[Cash-and-caring] ideas

Thu Dec 15 16:14:34 UTC 2016

I agree. There’s the saying, “Why fix what’s not broken?” But at some point, we need fresh, new endeavors. I think switching up fundraisers every so often would actually work to our benefit. Sometimes what’s reliable starts to break down, and you need something new and shiney, smile.

Bridgit

From: Cash-and-Caring [mailto:cash-and-caring-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Chang, Patti via Cash-and-Caring
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2016 9:19 AM
To: Fund-raising assistance for Chapters and Affiliates <cash-and-caring at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Chang, Patti <PChang at nfb.org>
Subject: Re: [Cash-and-caring] ideas

One of the things that your email and mine point out is that some fundraisers simply run their course. So, we need to be thinking about switching them up with something else. Our student chapter also does a 50/50 raffle. It has been very good for them. These are easy to do. They can take a form as simple as simply numbering tickets during a convention selling them and drawing at the banquet. Thanks for sharing. 

I would also be interested to hear what chapters say about candy sales and sales of tickets to sporting events.

From: Cash-and-Caring [mailto:cash-and-caring-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via Cash-and-Caring
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2016 8:55 AM
To: 'Fund-raising assistance for Chapters and Affiliates'
Cc: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Subject: Re: [Cash-and-caring] ideas

As chapter president for the Omaha Chapter and board member for the Nebraska affiliate, I will answer for both my chapter and state:

Store meet-and-greets are my chapter’s most successful fundraiser. In a nutshell, we sit outside a participating store, like Walmart or Sam’s Club, provide literature and some kind of item for those donating such as candy, and shoppers can choose to donate funds if they wish. We also have an opportunity to speak with people who stop by, which happens more often than you would expect. In the past, we have raised as much as $600, but in recent years, it’s been more between $200 and $300, still not bad for a simple chapter fundraiser.

For my affiliate, our most successful fundraiser is our annual walk-thon. Members seek out donors who give pledges or flat donations (I am not aware of anyone who receives actual pledges) and we culminate in a walk. We raise about $2000 to $2500 for our annual walk. While this continues to be our biggest fundraiser, every year we make less money, and we have fewer and fewer members participating. Ten years ago when I joined our affiliate, about 30 people participated, now, about 15 of us actively participate. And the walk itself does not do much in the way of outreach. There’s zero public interaction; we no longer carry signs and banners or even chant Federation chants, so I’ve been told from outsiders that our intent is not clear. I would like to change up the format of this event, but nonetheless, as a fundraiser, it continues to be our biggest one.

2. A fundraiser no longer working is our annual banquet.  For years, my chapter hosted what we called the White Cane banquet. The community was invited, including community leaders. We had sponsors and donors who paid for tables and tickets to attend. We recognized a local employer for hiring/accommodating blind employees; we held a silent auction during the banquet, and many of our state-wide membership attended. We raised quite a bit of money from the banquet, mostly from corporate sponsorships. My understanding is that at one tie, the banquet raised between $2000 and $4000. About 10 years ago or so, the banquet started declining. Very few community leaders attended, and it came to the point where we had maybe 1 or 2 corporate sponsors. Very few members started attended, both across the state and from our own chapter. The items donated for our silent auction became less enticing, and eventually, it was no longer worth the effort to do our banquet, especially since it made very little money or did much to reach out to the community. I want to say our last banquet several years ago raised around $500, which is not a bad amount of money, but considering the work that goes into planning and preparing for such an event, not worth it in the long-run, especially since it came down between about 3 of us doing all the work. I noticed in particular that the smaller our chapter has grown, with fewer members actively participating, the less able the banquet became.

For my affiliate, we used to do a 50/50 raffle. Tickets were sold, and the winner took home half the pot. At one point, the winner alone was taking home $2000, meaning the affiliate kept $2000. This was pretty successful for a long time. Now, I don’t even think we did the raffle this year- we tried replacing it with something that did not pan out either (which the idea was mine) and last year, I think the total raised for the raffle was around $200 or $300, a significant decrease from years past.

3. I joined this list to learn what others are doing to fundraise, hoping to gain new ideas and try them for my chapter and affiliate.

Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter

From: Cash-and-Caring [mailto:cash-and-caring-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Chang, Patti via Cash-and-Caring
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2016 6:27 AM
To: cash-and-caring at nfbnet.org <mailto:cash-and-caring at nfbnet.org> 
Cc: Chang, Patti <PChang at nfb.org <mailto:PChang at nfb.org> >
Subject: [Cash-and-caring] ideas

I would like to see this group get a little more interactive. Toward that end I am asking people to answer a couple of quick questions:

1.       What are the most successful fundraising ideas you employ?

2.       2. What has not worked or is no longer working?

3.       What precipitated you signing up for this listserv.

I will start by answering these myself.

Over time the best fundraiser our Illinois affiliate has employed is gift certificate sales. It has run its course in Illinois for now but it works like this. A not for profit buys gift certificates from a broker like the Manna Group (888) 272-1952. The entity pays less than the face value of the certificates. You sell them at face value and keep the difference. There is a minimum order to avoid fees. The percentage is generally low in terms of what you make on each order but overtime this is amazing. It also goes to core funding which is awesome. 

We also do something called “15 for funds” which Dr. Jernigan taught us decades ago. The legend proclaims that Illinoisans were lamenting our lack of funds at a convention and Dr. Jernigan promised that he could fix that problem in fifteen minutes. He made the direct ask for contributions during our state convention banquet by starting at $500 and working his way down. We have done this every year since. It illustrates the point that you must make the ask before people will contribute. 

AmazonSmile is not doing well. We have never gained more than $30 in a quarter. It is a nuisance to sign up for and we already have many NFB affiliates on the system. 

I signed up for this listserv because I serve as our Director of Outreach and one of the things I am tasked with is helping our affiliates to fundraise in an efficient manner with an eye towards the longer term and plans to cultivate those who give to NFB.

Hope this good start is helpful. 

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