Here are 30 different fundraising ideas that my children's school and other organizations have used.
Feel free to share these with your cadet corps.
1.Band concerts: have your band(or a local band) donate their time by performing a benefit concert for your corps. Charge admission for the event.
2.Walkathon: Choose a date and a route, make up some pledge forms, and advertise with posters. Have everyone who wants to participate gather donations or pledges using their pledge forms.
3. Bag groceries: Ask a local grocery store if you can bag people's groceries for donations. Be certain to put up a sign saying what the donation is for.
4. Auction: Have individuals, groups and businesses donate goods and services. Be creative in what you can auction off and make certain that the goods and services are sold at reasonable prices.
5. Perform a free service for donations: Rake leaves, shovel snow, take care of a pet. When offering your service, ask the person who benefited from your actions for a donation toward your corps.
6. Spaghetti dinner: Prepare a great dinner for the public and charge a fee(easy to do and I have a fail proof recipe)
7. Hold a theme party: Decide on a fun theme. Charge an entrance fee, but be sure to explain to people what their cover charge is going towards.
8. Plant a tree: ask a nursery for seedling donations and then get people to sponsor a tree.
9. Day of community service: contact a number of organizations for which you would be interested in volunteering. Then have people sponsor you to do community service for 24 hours.
10. Family barbecue: Host a family barbecue in your backyard, with games and activities.
11. Three-on-three basketball tournament: Organize a basketball tournament in your area with the winning team receiving a prize. This can also be done with soccer, tennis, badminton, or any other sport.
12. Swim-a-thon: Get sponsors for the number of laps you swim.
13. Plant sale: Organize a plant sale with plants donated by local nurseries.
14. Fruit stand: Get permission to go to local farms and pick fruit to sell. Sell the produce in high-traffic areas or at community festivals or flea markets.
15. Book sale: Ask all your friends, relatives, and teachers to donate their old books. Advertise your book sale by means of posters and flyers. Set up a table and sell books. If there are leftovers, you can always give them to a needy library, shelter, or school.
16. Coupon sale: Go to local companies and ask if they would participate a by giving you coupons that you could sell (I have a $75 coupon for flooring from a local flooring place, a $20 Gift certificate for a restaurant and I have 4 tickets to a local theatre that I am willing to donate to a cadet corp)
17. International dinner: Have people from various ethnic origins cook traditional foods, and then charge admission to an international dinner.
18. Car wash: With a group of friends, set up a car wash in the parking lot of a school, church, or public area. (Be sure to ask for permission and make sure that people are careful of moving cars).
19. Sporting events tickets: Ask sports teams to donate a number of seats for their games and raffle off the tickets.
20. Clearing snow: Shovel snow from people's driveways and walkways in the winter months for a donation.
21. Calendar sale: Create a calendar highlighting the projects and members of your organization, and sell it to students and their family members.
22. Karaoke: Rent a karaoke machine, sell tickets or charge an admission fee, and sing all night.
23. Videos: Make and sell a video for youth tourists of places to go and cool things to do. Or create a How-To video; for example, how to improve your golf swing, or how to make crafts.
24. Recipe book: Gather together favourite recipes and put them together in a book. Sell the book through your school, sports organization, or community centre. Try to get the photocopying donated by local businesses.
25. Toy sale: Hold a toy sale. The best season for this is just prior to Christmas.
26. Triathlon: Set a course of running, cycling, and swimming. Have participants get pledges to compete to win prizes.
27. Lemonade stand: Make lemonade, post signs, and sell it on a hot day.
28. October is a great time for pumpkin sales or a turkey raffle.
29. December is good for a Christmas tree sale or a gift-wrapping service at your local mall. Just ask your local "u-cut" farms to see if they would donate some trees.
30. Bottle drives are also a great way for you to gather donations and for people to get rid of their empty bottles