In DESPERATE need of Fundraising ideas!

[BabyBlueVegas]

Okay, so I go to a VERY small private school in the North Georgia mountains and I've been appointed Fundraising chair. My sorority only has 6 on-campus members and our school itself has under 600 kids. What kind of fundraisers are VERY cheap and easy to do with what little resources we have?

[Kevin]

Bake sales.

Car washes.

[AGDLynn]

One year, they sold pinwheels to be put on the front lawn of the courthouse.Very cute!!

[cutie_cat_4ever]

I saw this one chapter that did hand dipped chocolate strawberries and other items and it was a huge sale it went out fast!

[honeychile]

1. NEVER cannabalize your membership! Don't plan to sell something that only members of your sorority would be interested in.

2. If you spend $5 to make cookies, plan on making AT LEAST $7.50. Even better is 100% profit. If you find that unethical, most department stores charge over 200% profit.

3. Try something that you can go to each dorm, sorority/fraternity house to sell, is cheap, and will be wanted. Good things include chocolate bars, half-dozen or a dozen cookies, etc.

4. If your school allows you to set up a table or stand, do so! You'll get everyone on campus that way. Dress nicely!!

5. ADVERTISE! "Bake Sale - January 1st - Student Union Lower Lobby - 8a-6p - benefits (charity) - Held by XYZ Sorority", on posters & in the Student Newspaper.

6. With enough advertising, fresh doughnuts in the morning work VERY well! This can also be done with order forms.

7. Decide how much you plan to make prior to event, and don't stop until you've made AT LEAST that much!

8. You only have six members, you cannot afford to burn out!

9. Plan to hold one of these events a month so people get used to them.

10. There are a lot of ideas for Valentine's Day - sending lollipop messages, rose messages, etc. They're very successful, but very time consuming. If you can use some of your younger (biological) sisters to help, do so!

11. Good luck! Feel free to PM me if you feel the need!

[navane]

Our alumnae association did a candy fundraiser with See's Candies. With only a few of us participating (maybe 9 people?) we sold $1800 worth of candy and, as a result, took home $900.

We did the holiday programs fundraiser for Christmas - they also do Valentine's Day and Easter. I think that the Christmas one would be most lucrative as people loved to buy the items for stocking stuffers or for simple gifts for neighbors, their babysitter and so on.

The holiday items were an easy sell, I simply posted the display sheet on the bulletin board at work. At $5 each for a quality brand name product, the items sold themselves. We didn't have to purchase the candy in advance. We actually took the pre-orders, collected the totals and ordered the number of cases we needed.

There are also boxed candy, candybar and lollypop options. I don't *think* you have to be near one of their locations; but, I did notice that there were a few in Georgia.

Here is the link to their website! http://fr.sees.com/frhome.cfm

.....Kelly

[Still BLUTANG]

50/50 raffle
you sell tickets for $1 each (or whatever), the winner from the drawing wins half the money raised. Depending on how many tickets you sell, the Sorority could raise $20 or $200. Quick and easy!

Love-grams for Valentines day
take orders in advance, on V-day deliver a card & candy or card & single rose to each person's dorm room. A lot of times people will order these not only for their SO, but for friends. you can make a decent amount of $$ as long as you buy the cards and candy in bulk AND charge a fair price. No one will pay $10 for this, i think 3 or 5 max.

[amanda6035]

I think read on another thready that you went to Young Harris, right? I spent many days at YH when my friend was an undergrad there (she's a sigma beta sigma).

At any rate - here's a thought - I just checked the chick-fil-a website, and saw that the closest chick-fil-a is in Dahlonega. What about doing a early morning biscuit run, and selling them one morning in a heavily trafficked area? The only problem with this would be that you'd have to pay the money up front, and it could get expensive. When I was in high school, the football team would buy chicken biscuits on friday mornings and sell them outside the cafeteria for a little bit more expensive than what they wouls pay for them. If you buy enough (say, 100 of them) the store might even cut you a price break.

If paying up front is not an option, perhaps you could do a reservation sign up. I dont know how well this would work on your campus, but maybe Monday-Thursday, students could pay you guys for the biscuits, and Friday morning they could come pick them up from you (providing proof of purchase - maybe with a raffel ticket or a check off list).

Yeah, I know, it's probably too complicated. I just know I'm a chick-fil-a biscuit nut, and the closest one being 30 miles away - sounds like something students might be interested in, since they cant get them on a regular basis.

carnation sale for valentines day, maybe? In high school we would do a sign up sheet, buy however many carnations we wanted to buy, and which colors, we'd write a note to the recipient and they would be delivered to that person in one of their classes.

[xi_pinkrose]

Bouncing off what Amanda said I know an org on my campus did a breakfast in bed thing.

What is even better is sending order forms home to the freshman parents. Breakfast in bed during midterms.

I read on some board somewhere that a group did a pancake breakfast at midnight. My chapter is going to try that this semester.

[LightBulb]

Originally Posted by honeychile

1. NEVER cannabalize your membership!

But they're so tasty!

[Drolefille]

EVEN HER USER NAME IS SHOUTING AT US

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Still BLUTANG

50/50 raffle
you sell tickets for $1 each (or whatever), the winner from the drawing wins half the money raised. Depending on how many tickets you sell, the Sorority could raise $20 or $200. Quick and easy!

Love-grams for Valentines day
take orders in advance, on V-day deliver a card & candy or card & single rose to each person's dorm room. A lot of times people will order these not only for their SO, but for friends. you can make a decent amount of $$ as long as you buy the cards and candy in bulk AND charge a fair price. No one will pay $10 for this, i think 3 or 5 max.

In some states, you can go to jail for holding an illegal lottery (at least, that's the case in Oklahoma).

That's not legal advice, that's just the word on the street.

[LightBulb]

Originally Posted by Kevin

In some states, you can go to jail for holding an illegal lottery (at least, that's the case in Oklahoma).

That's not legal advice, that's just the word on the street.

I hear that if you sell them something (e.g. a piece of candy) and they also get a raffle ticket, it's fine. They got something for their money - who's to say they wouldn't have paid $1 for a dum dum?

[Drolefille]

My high school did that. Sold 25 dollar calendars... and a complementary raffle ticket