Fundraising suggestions Raffles Kayaks are popular here in VT. Ski weekend, airline ticket anywhere in US. Someone has to weasel the item from a donor. We always have raffle tickets posted on our kitchen bulletin board. Lots of work. You have to have large enough audience. Several small schools in the area use this. They can attract parents and community members. Quilt that has been displayed throughout town) The other is more original -- a flock of flamingos, delivered to the house of your choice. The high school has purchased about 25-30 of those pink flamingo lawn ornaments and then the kids take orders for special occasions - birthdays, new babies, etc. They sneak over to the person's house in the morning hours and set up all the flamingos in the front lawn, sometimes with a sign "over the hill," "happy birthday," etc. Then they come and take them down the next day. Certainly, this is an ongoing chore for certain people in the group but at $40-$50 a pop, it seems like a money maker and no one has to bake cookies and man the sale table. You might be able to tweak the flamingo idea to fit your environment - something that lends itself to office situations -singing telegrams, dancing clowns, whatever your group has talent in. If you have time to play with, I understand good profits can be made by setting up a cruise with a cruise line. I do not know if there are bus charters that would also give you a cut of the profits, but it is an idea. You solicit donations from local vendors (haircut, gift certificate from grocery store, gourmet shop items) and sell raffle tickets. It is best to send letters of requests on an official letterhead for this. You could always do a money raffle, or any other type of prize raffle, but I think you usually have to get a license or permit to have one. We sometimes do raffles for charity drives here at our firm. The committee that is in charge of the drive tries to get people in the firm to donate a service, item or event, and then has people bid on them. For example, for the United Way fundraiser they had someone donate a day of sailing on Lake Erie (with lunch provided), a day of golfing, a day at someone's pool, a "like new" Prada handbag, etc. Then tickets were sold for each item. Some of the items got bid on more than others. Auctions - Silent and Voice Auction. Silent auction small items - everything from case of motor oil, potted plant, children's book signed by local author. Voice auction larger items - cord of wood, week in FL condo, art or antiques. Good food makes it an evening event. We've had great success with 'auctions'...you can auction donated items from area merchants, skills/labor from your members..., SLA items...if you set it up and advertise as a 'fund raiser' most folks pay more than usual for the itme(s). Also,
we've hired ourselves "out" for tasks...that was a huge success, most donators were pleased to see we would "work" for the money. Silent auction. go to business you patronize (restaurants, bookstores) ask for gift certificates or something from the shop (bottle of wine, a silk scarf, bracelet) and then have a gathering after hours, put all the stuff on display with a piece of paper saying what the minimum bid is and see what happens. The Philadelphia SLA chapter did this at a Christmas party several years ago and it was very successful. We've had great success with 'auctions'...you can auction donated items from area merchants, skills/labor from your members..., SLA items...if you set it up and advertise as a 'fund raiser' most folks pay more than usual for the item. Also, we've hired ourselves "out" for tasks...that was a huge success, most donators were pleased to see we would "work" for the money. Lots of work. You have to have large enough audience. Several small schools in the area use this. They can attract parents and community members. One of the most fun fundraisers is a silent auction. Get members to solict donations for the auction (which gives the giver publicity) and members can donate services. For example, an attorney can provide a simple will, someone who is known for his/her baking can donate a cake, people can donate time to babysit.....etc. Have a function and the items for bid are displayed on the table with the rules for bidding, a starting bid, and how much the increments have to be. In front of each item is a piece of paper and a pen (pencil). People write their bids, and as the bidding goes up, you have the opportunity to raise you bid. At a designated time (announced in advance) the papers are collected, the winning bids are read, and the people white their checks and get their articles. Penny social -- you solicit donations of unused gifts/articles (even wine or food). Items can be grouped by a theme. People purchase tickets and "bid" on the items they want. There is a drawing for each item or group of items to determine the winner. Go to business you patronize (restaurants, bookstores) ask for gift
certificates or something from the shop (bottle of wine, a silk scarf, bracelet) and then have a gathering after hours, put all the stuff on display with a piece of paper saying what the minimum bid is and see what happens. The Philadelphia SLA chapter did this at a Christmas party several years ago and it was very successful.
Sales Candy sales in the office. We have kids who do candy sales for Scouts or 4H. They just leave a box of candy in the kitchen for a week or two with an envelope for money. They sell many many candy bars.
Dinner -- this is a little more complicated but works well if you have several "chefs" to help. A progressive dinner held at different houses for each course takes the burden off of one cook/kitchen. Charge a price that includes a reasonable profit. Most people don't mind paying a little more for a home-cooked meal that helps a worthy cause. Why not ask some members to cook a meal at their home and have guests who would pay a donation of say $25 each. Each volunteer could cook their favorite meal for say 6+ people. The cooks would be donating the food. Maybe a couple of volunteers could join together. There could be a Hawaiian dinner, Chilli dinner, corned beef and cabbage dinner etc. The guests would be SLA members and their significant others. One of the students here is hosting a "potluck for charity" Saturday night. Our invitations say to bring a dish (and the recipe for it!) and $10. I thought it was a nice idea and something different. How about a " fruit smoothie" fundraiser--All you'll need are blenders, fruit(bananas,strawberries, etc.) cups & straws?? Get local artists together and have a sort of "street fair". They can sell their wares but they have to tack on 10% to the cost and that goes to you. (Since it's Albuquerque, I may even come out for it.) Www.partylite.com --- candles and home accessories or Www.pamperedchef.com--Cookware and kitchen gadgets. I have friends who sell both products....Partylite has tons of candles, etc., and has representatives in almost every state, apparently. Consultants have “shows” (you could probably have one at an SLA meeting, or organize a small luncheon benefiting your chapter,etc.) and demo products. Same thing with Pampered Chef. However, with Pampered Chef, I know you could also do what’s called a “catalog”show, in other words, you basically just pass around the catalog and have people buy stuff w/o a consultant coming in. I’m fairly sure that both organizations, at one time or the other, (since I’m usually at one of these shows every few months) have special deals for “fundraisers” for non profits. The cool thing is that lots of their stuff isn’t that expensive. Partylite stuff is on par, if not a bit cheaper, I think, than Yankee Candle stuff (come to think of it, you could probably contact them as well) and Pampered Chef, a large portion of their products are under 10.00 (I got this nifty little whisk kinda like Nigella Lawson’s for 3.75. :) ) Only caveat: I’ve now become a bit of a pampered chef wannabe. I tend to buy a lot of their stuff whenever I go to a show. ;) Partylite stuff as well. :) Both companies offer good products, and a really great return policy on their goods. :) Also, depending on when you want to schedule your fundraiser, you may want to contact some local elementary schools in your area...most Catholic schools, at least (well, mine did all through grammar/high school) have big fundraisers each semester. They’ve branched out from just candy, and now do things like giftwrap (for the holidays), small food items, stationery and the like, depending on what’s out there.
You may want to get in contact with a few schools and talk to a PTA member or someone and see what they do. I get a bulb catalogue that indicates that you can sell their bulbs and plants as a fundraiser for your organization. Tee shirts LLAM had a rather successful legal research seminar in January. We could have charged more! I have worked on my children's school fundraising committee and we have executed a few endeavors including: dinners, walk-a-thons, and auctions. Some of these events demanded
too much planning and did not pay off, however, here are a few suggestions that promptly came to mind when I saw your email:
Librarian Fashion Show Librarian Comedienne(s) Librarian Talent Show There's a company called Books are Fun 1-800-966-8301 which will come into a space for 1-2 day and sell books. The Sponsor gets a certain percentage. My local law librarian assoc. is looking at putting on some workshops that are fee based. The target groups are public librarians, paralegals and summer associates. Since I'm a law librarian I see the hook but am not sure with a special librarian what the seminar or presentation could be. Bowling, rollerskating Good Luck :) And don’t forget — any fundraiser usually takes twice the amount of time invested in it than you think it will. :) Such is the nature of Lots of work. You have to have large enough audience. Several small schools in the area use this. They can attract parents and community members.