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Old July 25th 05, 03:04 AM
Candace
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CatNipped wrote:

How about asking neighbors for donations for a huge garage sale?


That or a bake sale.

I know of fundraising ideas for larger organizations but they cost a
lot of money to put on, takes money to make money in those cases, but
on a smaller scale, do you (the OP) know any musicians who would donate
an evening? If you have a nice enough yard you can have an outdoor
party or even a block party if you get a permit. Then, make the food
and have some of your friends also make some dishes. It would be nice
if you had alcohol, too (at least with my friends, they wouldn't be
interested in coming if there was no booze). Again, you could ask a
few of your close friends to chip in for that or just get a keg, I
don't think they're that expensive. Then charge people to come. You
have to get the word out to the right people, though. You need enough
to come to make it worthwhile and you don't want rabblerousers.

It's hard to do fundraisers, the amount of detail planning even a small
event is overwhelming. There's always one more thing that needs to be
done, it seems. No one ever understands that when they come to an
event; they think it all just got pulled together with a minimum of
effort. Not so.

That's why I would maybe start small and then perhaps you can take some
of those proceeds and build up to a bigger event.

The easiest way to get big bucks, though, is with corporate
sponsorships. $5K is nothing to a company and they get a write-off and
positive PR. Can you approach your employer, your grocery store, other
businesses you frequent? Just make sure they are nicely acknowledged
and get some sort of positive PR for it, an article in a paper, even a
small mention in a neighborhood paper, a mention on a local radio show,
something both to acknowledge their support and to get people
interested in your event. Make up a nice little solicitation letter
with info about the organization, some brochures if they have them, a
sappy little article about a particular animal helped by the org, tug
at their heartstrings. Then hand deliver these packets to key people
at some businesses asking for their sponsorship.

You're in the US, aren't you? If the group you want to benefit is not
a 501 (c) (3), you won't get corporate sponsorship very easily so
disregard previous paragraph. Then it's back to the yard sale, bake
sale, block party ideas.

Candace