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In early December, hold a holiday pancake breakfast
at a church or school cafeteria. Decorate the room
to give it a Christmasy feel. Serve things like
pancakes, bacon, milk, and coffee. Ask around at
local grocery stores to see if they will donate the
food supplies, napkins, plastic plates, cups, and
utensils, and check with the church or school to
make sure they have enough tables, chairs, and
cooking utensils. Set up a table with milk, coffee,
and condiments so people can help themselves. As a
volunteer to dress up as Santa (ask around at
costume shops or theaters to see if they will lend
you the outfit) and charge a few dollars for kids to
get their pictures taken with him. Use a Polaroid
camera and ask local grocery stores to see if they
will donate the film.
A few weeks in advance you should put up flyers
around town advertising the event and where people
can buy tickets (make sure you get permission
first), and sell the tickets at local grocery or
retail stores. Charge full price for adults (about
$10), give a discount to seniors and kids 3-8 years
old, and let kids 2 and younger eat free.
Book BINGO Night
Check around at local bookstores and ask for
donations of books, new and used. You may also go
from door to door accompanied by an adult, and ask
for donations of any books that are in good
condition. Once you have accumulated enough books,
distribute event flyers around town advertising a
book BINGO night.
Ask permission to hold the BINGO night event at a
school, church, or other event location with large
enough area for seating and tables. Make sure the
location has enough tables and chairs, or
borrow some from other locations.
Ask local retirement homes, senior centers, or other
BINGO facilities if you can borrow bingo cards,
chips or daubers, balls, and the cage. Charge people
$3 to $5 for each BINGO card. Ask a volunteer to be
in charge of announcing numbers. Set up several
tables behind the announcer, and lay the books out
on top of them. You could separate the books into
categories to make it easier for people to pick.
When someone gets a BINGO, that person gets to pick
any book he or she wants. If, after the event, you
have leftover books, donate them to charity.
Organize a Benefit Concert
Begin researching local bands—most towns have bands that are looking for extra
exposure. See if you can get the band to perform
without payment for the benefit concert (allow them
to sell CDs and hand out cards in exchange). Your
concert should be an all-ages event, so select a
band that would be appropriate for everyone. When
the date, time, location, and band are confirmed, begin
to promote your concert. Approach local businesses
and ask them to donate door prizes (movie passes,
restaurant coupons, and movie rentals are good
raffle items). If you arrange contributing sponsors
early enough, they could even have their logos
printed on your posters and tickets (businesses like
advertising that links their name to a worthy
cause). Be sure to include door-prize information
on your promotional materials so that potential
attendees know what is offered. Be sure to check in
regularly with the band and the facility to be sure
everything is on schedule. If there is no food at
your venue, consider buying (or having donated)
pre-packaged snacks that volunteers can sell
throughout the concert.
Variation: Use the same
concept for a smaller gathering, using your school’s
symphony at a local art gallery or coffeehouse or
hold a benefit choir concert at a church. Or, if you
play an instrument yourself, put on a recital for
your friends and family!
Success
Story: Katie B. from Alabama held a
benefit concert and got her entire delegation
involved. The concert was free. The great door-prize tickets were $5. Each delegate received
the proceeds from the tickets they sold. As a
group they sold 4,000 tickets and raised more
than $20,000.
Host a Dinner or Breakfast
Determine a place to host your
meal (look for a place that will not charge you;
churches or synagogues, grange halls, or community
centers are good places). Think of things that will
add value to your event (raffle donated prizes or
have performers). Decide on a menu that is both easy
to prepare and inexpensive. Make posters and flyers
ahead of time and be sure to list the price, start
time of the meal, and any entertainment.
Success
Story: Traci B. of Alabama held a
“Boston Butt” sale. A pork rump was cut in half
and smoked. Potato salad and a roll rounded out
the meal, which as served picnic-style at a
local park. Her efforts raised $2,000.
Success
Story: Kristen J. of California and
her family hosted a pasta dinner for 62 people.
Included were 30 raffle prizes and 20 silent
auction items. Her father’s barbershop quartet
performed for 30 minutes to please the crowd. By
the end of the night they had raised $2,200.
Create a Cookbook
Round up recipes from friends and family, or set up
a recipe exchange online. Make sure you get
permission to use the recipes you gather. Try to
make your cookbook as varied as possible. Be sure to
include beverages, appetizers, salads, entrees,
desserts, and diet-friendly recipes such as
vegetarian dishes. As soon as you have collected all
of your recipes, spend time sorting and categorizing
them into corresponding chapters. Type each recipe
as it appears on the original, and also make chapter
dividers, which make it easier for readers to flip
through the cookbook and find a specific type of
dish. Be sure to include pictures of the dishes if
possible. Give your cookbook a clever name and let
everyone know that it was created by you!
As soon as you have all of the pages and pictures
formatted the way you want them and in the correct
order, take your book to a copy and print shop.
Explain to them that you are creating a cookbook to
sell and raise money to be a delegate on a People to
People program. You may want to do some shopping
around to see what place would copy and bind your
cookbook for the lowest price. If you have the
resources, you could also print them at home. Make
copies of all the books ordered previously and about
15-20 extra, depending on the demand. Be sure to
sign each copy, thanking the buyer for supporting
you to raise money.
Success
Story: Adam M. from Kansas sold books
at $20 each and raised $4,000. His family
invested $550 and two months into making
cookbooks that are 239 pages long and contain
400 recipes. The books are extra special because
they contain a page about Adam and a description
of his program and why it’s important to him.
Share Your Story
We want to hear about your fundraising success!
Please
email us
your stories and photos.
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