Please check out Safety Wise before using ANY fundraising idea and get your Council approval. Be particularly sensitive to the “black-out” times of fundraising, such as during United Way campaigns.

Ideas I have uncovered through experience or research:

Babysitting Evening - babysit children in a church or large facility for 4 hours, planned activities, and promote as great time for parents to have some holiday shopping time ALONE!	Babysitting during Sunday Morning Church Services	Babysitting during PTA meetings, Open House, Meet the Teacher Night
Garage Sale	Recycling - cans, newspapers, etc	Work Day - girls are hired out for a day/hourly fee (i.e. rake leaves)
Concession Stand - purchase products at Sams and get in a high visibility, high traffic, high demand spot. Perhaps at major event!	Gift wrapping - particularly great around the holidays	Dinner - prepare and serve a meal for a group
Raffel - could be a quilt, a special item like jewelry, day of beauty	Pancake Breakfast - some companies will offer the equipment for free; others will give you the product necessary to make the pancakes. Hold first day of hunting season or cold winter day!	Valentine Flowers to Go - Sell 6 wrapped carnations placed atop a box of candy
Secret Balloon Sale - Put not of winnings inside each balloon. Participant pays for a try at “the big prize”.	Letter from Santa - write letters from Santa to children of parents who give their name, including a special something in each one about that child’s wishes	Breakfast with Santa - pancake breakfast for the children to see and eat with Santa
Bingo Night	Cookbooks to make and sell	Carwash
Bake Sale	Craft Sale	Calendar Sales
Cookie Sales - Would take 13,333 boxes to get the amount of money we need at $.30/box ! That’s 2,222 boxes per girl in the troop or 185+ cases per girl!	Church Craft Fair with Lunch Counter - Sell table space for vendors to sell their goods and provide a lunch/snack area so shoppers don’t have to leave to get nourishment. Sell excess food in large containers	Dessert Buffet - offer at flat fee price and wide variety of desserts. Emphasize quality and quantity!
Take Home Meals - orders placed and customers pick up their dinners on the way home from work. Stay with an entree, bread, and dessert.	Refreshment Stand at Estate Sale, 4th of July Parade, Canoe Race, 3 mile run -- anywhere there’s a crowd!	Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Social
Homemade Candy Sale	Dinner Theatre - provide simple dinner and play for entertainment	Old-Fashioned BBQ - we’re known for this in the Kansas City area!
Care Packages sent to College Students as ordered by Parents during finals	Wild Game Supper	Thirst Quencher - sell cold drinks of all kinds
Picnic Basket Auction - put together the coolest looking picnic baskets and auction off to highest bidder	Cake Walk - Auction off cakes.	Reception/Luncheon to Meet Visiting Artist
Gourmet Cooking School	From Your Kitchen - special things made in your kitchen and packaged to sell	Regional Meals - Cultural diversity at the dinner table
Submarine Sandwich Sale	Strawberry Festival	Silent Auction
Sealed Bids Sale	Live Auction	Singing Telegrams - hopefully with someone who has a great voice!
Sports Clinics	Plant Care Service	Children’s Christmas Shopping
Children’s Movies shown in the morning at a neighborhood theatre with movie profits going to organization and snack bar proceeds going to theatre.	Book Fair	Import a Star Program - Bring a star in and market!
Haunted House

Date: Wed, 1 May 2002 14:53:19 -0400
From: "Meredith, Rachel, , WHS-REF" <RMeredith@REF.WHS.MIL>
Subject: fundraising ideas

Hello all, Here is a compilation of all the fundraising ideas sent to me. I
simply copied and pasted so I don't mean to not give credit where credit is
due. Thank you all for your ideas.

Rachel Meredith
Stafford, VA



> With cookies mostly being over (I think?) does anyone have any success
> stories with Older Girls doing well at selling cookies, nuts, etc? I
> am looking for bragging, gloating, out and out flaunting. In addition
> to totals, I am looking for techniques, good types of locations, etc.
> Was there something the girls did differently? How much of the troop
> success is girl directed? Thanks.
> Margaret

I don't have an 'older girl troop' (yet), but I do have a 13 year old girl
in my troop. This was her first year in scouts. I don't push cookie sales.
I know kids are asked to do fund raising for all sorts of things, and
frankly I get sick of it. BUT I have always thought that Girl Scouts using
fund raising in an educational way and it is the only fundraiser that my
kids do.

So not being a 'pushy' leader, I had no idea how the new girls would do this
year with cookies. This 13 year old girl did great (in my opinion). She
figured out that there was the 'pocket order form' at the bottom of the
bigger form (I had forgotten to mention it). She took that off, and then
got another form and she used a separate form for each venue (church, dad's
work, family, other). By not having everyone sign on the same form she
would leave the forms at different places for a period of time, also, by not
having a long list of people on the form people were more apt to order from
her to 'help her out'.

The day the forms were do, this girl was almost in tears because one of her
forms were missing! I told her that she did wonderful! Even without the
missing form and that I was so proud of her. Well the next day the phone
rang and the form had been found! (It was at her church). She was got it to
me and all of her orders were accounted for before I had to turn in the
grand total order form.

Next year, I want to do 'cookies in hand', but I need to give it some more
thought. There seems to be some benefits in being able to leave order forms
posted in places for people to 'sign up' for cookies. I want to be able to
do a 'mix' of order forms and 'cookies in hand'. I need to give it a lot of
thought before Fall (when I talk with the girls about cookie sales), but for
now, my brain is fried when it comes to cookies!
:-)
Debra


Margaret, our Cadette troop did surprisingly well at booth sales this
year--better than any of their Junior years and very close to their success
as Brownies, within 3 boxes of their best third grade booth sale.

They realize that the "cute factor" is gone, so they came up with a
different approach. Billboards are mostly not allowed in our area, so many
merchants use "walking billboards" out near the streets. The girls used
this same strategy. They took two large poster boards, tied them together
and walked around the strip mall where they were selling. They would hold a
few boxes underneath the posters, so if anyone wanted to just buy a box or
two and had exact change, they could do it on the spot.

....or was that strategy so they could "hide" their vests????? oh well!!!!!

YIGGGS,
Mary Willett
Cadette Leader, Troop 5119
SUM, Gaithersburg, MD


My C/S troop is going to Savannah next summer, and we only found out
last summer that we're going, so it's fundraiser overdrive. We had a
spaghetti dinner last fall and a lot of money. We're having another
one on the next Sunday night, hopefully it will be a sucess. The
parents had a tupperware party and then donated the money to the
troop. We're delivering the newsletters for a local town. Local
town park cleanup and make $7 a person per hour doing so. Our
combined car wash and hoagie sale was a great moneymaker. We sold
Easter flowers. We've made over $3000 since August to cover the bus
to Savannah, so hopefully we can make another $1000+ on Sunday!

Lauren
Gold Awardee
GSSJP



I forgot about cookie sales! Last year me and my 2 sisters sold 550
boxes, of which I sold over 300 of. I sell them at school! I missed
a week of the sale because of knee surgery. Afterwards, I was on
crutches so I strapped bags of cookies onto my crutches. I removed
the handle, put a bag onto it, and then I screwed it back on.
Classmates yelled at me for not having cookies for a week! I wear my
vest at school once in a while to get sales. I go to door to door in
my development and a neighboring development. We make up posters and
thank you cards and then my Dad brings cookies to work at the
Philadelphia Inquirer.

Good Places to sell: Pizza place, video store, DMV Inspection
Station, Basketball Games, Grocery Store, Drug Store,

In my old Cadette troop, I was the only GS in the family. The
leaders daughter always sold the most cookies becasue her family
bought 250 boxes. I was selling a lot that year and the cookie mom
wanted me to beat the leaders daughter, Amanda. So whenever the
leader asked how many the troop had sold, the cookie mom lied about
how many I sold so that the leader stopped buying them and I was the
highest seller in the troop. It was the first times since Brownies
that someone other than Amanda had been the highest seller!

Lauren
Gold Awardee
GSSJP



hi all. thanks for joining this new group. i hope we can all
benefit from more detailed discussions on fundraisers and trips.

i have compiled some fundraising ideas from the WAGGGS-L and will
post this doc in the files section of the group.

question - my troop (jrs) need to raise some funds over the summer
months for a weekend beach trip in september. anyone have any good
ideas for fundraising over the summer months?

joni brennan
jr644
gsspa



That's my question also - my juniors (all 6th graders) are going to VA Beach
this weekend and we'd like to go to Savannah next year as Cadettes. Most
will be starting from scratch fundraising wise after our beach trip so we
need to get a jump on things this summer.

A Senior leader I know has done several car washes at WalMart. I'm just not
sure if mine are really old enough to do that. I'm sure if we could get the
parents involved we'd do ok but that's a whole other issue...

I've also heard of another troop that has sold pies around Thanksgiving -
I'm thinking we may give that a shot.

Another thing I think we may try is a yard sale over the summer - who
doesn't have a ton of stuff they would like to part with? My only concern
with that one is how to divy up the money unless each girl seperatly tags
and sells her own stuff.

I'm anxious to hear some other ideas!

Diane
Nations Capital



I was thinking about hosting a flea market with my troop - finding a
business or church to let us use thier parking lot and then selling
spots for $10.
Others I have talked to feel this would be too much work for too
little return.
Anyone do something like this?

Joni Brennan
Jr644
GSSPA


As for fundraising ideas one of the things we do is making a hamper for a
raffle. Each girl has to bring in an item every week we usually have five
items, a tin, a packet, a drink, a toy and something personal. The rest is
left to the imagination. In the end you end up with a very good prize and
each family doesn't have to spend too much. Last christmas the incentive was
that for every item brought in the girls got a free ticket, we then went to
the local shops and sold tickets. We did one for fathers day as well and put
the prize in a wheel barrow which was very popular as the wheelbarrow was
included in the prize.

Belinda


We (my troop) started car washes in 5th and 6th grade with the understanding
that they are there to wash cars, not water fights (though this can happen
at any age) we also had parents along and we would set the car wash up as a
donation. Sure we would get a few people that would take advantage of us
any only give us 2.00 but many would give us 10.00 and a few even 20.00 for
a donation.

Other fund raisers we have done for trips:
Set up with area groups to do babysitting during their meeting for a
donation. e.g. The Jaycees meet monthly for 2 hours and we switch off girls
to babysit in another room during the meeting. We received a 100.00
donation for babysitting at 10 meetings (averaged 10.00 per girl for 2
hours)

Day after Thanksgiving we bagged items at K-mart for donations, the store
like this, they didn't have to pay a lot of extra people and we made a
couple hundred dollars. Again, we had many adults helping with this.

At Christmas we make ornaments and set up at local banks on Friday nights to
catch the people coming in. Again we do ornaments for donation only,
suggested price 1.00 per ornament. We would average about 40.00 on each
Friday night, many people leaving 2.00 for an ornament and many people
coming back the next week to buy more to add to gift bags etc...

Although our town has a big craft fair every year, they do charge us for a
booth so by working a table at the bank we save $$ on booth rental. The
problem with making ornaments is paying for your supplies and when you
subtract what you bought from what you made, it sometimes is equal. Pick
and choose the ornaments and try to use recycled items.

Last year we were offered to run the dunk tank at our local 4th of July
celebration...We turned it down last year as we didn't have enough time to
plan but we are thinking of taking it this year. We have to set up all the
local celeb. to sit in the tank and then can charge 2.00 for 3 throws. I
am still looking into this as I am unsure of insurance questions ect...do we
have to have a release
signed by those in the tank etc... but already a couple of the school
teachers, police officers, mayor said they would take a half hour shift if
we do it?!

For the Local parades we do lemon-aid (hot choc. at christmas) for donation
(suggested donation 1.00) we have also sold the glow necklaces and choc.
covered pretzels for 4th of July fundraiser.

Again you have to make enough $$ to pay for your supplies and make it worth
your time.

Probably our biggest moeny maker is the Brat Fry. One of our local grocery
stores has a stand outside and they will supply the food needed for the
stand, we run the grill (adults) and the girls take orders for brats, hot
dogs and hamburgers. We sell soda and chips with it and after an afternoon
we pay for the supplies that we used and keep the profits. We've made
several 100 this way and it's nice not having to run around buying supplies
etc...what ever we don't use
goes back into the store.

Now that the girls are older we are trying to think of bigger better things
they could make and sell at craft fairs etc...some of the ideas thus far are
stepping stones and lawn decorations using scrap wood that we get from local
builders.

Girls love sewing and really want to make quilts to sell, but I don't see
them selling for all the work involved. Wish we could do raffles for a
quilt but that is a no-no in GS.


For our trip to Texas, we did 2 Pancake Breakfasts, 2 car washes; one with a
bake sale and sno balls, the other at Wal-Mart who matched our earnings and
a Fashion Show. We were planning on doing a Christmas Bazaar and Craft
Show, but decided against it. Also, apply to your council for a grant.
This is why they have the money and do the soliciting to corporations. I
didn't and it was a mistake.

Always have a donation jar very visible and easily accessible at every
money-earning event. When tax rebates were given out last fall, we had one
person give us a portion of his. Advertise,
Advertise, Advertise, who you are and why you're having a money-earning
project. People are very generous when they see the girls working for a
trip or special event. Don't underestimate the power of the "word of
mouth." People talk. Give them something positive to talk about because it
can work against you too.





Hi Debbee - we are a Cad/Senior troop raising money so that we can head for
Pax lodge in 2002. In fact today was one of the first fundraisers we did.
We are doing 2 candle parties (Parti-Lite Candles). They give us 20% of the
sales. Not bad today. We made about $250.00. We are giving credit to the
girls that brought the orders or the persons to the parties. Some girls do
not seem to do anything and put other priorities in front of Girl Scouts.
The ones who do everything (especially leaders kids were starting to feel
slighted and did not think it was fair) so we decided that those that put
time and effort into something would reap the benefits. We also have a
fundraiser planned for early December which hopefully we will make about
$1000.00. We sell booths to other troops and have it in an elementary school
parking lot. This way we split the cost of the advertising and can also have
a captive audience since we do not allow anyone to sell food, except us. We
serve a hotdog, drink and bag of chips for $2.00 (we make $1.00 per meal).

I would love to hear what other things that people tell you about. Please
forward anything to me that you receive. Thanks.

YIS:)
Lisa Tighe
Girl Scouts of Broward County


Years ago my Senior group (this was a council wider op) sold poinsettias at
Christmas time. We bought them from a local grower at wholesale prices,
cleaned up the pots, wrapped them in foil and sold them at 200-400% profit.
Our prices were competitive with local florists and supermarkets. We
displayed samples at local churches after services (with the pastor's
permission) took prepaid orders and delivered them the following week same
time same place. Three of the churches even bought their altar displays from
us (big bucks). In the spring we did the same thing with flats of bedding
plants. This money made a BIG dent in our budget for 45 people for a 28 day
cross country trip to National Center West in Wyoming (no longer exists).

Julie
Daytona Beach, FL
Lifetime, Thanks Badge, IoT, N.O.V.

We raised a lot of the money needed for a trip from Pennsylvania to Savannah
by selling sandwiches. We took orders
about every other month. If you do them well, you will have continuous
repeat orders. Here's how we did it:

A local supermarket with a bakery was our source of supply. We would take
orders, collect money up front so we could
pay for everything, and place our order. We ordered the large Kaiser rolls
from the bakery and had to round them up to
the next dozen. Don't even waste your time with the cheaper or packaged
ones. These cost us about 25-30 cents each and
are worth it. We took orders for chipped Ham/Swiss cheese, Ham/American
cheese, Turkey/Swiss cheese, and
Turkey/American cheese. We used to only sell ham sandwiches, but discovered
that there was a complete untouched market
out there for turkey. Our orders usually ran about 2/3 ham and 1/3 turkey.
I ordered 1/4 lb. of chipped meat per
sandwich and 2 slices of cheese per sandwich. They would slice the long
Swiss cheese and cut it in half so that it was
about the size of a slice of American cheese. We bought the little mustard
and mayo packets from a food supply store.
We used the large glad sandwich bags with the fold-over top and used little
dot stickers to identify the sandwiches.
The girls wrote up H/S, H/A, T/S, T/A - enough for each one sold.

The day of the event, I picked up the materials and took them to the church.
We set up long tables, covered them with
clean shower curtains, and had an assembly line. The first girls cut the
rolls in the kitchen, then put them onto the
first table. We would work on both sides of the table - one side was doing
turkey, the other ham. The first girls
would put two slices of cheese on the roll (1 on top, 1 on bottom), then
push
them toward the weighers. We had adults
weighing the meat. You can buy some small inexpensive scales for about $30.
from office supply stores. Postage scales
aren't too good - they just aren't accurate enough. The weighers pushed it
on to the baggers, who had in front of them
the bags for the sandwiches they were making. They inserted the sandwiches
into the bags, inserted 1 pack each of
mustard and mayo, closed the bags, and pushed them on. The next person took
them to another table and kept the kinds
together and started packing orders. The girls brought coolers that we could
pack into. We usually worked with only
one kind of cheese at a time on both sides of the table.

Sometimes we ran a little over with meat, but usually we were pretty close.
I always bought enough meat to finish out
the dozen rolls. Someone always took them to sell. We got $2.50 per
sandwich for several years. All of the girls were
graduating last year, so we did not increase the price, but we could easily
have gotten $3.00 or more. The profit was
always between $1.00 and $1.30 per sandwich. I always credited them with
$1.00 per sandwich, in case the meat went up.
We never differentiated on the price between the Swiss and American,
although
the Swiss is more expensive.

Our order usually was between 200-300 and we could do that in about 1 1/2
hours. One time we had 600 to do and it took
us about 3 hours. Your first sale may not be huge, but repeats are bigger.
One troop in our area contacted 10
businesses in town and asked them if they would take 10 sandwiches per
month.
That was a quick and sure 100 toward
their trip to Switzerland. It was a small town and some opportunities were
limited.

The cleanup is minimal - they take the shower curtains outside and shake
them
- I then take them home and wash them in
the washer. A little sweeping and rearranging chairs is about all that is
needed. After they do this a time or two,
they all just start - when the rolls are cut (long serrated knives work
best), they just move to another job.

Our fee to go to Savannah was $500. per person - we did it in two years.
Some other things we sold were cookies (of
course), fancy breads - a local baker did them - we got $3.00 per loaf -
paid
$1.50 per loaf, frozen pizzas. I really
didn't want to spend all of our time fundraising, so when we did these
sales,
they all pitched in.

Good luck!

Cookie Grugan
Hemlock GSC - central PA

Debbee,
Our troop did a badge workshop last year for Cadettes, on the positive side
it promotes leadership for the girls of your troop while planning and
executing the workshop. The negative side is there is a lot of planning and
work involved. You can make a decent profit if you have a large number of
girls turn out for the event, pre-registration would be good to have an idea
of numbers. We kept ours small, 35 girls, so our profit was less than it
could've been. I just wasn't ready to take on a huge group of Girl Scouts
with only 5 girls in my troop. It was a great learning experience though,
and my troop had a ball!
Good luck,
Kathi
Camden Co, NJ



Our Unit has just finished fundraising to send our girls on a Pack Holiday,
$85.00 per Brownie - parents paid $20 and we raised the rest. They had a
great time over the 4 days.

Our major fundraiser was a fertiliser drive - General Purpose, Blood and
Bone and Lime.

We had delivered to all the mailboxes, order cards (if you live in a larger
city you could just opt to do a suburb)with tear off Post Paid replies.
These cards are paid for by advertisers who advertise on one side of the
card. This means that you know how much Fertiliser is been ordered and you
aren't left with any unsold.

You find a wholesaler - someone who supplies the retailers (Fertiliser
Company) who is willing to give you a good price - shop around, the one we
used gave it to us at cost and had it delivered for free, regardless of how
much we ordered. One costing we had charged us cost plus 30%, charged for
delivery and 25% more if we didn't order over 1000kg, so it always pays to
look around.

You sell them in 20kg, 10kg and 5 kg lots, alot of our customers are elderly
and they like the 5kg bags, and when you get your fertiliser delivered, you
rebag them into 5kg lots so that you only have to buy one sized bag.

Finally, you deliver on one day - Cash On Delivery.

For a population of 5000 people, delivered 2000 cards, we made a profit of
$2700. As you get better at it, you could add Rose Fertiliser, Citrus or
Nitrophoska Blue.

This is just a general outline - it involves some organising and
co-ordination but isn't very hard to do, and it turns into an Annual
Fundraiser.

If you need to know more, just drop me a line and I can explain it more
fully - its a good one to get Dads involved with.

Johnnita Houghton
New Zealand Brownie Leader


Hi, someone asked about fundraising. Our girls are going to Savannah for a
week in June 2001, so we are in our 3rd year of fundraising for this. We
have done a lot of things. Some of these may not be available in all areas,
but it may stir some ideas.
1) Of course we have had the cookie sales, also other bake sales (especially
good just before the holidays--cookies and brownies seem to be the big
sales).
2)But we also sold Red Wheel items (frozen cookie dough, pies, muffin
batter, etc) Schools in the area use them to great advantage.
http://www.redwheelfundraising.com/ <http://www.redwheelfundraising.com/>
is their main website. You make about
40%-45% on these.
3)Then we also have sold bulbs in both the fall and spring. We go through
Van Bourgondien whose website is www.dutchbulbs.com
<http://www.dutchbulbs.com> and email is
blooms@dutchbulbs.com <mailto:blooms@dutchbulbs.com> . You make 50% on it
and they usually send extras too.
You do have to pay the 50% to the company when you order. We just advance
the money out of the troop funds or a leader's credit card and then
reimburse. You get the bulbs in about 2 weeks. I just finished sorting our
latest order.
4)We are presently selling from catalogs from Cherrydale
http://www.cherrydale.com/ <http://www.cherrydale.com/> The sales from it
seem to be going very well.
5) Another troop in our council who is going to Georgia with us has sold
from Current, and other catalogs
6) We have also had troops doing fundraisers through many fast food places
in our areas, check out things like Taco Cabana, Weinersnitzel, Arbys,
Panchos, etc.
7) Carwashes at the above mentioned places
8) the Albertsons here let you sell hotdogs and cups of drink outside their
stores here so long as you buy the basics from them at cost
9)Albertsons here also lets girls pump gas for customers for a donation only
fundraiser
10) Bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Bookstop let groups sign up for days
from Thanksgiving to Christmas to do gift wrapping inside their stores for
donations. (they supply wrapping paper and tape)

So hope this gives some ideas. Judy Thomason, Tejas Council, Garland,TX


Here's an idea although I don't know whether or not it will pass
Safety-Wise. We did it for a school fundraiser, not for Girl Scouts.

First, you need a prize. When we did it, we had two tickets to
Universal Studios that were donated by an employee.

Buy Charm's Blow Pops at Sam's or Costco. You can get them for about
$6.00 per 100 lollipops. On half of the lollipops, put a red dot on the
bottom of the stick. Get a sheet of styrofoam and stick as many
lollipops as you can into it making sure that half have the dot and half
are plain.

Make simple entry forms to be used for a drawing. Now, sell the
lollipops for 50 cents each. The buyer gets to pick one out of the
styrofoam. If they get one with a dot, they get to put an entry into
the drawing. Either way, they get to keep the lollipop, so they can't
lose anything.

I would think that because you're selling something for the 50 cents,
it's not a raffle which is prohibited by Safety Wise. You're not
charging to enter the drawing, so it may pass. But I could be wrong, so
definitely run this buy your service unit/neighborhood before you
proceed.

When we did it, we were at a craft fair from 9:00 - 3:00 and we made
$231.00.

*****************************************************
Another idea that somebody gave me is to have a "sack sitting" booth at
your local mall duirng the holiday shopping rush. The girls would set
up a table, and charge to watch peoples
sacks/bags/packages/bundles/peck-lach...whatever you want to call
it...while they shop. All you need are watchful eyes and some space,
preferable in a corner. The leader that suggested this to me had done
it last year and the girls made $350.00 in an afternoon!! You could
also add a gift wrapping station and you'd have a one-stop booth that
everyone could use.


Please post all the fundraising ideas to the list. I know there are
many of us who are looking for good ideas.

Paula Barnett
ibid



Here's what I have done, or have planned to do:

1) Sold caramel apple suckers at local parades. When they first came out,
this was a great seller!! We are planning to sell popcorn next year, along
with possibly decorating hair bands with ribbons in patriotic colors. ??

2) Another group made "ties" and sold them at a parade. All they did was
sew a piece of material as if you are making a hair scrunchie. They sewed
it lenthwise and turned it right side out. Then they just used a pinking
shear and cut the open ends so they wouldn't fray. People tied them in
their hair, around their necks, on their belt loops... They were a big hit!

3) We are planning to plant flower seeds ahead of time, decorate pots,
offer baked goods and drinks with a rummage sale in the spring.

4) This December, we are holding a Saturday babysitting day so parents can
Christmas shop. This has great potential -- I will let you know how it
goes, since many asked about it earlier.

5) Wrapping gifts at our Younkers store. We are also selling discount
coupons from their store. (yes, council approved!)

6) Possibly delivering Easter baskets?? Haven't looked into this one too
deeply yet....

7) Our council told me of one girl who held several mother/daughter
gingerbread house workshops, and made enough to pay for her wider op.

8) In Iowa, we have a .05 deposit on cans. Several organizations hold
drop-off times for people to donate theirs so the group can redeem the cans
and receive the refund.

9) Wal Mart will match our profits if we hold a bake sale at their store.
The only downfall is that we now have to hold it outside the store.

Hope this helps someone! I look forward to seeing more ideas from everyone
else, since we are Savannah bound in 2002.

YIGGGS -
Annette in Iowa

Kathy Alward <kalward@hotmail.com <mailto:kalward@hotmail.com> >
Subject: raising funds (long)

HI! Following is a complimation from a different list I am on for
fundraising. I am well aware that several of the ideas don't meet GSUSA
standards but I don't have the energy tonite to edit it - besides sometimes
I think it at least gives us some other ideas!! Sorry it's in such poor
form, it's cut & pasted from another digest & didn't transfer very well but
I figure if you're interested, you'll muddle thru it!! Some of them I have
a few more details on - email me & I'll try to help. Hope it helps
someone!! Kathy


Bottle ReturnsSent the kids canning (door to door asking for returnables
-works well ina state with a 10 cent bottle/can return - Michigan - most
people hate taking back their cans)
Garage sale
Had a garage sale and asked the school families fordonations of stuff to
sell. Made over $800. Also sold hotdogs, chips, pop andcookies.
Advertising Asked local businesses for a donation in return for
theirname posted on a thank you ad purchased in the local paper. (the paper
endedup donating the ad in return for THEIR name being mentioned!)
**Biggest money maker**
Pizzas Sold Little Caesars Pizza kitsCake Walk
Our regionals had a cake walk and all the proceeds from thecake walk
went to any team from our region that went on to worlds. $825
Yard Sale2We had a yard sale at the school which was very well
attended and brought in a good return. You can get all the
families to donate, and ask for other donations through theschool perhaps.
Silent AuctionThe PTA also had a silent auction
fundraiser and allowed us to put forward certain items andservices to
auction.
Variation: we have autioned off different teams props- haveeach team donate
one thingConcessionsthis is a little late for you..but yesterday at our
regionals..therewas a special concession booth set up, in addition to the
cafeteria beign open...and the profits from the concession booth were to be
given to the teams that happen to advance to worlds
Dinner/Preformances
Last year we did a dinner theater. We charged $2.00 over ourcost and had
our teams perform. We had three teams from our communitycontinue to state,
so there were 3 teams performing. An added benefit to thisfundraiser is
that it helps get support for DI for next year. People who havenever been
exposed to DI came to the theater and our program grew.
Another great fundraiser is the silent auction. We added thisto the dinner
theater for additional funds.
NOTE: i actually just got home from our chicken dinner, we soldchickens at
$6.50 each and we made, in one night $1,500Freezee pops
Two years ago, my son was in a grade school team that went toworld. They
sold frozen popsicles, Freezee Pops, the kind that come 25 or100 to a box
and you freeze them at home, during the school lunch hour. Someof the
popsicles were donated, we sold them for 50 cents apiece and didthis 3 or 4
times. Great profit and all the school felt like they werehelping to send
on some of their own. (We cut off the ends with a scissors aswe gave them
to the kids to reduce lunchroom mess.)Raffle
We had a raffle for 2 donated Beanie Babies. At 6 for $5, or $1apiece, Erin
and Princess earned us quite 'a pot of gold'.Clean up
We cleaned up the gounds at a local grocery store for adonation.Cookout
We held a cookout outside antoher grocery. We bought all thehotdogs,
hamburgers, etc from them. They supplied us a cash register anda cooler for
the soda.Baggers We also bagged the groceries at the cashier line for tips.
The team woretheir team shirts and had a good time while earning quite a
bit.
BeggingWe also sent solicitation letters to all the local businesses.
One boy wasabout to start orthodontics, his ortho contributed too.
Variation: grant writingPink
Flamingo Caper Concerning fund raising......have any of you heard about
thePink Flamingo Caper? Your only initial expense is the cost of about 30
ofthose plastic pink flamingo yard decorations. You start out
selling"insurance" to your friends, family, and neighbors. For $10.00, they
are insuredagainst the appearance of these birds in their front yard. If
the birds doappear because they didn't take out insurance, then for $10.00,
theywill be removed and for another $10.00, placed in any yard of their
choice,aslong as that person has not purchased insurance. You can also pay
to havethem put in any yard that isn't insured ! It's really
hysterical....our youthministe r came up with it as a fund raiser for our
World Changers group.
Theballet group that my youngest daughter is in got together and had a car
wash. Instead of setting a price, we asked for donations. We made $250.00
infour hours. Hope this helps !
Hamburger feed
We had a hamburger feed (May) at the local grocery store. Also,did a car
wash (donations) in connection with it and did very well. Setthe record
for hamburgers sold in a day.Begging 2
We wrote letters to all the local businesses, organizations wecould find.
Chamber of Commerce had a list. After a couple of weeks, wethen went out in
force and personally stopped in at businesses that we had notheard from. We
were able to collect quite a bit.
We talked to several service groups--Lions, Kiwanis, RotaryClub--even gave
little demonstrations.
Yard work We did some yard work, aluminum cans, painting, etc., prettymuch
what wecould.
Flamingos2Pink Flamingos (already mentioned by someone else earlier)
(netover 3 months: $300)
Sugar Eggs
Sugar Eggs -- Good for the Easter season. You know, thoselittle
decorated sugar eggs that you can look in and see a cute littlescene.(net
$100?)
CookiesValentine Cookies -- Too late for this year, but what about nextyear.
We take orders, and personalize them with names or otherphrases.
(net$400)Food
Other seasonal eats -- Hot Cross buns for Easter, cookies atChristmas
(net $100), subs for Super Bowl Sunday.Luminarias
Luminaria -- In this part of the country, people will pay forluminaria
around Christmas (once again, too late for this year, but whatabout
next?). Basically, they are size 10 (?) paper bags, fold overthe top
to keep them open, fill with a coffee can of sand, and thenplace a
small votive candle inside. (net $100 -- but we only do ourchurch)Kisses
Kiss A Beast -- Have fishbowls with names of several well known(and
willing! ;) people, and fishbowls with names of several animals(check
for availability). Collect 'votes' by encouraging people toplace money
in the bowls of their choice (always wanted to see the principalkiss a
hedgehog? Here's your chance!). (No net yet -- still in theprocess)
Variation: our swim team had a kissing booth- in real life,they just handed
out hersheys kisses and they gave each person a index card witha lipstick
kiss on itWaldenbooksWaldenbooks -- Waldenbooks will donate a portion of
their
proceeds toyour organization when customers designate you. Severaldifferent
options available. (No net yet -- still in the process)Pizza2
Pizza -- Same with some pizza places.Pokemon!
Pokemon -- Sponsor a Pokemon tournament. (How desperate AREyou?) (No
net yet -- still considering).Pampered Chef
I used to sell Pampered Chef kitchen products...they have a
fundraiser...a small cookbook that usually sells well....if youknow
anyone in your area that sells Pampered Chef....
not as cool as the flamingo caper....oh well..cynthiaVariation: Tupperware!
Krispy Kremes Last season we had the thrill and honor of going to World
Finals inTennessee. Our team decided to sell Krispy Kreme donuts.
Thatended up being a SUPER fundraiser. The team ending up selling I
likeabout 400 boxes of donuts in just 4 hours. They made an easy $600 in no
time atall. The team sold them in a large neighborhood, but the best luck
camefrom selling
them at the Post Office, Banks and at the Police and FireStation. All these
folks obviously LOVE donuts!! It was a great fundraiser and alot of fun
too. Hope this helps. Every $600 helps!!!
Chuck the Chicken One year we did a raffle called "Chuck the Chicken".
OUr team got a rubber chicken and built a slingshot type of contraption and
shot the chicken (Chuck) out onto the football field from under the goal
posts. Beforehand, they sold 1,000 squares on the field for
$1.00 each. (you could sell them for more and give a bigger prize) The
winner of the contest (square where Chuck landed) received $100, and the
team got therest. Variation: a.k.a. cow pie bingo! you need one field and
onecow, sell boxes(like chucks) then where ever the cow "leaves a pie"
thatbox wins
Food2 oh also, we got cookie and donut donations from the local
supermarkets and sold them along with some home baked goods
at a popular school function (I think it was a dance or
carnival or something)--that worked well. A local coffee
outlet also donated free which we sold--very popular, and
they even donated the cups! (Tulley's)Clubs
We have always approached service clubs and companies. TheOptimist clubs
have always been the biggest supporters with Rotary clubs aclose 2nd. We
draft a formal letter to request assistance and what we are allabout. It is
usually read at a meeting with a coach or parent attending. Weoffer to bring
the team and perform for them.Etc.
We also hold a rummage sale, sell flats of flowers and hangingbaskets thru
the school etc.We set up the sale of soft drinks and goodies inthe teachers'
staff room.Bake Sale
One of our most successful things was a bake sale! We held itduring a
school activity (with the administration's blessing, of course),had kids
staff it, and asked for donations only. When you price an item,you limit
what someone will give. If you ask for donations, they willoften throw in a
$5 bill (and many times, it will be more) for something youwould have priced
at $1.50!CateringWe also served (provided food and staffed) a one-time
concession stand for a company that was having a largesale/auction. Because
we were willing to work for the money, the owner of thecompany gave a large
(several $100) donation above the cost of his employee'srunning tab! That
seems to be the prevelent thought, tho, If you arewilling to work for the
$$, it will come. Just saying "We're going toworlds. Give us $$." doesn't
carry the same weight.
When providing food for the concession stand, local grocerystores were
willing to donate goods, not $$. This is another example of "wewant to see
you have to work a little bit"! That's OK, tho, because ourkids and
parents were more than willing to help, and the goods donationskept our
supply costs down.When putting ads in the paper... There was a contact
number for people to call to get more information, or to make
apersonaldonation.
FootballOur teams also had an exhibition night with a raffle drawing for a
championship football (our high school team is a multiple-yearst ate
championship winner). The school coordinator also arranged forseveral of
the teachers, administration, and local business persons to takepart in a
(then) spontaneous problem. This was one of the most highlypublicized parts
of the exhibition, and the part many people came to see!Candy Bars Perhaps
the easiest (from a parent's viewpoint!) $$-maker wasthe candy bars! The
elementary school principals allowed the teammembersa half-hour each day to
sell candy bars. The middle and high schools ran ita little differently,
but with the same idea. Our 5th grade classes alsohave a school store each
year, and the 5th grade class decided theywanted to donate some of their
profits to the cause!SchoolpopMy brother's family's preschool in San
Francisco uses this site. Welcome toSchoolpop!
<http://www.schoolpop.com/about.html> This
link is not the home link (as my homelink is dedicated tothe preschool) but
it should take you to a 'clean' page.
-i checked out this page myself and it is really goodTye Dye
Yesterday, there was a group in our student union that was doinga really
great fundraiser. They were selling white t-shirts for $5 andhad the
supplies for you to tye-die them right there. I don't know howsuccessful
they were, but this seems like it would be a great booth to have at afair,
if any schools or churchs in your area have some kind of springfestival. I
was impressed because it seemed like such a unique fundraiser.School Dances
Organize a family night or a danceSleepout
have a sleepout- donate some of your proceeds to the homeless orother group.
note- this only works in cold weather! get people to get pledgesor open it
to a segment of people greater than just DIers and have thempay- its ike a
big partyPlant Sale
Contract with a nursery and you can make big bucks-we usually do$4,000-5,000
a yearHave a run/ walk!sponsor a run or a walk and have people get
pledged-variation-pet walk!PowderPuff Anything
This year, in conjunction with homecoming, the junior classchallenged the
senior class to a powderpuff(females only!) football game. ifyou publicize
it you could make a lot of money and its fun


Fall Fund Raiser Ideas


Passbook Coupon Books

Car Wash

Sachse FallFest
Hair painting
Bake Sale
Face Painting
Candy for a prize (suckers with different colored markers
for different levels of prizes...)
Miniature sized candy bars individually for sale
Carnival games

GS Calendars



**Be sure to check Safety Wise and with your Council before attempting any
of these fundraisers. Not all of these ideas were submitted by Girl
Scouts.**

Fundraising you can do within your troop
* Collect cans & bottles to be recycled.
* Have girls and families save their loose change. Submitter made
$200 with 12 girls in 5 meetings.


Fundraising you can do with other Girl Scouts
* Get permission to sell Girl Scout tshirts.
* Get permission to sell Girl Scout bumper stickers.
* Pink Flamingo Caper - buy some plastic yard flamingos, start by
selling insurance to everyone involved like to the leaders and families in
your service unit. For $10 they can purchase insurance to NOT get a
flamingo in their front yard. Then after everyone has gotten a chance to
buy Flamingo Insurance, offer the flamingoes themselves. You pay $10 to put
the flamingo in someone else's yard - your choice. If a flamingo shows up
in your yard, them you can pay $10 to have it removed and place it in
someone else's yard as long as they did not buy insurance.
* Hold a badge event for other Girl Scouts.
* Hold a uniform thrift sale with donated uniforms.
* Sell outdoor cookbooks with recipes collected by the girls.
* Offer to cater Council and Service Unit events if they will serve
food. Follow all Health Department guidelines and buy the food at
wholesale.


Fundraising you can do with the public
* Hold a New Years Eve/Holiday Shopping babysitting
afternoon/evening/or overnight. Tips from the submitter - the girls took
the Red Cross babysitting source before the event, limit the kids to ages 4
- 10, charge $25 for 6pm - 8am, have the kids bring their own snacks and
bedding, bring videos and games, they signed up 40 kids and made $1000.
* Sell lollipops for 50 cents, half of them have a red dot on the
stick, if you get a red dot, you get to enter a drawing for the big prize.
The submitter did this at a craft fair from 9 - 3 and made $231.
* Hold a Holiday bag sitting table at the mall. The submitter made
$350 in one afternoon at her local mall.
* Hold a gift wrapping booth at the mall, barnes and noble, borders or
other larger store.
* Sell caramel apples, popcorn, themed balloons, hair ribbons, etc at
local parades.
* Decorate flower pots and sell them at a flower sale or rummage sale
* Hold a Mother/Daughter Gingerbread House workshop
* Collect cans & bottles from the public - have a local drop off point
or pick them up.
* Wal Mart may match bake sale profits if you hold the sale outside
their store.
* Hold a garage sale with items donated by the public or Girl Scout
families. (the leader who submitted this made over $800 in one day)
* Sell hot dogs, chips, and soda at your flea market or at someone
else's.
* Sell frozen popsicles (freeze pops - the kind that come 100 to a
box) for 50 cents at neighborhood events
* Hold a car wash and ask for donations instead of a set price.
Submitter made $250 in four hours.
* Sell Luminaria. Use paperbags, fold over the top so they stay open,
put some sand in the bottom, place a lit votive candle in it. Submitter
made $100 doing only her church. You can also make these to sell by
collecting soup cans and punching holes in them with a nail to make a pretty
design. (freeze water in the can first to prevent the can from collapse
while you punch holes)
* Sell Krispy Kreme donuts in your neighbor hood, post office, bank,
and police station. Submitter made $600.
* Chuck the chicken - sell squares of the playing field, fling a
rubber chicken using a slingshot device out onto the field. Who ever holds
the square it lands in wins the prize. Another version is cow pie bingo -
wherever the cow pie lands, they get the prize!
* Hold a bake sale during voting, a school meeting, or other event
asking for donations only.
* Sell Red Wheel items - www.redwheelfundrasing.com
<http://www.redwheelfundrasing.com> and make 40 - 45% on the items.
* Sell bulbs in the fall and spring. Try www.dutchbulbs.com
<http://www.dutchbulbs.com> and make 50%.
* Sell fertilizer. Order in bulk, take preorders in certain bag
sizes, rebag for customers, and deliver. Submitter made $2700 in her
neighborhood by delivering 2000 pre-order cards.
* Use a school parking lot and hold a neighborhood flea market. Sell
spaces for $15 and the Girl Scouts are the only ones allowed to sell food.
* Sell poinsettias, wreaths, swags, or other holiday items. Buy
poinsettias wholesale, clean them up, wrap the pots in foil, and sell.
(submitter sold them at 200-400% profit) Take prepaid orders and then
deliver the next week. Submitter took orders at church and then delivered at
church the next week. and several area churches bought lots to display
during services.
* Do the same as above with flats of plants in the spring.
* Sell sandwiches to the public and area businesses. Tips from the
submitter - take orders every month, the first month may be small but repeat
business will grow. Order good rolls from a local bakery, limit the kinds
of sandwiches like ham/swiss, ham/american, turkey/swiss, turkey/american.
Order 1/4lb meat and 2 slices of cheese per sandwich. Use an assembly line
method to get the sandwiches together. weigh the meat per sandwich and mark
each sandwich with a code or dot and be sure to add a packet of mustard &
mayo. Sell the sandwiches for $2.50. Profit is about $1 - 1.30 per
sandwich. You can do 200 - 300 sandwiches in 1 1/2 hours. Contact area
business and ask if they would take a certain number per month. A quick and
easy way to ensure sales.
* Have a facepainting booth at a neighborhood event.
* Collect trimmings from a local tree farm and create swags to sell at
Christmas time.
* Make homemade cookies for people who have no time to make them.
* Make ornaments or other trinkets to sell at craft bazaars.
Collaborate with other troops to have more items to sell. Be sure and use
any hidden crafty talents of family members.
* WalMart has Grandparents Day & Earth Day grants available to groups
that do work in those areas.
* Cook hotdogs and hamburgers outside a local WalMart or grocery
store.
* Sell valentines/easter cookies or chocolates
* Sell white tshirts for $5 and have materials to tie die the shirts
right there. Customers take their shirts home in a plastic bag with
instructions.
* Sell assembled cakes and cookies "in a jar"
* Sell cookbooks with recipes assembled by the girls.

Publications:

Fundraising for Youth by Dorothy M. Ross -- Hundreds of wonderful ways of raising funds for youth organizations.

For Fund and Funds by Carole DeSoto - Creative fund-raising ideas for your organization.

Internet Sites:

Fundraising: Tony Poderis - It's a great day to Fund Raise!

Funding News - Profiles

Fund-raising Idea Bank

Fundraising with the Funds$Raiser Cyberzine

UK Fundraising - 10 Principles of Fundraising

Fund-raising Idea Bank

What have you heard of or done to raise funds? Please email me and let me know! I’m all ears, yet scraping the bottom of the pot for ideas!!