Yankee Candles Fundraising

Check out this site!

 

http://www.yankeefundraising.com/

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Melanie M. P. Lawless
3-Day Fundraisers
 

Restaurant fundraisers

Be sure to check out your chain restaurants.  Max and Erma's, Qdoba's, Chipolte, Baha Fresh, etc...  they all do a fundraiser where you give out fliers and then you get a portion of any sales that bring in your flier.  Look on your favorite restaurants website.  My idea is to use one of these places and give the fliers out to businesses in hopes tht they will go for lunch!

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Melanie M. P. Lawless
3-Day Fundraisers
1890 Axtell Rd. #6
Troy, MI 48084
616-340-4033

I crew because one day WE WILL FIND A CURE!!!  
Crew, 04, 05, 06, 07   http://www.the3day.org/michigan07/melanielawless

Crafts to Sell!

I love your blog! Several of my friends are walking this year and I have
made some bracelets that they are selling to raise money.. I have
decided to make them available to other walkers who want to resell them.
Here's my website address: www.farenshear.com/bracelets.html.

I have
some other craft ideas if anyone wants to chat about crafts!
Good Luck everyone!
faren

3-Day donations from far-flung friends

Like many of you, I am on multiple email lists. I posted a 3-Day
fundraising letter to each of them on January 30th and had $5,000 in the
first 24 hours. I am now at over $11,000 including checks which have yet to
post, all within 3-1/2 weeks. I attach the signature below to all my emails
and list posts now, and it continues to bring in funds. It couldn't be
easier.

Kathy

Help me support the fight against breast cancer.
www.the3day.org/cleveland07/kathylyle

Tax ID number

Some companies or fundraisers require you to have a tax ID number.  I got one this year, simply for 3-Day fundraising.  For exampl, if you get one check made out to the 3-Day but you need it to go to 3 different walkers, things get difficult.  But, if you get the check written to my non-profit, then I can split the check and donate it to 3 people. 

 

If anyone is in need of this kind of service, please email me!

--
Melanie M. P. Lawless

MelanieMPL@gmail.com
MI Food Service

Crew Captain 08, 07, 06
Crew 05

Breast Cancer Awareness Quilt

I am a quilter and belong to several Yahoo groups of quilters plus my friend, Judy, who I am walking for, is an avid quilter. I got the idea to ask for quilt blocks from around the world and assemble a "Cancer Awareness Quilt" then raffle it to raise money for my walk. I am getting squares from all over and my friend, Judy, is going to help me assemble it over Spring Break. She will be between chemo and radiation so it will be a perfect time for her as well and she really wants to be part of the process. My hope is that it will be sort of like the Aids quilt - I have asked everyone to put their name and where they are from on the blocks. The theme is PINK and the blocks will be in memory of someone, in honor of someone, or for inspiration and courage. I can't wait to start working on the actual quilt! I will also have my team sell raffle tickets and they will count their proceeds toward their goals. We are thinking about holding the quilt until after the walk and having it signed at the camp in Atlanta before we send it to the winner. It should be an incredible quilt when it is finished.

Max and Erma's Restaurant

This is pretty cool.  I know a lot of restaurants do this but here you can ask for a flat out donation.  Though you wouldn't have to do that, you could work the restaurant angle but it seems pretty cool.  Check it out:

 

http://www.maxandermas.com/Community.cfm

--
Melanie M. P. Lawless
1890 Axtell Rd. #6
Troy, MI 48084
616-340-4033

Breast Cancer 3-Day T-Shirt Fundraiser...

This is the second year for the "Sooner Girls for the Cure" to participate in a 3-Day.  We have five members walk in Chicago in 2006 and for 2007 Boston is our location.

Last year we did a t-shirt fundraiser and sold about 350 shirts.  This year our design is better than ever and we are trying to beat last year's record.

We thought we'd be a little more subtle this year with our theme "Save Second Base".

Please click on this website
http://oubeckyc.googlepages.com/home

It give a little info about our team and at the bottom it has links for the t-shirt design and the order form if you'd like to place an order.  We are shooting for the beginning of March to place our first order.  If you're interested just print the form and get it to me with a check and we'll get you the latest in Breast Cancer Fundraising Fashion!

Thanks for your support of our efforts!

Becky Craig
Sooner Girls for the Cure--Team Captain
3-Day Walker--Chicago 2006, Boston 2007
beckyc@bmisystems.com  
  

Coin (or even just Penny) Drive

Here's a fun idea, and way more lucrative than you'd expect. There are so many ways you can do it, but the end result is that you want folks to collect their change, or even just their pennies, and donate it - and it all adds up.

Some folks who have connections at elementary schools get the school and kids involved, by having them bring in their pennies, and then together they count and roll them - teaching some good math lessons, as well as how even the smallest currency can add up to something real. And that even they can make a difference to an important cause.

Other folks do this with a large jar in their company's break room, all decorated for their cause, and asking people to put spare change in there throughout a period of time. Sometimes, as an encouragement, they will have homemade cookies available next to the jar, to swap donations for a cookie.

This is an idea that you can definitely adapt to the circumstances of your situation. And, it's another way that you can raise awareness for your cause, across a good number of people, at the same time as raising funds.

Good luck!
Bethel

Ice Cream Social Fundraiser

I raised over $600 having a rather small informal ice cream social at my house. I sent out donation letters pointing people to my web site, etc., and then added "or if you live close by, stop by next Friday after work. I'll have ice cream and all the fixings and we'll make it a party!" (not sure of the exact wording I used). This year I hope to extend it to include friends and neighbors. Everyone loves ice cream and I've got a list of toppings to please any crowd. I'm also hoping to have a local ice cream shop donate the ice cream. It was simple, fun, appeared to be a last minute spontaneous thought on my part (which is so NOT me!), and didn't cost a lot.

Karen

Boston Breast Cancer 3-Day 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004

Kansas City Breast Cancer 3-Day 2005

Selling Items outside Wal-Mart

Call Walmart - they require you to sell something but you can even sell baked goods. Last year, we sold baked goods (which went okay) and bracelets we bought for $1.00 (we sold for $10) and we made $540 in 5 hours.

My mom is walking this year in the 3-Day and I am helping a few more walkers raise money and I am telling them ALL to book dates at Walmart. Also, think about when they will be busy. Like the Sat. before Easter or Mother's Day...

Sam's Club also is willing to do this since they are connected to Walmart.

--
Melanie M. P. Lawless
MI Food Service Crew Captain
08, 07, 06
Crew 05

It worked! Post your ideas here via email!

It worked! Sorry that I'm still figuring out this whole blog thing. At least I know/recognize I'm a newbie at this. Experienced at fundraising for a cause, but new at having a blog. :)

Okay, so, to post your own fundraising idea onto this blog, so everyone can freely see it, send it via an email to bethel.nathan.fundraising@blogger.com, and it will be published here automatically. I've set it to publish without my having to approve and publish them. If I find we're now getting spammed, I may change that, but we'll figure that out as we go.

A couple of notes:
- the subject line of your email will be the title at the top of your post
- everything in your email will be in your post, including any automatic signatures you have, so please take all of that out first, if your email signature is as long as mine is...
- sign it or not sign it - up to you! I will sign all of my posts, so you guys know it's me.

If you want to add comments to any of the posts, you can always do that, but people have to click on the Comments line to see them. Perfect for comments on that idea. If you ahve a separate idea, you can post it separately this way.

Thanks!
Bethel

Testing posting via email

I've given up on having this available, since it's been spammed regularly since...

Adding Posts to this Blog with Ideas!

Sorry guys! Well, it seems that this newbie to blogging didn't completely understand how the system works... I made it freely accessible for anyone to post comments to this blog, without moderating or approval. But, it seems that I can't do the same for posting, although I thought I could, and wanted to. However, I can invite whoever I want to be able to post on this blog - it just has to be done through your email address. If you would like to be a regular poster to this blog, please email me at bethel@initialimpression.com, and I'll set you up.

I definitely hope to make this as much of a free exchange of ideas as we can. Let's see where it goes!

Garage Sale Fundraising

This is one of my favorite ideas, as it can be quite easy, definitely can raise a good amount of money in one shot, and is a chance to get your supporters involved in a different way. We continually ask people for money to support our cause or event, how about asking for their extra stuff instead?

Most people I know have some stuff lying around their home that they could easily get rid of, but not enough stuff to do their own garage sale. By pooling all of that stuff together, with whatever you had already, you can have a great big offering! Some people may surprise you, and use it as a great excuse to purge their household, as I did, two years ago, when a former teammate was doing one of these sales to jumpstart her fundraising for the year. Ask people to donate whatever they no longer want, and if you can, offer to pick it up as well to save them that hassle too, and then advertise everywhere that the proceeds are going to your cause.

A way to get even more funds at the garage sale - set up a great change/donation bucket or jar at the main table where you are collecting the money, decorated with messages or pictures relating to your cause, as many people will drop in their change or make extra donations. You might as well have donation forms (for larger donations) plus sign-up forms, if you're raising money for an event where others could join in as well. You never know who will be stopping at that garage sale, especially as you've advertised it as for that cause!

Give it a shot, and let me know how it goes. And, if you've had successful ones in the past, please feel free to add comments here of what things worked best for you and what didn't! We're doing another one of these for ourselves this Spring - I'll let you know how it goes!

Cheers,
Bethel

First Idea from a Philly 3 Day Walker!

Thanks, Deb, for the great idea! If you guys hadn't noticed it, she posted it under the comments section under my first entry - https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=100422619129272955&postID=594520891914460720 is where you can find it. It was for a fundraiser event at a local indoor skateboarding park, and would work for lots of local businesses like that. We have two indoor go-karting places here in San Diego who would be great to approach about this kind of event.

I'd love to make this as interactive and sharing as possible. Therefore, I've made it open for posting to anyone who wants to post. As long as you have a Google account set up (and it's easy and free if you don't), you can feel free to post, and not just comment. Post away! It makes it easy for everyone to read and learn from.

My thought is that I'd like to add a new fundraising idea each day, and see what kind of useful collection we can end up with. Not every idea will work for everyone, of course, but hopefully each person who is trying to fundraise for their cause will find someone that will work in their life, or their community. So, I'll post another idea of mine later on today.

Cheers,
Bethel

Getting this started!

I've been thinking about starting something like this for a while now... I thought it would be a great way to share fundraising ideas amongst folks who do events and raise money for causes that matter to them, as my family does, and so many other awesome folks we know.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Bethel Nathan (maiden name is Weiss, under which I did my first five 3 Day Walk events). My family and I get involved with the 3 Day Walk for breast cancer in 2003, and haven't stopped since... Let's see - in 2003, my Mom and I walked it here in San Diego. In 2004, I walked it here in San Diego again, crewed the Walk in Arizona, and recruited my brother to Crew his first Walk here in San Diego, at Pit Stop 1. In 2005, Mom and I walked it here again in San Diego, my husband, Jason (who was my boyfriend then), and brother both crewed here in San Diego, and my husband and I both traveled to Seattle to crew that Walk earlier in the season. Then in 2006, Mom, Jason, my brother's wife, Kristen, and I all walked here in San Diego, and my brother crewed Pit Stop 1 again. In all, my family has raised over $69,000 in the 4 years for the Breast Cancer 3 Day. And, Mom, Jason and I are all set to walk again in 2007, with Craig crewing Pit 1 one more time.

Many of us participate in other great events for worthy causes here in San Diego throughout the year - such as walks for MS, Autism, Alzheimers, March of Dimes, and shorter Breast Cancer walks. For those we don't fundraise, but we're happy to support these worthy causes.

I've been lucky to have some amazing supporters and donors over the years, and have also gotten creative about fundraising, partially because I also see it as awareness building for a great cause as well. I also have met some really creative fundraisers through the 3 Day crowd. And, since I've personally raised about $51,200 for the 3 Day over these four years, I'm often asked for advice by new walkers.

So, that got me thinking - why not create a blog where people can post and share good fundraising ideas??? It certainly doesn't have to be just for the 3 Day or breast cancer, although that's where most of my experience is, because most of the ideas will be relevant to raising money and awareness for all causes.

Want to join in on this with me? Together we can make even more of an impact on the causes that matter to each of us!

Cheers,
Bethel
bethel@initialimpression.com