[Cash-and-caring] ideas

Tue Dec 20 00:15:03 UTC 2016

You have a point. Our affiliagte (the NFB of Washington) can't afford to
provide SSP's. we have made sure that one affiliate member who uses and
assisted listening device is accommodated by passing the wireless mic he
uses to the person currently speaking and this has worked moderately well.
However, if we get any members who need interpreters, we'll be in a bind.

Mike Freeman, Immediate Past President

NFB of Washington

From: Cash-and-Caring [mailto:cash-and-caring-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Janice Toothman via Cash-and-Caring
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2016 3:55 PM
To: Fund-raising assistance for Chapters and Affiliates
Cc: Janice Toothman
Subject: Re: [Cash-and-caring] ideas

I appreciate all these ideas.  I am wondering how to get the individual
members of the National DeafBlind Division to either act locally on their
state/chapter level.  Whether some of these ideas could be sold over the
internet, on the Divisions website, since people are spread out.

This goes back to an earlier message that mentioned listing the programs you
wanted to do and their cost.  The DeafBlind Division needs to provide for
Support Service Providers (SSPs) for the DeafBlind at Convention. We need to
do fundraising throughout the year to meet our goal.

We usually raffle off a handmade afghan that a member knits and sell Braille
Alphabet T-Shirts at Convention; but Joe & Arlene Naulty will not be able to
help us this coming convention like they have done in the past to bring the
T-Shirts to Conventions

I have made Braille labels for the sizes to have Arlene but on the T-Shirts.
But the T-Shirts have to be sorted by color & size; then folded.

Any suggestions on how to get the T-Shirts to Convention and other solutions
would be appreciated.

On 12/19/2016 6:07 PM, Chang, Patti via Cash-and-Caring wrote:

Keep these ideas coming. Does anyone have a favorite fundraising listserv or
a page on the internet that is helpful?

From: Cash-and-Caring [mailto:cash-and-caring-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Eric Guillory via Cash-and-Caring
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2016 4:32 PM
To: Fund-raising assistance for Chapters and Affiliates
Cc: Eric Guillory
Subject: Re: [Cash-and-caring] ideas

Hi everyone. Sorry for being a bit late to the party, but it has been great
reading about and carefully considering all ideas. Jerry Whittle is our
state fundraising chairperson here in Louisiana, and his proactive, creative
mind has resulted in great ideas through the years. 

Our state convention is a time of strong fundraising. Our energetic,
somewhat raucous auction generates approximately $3000 in revenue, with
items being donated by individuals as well as businesses of all sizes and
types. 

Over the past five years, each chapter has also been asked to contribute a
basket of items for auction, with moneys going to the affiliate. As is true
in most states, Louisiana has significant regional differences, and chapters
deftly capitalize on these in the creation of baskets filled with snacks,
beverages, and memorabilia of all sorts. As would be expected, our
North-Central Chapter basket, which encompasses the city of Ruston,
generally commands quite a high price given its ties with the Center. 

Thanks to an idea proposed by Meleah Jensen several years ago, it has become
a tradition for our student division president to ask our national
representative to the convention to sing at our Saturday evening banquet. We
make a big show of it, telling the audience that he or she will not do so
unless we raise a predetermined minimum. People give generously and have
heard some truly wonderful and not-so-wonderful vocal stylings over The past
decade. It is a great time, and the students can generally expect to raise
$500 or thereabouts to help with our Student Seminar expenditures. 

At the chapter level, yours truly is president of the North-Central Chapter,
and we have had significant success selling the calendars the Federation
uses in its national mailouts. We buy them for a dollar each, selling them
at a couple of local grocery stores for three dollars each. What we have
found over the past three years is that, given the proliferation of
technology, fewer and fewer people want a calendar in hardcopy, though there
is still a significant market. Often, people will give us five dollars or
more and tell us to keep the change. Our chapter spends $300 on the
calendars and can expect approximately $1200 profit. Our chapter also does a
certificate sale with a local car wash wherein we buy certificates for five
dollars each, sell them for 10, and the value of the car wash is a $12
value, so we make five dollars profit on every sale and the bearer of the
certificate receives a good deal on a quality car wash. The North-Central
chapter also conducts a candy sale, with all profits going to the state
affiliate. Other chapters host dinners, barbecues, and other fundraising
endeavors including candy and T-shirt sales. 

I am confident there have been ideas which have not worked, but I feel this
post has gone on long enough LOL. 

I am part of this list because I was asked to participate on the committee
by Pam Allen, our very able affiliate president, and I'm happy to serve. I
hope these ideas are useful, and I wish you all a great evening.

Eric Guillory, Director of Youth Services

Louisiana Center for the Blind

101 South Trenton Street

Ruston, LA 71270

Voice: 800-234-4166

Fax: 318-251-0109

Twitter: ericguillory

Skype: brllovingdad

 <http://www.louisianacenter.org/> www.louisianacenter.org

"Together, we are changing what it means to be blind."

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
Cc: Chang, Patti
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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