I currently serve as my co-ed fraternity’s secretary and would like to run for the position of treasurer for the fall 2002 semester. Right before voting, each nominee is given the opportunity to deliver a short speech detailing why we feel we would be the idea candidate.
In my speech, I’d like to have some great fundraising ideas ready. Some ideas we have already are car washes, selling pizza kits, selling hershey’s candybars, and bake sales.
We have a big national convention coming up this December. It will be in New Orleans, so we need to fundraise like mad in order to afford to attend.
I’ve asked friends, but no one has been very helpful. So I once again turn over yet another dilemma to the dear Dopers. Any and all suggestions would be most appreciative.
IANAGreek, but in college we used to do inventory for Costco (membership only discount warehouse that sells groceries/household goods/etc. in bulk). You just send your group in for the day and they count inventory (obviously).That’s a good one, but I’m not sure if Costco still does this or if there is one near you.
Do you have Krispy Kreme donuts? I know they do fundraisers. Don’t know the details.
See if you can get massage therapists to give $10/10 minute chair or massage table massages, set them up on the lawn or wherever – it’s always attracts people when they see other people getting massaged. You would have to pay the massage therapists, but see if you can pay them 50% of the profits in exchange for being able to give out their cards, etc.
No-Go events can be effective, within a group of people who know each other… the Humane Society here had a No-Go Karaoke Night…
Basically it is just donating money, but with a little something funny, like, they said, pay $10 and you won’t have to hear Dignified Person X sing Boot Scoot Boogie or Cheerful Person X wail the strains of He Stopped Loving Her Todaaaay…
Pay to get in dudes dressed as chicks or chicks dressed as dudes beauty pagents can be popular.
Oh those pizza kits. Ugh! Sell candy instead.
If you do find a massage therapist, sometimes they work for chiropractic clinics, and they like extra publicity, so they might do that. I’ve seen that done before.
DOPERCHIC! YOU’RE IN ALPHA PHI OMEGA! Dude, I will SO see you at the National convention in New Orleans this year. I would not miss it FOR THE WORLD.
I’m sorry, that was so totally a hijack. :o My chapter (Omicron Phi! Woo!) has a big fundraiser called Teeter for Tots every year, which doesn’t directly raise money for us, but you might take inspiration from it. People pay $3 a half-hour to see-saw in the Commons building, and there’s raffles and movies and entertainment. I wouldn’t take the idea entirely – because we’re kind of well-known for it – but you might think about an event like that.
Sponsorship type events tend to work well here ; shaving or dying your hair or doing something else goofy for $.
Selling roses on Valentine’s day and Mother’s Day always works well, as do slave auctions.
Food events like BBQ’s or food fairs always make money if you have the people resources to organise them (and are appreciated by students who are sick of the typical "student diet).
Generally it boils down to selling something to people which they would buy anyway (but in this case you’re getting the profit as they are buying it from you), or selling something which is in some way “fun”.
A great deal depends on what resources you are starting out with.
Although I’ve only heard of this done in high schools or elementary schools, I’ve seen people sell fruit or bread as a fundraising event. The fruit was sold in bulk, I don’t know the amounts, but it’s a fairly big box of Florida oranges or grapefruit for something like 20$. People had to buy ahead of time, so I don’t really know that that would work for you.
As for the bread, a deal was made with a local bread distributor (?) to sell loaves of bread. The same stuff you find in the grocery store, but for a slightly better price, AND it gest delivered right to your door (by the fundraisers, of course).
So I agree with reprise: sell them something they’d want to pay for anyways.
Eons ago when I was in college, the easiest way to raise funds was ushering. When there were concerts or theatrical events at the university, various and sundry organizations took turns serving as ushers - handing out programs, seating patrons, being helpful. We were paid minimum wage, and the money went directly to the club/group/whatever. It was actually not bad - you “worked” a few of hours and you got to see a performance for free.
Sell batteries. Get 'em cheap from a retail distributer and you sell 'em for less than shop prices.
Better than selling chocolates, IMO. Many households are willing to buy spare batteries, especially if you hold up your prices to the retail standard. One battery company in my area (Duracell?) has specially prepared packs of batteries for fundraising groups. They’ll sell them to you for cheap and let you set the price at which you on-sell.
When I was a frat–oops, wouldn’t call your country a…–fraternity boy, the campus was near the state fairgrounds. Lots of events, like circuses, craft fairs, CHEAP ELECTRONICS! COMPUTERS FOR $3.50! BETAMAX (it’s been a while) FOR $6.99! kinds of things. We worked out a deal to man the concession stands. Minimum wage for everyone and it all went to the beer…umm…national philanthropy fund.
If there’s a fairgrounds or convention center nearby, check it out.
We had date auctions. Get some popular people to volunteer a couple of nights of their time, and auction a date with them off. On a similar note, you can have a services auction – get people to donate services (cleaning a house, “catering” a dinner, driving kids around, yard work, etc.) and let people in the community buy the service.
Jell-o wrestling is always popular, too. (and this at a Christian school! :eek:
Then there’s always the dunking booth… get some particularly well-known (and poorly liked) prof or two and you’re sure to raise a lot.
Ah, fruit. An extremely common high school marching band fundraiser during the fall and winter, so you might want to try something else. It’s rather time-consuming and a great deal of work (I helped unload the truck carrying the fruit my band sold this year. Not fun.), but fairly profitable.
But if you’re interested, the company my school deals with has two different sizes of boxes-- 2/5 of a bushel and 4/5 of a bushel. We just sell oranges, grapefruits, tangelos, and some other small citrus fruit, but there were also apples, pears, pineapples, and other fruits you could choose to sell. I think we still have a box or two with the company name around the garage, if anyone wants the name.
Dude, I am all about the bikini car wash.
Frat boys in bikinis, beer guts and anal floss… oh, sweetie, oh yeah, wax that hood! And in PA you’ll get some sexy little nipple hard-ons through the bikini tops. I’d totally pay $10-15 for a little show and a clean car.
(and this at a Christian school! :eek: