Fundraising Ideas for Troops - Easy

[ItsBrian]

Nobody's posted here for a little so...

 

My troop has about 5 fundraisers a year. We are only a small group of 12, with 4 adult leaders.

 

We have fundraisers that sound difficult but are extremely simple.

 

We do two clothing drives, two craft shows/flea markets, and an easter bunny breakfast.

 

The clothing drives are extremely simple to do. You schedule a meeting with a company who pays per pound of clothes. My Troop has made 1000+ from it once. It depends on how many donate, so advertise well. Invest in yard signs, papers in public business, etc. You unload their car, give them a tax receipt, and they're on their way. It is extremely easy, especially for a small troop.

 

Flea Markets... not completely easy, but as long as you have a team of people with experience in fundraising. If you do have one, do not call it a flea market, call it like "Holiday Bazaar", "Craft Show / Flea Market", something to appeal to others. Flea Market means to some people garage sale junk. 

 

Breakfasts are really simple, have three-four parents in the kitchen (use your charters space if possible) and then buy in bulk pancake mix (you can make waffles with it too) and have scouts wait around the tables. Buffet style can cost you more money, offer two pancakes or one waffle, drink, and a piece of sausage.

 

If you have any questions feel free to ask!

 

 

[qwazse]

@@ItsBrian, FYI, when I was a scout, we held pancake breakfasts, and the older scouts ran the kitchen, doing all the cooking. Parents kept scarce except for the charter org rep who made sure everything was working for us and the SM.

[ItsBrian]

@@ItsBrian, FYI, when I was a scout, we held pancake breakfasts, and the older scouts ran the kitchen, doing all the cooking. Parents kept scarce except for the charter org rep who made sure everything was working for us and the SM.

Yeah, that's what I mean by like a holiday-themed breakfast. Unfortunately, due to health codes in my town, the adults are required to do the cooking. I actually like when the parents get involved, to provide more support. I usually ask two-three parents to help, alongside the SM and two ASMs.

[jwest09]

My troop has stopped participating in door to door sales.  Instead, we'll do roughly four fundraisers a year.  The first is an annual spaghetti dinner.  A number of parents and "emeritus" parents put that on every year, as their way of giving back and supporting the troop, so I wouldn't count it as an "easy" fund raiser.

 

The PLC votes on remaining fund raisers each year, but the three we do pretty consistently are:

 

1. Helping with ticket and soft drink sales at the town's big summer festival.  Nets us several hundred dollars, which goes into the general fund.  No work for us other than to show up and follow directions from the event's staff.  Easy.

 

2. Dunk tank at end of school / beginning of summer block party.  Nets us a couple hundred dollars, which we use to subsidize summer camp activities. Only prep work is to rent the dunk tank and fill it up ahead of time.  Each patrol takes a time slot and amongst themselves handle deciding who's going to be getting dunked, collecting money, schlepping the tennis balls back and forth.  Doesn't make us a ton of money, but the kids have so much fun with it, we'd do it anyway.

 

3. Pie in the face toss at the school halloween carnival.  Traditionally a fund raiser by high adventure participants to subsidize their adventure.  Probably the most amount of work (need to prep an area to catch errant pie filling, purchase pie material, then clean up afterwards) - but its become another tradition that the boys look forward to.  And, since they're in charge of doing all the work, who am I to stop them? ;-)

[Stosh]

Raffle off a goat.

[jwest09]

Raffle off a goat.

 

Sounds tricky.  You need to acquire the goat, care and feed for the goat prior to said raffle, pickup and dispose of goat droppings...

 

Plus, I think the BSA has some rule about raffles.

[Stosh]

Sounds tricky.  You need to acquire the goat, care and feed for the goat prior to said raffle, pickup and dispose of goat droppings...

 

Plus, I think the BSA has some rule about raffles.

 

That's too bad.  When I suggested it to a group I was with, we raised well over $10,000.

[ItsBrian]

That's too bad.  When I suggested it to a group I was with, we raised well over $10,000.

Wait wait you actually raffled off a goat

[Stosh]

Of course we did.  That's why I suggested it.

[krikkitbot]

Of course we did.  That's why I suggested it.

 

We are going to need more than a one line answer to this. There's a story there and I'm sure we all want to read it. 

[ItsBrian]

We are going to need more than a one line answer to this. There's a story there and I'm sure we all want to read it.

 

You got that right.

[Stosh]

Ya gotta think outside the box. 

 

1) what's their reaction to the suggestion of buying a ticket

2) and what's your reaction.

 

  It's really not that difficult.

 

The key is really obvious, maybe too obvious to see.

Edited September 29, 2017 by Stosh

[SSScout]

Renting goats is very traditional.  Folks used to do this waaaay back before  power lawn mowers.  Fence in the cemetery and turn the sheep and goats loose.  A day or two later, close cropped grass !  Tether the beastie in your yard and move it around every day, trimmed grass.  But one must be careful of the ddesired flower beds, poor goat doesn't know the difference between weed and begonia....

[qwazse]

https://www.alleghenygoatscape.org/

 

Evidently, they do pretty well against invasive plants.

And some ne'r-do-well's have vandalized perimeter fences.

I don't think they were rustling .. just liked knotweed, I guess.

[Stosh]

Outside the box, people, outside the box......