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The most important rule in planning a youth fundraiser is to make sure that everybody has fun!

These ideas will work well for a youth group, a church young people’s group, non-profit group or a youth sports (e.g. football, baseball) group.

Here are seven ideas to get your fundraising started:-

Sales -if you type in “youth fundraiser” on any search engine you’ll find offers to sell cookie dough, pizza cards, scratch cards, candles, sports goods and plenty more. Depending on the age of the children and the type of group, the locality, consider which of these are likely to be well received in your area. Using existing contacts with family, neighbours and friends alone can be quite profitable.

Car wash – this can be a profitable way to raise funds. It will need good planning. A great free guide to organising a successful car wash event is available from www.carwashguys.com, called “How to run a successful car wash fundraiser” and is written by Lance Winslow.

Fundraising auction – clear out the garage, spring clean the house, ask for donations – and then auction!. Publicise your auction well in advance around the neighbourhood, invite friends and family, have a printed list of auction items and get someone you trust to run the actual auction itself for you.

Sponsored event – such as a walk, sleepover, or 24 hour sports event – your young people will have their own ideas as to what they’d like to do!

Photos – arrange for a photographer to come for a day or evening. Book a time slot for families, children, publicise the event. Arrange a good level of commission on all photographs purchased and ensure plenty of flyers are available to distribute.
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Have you been given the job of organising a fundraising event and are stuck for ideas? Here’s seven great and simple ideas that you can organise:-

Cookie Dough fundraisers

This is an ideal fundraiser for all times of the year. Just take orders and sell tubs of delicious cookie dough to your group. Profit margins 30-50%.

Fundraising Cookbooks

Often described as a recipe for fundraising success (groan!) – creating a personalized cookbook is ideal for groups such as churches, schools, charities and hospitals. New publishing techniques make it easy to profit from selling just a few or even hundreds of cookbooks. Profit per book from $3-$10.

Pizza Fundraiser cards

People will be happy to pay for these cards which entitle them to free pizzas. If your group is spread out geographically, this may be ideal. Ideal for small groups due to small minimum order requirements. Profit margins 70-90%.

Scratch card fundraising

Easy to order and can be printed to link to your group e.g. basketball, baseball, high school, etc. Each person in your group begins fundraising with 1 scratch card. They simply approach friends, family, and neighbors and ask them to scratch too! Profit ranges from 90% upwards.

Fundraiser candles

Everyone loves candles and especially scented candles! Simply take orders from friends and families – these items are especially good for Christmas fundraising. Profit margin 50%

Candy fundraising

Ideal for easter or summer fundraising events – sales of candy can be profitable. You can sell the chocolate at school, pep rallies, sports events, businesses or just person to person. Profit margin 50-60%.
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1- Have a written project plan
Run your fundraiser like a small business. Have a written project plan that spells out all roles and responsibilities.
Slot motivated individuals into those roles and equip them with everything they need to do a great job.

2- Use your website
If you don’t have one, get one. Use it to communicate goals, thank your sponsors, highlight periodic offerings, recognize successes, honor individual contributors, etc. Promote your web site on all your materials.

3- Review previous records
See what’s been successful before. Look for ways to improve upon the past.
What items sold best? Get more of them.
Has your gift-wrap sale lost its luster with declining revenues?
Jazz it up with newer offerings.

4- Set a specific timeline
Make sure that your start date and end date are both firm.
The best selling period is 17 days, including 3 weekends.
Any longer and the drive runs out of gas; any shorter and you limit your prospects.
Avoid any scheduling conflicts.
Plan ahead to avoid overlapping other important community events, holidays, etc.
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These three fundraising events work well for any size group. To maximize your success, you must create awareness within the community of both the specifics of your fundraising event and the reason why your group is raising funds.

Both are important to any fundraiser, but they are absolutely critical for pulling off a successful event. You have to generate enough publicity to draw a sizable audience and you must motivate the attendees to support your program.

So, which fundraising events shall we talk about?

Three Event Ideas:

1- Get The Picture
2- Rubber Duck Derby
3- Clean Comedians

#1 – Get The Picture
Get The Picture is a name I coined for portrait event fundraisers. The idea here is to offer family portraits, glamour shots, vintage photos, and other “dressy” pictures.

You’ll need a central location with plenty of room for costume changes, picture-taking backdrops, and a waiting area. The best times are usually Saturdays. Pre-sell the event with flyers and reserved session” tickets.

You’ll want to get photo commitments up front from 250 people to make this worth your while.

Your sales pitch should “Focus on the Fun:”
Capture The Moment (before it slips away)
Dress up Picture Party (be there or be square)
Goofy Faces Wanted! (yours included)

Or tug at the heart:
When’s the last time you sent a family photo Christmas card?
They’re not getting any younger… Get a portrait!
Mother/daughter, Father/son – Pictures last a lifetime!

Your group can coordinate with a local photographer or partner with a national photography chain. One that I recommend is Vista Studios. They offer a 10×13 family portrait for $8 and your group gets paid $6, plus additional performance bonuses.

#2 – Rubber Duck Derby
The Rubber Duck Derby is an easy and fun fund-raising event that can be scaled in size to fit your group’s supporter base. The actual event, crazy as it may sound, involves racing rubber ducks down a local waterway.

Your local community “adopts” the ducks for a chance to win valuable donated prizes. Duck races have become a unique and profitable event for many charities.

Your group sells a ticket linked to a number that’s painted on one of the racing rubber ducks. Depending on the prizes involved, tickets are priced somewhere between $5-$10 a ticket.

A standard size for a race is 3,000 rubber ducks, but you can adjust that up or down depending on the size of your group and the amount you need to raise.
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