Our team started at the end of August fundraising for this year (2009). We sold mums from a local, reputable nursery. We had multiple bake sales and did well.
We also have handmade Christmas cards that are doing quite well. Additionally, our bigger event is this weekend.
We are holding a spaghetti dinner and Christian concert. It's our first year. Everything has been donated. It's a small start, but will grow.
6 doctors from a local hospital are taking donations from nurses/staff to receive a pie in the face. The doctors put a minimum amount that MUST be reached before they will take the pie. We are having NO problem reaching those goals, the docs have also donated! They will take the pies at the dinner.
In two weeks we are holding a parent's night out at the Church. Watching kids for a donation while parent's shop. We are offering gift wrapping afterward.
we are also collecting aluminum cans to turn in for money. So far we are over $1000 in donations!
I am also from a small town and am chairing our event for the first time. An idea we came up with this year is called "Remember in December". We made these paper ornaments w/a purple ribbon and with silver marker people can either do "in memory of...", "in honor of...", or write their own special message and then the ornaments will be hung at participating locations for the month of December. The cost to make the ornaments was about $.05 a piece and rather than setting a price we're just asking for a donation (in our community we find people are far more generous if you ask for a donation rather than setting a price). We figure this fundraiser will make anywhere from $.50 to $5 per ornament. We're kicking off the fundraiser at our next meeting Dec 2nd.
The team I am on also does a Christmas silent auction and a Mother's Day silent auction. I'm on a work team and we do all of our fundraising right here at work. Our silent auctions usually bring in about $500-$700 each.
We've held yard sales and bake sales with great success. We always have a bake sale in the doctor's office where I work on the day before Thanksgiving. That saves a lot of people from having to bake deserts. Here is good idea if you have many quilters in your town. Have a quilt making fundraiser. We called ours the "Hope Quilt". People made an 8" by 8" quilt block and gave a donation of $5 per block. A local quilting guild donated the talent, time and materials to put the quilt together. We held a small reception to show it off when it was done. You can then auction the finished quilt if you like to make more money. Good luck! I'm sure that you will get many ideas and have a great event!
Finding the right and most profitable fundraiser is a challenge. My first advice would be have fun! People will join in and pay, especially if they are paying to entertain kids. Make sure your event is very kid friendly. You are looking at the right place to find ideas, search other team comments and look at team web pages for ideas.
One of our teams accepted donated prom and formal wear and recycles the dresses. They do not sell anything over $60. They have a great story about one young lady. My teams tried a lot of different fundraisers, the money just adds up before you know it. Those small fundraisers add up!!!
Re: Fundraising in a small community -- in hard times
I think in hard times, its all about how you frame the message behind your fundraisers, no matter what they might be. If things are tight for everyone, imagine how much cancer patients and their families need the services and support of ACS. The mission of ACS grows even more as the economy declines and that's important for Relays in small towns and in major metros.
We had two big sellers at our Relay. We bough miniature hand held battery operated fans at Wal-Mart for $1.00. We turned around and sold them for 1 for 3.00 or 2 for 5.00. They where a huge hit for the extremely hot day. For the night time we brought out glow stick necklaces. We got these at our local Dollar Tree. They came in a package two for a buck. We sold these for 3.00 each. Making a really good profit since really they only cost .50 cents
My team is doing the photo shoot with Olan Mills which looks like it will help us raise a lot of money. People but a $10 certificate which covers the photo shoot and a 10x13 family portrait, or 8x10, 2-5x7's, and 8 wallets for a kids photo shoot. The team gets to keep the $10 for every certificate sold, and then Olan Mills has bonuses based on how many certificates you sell. If you are interested visit the Olan Mills website to get set up.
Another fundraiser that has always worked well in our small town is selling lunch plates. It is a lot of work, but we have always got a good return. I would also recomend telling the teams to write letters to their friends and family who live out of town and ask for small donations.
I am from a small town as well, and we have just begun our fundraising. I can send you info as I get it first hand if you'd like. We have had a 2 team yard sale so far that raised $500.00. We asked everyone we worked with to bring items and they were very generous. Thats all I can help you with so far. Good luck to you
Joined: 2007-11-02