Looking for fundraising ideas

[pegkerr]

Delia's Girls Scout troop, which has been run by two awesome young women for several years, wants to raise money for a trip to Washington DC. This is going to take some serious fundraising. Besides selling cookies, they are asking each family to come up with and implement a fundraising activity. So far they have 1) directed cars parking at a Saint Paul Saints baseball game, 2) held a garage sale, 3) a jewelry sale, 4) spaghetti dinner, and maybe one or two other things.

Help! I need ideas! There are four girls in the troop and two troop leaders. Direct donations are NOT allowed; according to Girl Scout rules, they have to have a fundraising activity. Anyone have any ideas I can give the troop leaders?

Comments

[nmsunbear.livejournal.com]

Maybe a crafting workshop?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Well, they are already doing the jewelry sale . . .

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Self-defense basics

Halloween escort service/party

How to text without your parents finding out.... ah, never mind

Mock voting on some issue, using the same kind of ballots/voting system as elections

Raking leaves for the elderly/others

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

My daughter's school is holding a walkathon -- one with a flat donation from the beginning, rather than a per-mile amount. (Mostly because the kids will likely only do a mile!) Is that something that could work?

Is there a day off school where they could sell something (hot cocoa and cookies?) to lunching businesspeople downtown?

[naomikritzer]

Group babysitting? Something like, "You drop your kids off for two hours for a Girl Scout run Christmas party! On a Saturday in early December, when you might like to get some shopping done and presents wrapped!" Would require a space and some activity planning.

An alternate Christmas-season activity -- on December Saturdays at the Highland Park B&N, they have groups take over the free giftwrapping. You still don't actually charge for it but you have a prominently displayed sign about your group and jars for donations. You could do a lovely sign with a picture of the Washington Monument and something like, "Troop NNN is raising money for a trip to Washington D.C.!" by the donation jar.

[jenett]

What about something like sponsors for them helping out elderly/infirm families with household tasks?

(I'm remembering one of the volunteer projects students here have done - they go rake leaves, help get seasonal clothes out, maybe paint, etc. - basic household tasks that older folks may need some help managing.)

To add the fundraising thing, people could pledge X amount per hour (50 cents, a dollar, etc.) with the girls expected to do a certain minimum. You obviously wouldn't want to ask the people directly benefiting, because they're also often on a fixed income.

[knitmeapony.livejournal.com]

Mock voting can be great. If you can team up with a school or somesuch...

We did it thusly: every penny in coins was a vote FOR someone/something. Every penny in bills was a vote AGAINST. So if you feel strongly, put a five in a jar!

We did it, rather than with politics, with our professors; the 'winner' got to kiss a pig one year; the actual winner got a (donated) spa package the next year, so it can be naughty or nice.

[faeryguinevere.livejournal.com]

I think they could work the food and beverage at the metrodome for some events as a fundraiser - I know of some college students who did that.

[naomikritzer]

If any of the families own a snowblower, snow-shoveling once the snow starts to fall. But this works best as a semi-spontaneous activity: you knock on people's doors (with unshoveled walks) and offer to clear their walk and sidewalk for $10 or that plus their driveway for $15. One person uses the snowblower, the others do steps and edges with shovels.

We get teenaged boys doing this in my neighborhood after heavy snowfalls and I don't think it's a fundraiser for anything but pocket money. LOTS

[knitmeapony.livejournal.com]

If you think it's safe, walking up a few neighborhood streets and offering lawn care services (leaf raking and stoop sweeping especially) could be fun in big groups.

Barnes and Noble allows groups to set up gift-wrapping stations. B&N provides the wrap; groups can put up a 'tip' jar. I believe they can't actually CHARGE for it, but some people are generous with the tips!

Are the girls crafty/tinkery/etc? We went to churches and schools, and for one day sold services; once we repaired clothes for cheap, once we offered a computer 'safety package' (we did a defrag, installed free virus checking and spyware checking stuff, and ran all the scans - our school was rife with laptops). Both of those might be a bit much, depending on the age group, but something similar might be worthwhile.

We also ran classes for parents -- $10 to learn exactly what Facebook is and why your kids use it is cheap, and you get to hear it right from the kids.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Leaf raking! We would give them so very much money for raking up all our leaves.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Everybody already has great ideas, some I'd never even heard of!

Good fundraising has
- the money coming from people who don't already give money (like people other than the Scouts' grandparents)
- the kids doing something that is good for them, like they learn something and/or get exercise
- the parents not taking on huge extra commitments
- the people giving the money getting something useful

When do they need the money? Is it after snow-shovelling season? Is there any market for "hire scouts to do your parking lot instead of burning fossil fuels"? Is there anything else with a "green" spin? (aluminum recycling is traditional, but what about a clothing-exchange sale of some kind. Consignment, commission for tables, donate clothes and get a ticket to pick out something from another table, whatever.)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of group childcare for Christmas shopping.

[jennclack.livejournal.com]

Some restaurants will have fundraising nights. You just spread the word for people to eat on your night and get a cut of the profits. Our school just made $500 from one of the local Italian places. That's pretty good considering they really didn't have to do much.

[murumatsu.livejournal.com]

Applebee's does an awesome pancake breakfast fundraiser--your group comes in on a weekend morning, helps cook, does the serving, and the group gets ALL the proceeeds ($5 a breakfast a year or two ago when the community band I'm in did it). I think they only do it once a month now, though, so there's likely to be quite a waiting list. Apart from encouraging people to come, it's just a couple of hours of work, one day.

[aome.livejournal.com]

Lemonade stand, but sell hot apple cider (and possibly cookies and/or Krispie treats) instead. In fact, a bake sale might be nice in general.

Of the ideas already suggested, I particularly like leaf raking (or walk-shoveling), and group-babysitting-for-Christmas-shopping. Is it too cold already to offer car washes? How about offering to clean the *inside* of cars? Gift-wrapping services?

[naomikritzer]

FYI, I got that idea from something done by some of the students at a college where I used to work.

They actually did it free, for the children of college faculty and staff, as a dropoff Christmas party. And you really didn't have to pay anything. But if you WANTED to donate, they had a charity they were collecting for, a local homeless shelter for single mothers, IIRC.

I was childless back when I worked there so I didn't take advantage of it, but I still thought it was really cool.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Second the hot apple cider (and/or hot chocolate and coffee) -- especially if there are any outdoor craft fairs, parades, etc. coming up that you could do it at. We used to sell a lot that way in winter, since people would buy a cup just to warm their hands up.

[thenines.livejournal.com]

The other term for this is "penny wars." It's a trick I first learned in high school Debate Club: choose an issue and choose your "for and against" debaters, then market/publicize the event as a coin fundraiser, and the audience chooses who "wins" the debate. The best turnout we had was in getting the Captain of the Basketball Team to debate the Captain of the Football Team as to which sport was "better." (As the speech/debate team members, our job was to coach them.) That's definitely scalable for middle-school aged kids.

[thenines.livejournal.com]

Borders bookstores do the same thing -- weekends and week nights. Generally speaking, the more talkative the wrappers are about what it is that they're raising money for, the more money they coax from non-wrapping fingers. Interesting poster displays on the wrapping table also stimulate interest.

[thenines.livejournal.com]

"Direct donations are NOT allowed; according to Girl Scout rules, they have to have a fundraising activity." As a philanthropic professional, I have never understood this rule of the GSA. Most often, the best and most rewarding relationships for fundraisers (amateur and professional alike), comes from the relationships that are built with donors who give because they are engaged wtih the story of the organization.

My advice then, is to build fundraising activities around the stories of the Scouting. Self-sufficiency is important, with the patches given for camping and other outdoor activities -- what about working with community members who are experts on different, simple things (how to bake your own yeast bread, how to mend clothing, how to replace a bicycle chain, etc) and set up a series of demonstrations/lectures. Charge a nominal fee ($5 per attendee), and ensure that the girls are responsible for introducing the speaker and explaining how what they're going to teach is related to the Girl Scout mission. Advertise it in Community Centers, Churches, parent letters from the school, city/town websites, etc.

Just one idea, out of potentially lots, considering how many arms the GSA has.

[cryptaknight.livejournal.com]

I work at Barnes & Noble, and each year at the holidays, we have non-profit groups that come in and giftwrap for fundraising. It doesn't net a huge amount of money, but depending what days you sign up for and how many you take, you can raise a decent amount. All you have to do is contact your local B&N and see if they have days available. I'd also bet other stores also offer the same thing.

ETA: I see that several other people have already mentioned it. Oops. Well, if you need help figuring out who to contact, let me know, and I can find out for you.

[wintercreek]

A talent show organized by and starring the girls of the troop and their friends/family?

A Halloween party or haunted house activity, since that holiday is approaching soon? I know there are only a handful of actual troop members, but haunted house activities could be a fun way for the girls' peers to help out.

If they are allowed to resell donated items, they might hit up local businesses and make something like winter-preparedness kits to sell for people's cars. (Thermal blanket, cat litter/rock salt for ice, high density food like Clif bars, flashlight, et cetera.) This might do double duty as a winter safety lesson experience and would probably be easier to sell than the endless rounds of cookie dough and wrapping paper.

I like the gift wrapping and holiday shopping child care ideas, and the leaf-raking/snow-blowing ideas.

[wintercreek]

Or! They could host a Girl Scout alumnae tea! (This idea taken directly from my experience as a sorority member in undergrad.) I'm sure there are lots of women in the Twin Cities who were Girl Scouts when they were young, so some kind of event where they gather for tea and reminiscences in exchange for a modest donation could be successful and fun for everyone. Singing camp songs, hearing about the experience of being a Girl Scout today ... it barely even requires planning activities.

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

How about a chapbook? Illustrated, by the authors :)

[skg.livejournal.com]

Sell reusable canvas bags. Green AND raises funds!

[(Anonymous)]

When I was a girl scout, we would paint the ends of 2x4s red for the local fire department. The fire department would then stick them in the ground by fire hydrants to help mark them in case snow covered them.
I know here in MN, our hydrants are marked adequately, but perhaps the girls could paint sticks and sell them in bundles to people to help mark driveways, etc?

Another (EASY) project we did was wrap bricks in wrapping paper and sell them as doorstops. (Probably better for younger girls!)

The painting one might be fun for the girls, and I bet supplies could be donated. Another perk... you don't need a large troop to do it.

Good luck!

[irinaauthor.livejournal.com]

Could a local business sponsor them? My elementary school had a fundraising night at a McDonalds every year. The teachers worked behind the counter and a percentage of the night's proceeds would go to the school. Of course, all the kids would come to see their teachers wearing the McDonalds outfits. Maybe a restaurant would do that for you guys too, or a yoga studio or something. (Not that the leaders and parents would have to teach yoga, but what if a percentage of the class fees were donated to the troop for one night, and everyone in the troop came for a child-friendly class? You could do a similar thing at your karate place, even. Would your sensai be interested in helping out?)

[volkhvoi.livejournal.com]

When I was travelling in NY state over the labour day weekend, charity groups were offering free coffee and snacks (with a donation jar) at the interstate rest stops.

Thanksgiving is another major travelling long weekend, if you can find a place (like an interstate rest stop) to set up shop.

[mkaout.livejournal.com]

to piggyback on the Halloween escort thing...

I would pay somebody to come pass out candy at my house so both my husband and I could take our daughter out trick-or-treating. Last year, somebody took off with our bowl (the ACTUAL BOWL) when we went out with her; this year one of us will stay behind.

[mkaout.livejournal.com]

The above was from me.. sorry I didn't log in.

I thought of one other thing... (perhaps it has already been mentioned)...

Maybe the girls could set up a face-painting booth at a grocery store or a local mall. My daughter (age 5 next month) and I will always stop to get her face painted. The girls can have a display of things they can paint easily (rainbows, hearts, etc) in order to avoid tall orders (Rainbow Dash, Batman, etc). This would be a fun and easy way to interact with the community. And perhaps it could lead to baby sitting jobs!

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Shipping service. There are companies in the US who will let you order items sent to a US address and then sent them on to you abroad, and they charge a *fortune*.

Check in with expat communities like the ones on LJ, and offer to send things on if people want items from companies who don't ship. (You could extend this to sending locally-available items people outside your city might want also. I'd definitely restrict that to nonperishables!) Purchaser pays cost of item plus shipping to a local-to-you address, then sends a check or Paypals cost of shipping plus a $5-$10 donation for the service.

I have no idea of the legalities of this, but I'd think it should be all right since you're not reselling the items.

Another possibility for this would be to see if a local shipping office (like Mailboxes Etc) could donate by discounting shipping costs.

[daharyn.livejournal.com]

We cleaned local churches for over a year when we were trying to get our MN troop to NYC. It was a lot of cleaning, but it worked.