Answer 3

Go to www.benevon.com. They have a video online, and you can buy their books, too. Their system is inexpensive to do and leads to people making $1,000 commitments to your organization for five years. Read the books, don't bother about going to the seminars. The events they recommend are much cheaper than what you are probably doing now, and perhaps less work spread out among more people.

Answer 4

Could you add to the comments what your other fund-raising ideas are so we can have a clue what to suggest?

Answer 5

You might want to consider running a charity race night the sites below have some free useful advice.

http://www.globalracenight.com
http://www.racenight.me.uk