So, my sister is going to lead an employee fundraiser at her store for the Children’s Miracle Network and is looking for ideas to get the donations rolling in. There are 350 employees, so that could translate into a good-sized sum for the CNM.
Ideas we’ve kicked around so far are:
–Employees who wish to, could make quilt blocks that will then be sewn into quilts. These would then be raffled off, with maybe some going to kids at our local Children’s Hospital.
–Bake sale, with employees donating baked goods.
_Activities before work one day, possibly including hermit crab races, Sumo wrestling in those giant rented costumes, watermelon racing down the ramp outside of receiving. Anything else?
–Ice cream social. A buck a scoop or something like that.
A car wash is out because of the city’s strict pollution laws, by the way. They don’t want oil, antifreeze and gunk flowing down the drains and into the nearby river.
Those of you who have done such fundraisers, do you have any tips to share? Can you recommend any websites with fun activities to raise funds? Those, who have participated in these things, what were the most fun and/or memorable things for you?
I’ve gotten a “non-fund raiser” letter once or twice. It contains a tea bag and a letter that goes something like this:
We’re trying to raise money for __________. But instead of asking you to walk 6K, make something, bake something,or sell something why don’t you make a nice cup of tea, sit back in a rocking chair, relax, and write us a check.
I’ve always sent some money.
If a dunk tank is allowed by your city’s pollution laws, consider that possibility. Whether you opt for the Bobo model (“Can’t have a ball game without a ballplayer!”) or getting young hotties in swimsuits to “take the plunge”, fun and funds will ensue.
I’ve worked on several fundraisers for CMN (good choice of a charity, by the way) and the biggest successes we’ve had are parodies of male beauty pageants. Granted, I’m working through a school and kids always come to see their friends, so this may not work so well for your daughter’s business. Then again, if the business is close-knit, maybe most of them will come and buy tickets.
My father used to be in charge of running a “String Golf” tournament for the now-defunct Service Merchandise Company as a fund-raiser for MDA. It was always a very successful outing, fun and profitable. Here’s how it works:
A golfer pays an entry fee (say $50 - $75), or a foursome can enter together. Each foursome is given 20 feet of string that can be used on the greens only. If the foursome’s best shot lands on the green in two and is four feet from the pin, you can either putt for a three or use string to put ball in hole for an “eagle two”. Playing a par three, the team has hole in one. Additional string can be purchased before and during the tournament. You can shoot a full round of holes in one if you’re willing to buy anough string. Prizes are given for longest drive, etc. If you can get stores and restaurants to donate prizes, and maybe a discount at a golf course, there’s more profit for the charity.
Change buckets in each department, with free lunch for whichever department raises the most (and you can try and find somewhere that will donate the lunch). This is more supplemental than a huge raiser, but it’s easy.
There is a company who runs a fundraiser by selling socks. I like that idea because everyone needs socks. I’m e-mailing you their information because I think it might be frowned upon if I posted it here.
Monster, I like the sock idea. My sister is always buying cute and funny socks for herself. Her department members get a kick out of them too. (No, not literally. ) And everybody needs socks in the first place. I looked online and found a couple of sites to pass on.
Manda JO, I don’t think they could have change buckets out in the store but maybe they could have one for each department in the break room for employees to dump their spare change in. Since the fundraiser is for an entire month, all those coins could add up. They might have to combine departments so the smaller ones have a chance against the bigger ones, but that can be worked out.
**StGermain, **I don’t think there are many true golfers amongst the employees but your idea made me think a mini golf tournament would be fun. There’s a place not too far away from work and maybe my sister could get a group/fundraiser discount if she talked to the owner.
All the other ideas I’ll definitely bring up to my sister too. Thanks so much everyone!
To follow up on Manda JO’s suggestion of change buckets, the kids at the school where I work are big on “penny wars.” Each class, or in your sister’s case, department, has its own change bucket (they use empty water jugs from the water coolers, because the change will mostly stay in if they get knocked over).
The object is to have the most points.
Teams put pennies in their own jars, each penny is worth one point.
However, people can put larger change in the jars of other teams. A nickel takes away five points from the other team, a dime takes away ten points and so on. It’s okay if the winning team ends up with negative points as long as the other teams have more negative points. ← look, I was never very good at negative numbers in math, but you see what I mean, right?
I’ve found it helps if the rules are clearly posted over the change buckets, as in:
Put pennies in YOUR OWN DEPARTMENT’S JAR to increase your points.
Put nickels, dimes and quarters in OTHER DEPARTMENTS’ JARS to decrease their points.
If some departments are very small, you could combine them to be one team.
My high school academic team got the local junkyard to give us a “car” (and I’m using that word very generously) that we hauled out to school before a basketball game. We supplied a sledgehammer and baseball bat, and let people whack the car: $5 for the sledgehammer, $2 for the baseball bat. We cleaned up that night. Not sure how practical that would be in your case, but there it is.
But for og’s sake: drain the gas tank, etc. Safety first.
I had an idea a while back for an office fund raiser we never did:
The ugly tie contest, participants pay an entry fee and wear their ugliest tie on the given date. The office votes by email, the “winner” gets a gift certificate or something and the rest of the proceeds go to the charity.
50/50 raffles bring out the gambler in all of us.
One thing to remember with a fund raiser is a fundamental principle that is across the board for all human beings: Human’s are inherently lazy and the least amount of physical energy with the gross amount of feel-good status after the act will reap greater $.
That said, what about collecting soda cans as a filler for the big charity drive. Along with the Change Jar, these kinda things are usually quite successful in their own right.
Just make sure people rinse out the cans before hand and have plenty of big garbage bags on hand for storage and transport.
Not sure what sort of store your sister works in, but something related to their business is always a good idea…
If it is an autoparts store, a tyre changing race - participants pay to enter?
If it is a megamart of some sort, maybe a grocery shopping race, that the store could sposnor, participants pay an entrance fee to see who can pack a given list of groceries / items the fatest. For something like this the “corporate office” may be willing to kick in some funds due to the Public Relations value
What about sponsored “wacky” race…eg…hospital bed race thorugh the centre of town, or maybe a “Flintstone” powered car race?
Other ideas…
Devise a cruel and unusual punishment for the “most hated manager” then place a number of named jars in lublic areas, you vote for the manager you want to suffer by putting money in the jar?
A mock “slave auction” (is this in bad taste??) get some of the cuter staff to act as “slaves:” who are auctioned off to the highest bidder - and then must act as their slaves for a day
If your city is an easy commute ban driving to work for a month - you can defy the ban, but only by paying a fee…which goes to the charity, alternatively, if you hve a staff carpark, charge for staff parking for a month (again good PR value in this for corporate office if it is a “green” company)
Perhaps you could kidnap the most liked manager, and then ransom him / her?
If your city has a river running through it, what about tying that in?..have a rubber duck race. Sell numbered rubber ducks, release them into the river, the first duck across the finish line wins a cash prize for its owner
What about a sponsored “rubbish collection day”? - you assemble teams to pick rubbish off the streets or out of the river for an afternoon, sponsorship is payable on the amount (of rubbish) collected
Sorry thats about all I can think of right now, but a little more info on the business would be a great help, if the fundraising can create positive / relevant publicity for the store, sponsorship should be forthcoming, which is a really easy way to make big sums of money!!
Oh…one more that I have helped to arrange in the past - rides in a supercar with a professional driver on a track - for a fee. Great fun and great publicity for my client!
) And everybody needs socks in the first place. I looked online and found a couple of sites to pass on.