# Put Your Thinking Cap On



## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

I just got home from a three hour board meeting for the no-kill shelter. We currently have 230 dogs, a lot of expenses, and not enough income. It's up to us on the board to find ways (other than grants) to bring in funds. We have a nice grant for our spay/neuter program, but need money for daily operating costs. We've had fish fries, etc. but we need to raise big money. One of our board members is owner of a number of car dealerships, and he is going to check on my suggestion to see if we can get the other dealerships to have a competition to see who can raise the most money within a certain time frame. I also thought I would check to see if we could get this going among some of the local fast food places--maybe pizza places one month, burger places another. We have batted ideas around until we are just frustrated. How about some creative ideas from some of you on the list?


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## puppylucy (Jan 8, 2005)

have a carnival! no seriously, it raises money like craazy.. this church had a carnival not too long ago and they raised like 500k. 

you could promote the shelter at the same time... have a doggie display or whatever of some dogs currently in the shelter.

just an idea. good luck


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## LexiAndNikkisMom (Apr 13, 2004)

My mom is on the local Make-A-Wish board and they do a fancy dinner auction every year. This year they raised around $20,000. They get local businesses to donate things (massages, food, bed&breakfast, etc.) and do silent and live auctions. The dinner is a black tie type of dinner, it is very fancy. I think the tickets are $50 a person, 10 people per table.


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## Sisses Momma (Dec 29, 2004)

I work for a huge Food Bank and we have a food drive for pets once a year. Many of our clients have animals and cannot feed them well. We work with all the local Vets, they hand out flyers in their offices and the local paper picks up on it (radio too) and they have a "Pet Food" drive. We collect it all and donate it to our no-kill shelters here in Tucson and when our clients ask for pet food, we send them to the no-kill shelters to get food. It also brings in tons of $$$.

Another idea is a "virtual" silent auction. Create a web page for your auctions and take "bids" online. People can go to your site (advertise by T.V and Radio again) and bid on donated items, or just donate $$$. It really brings in lots of money and there isn't a huge "party" to set up.


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## LexiAndNikkisMom (Apr 13, 2004)

You could do one of those donate a $1 and put your name on a paper thing.

After 9-11 a grocery store in Dubuque did a fund raiser that was kind of cool. They asked if you wanted to round your purchase ($5.03) up to the nearest ($6). They did this for like a month or so. I'm sure they raised a lot of money.


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## littlepeanut (Dec 5, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Lexi's Mom_@Apr 11 2005, 05:51 PM
> *You could do one of those donate a $1 and put your name on a paper thing.
> 
> After 9-11 a grocery store in Dubuque did a fund raiser that was kind of cool.  They asked if you wanted to round your purchase ($5.03) up to the nearest ($6).  They did this for like a month or so. I'm sure they raised a lot of money.
> <div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=51527*


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The petco here does that every once in a while for spay/neuter and other causes. Sometimes they have different amounts and you get different things like bandana's or little goody bags depending on the amount you give. 

Oh, they also put together a maltese puppy calendar and a certain amount from every purchase goes to the shelters.


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

All these ideas are great. I've already called our founder and read her the posts so far. I think we might try for the carnival in the fall. I assume you mean one with the rides, etc.? Please keep the ideas coming as we are all ears, and very grateful for any help.


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## saltymalty (Sep 14, 2004)

I am very involved in fundraising for a number of different types of organizations. I am happy to help you with some ideas, but first I need to get a sense of your objectives. How much money do you need to raise and what is your time frame for raising this money? Are you looking at a one time only effort, or will this be a long term, multi-year effort? How many outside resources do you have on your board (ie, what are your board members will to do, what contacts do they have, what type of businesses do they own/work for?)


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## puppylucy (Jan 8, 2005)

awesome







yep, definitely one w/ rides.. i really hope you can get that working; it really is a great money-maker. PLUS it will raise awareness about your cause!

lets see, other ideas.. i know you said you'd been talking to car dealerships, so maybe you could have them donate cars to raffle? not sure how much money that would bring in, but if you sold them for like 100 dollars a ticket, i'm sure you could make SOMETHING. other things you could raffle could be like a cruise, trip, boat, etc.

maybe a penny drive at the schools? each month give each class a bucket and have the kids donate their spare change? you should definitely try talking to the schools and see what you can come up with, we always have 2 or 3 fundraisers for stuff in the community at any given time.

depending on where you live, you could have a charity basketball game, fashion show, etc... we had a charity surf contest where you got donations and it raised a bunch of money for our school. even a walk-a-thon, where you get donations for every 1/2 mile or whatever walked, could work.

let us know what you come up with!


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

Some ideas I've been involved with or attended that raised a good bit of money....

One was the Juvenile Diabetes foundation. They had a black tie event. Before the dinner was a silent auction where business donated all sorts of neat things. There were waiters serving hor's doerves during this time period. As one entered the event they were given a number and their credit card was run through the machine. So when they won, there was no question whether or not they would pay.

After the silent auction was a deluxe dinner and a regular auction. The prizes were really neat such as a trip to the super bowl with VIP seating, a week at someone's beach house or mountain house... a week at a spa.... all sorts of fabulous things that went for big bucks ($1,000s)

Each ticket for dinner was about $100 and a ton of money was raised. It had to have been a lot of work though... Lots of volunteers needed to contact businesses and individuals to get all of the prizes donated. 

I used to be on the Planned Parenthood board and each year we have an event at Valentine's Day called An Evening for Chocolate Lovers. It is a reception where all sorts of decadant chocolate desserts are served. Tickets were in the $25 range, I believe. We got a printing company to design and donate some really cute invitations. 

One fun event that might be appropriate for your group is the Hair Ball that is held here every year. It's a big event with food and dancing. Everyone comes in a weird and fun wig or does their hair in an outlandish way. The host group is one of the animal groups... not sure which. One of the board members has a gorgeous and large home and she donates everything for the party and so all of the ticket money is "gravy". 

Another fund raiser that can raise a lot of money is a "Dinner at Eight" event. You get as many people as possible to host a dinner. The dinner is paid for by the hosts and it can vary from a very fancy evening to a more casual one. The price to attend the dinner depends on the type and the number who can attend each dinner is decided by the host and ranges from about 8 to 24. If you have a large mailing list you can send an invitation booklet that lists each dinner and how much it costs to attend. The booklet is done creatively with a cute name given to each dinner. The dessert is held in a large ballroom where all the participants from all the dinners come together for some speeches, comradarie, etc. Prices for each meal usually range from $150 per couple to about $25 per couple. Since the host pays for the dinner, all proceeds are "gravy". 

Another thing you can do is do a "roast". If there is a prominant person who is involved with your group or even someone who is not but will agree to be "roasted" you can have a dinner in his or her honor. It has to be someone very well known and popular such as a former mayor or other local VIP, big wig, etc. Then invitations to the dinner go out and of course all his friends would have to come. There would be speeches about the person, etc. and you'd make your money off the price of the dinner.... Ideally the dinner would be donated by the venue and they could be considered a "sponsor" of the event and promoted in the invitation, souvenir booklet, etc. 

That's all for now!


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## Lilly521 (May 29, 2004)

Well i was gonna say what most people said but i have a few to add, around here the animal shelter had a big dog wash at a park it was like a car wash but will with dogs, also a lot of times when i see boths for shelters they are selling little stuffed toy dogs (most people dont have a proublem paying $15+ for a tiny stuffed animal if its doing to a good cause), rummage sales are good to but you need to have a pretty big group of people donating items to get a big profit. Also this isnt a fundraising idea but when you go look for volunteers put of flyiers at the HS's i dont know about there but you need 100 hours to graduate here so you will find tons of kids just begging for hours (like me for example...where are you exactly?? lol)


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## Teddyandme (Feb 6, 2005)

I really great event is a golf fundraiser...we did this yearly for Children's Miracle Network and raised more than $50,000 per year. With this you actually get corporate sponsers who also pass the word to play to golf...you also do a book of advertising for this...As an evening end you do a black tie event with a silent auction....so a lot of bases are covered here. It is well worth it however as every year the event gets bigger and raises more money...


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

Thanks for all the help. You can bet I'm going to print out all your ideas and take them to our group. 
CARA was founded five years ago by a couple women who began picking up strays and finding homes for them. We have a large shelter in our area known for putting most of the animals to sleep, so this no kill shelter is really needed here. Unfortunately, the other shelter is well known, and has a lot of money behind it. They are building a state of the art building now. Our group now has a very nice place, still in the building stage, and a big mortgage. Our building was once a large warehouse. It can take care of the dogs and cats inside. Someone donated money for a feral cat sanctuary, and this is being built now. We have funds through a grant for the spay/neuter, and we can get more there. Our operating costs from day to day, as well as the need to continue with the building of nice outside exercise areas is of concern. Our need for money is ongoing. While one big fundraiser would be great, we are willing to do several smaller ones.
Our board consists of a very nice lady who started the program and gives full time to making it work, an attorney, two realtors, a retired teacher, an insurance executive, the owner of several car dealerships, as well as another member of his sales team, and myself (a psychologist). We had one of the managers of PetSmart on the board, but he felt it might be a problem for him with the other shelters. He has offered to help any way he can though. New members we hope to have onboard include a president of a company that has already donated many dollars in bleach from his company, a TV executive, and another realtor. A former governor's wife is also a possibility. The founder goes into schools with a program for the children. The retired teacher goes to grocery stores and Walmart to pick up all the sacks of food that have holes in them, as they are donated. We have an office manager who is jack of all trades (now sporting a scratched up nose where a dog bit her), as well as several part time employees. We have a judge who sends people for community service, but these folks may show up drunk, and they have a bad attitude. We have several special needs individuals (hearing impaired, mentally limited, and a cancer survivor with a voice box) who come in and help. Some of these started off as volunteers and now receive a small check. Some elderly people come in to exercise the dogs. I was there once, and a lady in a wheelchair was folding towels. But, with 230 dogs there now, and more coming in daily, you can see that money and more money is needed.
I want to thank all of you for the suggestions so far. And if others think of more, just let me know.


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## nataliecmu (Aug 12, 2004)

What about a "Groom-a-thon". If you could partener with a few groomers who would donate all the proceeds for the day to the shelter?


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## LexiAndNikkisMom (Apr 13, 2004)

Another thing my mom's Make-A-Wish group does is hold a yearly garage sale. It is huge. All of the things are donated to them (really nice stuff usually from rich people). They don't put prices on things. What they do is ask for donations. Some people might take a bag full and only give $5. And others might take 1 thing and give $20. The space they use is a gym at a college. They get all types of items ranging from clothes to furniture to appliances. At the end of the day they donate what ever is left to the mission.


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## triste (Aug 30, 2004)

our local pet organization did a cookbook sale. They asked for everyone's favorite recipes and then had it made and sold them. They also have a dog walk..(like a human 5K)...they call it Strut your Mutt. There is an entry fee and everyone walks the course (path whatever) and they have a "who looks most like their dog" contest the same day. All of these sound so petty compared to other's suggestions but they are ideas anyway...you could take off on them. 


This one aggravates me to no end, but I am guilted EVERY time to donate. People stand at a busy intersection w/ cans (w/ signs on their chest saying what they are collecting for)....and people drop in whatever they want/can. They do this for an entire day. They make hundreds of dollars. I know that isn't "bigtime" but every little bit helps. The scouts go to places that don't normally have baggers for groceries and they'll do it for you for a donation.


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