Fundraising Advice

I did a fashion show luncheon. Each table was set to honor/remember someone with cancer. I had my Grandmother's table setting; I borrowed the settings to honor my father and grandfather. The centerpieces were auctioned off between sets of the fashion show. My Emcee backed out last minute so I found 2 drama students from high school. Everyone loved it! if you want additional information, my email is ____@____.com

Some great advice already here.
I too have a home-based party business and have done several fundraisers for friends and customers. In a 2 hour open house (no-presentation) party, the hostess has raised $150-$450. That's just with my Silpada jewelry. I think having an event with several vendors is great. Just make sure you invite EVERYONE you know and ask friends to invite friends - it's for a great cause and they are fun! Shop for a Cure!

We have a kids play place in town that helps fundraising teams by donating time in the play place and parents make donations to let their kids play. Sometimes they also have the vendors set up as described earlier. Maybe a gym or YMCA would be willing to do the same.

Bake Sales (at churches)
Car Wash
Garage Sale (friends, family & neighbors could donated some of their stuff too to add to your own)
Offer a pancake breakfast or hamburger/hotdog BBQ at home, church or park.
-You would obviously need to recruit some helpers for most of these.
Carry a "Request for Support" with you everywhere you do business (hair salon, bank, grocery, etc.) and hopefully they will thank you for your business and support your fundraising drive.

Here's a website with more ideas: http://www.fundraiserhelp.com

Good luck and thanks for helping to cure cancer!
J.

Hi there! We did a fundraiser for our Cancer walk last year that was very successful! We purchased some flamingos on stakes...and went to houses and FLOCKED THEM! it was alot of fun. we did it at nite, and they would wake up and find the flamingos and signs saying they were flocked and then our number to call to either pick up the flamingos or they
could forward them on for a 15$ donation. And let me tell you....almost everyone did! our group made lots of money to donate to our walk! You need a crew to take turns picking up and flocking but it is fun and a great fundraiser! hope this helps. good luck...any questions.....email me and i will try and explain it better!

L.,

I did the 3-Day walk 4 years ago, and what worked well for me was sending a letter to EVERYONE that I knew asking for $1 per mile. Most sent that, many sent more.

Good luck to you.

Jessica

I've gone to a breast cancer luncheon for 3 years now down in Marengo, IA and it is wonderful. Here is the web address of one of the women who put it on (her name is Conna): ____@____.com

There's is a local resturant that donates the food and place for the lunch, they have a speaker, and then they do a raffle. The raffle prizes are all donated and tickets are $1, or 6 for $5. It's so much fun, and for such a great cause.

Also, here is a GREAT breast cancer website I visit if you want to shop, donate, or click to give free mammograms: www.thebreastcancersite.com

As far as for your wrap up party, you could do something similar to what Vickey R suggested regarding a Bunco party. I haven't ever been to one, but that might be a good way to end the day. Also, you may want to google what other people have done to end a cancer walk.

I think the vendor fair is a great idea. Let me know if you would like anyone from Premier Designs jewelry. I would love to help!

Just thought I would let you know that Pampered Chef also has a great fundraising program. You get a percentage of the sales plus you get $2 from every show booked. Let me know if you are interested in more info!
____@____.com

I have never organized a fundraiser, though I personally know the founder of this organization in California. She is a fabulous lady, and I believe all profit from the sale of her merchandise goes to the group of your choice. Please feel free to pass on her website. She does not make anything from her sales, simply wants to help others. Please feel free to contact me for further information. Good luck! C.
____@____.com

http://www.savethegirlz.org/index.html

L.,
I sell PartyLite and have taken part in many fundraisers for different organizations. Some have put together a silent auction, asking for donated goods and services. Others have had a "vendor open house," where 5 or 6 different consultants set up a display and then donate a portion of their sales. Still others will do "book shows" with a portion of the proceeds donated to the charity.
If one of these interests you, please feel free to contact me.
Good luck!
J.
____@____.com

Hi L.;
I participated in a fund raiser for a high school dance team in the Fall of 2007. I felt the idea was unique and it worked quite well for the dance team. The dance team coaches contacted all the at home 'party plan' type business that they could find in the area. Tupperware, Avon, Mary Kay, etc were all represented. The only way it works tho is if you have only one from each company. The business owners set up a booth and can sell their wares and set up future parties. The dance team received a percentage of what was sold and the party revenues for a set period of time. This is a win win situation for both the charity and the business owners.
If you are in the Fox Valley area of Wisconsin let me know and I am happy to set up a booth. And no matter where you are I have a contract in my computer that I can send to you; just send me a private email with your email address. Also you can get free advertising from TV and radio if you are benefiting a charity. I am happy to offer any help I can give you just let me know.

First of all, congrats on getting your fundraising started! Raising support for a worthy cause can be super rewarding. But obviously, if you're not an official non-profit, it can be really tricky finding a good way to build support for your cause.

One route you might want to consider: setting up a homepage for your group on a fundraising website. Having a group homepage online makes organizing and fundraising infinitely easier ... And though the majority of fundraising sites require you have official non-profit status, many good ones only require that you are a group - and will give you plenty of the tools you need.

For example, one good site is Meet Up (www.meetup.com), who allow you to fundraise directly to your account, and register a group without having an official non-profit status - and they cover groups around the world, while giving you some tools to do event management. But the tools they offer are a little limited outside of fundraising.

Another good option would be Empowered.org (www.empowered.org), a platform that also helps small groups fundraise and organize (regardless of non-profit status). They also work for international groups - and offer a fair amount of useful tools, like the ability to organize your group or to create volunteer activities and fundraising campaigns for more targeted ways to raise support.

Or you could always try to send up your own PayPal account to link to you directly to help you fundraise, but this is a little trickier and a bit inflexible.

Good luck getting started moving forward! Hope that helped.

I have organized a cancer fundraiser before. as part of a steak dinner we sold meal tickets and held an auction. everything in the auction was donated and most of it was handmade with the cause in mind.

Hi L.. I wanted to first thank you for supporting such a wonderful cause. Tupperware has an amazing fundraising program set up. We've been a big part of the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and other many local school fundraisers. 40% of all the sales go directly to your organization. If you'd like more info you can email me directly at ____@____.com. I'd love to help you get started. Take care.

I have never organized a fundraiser but did participate in a Bunco for Breast Cancer. It was a blast we all paid $25 a ticket and they also did a silent auction on Baskets that people from business donated or people made and put together. It started at 6p.m. and let the ladies bid on the silent auction things for a 1 1/2 hours the dice rolled at 7:30 after the 2nd round they took a break to let the ladies see where the bids were at and started back up after a 1/2 hour, they served snack food. It was at a place where it was a cash bar. Which I don't think is always needed. Good luck but I know Bunco is a lot of fun and a no brainer. They numbered the tables and if you won you moved to the next highest table. As for prizes for the bunco game they handed out cheep beaded necklaces and did 1-10 places with the most necklaces these gifts were donated from area business. from free doz. of eggs to doz. donuts, to spatula from pamper cheif. Good luck Let me know where and when.

V.