Successful Fundraising Ideas

By Author: Dave Davies
Total Articles: 31
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Fundraising for your group can be a challenging and rewarding experience. When your nonprofit group needs a little bit of help funding that special trip, adding a new part to a building, or raising money for research, there are ways to help raise the money quickly. At first it can seem challenging, but once you get your group name and the cause out there, you will find most people are very generous and willing to help.

There are thousands of options to help raise money for your group. Many companies now offer fundraising specials that will help your group make money. Which one is right for your group? This article has a list of capital ideas that have been successful with many groups when it came to fundraising.

Leaving Donation Boxes In Stores

This is probably one of the more popular ideas. More and more stores are open to the idea of letting you leave a donation box for people to put their spare change in. It can add up to quite a bit of money. Get your group to decorate a number of boxes. Get your group leader, or the person in charge of fundraising, to talk to managers at individual stores in your community ...
... and ask them if you could leave these boxes there.

Another way to do this is putting up a candy box. People will pay a quarter or so for a mint they can take out. These especially work well at local eateries. This way you're giving a small reward for people who donate.

Selling Candy, T-shirts and Other Items

This might cost a little bit of money up front, but it can certainly be worth it. This is especially useful if you have a group focused around kids or teenagers. Companies will sell you products at a severe discount, and in turn you get to resell the products, either door to door or as you need. The profits you get to keep.

Make sure you keep an eye on your budget. It is better to test a product to see if it will sell well. Review certain companies to make sure the products are of quality. For example, chocolate can be easy to sell, if it tastes great. If not, you'll have plenty of leftovers, and could be out of money for any other sort of funding ideas.

To keep the initial cost down, you could locate businesses that will send catalogues instead of the actual product. People order from the catalogues up front, and then products are sent out after the order. Do a bit of research to find a company that has quality products.

Asking For Donations from Businesses

Businesses usually set aside a budget for helping out local groups. Ask to speak with a representative from the company about donating to your cause. Businesses can be very generous.

If they can't donate as much themselves, then ask if they'd like to participate in a benefit. You'll advertise their business, and on one particular day, the profits beyond a certain dollar amount would go to your group. You can actually set this up in a number of ways to work both for your group and the business.

Money or Prize Drawing

This is a great way to make a lot of money quickly for a group, without spending a whole lot on products. Hold a money or prize drawing, with several levels of prizes. Ask for $1 or more per entry. A system can be created to make it simple, and you get the name and number of people who have entered.

At the end of the drawing date, pull names and numbers as needed to hand out the prizes. The rest of the money can go to your group. Make sure you follow local regulations when you are holding a drawing.

Dog Walking, Car Washing, Other Services

If your group is able to, why not offer a friendly service? Or ask people who would be willing to donate their time to a good cause by spending an afternoon helping to raise money. Local teenagers and college groups are often open to the idea of helping out.

Car washing and dog walking are popular. Other services could include babysitting, errand running, or even cleaning. Make it simple, and you can run it one day, one weekend or for however long you need to.

Coupons for Local Businesses

Get a number of local businesses involved. Design a coupon book that will be sold to locals. You can create the coupon books inexpensively, and ask local businesses if they would like to offer their discounts.

The book needs to be worth the $10 or $20 or whatever amount you are offering to save for people. It is also important to get a number of different local businesses involved as well. Popular places are local eateries or entertainment places like movie theaters or putt-putt locations.

Local businesses drum up more business this way. Your group will get more money. People buying the coupon books will get discounts off of many local businesses. This is one fundraising idea that benefits everyone.

Scratch Card Prizes

These little cards are irresistible to people. They can instantly find out if they've one. This might mean having prizes ready up front from people who win. You can sell little scratch cards for $1 or so. They are inexpensive to make and they sell really well. You can have some created for you, with your group information and your reason for fundraising put onto the card.

Hook Up With Local Talent

More than likely, your area has a theater, a dance troupe, even a wrestling league that can help out. Most of them are thrilled to put on a short production for an evening in benefit of your fundraising efforts. If they already have a scheduled show planned, they might suggest you team up and help, and they will share part of the proceeds of the show with you. People are motivated to go to fundraising shows. It can be a nice combination effort, it benefits the performers by giving them more publicity, and you get word out about your group and your need for funding.

Which one is right for your group? It could be one, or two, or multiple selections from this list. The important thing is to get the word out about your fundraising efforts. True, it does sometime take money to raise money, but in some cases the money you put out can be minimal compared to what you get back for your group.

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