Help me brainstorm a fundraiser

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Some friends of ours run an animal rescue non-profit organization in Hilmar, CA called Hayflakes Sanctuary (plug!). Right now they are operating on rented land that they will soon be losing, and are looking to purchase a permanent space somewhere here in Northern California. Being an already financially strapped NPO, they are having a hard time putting together funds. My girlfriend and I are trying to come up with ideas for fundraisers to help them out. We've thought of some obvious ones like bake sales and garage sales, and may try those, but we'd love to try something unique that'll grab people's attention.

Have any of you ever put together a fundraiser? What did you do and how well did it go?

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I don't know how well it works, or if it would make the amount of money the NPO would need... but I know Krispy Kreme has a funraiser where you sell donuts. The fundraiser sells little coupons that you take to your local (delicious) Krispy Kreme for donuts... you may also be able to redeem them at grocery stores and the like.

Like I said - don't know how it works... but I'm already willing to buy donuts in large quanities. I'd be even more willing if I knew those purchases were going to a good cause.

 

[reveal]

You could also do the Village Inn pies thing. I never buy anything when the people come knocking to sell me crap except when they come around with the Village Inn pie coupons. I LOVE their cherry pies.

 

[Pierce]

While boring, garage sales tend to make a crapload of money. Also, any left over items may be useful at the shelter (blankets, sheets, etc. are always needed).

We've got a guy here at our office who's a bit of a singer/songwriter in his off time. He's playing a fundraiser for T.E.A.R.S. (another animal rescue) at a little bar & grill in our neighborhood in a couple of weeks. I'll try to find out how he got it set up and how much they take in. If you've got any contacts with the local music/bar scene, that might be a fun one.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

You could also do the Village Inn pies thing. I never buy anything when the people come knocking to sell me crap except when they come around with the Village Inn pie coupons. I LOVE their cherry pies.

I've never heard of Village Inn. Is that a regional thing?

 

[reveal]

I've never heard of Village Inn. Is that a regional thing?

Nope. They have them in California, just not in SF by the looks of it. You can go here to check their locations in CA.

http://www.villageinnrestaurants.com/locations/locations.html

 

[Rel]

Given the cause, you probably wouldn't consider a Larry The Lobster scheme, huh?

 

[cuteasaurus]

The best "unique" ideas often involve regional things...like if there is a great local artist, maybe he/she will donate a painting or a print and then someone else will donate a frame (or the money to frame it) and then you can use it as a 'big ticket item' in a raffle or something.

 

[IronWolf]

I am interested in hearing what other people have to say as I am a founding member of a group that will probably be needing to accomplish some fund raising ourselves.

I'll throw out spaghetti dinners and also agree with some event with live music (that you get there for free as part of their donation) and sell hot dogs and such on the side. I haven't tried either, though I know spaghetti dinners are popular in these parts!

 

[fusangite]

I recommend fundraising dinners. Usually, on Sunday and Monday nights, restaurants have trouble filling up. I find that many restaurants, sympathetic or not to your plight, will be happy to turn themselves over to a group.

Usually, a restaurant will agree to a restricted menu and a low per-person price for food if you let them run a no host bar. That way, you can sell $50 tickets for $15 meals at a nice middle end restaurant (Italian restaurants are best, in my view, because the unit cost of pasta is so low and vegetarians can be accommodated so easily) clearing pur profit of about $35/person. They then run a low profit food operation and make all their profit on liquor. Door prizes and music are often good ideas at an event like this because if people are getting free stuff and free performances, they might be more likely to participate in additional fundraising at the event itself like a silent auction.

Anyway, that was a pretty reliable strategy for me over the years but you need a membership base willing to sell tickets to their friends. If every member of your board agrees to sell a table of 8, one of these dinners run by a 10-member board should clear just shy of $3000 in profit in one night.

What is the time horizon on this fundraising plan? If you have 18 months or more, I can recommend some direct mail fundraising strategies but if you have less time than that, direct mail is unlikely to turn such a short-term profit.

Finally, have you communicated much with organizations that do the same kind of work you do? Perhaps there are partnership possibilities. Similarly, what about foundations that hand out grants for your kind of work?