Start early.
Be enthusiastic.
Raise money in honor or in memory of someone, and let people know
who you are raising money for and why. Share with your heart.
Contribute $20. (or more!) yourself.
Ask your employer to match the amount that you raise.
Ask everyone you know: friends, family, neighbors, co-workers,
church members, club members, etc.
Ask your Barber or Beautician, Dry Cleaner, Auto Repair person,
Florist or anyone else you do business with. Ask business owners
for larger donations. If you do business with them all year long,
they won't mind you asking them to help me, (It's a great cause,
and you only ask once a year).
As Relays grow, you might find that all your friends and family
are now walking with you. So here are some ideas on how to raise
money from different avenues. Try one, or a few, and see what
happens. Be creative.
GOOD LUCK!!!
(The entire team is involved and you split the profit with all that participated.) Some of the ideas below can be done as a team or on you own.
Car Washes
What you need: sponges, hoses, buckets, signs, a place to hold it (usually a business will donate their parking lot). You will also need a small amount of cash, to make change, if needed. You can charge what you want, but we have found that if you ask for donations, people usually give more than you would have asked.
Bake Sales
What you need: Baked goods, a small amount of cash for change, a table, and a place to hold it. At the car wash is a great place, while cars are being washed, bellies are being fed.
Sell Suns and Moons
What you need: SUNS and MOONS. You can get these from your Relay Committee. They are bar coded so grocery stores can sell them at the registers and you can go in and collect once a week or month, whatever you agree on. This one is really easy.Ugly Tie Contest or Dress Down Day at Work
Have fellow employees wear their ugliest tie. Charge each person who wears a tie $1.00. Give a prize to the ugliest tie. Charge fellow employees to dress down maybe every Friday.
Yard Sales
Your junk might be someone else's treasure. Gather things you don't use any more and have a huge team yard sale. Try to hold it on the Town Common. Use Relay banners and purple/white balloons.
Baseball Cap Day (at Schools)
Approach principals of schools and ask if one day a month students could pay to wear baseball caps in class. Caps are usually not allowed. All profits benefit Relay For Life
Cookout (at work)
What you need: Grills, food, a company to cook for, tickets or an RSVP list. Let everyone in this business know that on day, you will be cooking for lunch in the parking lot. Sell tickets and cook hot dogs, hamburgers, etc.
Holiday Card List
Write letters to family and friends (holiday card list), especially those out of town Write letters explaining what you are raising money for and why. Include a return by date and watch the money flow in. You might want to send letters to neighbors to, or just go knocking door to door.
Have your pet write a letter. Same as above, except from your pet.
Fall or Harvest Festival
Hold the festival yourself. This is a big undertaking. You would need to secure a place to hold it. You sell spaces, usually 10 X 10 feet to businesses to set up display. Hold it for a weekend. Charge for each space.
Another option is to rent a space at a fall fest already in place. You can set up a display for Relay For Life. You can collect donations, recruit teams, survivors, and especially volunteers.
Halloween Costume Party
This is a lot of fun. You will need: tickets, we sell them for $15.00 each or $25.00/couple, decorations, a place to hold it, a D.J., food for dinner, we cater ourselves to save money, you could sell ticket for less and only have snacks. Door prize gifts, raffle tickets; we have two 50/50 raffles during the night, and pad and pen so people can sign up to be on team, committee or volunteer.
Award prizes to the best costume, most original, funniest and scariest. Have fun and be creative.
Sporting Events
You can organize softball, basketball, tennis, golf, etc, tournaments. Charge each team an entry fee and organize the fields or courts to play on. Know how many teams or players you need to bring in a profit. That's what it is all about. You might want to present trophies to the top players or teams.
A Taste Of (city or town)
Organize a taste of your town. Secure a place to hold event and approach businesses to participate for a fee. Be sure again, to be aware of your cost, to be sure this is a lucrative event.
Holiday Ornament Sales
Create an ornament for the holidays and sell them. They can be sold anywhere.
Can/Bottle Drive
Hold a can/bottle drive once a month. Check with local stores to see if they will let you use a parking lot. Then you do not have to cart the bottles anywhere but inside. Otherwise, be sure you have pick up trucks available to transport cans/bottles to a return store.
Donation Jar at Work
Put up a jar on your desk or in the reception area with a sign on it explaining what you are raising money for. If you don't work where there is any foot traffic ask your spouse or friend to take a jar in for you.
You could also go to your local corner variety store and ask them to allow you to put a jar on their counter. Let them know you'll be by once a week to empty it.
Your Favorite Restaurants
Ask your favorite restaurant to donate a portion of proceeds on any specific night. Some Friendly's and Papa Gino's do local fundraising for organizations. You need to call, in advance, so that you can spread the word. You want your friends and family to attend on your fundraising night. You might want to advertise on a local radio station, they will usually run free ads when they can for the American Cancer Society.
Restaurant Gift Certificate or Raffle
Ask a local restaurant to hold a raffle once a month for a free dinner, or gift certificate. They sell the chances and hold the drawing, you collect the profit.
Butcher shop Gift Certificate or Raffle
Same as above, except at your local butcher shop. They could raffle off a gift certificate or steaks, burgers, whatever they want. See if these raffles can be held monthly or ever other month. Suggest paying them out of the profits for their cost, usually they will tell you to keep all the money.
Satellite Dish Raffle
Same as above, except with a satellite dish company. This one will probably only be done once. Too expensive to do monthly.