Good Wednesday morning to you. We are halfway through our week. Well almost, since it was a four-day week. Today I want to continue with our topic and talk about ideas for raising money. Many of us serve or spend time working or volunteering for a charity or a church. Some of us are always looking for ways to raise more money for this cause we believe it. We get stuck on a committee for ideas to raise money, then after the meeting someone suggests we all go out for ice cream. Then it comes out from someone in the group, “I never seem to be able to have the extra money to do things like that.”
Well if you are on the committee for raising funds for your charity and have a hard time raising them for your own budget, there could be a problem. So here are some ideas for this one.
I have always been a creative mind, and love when I get to meet other people who just puts their heart into ideas. Over the past few years I volunteered my time with a charity. While I was working with the outreach part of it, I got to meet and spend time with our chairperson who worked our main fundraiser each year. Her name is Joyce and she has the spirit of a teenage cheerleader, the giving heart of a billion dollar media king. She worked with us each month to come up with new ideas to raise funds, ultimately making our chapter number two in the nation for fundraising.
Some of the ideas I have seen people use to raise the money needed for their charity are as follows:
1. Bake sale. This one is an oldie but a goodie. I remember the famous bake sale that a national radio personality suggested to one of his listeners in the ‘90s. This man calls into a radio show and says he is having a tough time raising the money needed for his magazine subscription. They suggest, as a joke, to have a bake sale. It turns into a national event and fans from all over the country show up for this man’s sale.
2. Hold a car wash. Well I know a man who, to raise money each year for his favorite charity, the Christian motorcyclist Association, washes bikes at biker rallies and biker events. All the money raised is donated to this charity. Tom is always among the top five or ten individual fund-raisers in the organization.
3. Sell things on eBay. Ask friends family or people in your group to donate things to be used to sell on sites like eBay. They give them to the charity, you sell the item and all proceeds go to charity. Well I could give a few examples of this. But my favorite is after my dad retired, he would take boats that people were just letting sit in the back yard. He would offer to tow them away for free. When he got them home he would take all parts off he knew he could sell and then junk the shell of the boat and sell all the parts.
4. Start a service of finding things needed for a charity that matters to you. I’m sure you’ve noticed people collect all kinds of things to donate. Your old cell phone, your old suitcases. They gather these things for a charity that needs them.
I hope these ideas get you to thinking. That is the purpose of this week’s blogs: to help you find ideas. So how did you do yesterday on the vacation? What are you going to do today for raising money? Come back tomorrow for ideas how to start a business with no money.
I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time for you to live the life you always wanted, love what you do and those you share life with, and let us help you become the RockStar in your world.
