Ideas on how to fundraise?

[shateredsoul]

Hi people,

So deviating from the arcade theme i was wondering if you all had ideas on how to fundraise? I'm helping a group of first generation college students attend a conference in Seattle, Washington (we're in Santa Cruz, so it's about a 6 or 7 hour drive).  It's their first time presenting and they all come from backgrounds where they are the first in their fam to go to college and probably some of the very few have had papers accepted to present at a conference.

They are all Psychology majors
undergradautes and come from fams who could not possibly donate the $$ to cover the cost of this trip (even if we rent a van).  It's about $90 per head to register (5 to 6 will be attending) and I'm not sure how much the hotel costs yet.

Do you guys have any ideas on how to fund-raise or what has worked for you in the past? We're open to anything.  Our first target was faculty in psychology, we are doing jamba juice fundraisers and a fundraiser at woodstock pizza (were we get 20% of all sales during a specific amount of days or time).

I'd appreciate any suggestions

-Shatered

[ark_ader]

Neither is selling candy or peanuts - but it did help for camp. 

I would do a fashion show, and (especially now while everyone is hurting) call around all the big companies (air lines, rental cars, medical) and ask for donations for prizes in exchange for advertising.  To get the clothes either do a Salvation Army attempt for ask the big department stores like Sears or JCPenney (assuming you are in the US) for all the charity clothes they have set aside - say you need them for a charity gig and you will give them to X later.

You could probably do a theme fashion show based on the disturbed mind and how wack jobs dress up on a night out or something....   

My Mom used to do this type of thing for PTA drives. 

Its fun, makes you creative, and gets you the cash.

[CheffoJeffo]

Many, many months of moons ago I did a bunch of fundraising while in University and, more recently, I have done fundraising for two centres for Autism ... first rule is to know how much you need so that you can gauge which activities can contribute and which are going to be a waste.

I would see how much you can get comped by the conference -- can you get the registration fees waived ? Can you get your school to pick up the registration fees ? Does your school already have a van that they can lend you ? Can you borrow a van ?

One of the things that worked great for us back in uni (mind you, that was a while ago) was to run events involving food on Fridays. The typical incarnation would be Pizza Day, but we did mix things up a bit. The key was to be consistent (so that people got into the routine of getting their lunch from us on Fridays) and convenient (we had a good location with lots of congregative traffic ... people were passing by anyway, could grab a bite and hang out). We had to do it every Friday, but it turned out to be fun and eventually helped raise a big piece of our budget.

We did the other typical stuff like raffles, pub nights and the like. Raffles require decent prizes and lots of sales. Pub nights might not be available to you due to the draconian drinking age in the US.

Good luck!

[Hoopz]

Look at various companies/businesses in your community and talk to them to see what they offer.  Many, many companies have a person who can help with items like this.

For example, Wal-Mart will match up to $250 whatever funds you make in a car wash.  Get on their calendar, make $250 and it'll double.  It may be more in your area but you'd have to research it.

Kohls, Target, and other retailers have their own programs.  Target allows you to fill out a short form asking for something and they review the applications monthly.  My experience has been that if you ask for $40-$50 worth of items or on a gift card, that you'll generally get it.  If you have multiple stores for a particular chain in your area, apply at each of them.  Each store is independent. 

You can use the cards to raffle off or to buy stuff for the trip etc. 

Car washes can work but it does take planning.  Arranging for a Wal-Mart parking lot make take a few months scheduling with the store.  If you have enough people to make a few hundred bucks, it's easily doubled.  Getting on the calendar for a few different stores, can easily help you generate over $1,000 or more.

[Ginsu Victim]

Car washes can work but it does take planning.

...and hotties.

[LLUncoolJ]

The local high school band sells sh*t-tickets (toilet paper).

[shateredsoul]

hah hah ! sh*t tickets


and about the fashion show, I know nothing about fashion and how those type of things work =/