Non-selling fundraisers

[dewASM]

In another thread, someone suggested to a writer that not all your fundraisers should involve selling things. I agree!

 

As a new Scoutmaster, approaching my first year of fundraising, I wondered what was your most successful non-selling fundraiser?

Any unique ideas?

 

thanks

dew

[Eagle92]

My old troop cleaned up a parish (county) fair. The youth did the actual cleaning and that money went to our accounts. However the parents did sell hot dogs and tea.

 

While "sales" were involved, a troop I heard about "sold" snow insurance, i.e. if it snowed the scouts would clear out your driveway. Not much snow in SE Louisiana.

[Lisabob]

The old stand-by, car washes, work pretty well. My son's troop also does clean-up at several community events (the chamber of commerce absolutely loves us). There's a local recycling center that allows the boys a take of the gate fee and all the returnable bottles and cans, if the boys will staff the center for a weekend and help people unload their junk. I like all of these because they are activities that the kids can actually do without soliciting family, friends, and neighbors.

 

One year the troop did a jeopardy game where you had to pay to get a seat at the table. This one I disliked - it was time consuming to put together and expensive to enter. Same with road rallies, not my thing. But neither were really "selling" tangible things, and the troop did raise a lot of money.

 

 

[mikecummings157]

Our most successful fundraiser is collectiong redeemable bottles & cans. There is a 5 cent deposit in New York. We leave flyers in the target neighborhoods several days ahead of time and go through door to door on a Saturday and collect.

[boomerscout]

car wash works better if you combine it with a bake sale. keep the baked goods well away from the hoses in case (I mean when) the water fight starts. Bake sale portion does better if you can also offer cold soda pop, iced tea, water or even hot coffee.

Has anyone made money with a free car wash?

[scoutldr]

Our neighborhoods have "community yard sales" 3-4 times per year. The yard sales are at individual houses, it's just that everyone does it on the same Saturday. Lots of traffic from throughout the city. Our scouts would set up a hot dog/soda/bottled water concession at someone's house (usually one of the scout parents who was also having a yard sale). We made more money from hot dogs than the parent did from the yard sale. Had to make several trips to the grocery store to re-stock. We'd fire up the grill at 8 am and people would start lining up. Amazing.

 

This is technically "selling", but in my experience, people will plunk down $1-2 all day long, but will balk at a $50 tin of popcorn.

[dg98adams]

We do well at:

 

Car & Dog washes (usually fund for Eagle Projects)

 

Santa Breakfast (pancake breakfast in December)

 

Working booths at local Ice Cream Festival (simple games for tickts - the tickets represent a token $ amt, which the Troop gets a cut of)

 

Hotdog/bake goods sale at local Memorial day Parade or during the Car & Dog washes.

 

I think the biggest $ maker is the Troop Rummage Sale.

 

And of course popcorn......

 

What does NOT work for us:

 

Any type of coupon book

 

Restaurant night fundraisers (10% from Smokey Joes Ribs)

 

Some Scouts do ok with boxes of candy bars (slow return)

 

Christmas/Holiday wreath sales (only work for Scouts that hustle)

 

Council Spring Sale (choc. rabbits/flowers)

 

[moxieman]

Many units up this way do the bottle/can collection thing as Maine has a bottle deposit law.

 

One unit has an "In" with one of the forest management companies up here. In the fall the unit buys several 50lb bags of black oil sunflower seeds.

 

They then go to a particular location in the managed forest area--where-ever the management company's forester directs them.

 

They collect all the green, closed pine cones that the local red squirrels have harvested from the Norway pines in that assigned area. They leave behind the sunflower seeds where ever they gather the pine cones so the squirrels don't starve over the winter.

 

They have to fill burlap bags no more than half full. The gathered bags of cones are then trucked to a large shed, hung-up and dried, triggering the cones to release their seeds, which the company will use to reseed whatever part of the forest they "harvest" for timber next. The forest management company pays them for the gathered pine cones (and the seeds within) based on weight.

 

I participated one year with that unit and we made just over $400 after the expense of the sunflower seeds. I don't remember how much we gathered with three leaders and six scouts in three hours, but we filled the back of a couple of pickup trucks.

 

[moxieman]

Another non-sale fundraiser up here is holiday gift wrapping. Several units will get permission from the Big Box Stores or the Mall in Portland to set-up a gift-wrapping service in the entry area.

 

They then offer to wrap customers gifts on a donation basis-pay what you think the gift wrap job is worth.

 

Back in my Scoutmaster days, we raised $600 over a Friday evening/all-day-Saturday weekend doing this one year. I think only two people stiffed the scouts. We held ours the weekend prior to Christmas.

 

Best part was we got all the gift wrap, tape, and boxes donated in advance, so there was no expense. For gift tags, we recycled previous years gift cards.

 

The key is to practice gift wrapping in advance with your scouts. Use empty boxes and newspaper for practice. Oh, and find a store that will let you do this in their entry/lobby.

[moxieman]

Final one...no, honest. This one takes a lot of coordination/planning.

 

A couple of years ago my brother's troop held a car smash during their town's 4th of July event.

 

As I said, this one takes a lot of planning:

 

Obviously, you need a vehicle to smash. In my brother's troop case, he donated his 7,000lb 1978 Buick Electra that would no longer pass inspection. The scouts painted it up for the event: SMASH ME-SEND A SCOUT TO CAMP!

 

You need a hold-harmless contract that every participant must sign before they are allowed into the smash area. Basically a contract that states in lawyerese that the participant is participating of their own free will, is taking self-responsibility and understands that if they are injured, they can't sue anyone--not the town, the sponsoring business, nor the scouts--bro's troop had a youth, who's dad was a lawyer--so they got this done-up for free.

 

Car must be prepped--remove the engine, gas tank and anything else that could leak liquids (radiator, etc.). Leave the windows/headlights in place.

 

You need a business willing to let you do this on their level lot--they got the local car parts franchise to host them. The franchise was so enthusiastic that they prepped the car for free.

 

You might need a liability insurance policy depending on what the business' lawyers say. This killed this fundraiser for my brother after the first year as they couldn't find a reasonably priced policy (or a donation) at the last minute the second year they had planned to do it. The business' policies changed and required the insurance policy despite the hold-harmless contract mentioned above. The best "deal" they could find last minute for a one day policy would have cost $700.

 

You need a way to get the car to the smash site and a way to haul it off--they got the services of a local flatbed wrecker at discount. The wrecker hauled it to the site and away in exchange for the scrap metal value of vehicle.

 

You need to rope off the area and put up warning signs of the potential for flying debris hazard.

 

You need safety equipment for participants and spotters: goggles, work gloves, and good foot wear--no sandals.

 

You need implements of destruction: baseball bats, sledge hammers, large rocks, hammers, pick-axe, old golf clubs, you name it. Bro's troop had all this and a 2 ft section if steel I-beam.

 

You also need push brooms/dustpans to clean-up the resulting debris.

 

A PA system can be handy to attract attention. Be sure to thank your sponsors.

 

The charge to trash the car: $5 for a window, 3 hits for $5 or 15 for $20. Later in the day as the car starts to become a bit more compact, offer better deals like $5 for five minutes.

 

Someone in his troop set-up a digital camera and printer and for $2 to $3, he'd capture you on camera trashing the car and would print it out on the spot for you.

 

The results of the fundraiser: $700 to send scouts to camp.

 

Oh, and bro's Buick was a bit smaller:

http://troop433.net/images/Electra_Buick.jpg

 

[SSScout]

Ah, memories...

 

Did the car bash thing back in high school. But we did it in the school parking lot at the Fall Fair. Prepping the car was easy: my dad knew a junk yard that donated the '53 Chevy. Local garage towed it to our back yard where my buds and I took out the windshield, rear window (sold them back to the junk yard), broke out the windows, rolled the debris back into the doors, took out the battery, drained and removed the gas tank, removed the carburator and starter and generator (sold them back to the junkyard),removed the headlights and taillights. Garage friend towed it to the school and we put it up on blocks to keep it steady.

Painted stuff on it. we had one 12 lb sledge and a smaller hammer. Folks wore gloves or not, as they thought. We charged 25cents for one hit with the small hammer and 50 cents for a shot with the sledge. For a buck, you could paint something on the fender and then hit it.Made a bucket of money that day.

 

Other ideas I have seen or heard of: One local Troop works at the County Fair, parking cars, running errands, hauling garbage. This is their main fund raiser. RentaScout: one or two saturdays in the fall, line up households for leave raking, trash hauling, yard work, porch painting, etc.

Earn the Dramatics MB: Organize and put on a show or play.

 

Good luck.

[evmori]

Check your local McDonald's. They offer fundraising!(This message has been edited by evmori)

[AnniePoo]

We did our first annual pack rummage sale this spring. Parents, friends, and the community donated items to sell. Net was over $300. We'll tweak it a little next year, including selling food, and expect to make more.

[SMT224]

Has anyone ever given something of value away, and then requested donations?

 

We are thinking of having a table at an upcoming community fair, with plenty of info on the Troop and how kids can join Scouting, and are considering giving away small bottles of water. Next to the water could be a can or box with a sign that says something like: "Donations are Appreciated"

 

Not selling anything, but do you think we'd get enough $$ to cover the cost of the water and add a bit to the Treasurer?

[ntrog8r]

Our troops have:

1. Run a carnival section for kids at the local OktoberFest

2. Erected and taken down tarps for city activities in the park

3. Provided clean-up services after city events

4. Vied for cash prizes in parades (best float, etc)

5. Just asked local businesses

6. Asked national chain stores (there is usually a "procedure" for doing this - just ask the local manager)