If your team is short on money read this

FIRST General Forum
1

Here are a FEW fundraising ideas
Individual Sales
Edibles: candy bars, popcorn, pizzas, subs, turkeys, smoked ham, …
Household items: light bulbs, dish cloths, fire extinguishers,
knives, First Aid kits,
flags, …
Seasonal items: Christmas wreaths & trees, mistletoe, Easter lilies,
cards, …
Discount items: coupon books, gift certificates, grocery store
script …
Garden/Lawn supplies: mulch, fertilizer, flowers, plants, seeds …
Unit Specials: cookbook, anniversary patch, …
Advance Tickets: car wash, dinner, anything
Unique: Halloween Insurance - clean up toilet paper, eggs, etc.

Group Sales
Team made items, accompanying instructions, …
Garage sale, rummage sale, …
Craft sale, bake sale, candy sale, …
Sales of seconds: T-shirts, sweaters, …

Services
Food tasting group for hire
Car wash, Airplane wash, Window washing, …
Clean up activities (e.g., store parking lot, athletic events)
Distribute neighborhood fliers for city or paper
State/County fair parking
For donations/tips: bag groceries, carry items, …
Free coffee/drinks (for donation) at highway rest stop
Gift wrapping at Christmas (some stores offer this to groups)
Organize a large sale and rent space
Rent out tents or other equipment
Rent-a-FIRSTER: cut grass, rake leaves, shovel snow, clean-up, …
Harvesting: pine cones, black walnuts, elk horns, mistletoe, …
Rope splicing and frapping for marinas
Tree and flower planting

Distribution Promotion
Distribute coupons and get percentage of sales for
Pizzas, groceries, burgers, …
Christmas trees, …

Food Services
Pancake breakfast, spaghetti dinner, chili, tacos, cat fish, corn on
the cob, barbecue, …
Specialty meals: wild-game dinner, prime rib, …
Banquet with entertainment
Take out: Spaghetti dinner to go
Catering lunches for events
State/County fair booth

Event Services
Concession stand
Drink stand: coffee, lemonade, soda, …

Public Services
Plant trees
Paint house numbers on curbs
Post flags for people on holidays

Pledge Drive
Bike-, run-, walk-, rock-a-thon, …
Public service project for school, community, …

Grants and Donations
Gambling organizations
Charitable groups: VFW, American Legion, …
Matching donations (e.g., Wal-Mart)
Corporations (check with Scout office first)

Entertainment
Car smash (item smash fee)
Dunking tank (pay per throw)
Pie throwing (pay per throw)
Robotics exhibit (per-person fee)
Movie/Game night (per-person fee)

Special Events
Boat ride, Hay ride, …
Chariot race
Dance, play, magician, …
Sport tournament (golf, baseball, …)
Games of skill (bowling, shooting, ring toss, …)
Auction (cakes, art, services, travel, sports events, Scout made
items,
time with an expert/celebrity/official/…)

Recycling
Cans, paper, printer cartridges, …
Collection of bottles, cans, etc. with deposit on them

2

WHOA! That’s a lot of ideas. Might I add one or two? What about taking groceries to cars for people and pooling tips or a meals on wheels kinda deal. just thought I’d add those.

3

another great way to get funding is through grants. FIRST is such a great program that if you can find foundations in your area, you have a good chance of receiving a good sum of money (anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000+, depending on the grant and the foundation) if you put a few hours into typing up a proposal. a good place to start is asking your school for any grant opportunities they know of, or go tothe foundation center . Even if the foundations you come up with don’t seem to be a good fit for your team, they can often point you towards other foundations that may be focused at giving funds to these sorts of activites. Speaking from experience, it often helps if students write the grants, instead of the advisor… the foundations i applied to were very supportive and expressed their excitement to see students so involved with an activity that they actually went through the trouble of writing up a grant. Good luck!

4

Another fundraising event which I actually enjoyed was this past October. A local teacher in partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and a local amusement park put on a haunted house at the park. What better way to raise funds for some good causes. About 75% of the students on my team were actors/volunteers at the haunted graveyard. Along with the opportunity to scare the living daylights out of customers we also got a donation from the event to our team, as well as passes to the park and t-shirts and various other perks. I loved this oppurtunity mostly cause my B-day is the day before Halloween and it’s my favorite holiday.

Visit the haunted graveyard online at, Haunted Graveyard

5

We had a lot of success with this one:

Lollipops.

We sold them everywhere. If you have actual high-school students in your school, they’ll pay good for a big sphere of sugar. I know my school did…

6

Umm…
Wal-Mart doesn’t give any money so you can scratch that off your list. I work there and unless your a NON-PROFIT organization and you have the papers to prove it you will not be receiving any of Sam Walton’s money

7

*Originally posted by Elgin Clock *
**as well as passes to the park and t-shirts and various other perks. I loved this oppurtunity mostly cause my B-day is the day before Halloween and it’s my favorite holiday.
**

Free rides on Boulder Dash???

Man, I wish we had a decent amusement park around here :confused:

If you all do this again next year - be sure to let me know. I’ll make it a priority to stop up there and visit you, and Boulder Dash :slight_smile:

8

Being a school sponsored team and all makes it real easy for any team to claim non-profit status, I know my team did and we are getting matchign funds from Walmart for a carwash we did there over the summer :slight_smile:

9

It isn’t really easy at all claiming non-profit status from a school especially if your school has a cafeteria which makes a profit for the school therefore making the school a profit. We have run into this problem and think we have found a solution only time will tell if it works.

10

Our team also did a car wash fundraiser. We got a local McDonald’s to supply the water, soap, and even some food, and all we needed was people. We charged $6 for a car and $8 for vans (I think…). We had people getting us noticed with signs, and MOE shirts are quite visible. Also, we sold tickets in advance, to assure at least some business, as well as word of mouth from the consumers. It worked out really well, and it was all pure profit :slight_smile:

11

*Originally posted by Todd Derbyshire *
**It isn’t really easy at all claiming non-profit status from a school especially if your school has a cafeteria which makes a profit for the school therefore making the school a profit. We have run into this problem and think we have found a solution only time will tell if it works. **

Actually, you’d still be a nonprofit. I assume when Walmart refers to nonprofit they mean an organization with 501(c)3 status (I got the number right, no?). That is determined by the IRS. You can sell things at a profit and maintain 501(c)3 status. A nonprofit organization is one that provides a service to the community without the intention of making an overall profit (as in one that would go to the owners or stockholders; they don’t exist). There are very few schools that qualify as nonprofit (and I don’t know of any school cafeteria that makes money). I can tell you for a fact that RIT is a nonprofit organization eventhough they bring in lots of money by charging for things. Interestingly enough, Blue Cross & Blue Shield is nonprofit. Claiming that you’re a nonprofit isn’t too difficult if you’re part of a school. :slight_smile:

Matt