Flamingo Flocking: Get a bunch of pink flamingos you know those hideous things they put on their lawn in Florida. This one works especially well for a church group or some such where you can pass out fliers explaining the game but not necessary. Find someone willing to be the first victim. You put the flamingos on their lawn with a note saying that they have been flocked. The flock will not leave their yard until they make a donation to the AWBC and call this number to arrange for the flock to move on. Now, for an additional $10 they get to pick the next flockee. For $10 they can buy insurance to make sure they are never flocked again. Now the best thing to do is deliver them after dark so no one knows their being flocked. until it’s all set up. Just be careful of sprinkler lines and such. This can go on for months. Just keep careful track of who’s paid insurance so you don’t accidentally do them again.
Candy Bars: Buy candy bars from BJ’s or Sam’s Club they work out to about .50 each. Sell them for $1 each. I bought a flip top box at the craft store that is used for scrap booking supplies and decorated it with pink ribbon paper. Sell them at work, at your kids games, we live a tight knit neighborhood and my kids went door to door and sold them to the neighbors. You can do this periodically for months.
Recycle: If your State has can deposit and recycling, put a clean empty garbage can in the break room and ask everyone to put their empties in there. Here in NY we pay a .05 bottle deposit for every beer/soda bottle we buy. When you return the bottle to the recycling you get your nickel back. It’s worth the effort. Try the kids school, maybe they’ll let you put one in the office or teacher’s lounge.
Donation cans: The donation cans you put in town can be used for months also. Move them periodically to different businesses. That way you get new people that see them and may drop their change in.
Lapel Pins: There are several web sites that sell different pink ribbon pins. I use pinkwings.com. They have 170 different styles. If you buy them in bulk, over 25 I believe they cost you $2. You can sell them for $5-10 each.
T-Shirts: there are places you can either buy shirts or have them made. I like zazzle.com because I can design my own. These are great for selling to the men. Put a pink ribbon on it and you they can get away with wearing risqué sayings that would otherwise get them slapped.
Some of my favorites are “Don’t let cancer steal second base”, “I saved a life and groped my wife”, also can be “Save a life and grope your wife” “I’m a boob man” and the outline of two hands with the words, “free screening” “Tough enough to wear pink” "Big or small let’s save them all”
But remember, most of the men in my life are construction workers. We can get away with things that a guy in an office wouldn’t be able to. And some women who wouldn’t appreciate the humor.
Buttons: you can also get buttons with different saying on them from zazzle.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
One Shot Wonders
Bake Sales: make or buy cupcakes, cookies, cakes. Honestly, if there’s a Sam’s Club or BJ’s in the area it might be just as cheap to buy them and save you time. Now while this is a one shot thing, it can be one shot in several different areas. Think, kids little league games, not necessarily your kids. Go to the town hall, ask them if you can do a bake sale on the fields on Saturdays. At the school in the lobby, at work, at your spouses work, at the church or at a strip mall. Anywhere you can think if. If you own a business, set up a table out front.
Tomboy Tools: is a national sponsor of the AWBC they do home parties to teach women basic tool skills. All the tools are pink
Home Parties: Do you know someone who does home parties, Tupperware, candles, home décor, or jewelry? See if they would be willing to do a party at your house and donate all the proceeds.
Garage sale: Spring is a perfect time for this. As you’re doing your Spring cleaning and deciding what to part with, don’t put it in the Goodwill pile, put a price tag on it and put it in the garage sale pile. Ask your neighbors to donate things. Now, there’s a reason for tagging it right away. If you gather it all first and then try and go through and tag it all, you look at this big pile and it’s going to take forever to sort and tag, and next thing you know you’re loading up all that available cash and taking it to Goodwill. Ask at least 2 people to help you for the day. Come help set up and stick around so you can all take turns making potty runs and such. Decorate in pink and put out a donation jar. Maybe they won’t find some thing they want but will drop in a couple dollars. Price reasonably and NO HAGGLING!! Remind them this is for charity.
Matching Funds: a lot of companies will give matching donations for charity. Ask your boss. Have your friends ask their boss, or the HR dept. If yo find someone who does matching funds, by all means have a fundraiser there.
Car Wash: MY ALL TIME FAVORITE Now before you think I’ve lost my mind, let me explain why the car wash is my favorite. I put a twist on the concept. My car wash was topless. Now calm down, Im not suggesting anyone gets arrested here. Just listen.
Find a parking lot, a gas station, a church (this one would be good) a bank somewhere that will let you use their water and you can do this behind the building or where it can’t be seen from the road. Peak their curiosity people…. Have someone stand on the road with a sign stating AWBC fundraising TOPLESS car wash $5. Honestly, they’ll come in just to see the topless women. And they will assume that since it’s a breast cancer thing that there are going to be topless women.
Now when they get around back, they see men in pink shirts with pink rags, (ask the local volunteer fire dept. if they’ll help out or church youth group, call the high school and see if the kids have to do community service) when they ask about the topless part tell them that their $5 only gets the bottom half of their car washed. If they want to top washed they have to pay an extra $5. Most people thought that it was great and paid the extra 5. Besides, ain’t no one in that line going to admit out loud they were just there to see naked women. See why it’s my favorite?
Silent auction: If there is a hall you can use, remember always, always ask for the hall to be donated. If they won’t outright donate maybe they will let you use it for a reduced rate. Ask local businesses and restaurants to donate gift certificates or services. You can also have people donate nicer items. Maybe a leather purse that someone gave them they never use or some such. Set a time that the auction will be closed to bidding. They can be run two ways that I know of. First you can put a box next to each item. Let people put a bid and their name on a piece of paper and put it in the box. When bidding is ended you go through the slips and find the top bidder (make sure you have a tie breaker method in place in case you need one) or you can assign each person a number. Leave a pad of paper next to each item. People can write their number and bid on the paper. That way no one knows who is bidding but does know they’ve been outbid and might raise their bid. Don’t forget to sell water bottles and maybe hot dogs for $1 if you can. A cupcake and cookie sale would work well too. This has to be well advertised about a month in advance put flies up in store windows and where ever you can legally place them. See if your local paper will run an add in the local happenings section for free.
Penny Social: along the same lines as the auction. But here you collect a whole bunch of donated stuff. inexpensive but usable Place it all out on tables. Put a paper bag next to each item. Get rolls of double raffle tickets. The kind that you tear in half and they keep half. . Doors open at such a time, and “pulling” starts at such a time. Usually give them a couple of hours. People will come in and chat and look over the items. Each ticket costs a penny (so you’ll need not of tickets) people go around and put a ticket in the bag for items they would like to win. When it comes time to “pull” you begin pulling a winning ticket out of the bag for each item. This really needs one person at each table to answer questions, such as is this bag for this item? Don’t forget to sell your refreshments here too.
Tomboy Tools: is a national sponsor of the AWBC they do home parties to teach women basic tool skills. All the tools are pink
Home Parties: Do you know someone who does home parties, Tupperware, candles, home décor, or jewelry? See if they would be willing to do a party at your house and donate all the proceeds.
Garage sale: Spring is a perfect time for this. As you’re doing your Spring cleaning and deciding what to part with, don’t put it in the Goodwill pile, put a price tag on it and put it in the garage sale pile. Ask your neighbors to donate things. Now, there’s a reason for tagging it right away. If you gather it all first and then try and go through and tag it all, you look at this big pile and it’s going to take forever to sort and tag, and next thing you know you’re loading up all that available cash and taking it to Goodwill. Ask at least 2 people to help you for the day. Come help set up and stick around so you can all take turns making potty runs and such. Decorate in pink and put out a donation jar. Maybe they won’t find some thing they want but will drop in a couple dollars. Price reasonably and NO HAGGLING!! Remind them this is for charity.
Matching Funds: a lot of companies will give matching donations for charity. Ask your boss. Have your friends ask their boss, or the HR dept. If yo find someone who does matching funds, by all means have a fundraiser there.
Car Wash: MY ALL TIME FAVORITE Now before you think I’ve lost my mind, let me explain why the car wash is my favorite. I put a twist on the concept. My car wash was topless. Now calm down, Im not suggesting anyone gets arrested here. Just listen.
Find a parking lot, a gas station, a church (this one would be good) a bank somewhere that will let you use their water and you can do this behind the building or where it can’t be seen from the road. Peak their curiosity people…. Have someone stand on the road with a sign stating AWBC fundraising TOPLESS car wash $5. Honestly, they’ll come in just to see the topless women. And they will assume that since it’s a breast cancer thing that there are going to be topless women.
Now when they get around back, they see men in pink shirts with pink rags, (ask the local volunteer fire dept. if they’ll help out or church youth group, call the high school and see if the kids have to do community service) when they ask about the topless part tell them that their $5 only gets the bottom half of their car washed. If they want to top washed they have to pay an extra $5. Most people thought that it was great and paid the extra 5. Besides, ain’t no one in that line going to admit out loud they were just there to see naked women. See why it’s my favorite?
Silent auction: If there is a hall you can use, remember always, always ask for the hall to be donated. If they won’t outright donate maybe they will let you use it for a reduced rate. Ask local businesses and restaurants to donate gift certificates or services. You can also have people donate nicer items. Maybe a leather purse that someone gave them they never use or some such. Set a time that the auction will be closed to bidding. They can be run two ways that I know of. First you can put a box next to each item. Let people put a bid and their name on a piece of paper and put it in the box. When bidding is ended you go through the slips and find the top bidder (make sure you have a tie breaker method in place in case you need one) or you can assign each person a number. Leave a pad of paper next to each item. People can write their number and bid on the paper. That way no one knows who is bidding but does know they’ve been outbid and might raise their bid. Don’t forget to sell water bottles and maybe hot dogs for $1 if you can. A cupcake and cookie sale would work well too. This has to be well advertised about a month in advance put flies up in store windows and where ever you can legally place them. See if your local paper will run an add in the local happenings section for free.
Penny Social: along the same lines as the auction. But here you collect a whole bunch of donated stuff. inexpensive but usable Place it all out on tables. Put a paper bag next to each item. Get rolls of double raffle tickets. The kind that you tear in half and they keep half. . Doors open at such a time, and “pulling” starts at such a time. Usually give them a couple of hours. People will come in and chat and look over the items. Each ticket costs a penny (so you’ll need not of tickets) people go around and put a ticket in the bag for items they would like to win. When it comes time to “pull” you begin pulling a winning ticket out of the bag for each item. This really needs one person at each table to answer questions, such as is this bag for this item? Don’t forget to sell your refreshments here too.
Businesses
Restaurants: There are several chain restaurants that will do fundraisers. Apple Bee’s, and Chili’s, are two of them that I know of. Contact any in your area and ask, Bowling alley’s do them.
Bars: Try a local bar. Make a deal with the owner. Do say, a 4 hour block of time on a Friday that they will donate 10% of the till. You put up fliers in the area and bring in as many bodies as you can. See if the local radio station will announce it for you. Set up a table by the door and run a 50/50 raffle for that time period that you have to be present to win, that way people will stay until the end of your time block. If the owner doesn’t want to donate part of the profits, then maybe they usually don’t have a cover charge. See if they will let you set up a table and charge say a $10 cover. You give anyone who pays the cover a pink bracelet. Then they get $1 off draft beer.
Letters: Send every business you ever use a letter asking for a donation. Everywhere you shop, doctors, everywhere you can think of. Give them both your website and mailing address. Maybe the owner/accountant doesn’t want to donate but maybe someone else in the office wants to.
Bars: Try a local bar. Make a deal with the owner. Do say, a 4 hour block of time on a Friday that they will donate 10% of the till. You put up fliers in the area and bring in as many bodies as you can. See if the local radio station will announce it for you. Set up a table by the door and run a 50/50 raffle for that time period that you have to be present to win, that way people will stay until the end of your time block. If the owner doesn’t want to donate part of the profits, then maybe they usually don’t have a cover charge. See if they will let you set up a table and charge say a $10 cover. You give anyone who pays the cover a pink bracelet. Then they get $1 off draft beer.
Letters: Send every business you ever use a letter asking for a donation. Everywhere you shop, doctors, everywhere you can think of. Give them both your website and mailing address. Maybe the owner/accountant doesn’t want to donate but maybe someone else in the office wants to.
Go To Town
Donation Cans: You’ve seen those collection cans at gas station and convenience stores right? So what’s stopping you? Do you go to the dry cleaners, dentist, doctor, stop at the deli for a coffee most mornings, get your hair cut? Anywhere you are a customer, ask them if you can put a collection can up. You are their customer, they want you happy, they DON’T want you telling everyone they wouldn’t support the fight against breast cancer. They can also make a corporate donation for the tax deduction. I got cans with the plastic lids, duck taped the lid on and wrapped it in pink paper. Write on it who you are and what it’s for and your website so they can donate online if they want. I also put the saying “The change in your pocket can change a life” on them.
Fliers: Print up fliers with your website address and put them on every public bulletin board you can find. Town Hall, library, grocery store, Laundromat, where ever you can hang fliers.
Flowers: Ask a local florist or nursery if they will donate pink flowers preferably roses but carnations work to. If not outright donate, maybe sell them to you at cost. On Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day wrap a single flower and some greenery in pink tissue paper. Attach a tag stating that a donation has been made help fight breast cancer in honor of the recipient. Sell them for $5. You can gather pre-orders at work, kids schools, PTA, the gym, and deliver them to those locations on a certain day to be picked up.
Fliers: Print up fliers with your website address and put them on every public bulletin board you can find. Town Hall, library, grocery store, Laundromat, where ever you can hang fliers.
Flowers: Ask a local florist or nursery if they will donate pink flowers preferably roses but carnations work to. If not outright donate, maybe sell them to you at cost. On Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day wrap a single flower and some greenery in pink tissue paper. Attach a tag stating that a donation has been made help fight breast cancer in honor of the recipient. Sell them for $5. You can gather pre-orders at work, kids schools, PTA, the gym, and deliver them to those locations on a certain day to be picked up.
Tabling
Craft Fairs: If you’re a crafty type person, or know someone who is, try doing the craft fairs at churches and other organizations. They are listed in The Penny Saver paper if you have one or on Craig’s List. It’s usually around $20-30 for the table. Also put up a sign on your table explaining you’re doing the walk and why. Leave a jar out. Sometimes people who walk by don’t walk to purchase your products but may drop a dollar or two in your jar. When the craft store has small flower pots on sale, buy some, paint them pink and white, put a votive candle in it, wrap it up, put a tag with a pink ribbon in the corner and voila! It will cost about $1-2 to make, sell them for $5-7. Great thing to sell in the Spring for Mother’s Day If you do rubber stamps, make greeting cards, package them up and sell them. At Valentine’s Day buy a bunch of Hershey’s kisses that are wrapped in pink.. Get some small organza bags from the craft store put a few kisses in a bag and attack a tag that says “kiss cancer goodbye” sell these cheap, the kids will drag mommy over to the candy and then you have ‘em. The possibilities are limited only by your craft skills.
Stores: Contact your local grocery store, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club. Ask them if you can set up a table out front to raise money for breast cancer. They usually need you to book a month in advance so work on that soon. Some of the grocery stores require an insurance rider in case someone gets hurt. AVON does not provide this rider. Some people will do an umbrella on their homeowners but personally I wouldn’t go anywhere near that. Ask other businesses. Some may require a letter from the Avon Foundation (just to prove you are actually collecting for the AWBC) they readily give it to you. Decorate your table! Catch people’s eye. This is where the jelly bracelets and tattoos are useful. Make eye contact with everyone and say hello, bring your kids, have them ask anyone who walks by, “would you like to donate to help raise funds to battle breast cancer?” because come on it’s harder to say no to a child. Bring another adult with you so you can take potty breaks. Do your research, know your facts so you can give them a couple, like every three minutes someone is diagnosed and every 13 someone dies.
Dog Parks: Get a recipe on line for all natural/organic invest in a bone shaped cookie cutter. Make up treats and put them in cello or zip-lock bags and set up a table outside a dog park, put up a sign at work, people who won’t spend money on themselves will spend on their pooches.
Stores: Contact your local grocery store, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club. Ask them if you can set up a table out front to raise money for breast cancer. They usually need you to book a month in advance so work on that soon. Some of the grocery stores require an insurance rider in case someone gets hurt. AVON does not provide this rider. Some people will do an umbrella on their homeowners but personally I wouldn’t go anywhere near that. Ask other businesses. Some may require a letter from the Avon Foundation (just to prove you are actually collecting for the AWBC) they readily give it to you. Decorate your table! Catch people’s eye. This is where the jelly bracelets and tattoos are useful. Make eye contact with everyone and say hello, bring your kids, have them ask anyone who walks by, “would you like to donate to help raise funds to battle breast cancer?” because come on it’s harder to say no to a child. Bring another adult with you so you can take potty breaks. Do your research, know your facts so you can give them a couple, like every three minutes someone is diagnosed and every 13 someone dies.
Dog Parks: Get a recipe on line for all natural/organic invest in a bone shaped cookie cutter. Make up treats and put them in cello or zip-lock bags and set up a table outside a dog park, put up a sign at work, people who won’t spend money on themselves will spend on their pooches.
Raffles
Baskets: I purchased a pink ribbon cooler from Amazon and filled it with items I bought off Ebay and Oriental Trading. The total cost was between $50 and $55. Then, ask a local restaurant if they would donate a gift certificate. Wrap the whole thing in cellophane and on the tag, list the contents except the certificate. List that as the surprise inside valued at… People will buy tickets just to know what the surprise is.
You can get a roll of tickets at places like Staples. Just have them put their name and phone number on the half you keep so you can call the winner. I sell the tickets one for $10 or 3 for $20. If you work in an office or hubby does, that’s the perfect place to do this one. Run it for about 2 months before you pull the winner. That way you have a couple of pay-days in there and people are more likely to buy more than one if they can split it up over a couple of pay periods.
50/50: sell raffle tickets for a certain period of time, 6 weeks to 2 months is good, (again more than one pay period in there) at the end of the raffle, the winner gets half the pot and the other half goes toward your goal. I personally sold them for $20 a piece. When all was said and done, the winner got $1,000 and so did I. Remember to remind everyone, repeatedly, that the more tickets you sell the bigger the pot is. I bought a computer program that I can print up my own tickets with because I knew I would be using it a lot and I could quickly print up more tickets if I needed them. But there are sites that you can design them and have them printed for you. This is a great one to get family and friends involved it. Give them a bunch of tickets and have them sell to family and friends.
You can get a roll of tickets at places like Staples. Just have them put their name and phone number on the half you keep so you can call the winner. I sell the tickets one for $10 or 3 for $20. If you work in an office or hubby does, that’s the perfect place to do this one. Run it for about 2 months before you pull the winner. That way you have a couple of pay-days in there and people are more likely to buy more than one if they can split it up over a couple of pay periods.
50/50: sell raffle tickets for a certain period of time, 6 weeks to 2 months is good, (again more than one pay period in there) at the end of the raffle, the winner gets half the pot and the other half goes toward your goal. I personally sold them for $20 a piece. When all was said and done, the winner got $1,000 and so did I. Remember to remind everyone, repeatedly, that the more tickets you sell the bigger the pot is. I bought a computer program that I can print up my own tickets with because I knew I would be using it a lot and I could quickly print up more tickets if I needed them. But there are sites that you can design them and have them printed for you. This is a great one to get family and friends involved it. Give them a bunch of tickets and have them sell to family and friends.
Fundraising: it's not as intimidating as it seems.
The cardinal rule: don’t be afraid to ask, repeatedly, nag even. Keep in mind always, you’re not asking for a hand-out, your not asking for money for yourself, you are asking them to help you save lives. Don’t not ask because you think someone can’t afford it or won’t donate anyway, give everyone the opportunity to be a part of this. If they can’t they won’t but mostly they just need the opportunity presented to them. Remind everyone you talk to that it’s tax deductible.
With the economy being what it is, fund raising is not as easy as it used to be. Just keep in mind that people really feel they need something for their money so even when simply asking for a donation it’s a good idea to go to a web site like orientaltrading.com and purchase giveaways.
Pink jelly bracelets are inexpensive and very popular. Pink ribbon tattoos to give the little ones is good too. Also remember, you shouldn’t have to shell out any money. Any initial monies you invest get reimbursed to you and the rest of the proceeds go to your goal. And remember, be creative! If people see something unique that makes them smile, they’ll be more likely to donate.
The most important fund raiser you can do is send a letter with a self addressed envelope to absolutely everyone you know. Explain to them what you are doing and why. When your walk is and when you need the check by if they choose to send you a check. Inserting the self adressed envelope makes it more likely that they will send a donation if they don't have to hunt up an envelope. And give your web page address for your Avon walk page so they can donate online if they choose.
Then send update letters. It takes several reminders sometimes. Most people truly intend to donate, they just forget.
The following is a list of fundraisers and the explanation of how to run them. I haven’t done them all but I know they have been successful for others.
With the economy being what it is, fund raising is not as easy as it used to be. Just keep in mind that people really feel they need something for their money so even when simply asking for a donation it’s a good idea to go to a web site like orientaltrading.com and purchase giveaways.
Pink jelly bracelets are inexpensive and very popular. Pink ribbon tattoos to give the little ones is good too. Also remember, you shouldn’t have to shell out any money. Any initial monies you invest get reimbursed to you and the rest of the proceeds go to your goal. And remember, be creative! If people see something unique that makes them smile, they’ll be more likely to donate.
The most important fund raiser you can do is send a letter with a self addressed envelope to absolutely everyone you know. Explain to them what you are doing and why. When your walk is and when you need the check by if they choose to send you a check. Inserting the self adressed envelope makes it more likely that they will send a donation if they don't have to hunt up an envelope. And give your web page address for your Avon walk page so they can donate online if they choose.
Then send update letters. It takes several reminders sometimes. Most people truly intend to donate, they just forget.
The following is a list of fundraisers and the explanation of how to run them. I haven’t done them all but I know they have been successful for others.
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