Need New Fundraising Ideas!

[waialua359]

We do only 10% personal fundraising per year. We try and stay from that but do some to show our students the importance of the other types of fundraising. They hate it, but its a necessary task to allow them to realize just how difficult it is. Examples: chili, candy, and bake sales.

Our breakdown is as follows:
40% grants
10 % personal fundraising
50% donors, community events, partnerships, and unexpected support

We raised about 100k/year since 2005.

We spent quite a bit on our shop tools, equipment and machining the past several years. With most of it bought, more of the funding have been spent attending more regionals and building up an endowment/scholarship fund.

Our biggest event this past week was having a 400-500 person Robotics fundraiser event that included a program by our team (video, robot demonstration, and student testimonies on the impact of FIRST), 2 live bands, a hula show, a silent auction, buffet, and wine station for the adults.
All of this was held at one of our main sponsors facilities: Dole Plantation.
They rented chairs, tables, table cloths-had centerpieces, favors, etc. for decorations. Our students setup everything, serve the food, put on the program, and then clean up. Tickets sold for $35/person and for corporate tables of 10, we sold them for $750.00.
Planning an event like this takes a lot of work, but is much much easier than nickel/diming to raise funds. I would avoid this as much as possible. Selling something to a stranger isn't as satifying as raising funds/giving back to the community at the same time.

We are more than willing to share our fundraising/business/entrepreneurship plans.