Last year, I went to Dublin, Ireland to do my first marathon with the Calgary Chapter of the Canadian Liver Foundation (CLF). In order to participate, I had to fundraise $6,000. It didn’t take long for me to exhaust all of my friends and family for donations, so I had to come up with creative ways to ask people for money, other than putting my hand out. I would like to tell you how I raised over $13,000 for Canadian Liver Foundation, using the resources that were given to me through them, as well as putting my own spin on how to raise money.
Email Blast
The CLF gave me a website in order to track donations, and send a link to friends and family to donate directly through the site with a credit card. I sent all of my 800 contacts an email connecting with them, letting them know what I was doing with a link. I got one rude email back (there will always be one), and of the rest, many donated, and others sent back wonderful emails to reconnect and touch base, and congratulate me.
Silent Auction
CLF put on a Silent Auction to help us raise funds towards our goal. Any items we donated, we got the full price it sold for towards our goal. I asked the company I worked for to donate an item. I also asked my close friends to ask their employer for items. I also targeted small network marketing companies, such as Tupperware, Mary Kay and Arbonne, as small business people are often looking for opportunities to market their products.
Sex and the City Shopping Spree – Garage Sale
Some of the girls had garage sales, but I took it one step further, and had a Sex and the City Shopping Spree. I solicited clothing, shoes, boots and accessories from women, and held a garage sale that was just for women (since women were the shoppers). It was a lot of work putting it together, but it was a huge success.
Entertainment Book
I also arranged for our team to sell Entertainment coupon books. I found the trick to being successful at this, is to be the first one selling them, because many people undercut the selling price once there is more than one person in the office selling. These books sell for $40, and some other people fundraising started selling them for $35. There is only $8 profit per book available, you so you want to make sure you can sell them for $40. The books hit the street in September, so arrange your campaign well ahead of time so you have your books first.
Hold an Event
In addition to the above strategies, I also held an event called Live’r Up. This event in itself raised $6,000 for CLF after my net costs. I had to pay out a lot of up front costs that I did eventually recover, so this idea is not for everyone.
Donation Matching
Many companies have a matching program for employees who donate to charity. The company that I work for matches all employee donations. I asked everyone who donated to submit their donation for matching if they worked for a company that provided a similar incentive.
I hope this article gives you some viable ways to raise a lot of money for a great cause. These strategies helped me raise a lot of money, and I wish you all the success in your fundraising efforts.
