Fundraising!

[Guest terrydoo73]

Have been looking through the forum for ideas on fundraising. We held a parents meeting a couple of weeks ago and there wasn't much enthusiasm for fundraising but we desperately need to do something as we have no funding at all!

 

Does anyone know how you get people like The Book People who will come in with goods to the Playgroup and we get a bit back on the sales?

 

Also can anyone tell me how a sponsored scavenger runs - I know you pick out say 10 objects and give each child a card where they have to stick the items onto but how does the sponsorship system work?

 

We want simple ideas that will generate cash with little effort if you understand what I mean so thought of the Smartie Tubes for each child to fill with 20p's and then perhaps a little toddle through our village and they are sponsored to do this.

 

Also can anyone tell me about personalised calendars. I know that I could run off pictures of the children using a coloured printer and download the calendar dates but am thinking this is expensive on the ink and wondered if I approached say Boots how would you make money on these because surely any parent could walk in and do this for themselves?

 

Some of our parents suggested a Pamper Night but unless there are people in the business of nail manicures, hair styling, relexology etc who are willing to offer their services for no money I don't see how it would work. Also surely you would need to sell say 100 tickets at five pounds each to make sufficient money to cover costs? Has anyone done this sort of evening and was it a success - I have visions of a lot of reps present, too many people and not enough activities to cover the evening??

 

Other simple ideas would be much appreciated. I want to be able to go back to the next meeting of the Parents with definite suggestions and let them decide which one to go with.

[Rea]

Its difficult to get parents involved isnt it? They have busy lives so cant really attend fundraising events.

We hold a raffle a few times a year. We get stuff donated by committee or one of our committee members approaches businesses local to us and asks for donations. We usually get a box of chocolates or something.

The children love our beat baby, so we bought a few. The staff made a map with a grid on it, beat baby is 'hidden' in one of the squares, parents write their name in the grid and the one who chooses the right square wins the beat baby.

Last term I put a bucket in the entrance and asked for loose change.

If you apply for a gaming licience you can fundraise outside of your setting i.e. they can take tickets home to sell at their work place nad to frinds and family. In Birmingham its £40 for the year.

The chilren do various sponsored events during the year, obstacle course, toddle round the playground, easter egg hunt. We sell christmas decorations, our T-shirts are sold for a bit more than we buy them for, at parents evenings (which are held during the session) we have refreshments available and ask for a donation (made more money than when we set a price)

We're talking about having a lending library for adults too. Not sure if we're going to charge anything, but donations are always useful and a donation can be used to claim gift aid, although thats in the pipeline.

We have a book man come in every so often too.

I keep meaning to look at the web sites who donate to you if people click on them. I think Argos did it, but thats something I need to check.

Its an on going battle with our parents although one has just given us £100 from a car boot she held.

 

I think Cait is the one who's fundraising is sucessful. Hopefully she'll be along

Edited May 26, 2011 by Rea

[Inge]

We used to do a collection of textiles for Bags2school each year.. if we booked 2 collections togehter we got a better rate... they could be a year apart.. ours were... we collected the items form parents, friends etc.. and they came and collected them.. just need someone to store them or somewhere to do it.. we had a parent fill her spare room with bags and they collected form there.. we made a few hundred each time..

 

sponsored find... or scavenger hunt.. we used to give each child a card divided into 20 items and they took them away and returned them with the items stuck on.. we had things like a daisy, cornflake, bus ticket, bottle top, something green, feather, button, blade of grass..etc... they were sponsored by family per item.. so they had a sponsor sheet with the card.. we always did this over a period where we knew the children would be seeing family and found it worked best over Easter break.. lots of time for them to do it at home, with family, who sponsored.. and parents took them to work for sponsorship too.. then it gave us time to get them all back before children left in the summer.. on return the children got a certificate saying well done on finding xx items and we sometimes gave them a small treat to go with it.. these we gave out as they came in so not all would have them the same day.. worked by getting more to return them to get the treat! Child power! We did ensure that the parents knew it did not matter how much they returned .. some could not afford to get sponsorship money but child still did the task and got he treat.. we usually did really well from this one... some parents managed to bring in £200 in sponsorship.. and they said they liked it because it could be done at home.. and they could take time to do it with the child and siblings..

 

we did ensure there was only 1 sponsored event a year as parents could not be expected to keep finding sponsors for things..

 

when we didn't do the find.. we did a sponsored walk.. we are near a beach so walked the prom.. and we could take collecting buckets for children to shake at passers by or one year they went form family to family on the beach...we checked beforehand and seems we did not need any permission or licence to do it! but always worth checking to see if you need permission to do a walk..

 

pampering evening.. we used to have Bodyshop come in to do a demo and sales... don't know if they still do it.. Easter/Christmas was a chocolate company

[dublinbay]

Some of our fundraising has been fantastic this year so far. At Easter we sold pound-shop bonnets for £2 and had an Easter bonnet parade with the childrens decorated bonnets. Parents didnt mind paying the extra quid for the hat. At the parade our committee sold donated cakes at a cake stall and we charged for tea/coffee. Again parents were very generous and we made a lot of money. A raffle on the day had about 30 prizes, all donated, and all added to funds.

 

Over the Easter holidays we too did a sort of scavenger hunt. A parent made up treasure hunt scrolls for each child to collect stuff on. My eyes almost popped out when we made over £300. Our parents are very generous and we appreciate this very much.

 

The local primary school's Summer Fayre is next month and we bought plastic pint glasses from the lovely pound shop and parents are taking these home to fill with a variety of stuff e.g. hair bobbles, pencils, erasers etc., sweets, small toys.......you get the picture. We then use them at our tombola for £1 a go. This has always been very successful and the most popular with parents over the years.

 

With the result of all this fundraising we have a new computer on order with all the trimmings. Yay!

 

Good luck!

[Guest]

Bodyshop do still do evenings like that - my cousin was doing it for extra money before Christmas, but do check your parents shop there first or else it falls a bit flat. As for other pamper evenings we have previously had local beauticians, etc come in for free (initially) in return for a percentage of takings, or as adverts for themselves and they sold stuff in addition to providing a service. So they might do five min hand massages but be selling creams and nail polish alongside, making the hand massages free. Obviously the parents paid entry and that was how we made money. Not sure I'm making a lot of sense here!

 

For Book People, we don't make a lot but ask around at local offices to see if someone has the details of the local rep as they tend to work areas I've found. There are lots of the textile recycling companies around so you can shop around for who does the best rate for you. We have also done toy sales where parents donated stuff they couldn't stand the sight of any more and then other parents bought it! Sounds bizarre to me who only ever wants to get stuff out of the house but we made loads on that.

[Guest]

If you and the families shop online then www.easyfundraising.org.uk We've raised over £2000 on this over the last 3 years. They are a family company (not related to easyjet). You don't have to have a registered charity to sign up. You register, the parents register choosing to support you, and then they shop online by clicking through from easyfundraising to their favourite shops. There are 100s of shops on there and the largest commissions are from insurance companies. it still takes a bit of effort to get people to sign up but it is effortless once they have. Have a look through the groups listed and you can be referred by a similar group (they will need receive 20% commission off everything you raise without you losing anything) and vice versa, refer another group and you will receive 20% of all they raise.

 

Other ideas would be the usual cake sales, nearly new/jumble sale (which raises about £300 for us), raffles (writing off for prizes usually brings a few more interesting ones in and you can then sell more tickets. If you sell them in advance, then you need a gambling licence from your local council). Sales need more support from parents though as you need people to help on the day too.

[Guest]

In the past we have held sponsored conker hunts. Children go out with their parents and collect as many conkers as they can and are sponsored for the amount they collect, this leads to discussions on growth, hibernation etc, gets the children doing things with their children, at the end the onkers are given back so that they can be returned to the areas, or as near as, so the little animals can collect them and not starve during the winter! We've made3 or 4 hundered pound doing this.

 

Another successful idea was our art exhibition; it is discussed on here somewhere, if you can find it.

 

We bought canveses for £1 each, each child painted a lovely picture, we asked them to explain what it was. For a week we exhibited them in our communal area and labelled them i.e. a fire engine by Harry aged 3. At the end of the week we invited parents/carers in to cheese and wine/open evening and they could buy their child's masterpiece (who could refuse!!) for £5, some even asked us to let their child make more for the grandparents, we did encourage parents to only buy their own child's work!

 

We also bought some larger canvasses and each room had a hand in making a big picture, we then held a silent auction for these and the highest bidder won; one went for £65! All in all we made almost £600 and had a great night - what a buzz!!!

 

Good luck with your fund raising!!

[Guest]

If you search the forum for "Art Exhibition what a great night", you will find the thread on our art exhibition, I've no idea how to post the link sorry!!!!!!

[mps09]

Here is a list of the things I do at our pre-school........

 

These are all great because they raise loads of money , but don't seem like we're always asking for sponsors, etc.

 

I always make sure that I 'advertise' what has been bought - so for example when Percy made £30 and I bought a set of construction it went on the table with a note from the pig to say thank you!

 

We provide optional uniforms and sell on at a profit. We pay £5.25 for sweatshirts and £2.45 for t-shirts and sell for £8.50 and £4.50 respectively.

 

Once a year we run ‘funmats’ www.funmats.co.uk. We encourage the children to draw a lovely picture which is then printed onto a variety of mats, coaster, t-shirts, etc. We made £200+ from this last time.

 

Photographer – raised over £100 - Tempest

 

Easyfundraising. Earn commission when parents shop online. If you use our link http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/referral/24509 we also earn a bit of commission for referring you and it doesn’t affect what you raise!

 

Wovina name tapes – all new parents get an order form suggesting they label all the clothes – small commission but every bit helps.

 

Collect Nestle Box Tops. You can ask for cash or twice as much in ordered in books.

 

www.puffinbookclub.co.uk - we get 50% of what the parents spend to spend on books for us

 

Have you put in a community request at Waitrose? Local cubs raised £184!

 

Bedtime hour - 2 or 3 times a year, we invite the children back to pre-school at 5.30pm in their pyjamas (and the staff are too!) for a biscuit and squash, they bring their duvets, blankets and cuddly toys and snuggle down for a night time story time. This is really lovely and the children love the novelty. The first few times we charged £1 each child (and siblings could come too) but now we do it as a ‘jolly’ (and the staff agreed not to be paid for this hour)

 

I also introduced a Pig Money box – known as Percy but first I built it up that we would be getting a new pet and he would need feeding but only with coins! He was on the table at the start and end of every sessions and the children would nag to feed the pig! We made about £15 - £20 each half term and parents would give £5 for a t-shirt and say put the change in Percy.

 

Why not identify a resource that you want to buy for maybe £50 or £100 then sell map squares for £1 a go and when they are all sold maybe suggest that you have a special treat – like a party (are you having one anyone for Christmas?) or a small prize?

 

We also ask each family to provide some stuff to help us out - this is what I put in the newsletter:-

 

We like to keep our fees as low as feasibly possible but they are set with consultation with the committee and aimed to cover our staff costs, rent, utilities and we therefore rely on fundraising to purchase resources, paint and other consumables. It would help us immensely if parents were able to help us by contributing just ONE item to help with our supplies. This then means we can focus any excess funds on buying exciting toys, games, and equipment to support the children in their play and learning. Can you help by providing one of the following?

 

Tissues Postage Stamps Sellotape

 

Laminating Pouches Kitchen Roll Food Colouring

 

Baby wipes Nappy sacks Hand soap

 

Cornflour Printer Paper Envelopes

 

Antibacterial table spray

 

and we NEVER buy any of these things!!!!

 

 

Good luck!!

[hopeytg]

You mention pamper night - this is something we do and it extremely lucrative - last two made over £600 each. Initial setting up takes a bit of time but once you have the contacts it is an easy way to raise money at an event that people enjoy. We call it a 'Ladies Night' - we invite local beauty therapists, tarot readers, jewellery sales, lingerie, Anne Summers, hair dressers, etc etc - we charge £25 for a 'table' and ask for a donation for the raffle. We are inundated with people wanting to have a stall. We also run a bar - licence costs £21.00 and we offer wine and soft drinks - at our summer event we do pimms at the christmas one mulled wine, even at £1.50 a glass which is cheap we make a good

profit. Then we charge £5 for a ticket - we try and sell as many as we can before but also sell them on the door, advertise in the local free 'whats on' section and put posters up around the village. After the first event people now

ask us when the next one is and we had to turn therapists away this year. Tesco loan glasses for free as long as you

buy the alcohol from them and they do sale or return so you are not left with unwanted drink.

 

Another idea we used to do was 'Auction of Promises' - parents and locals donate promises - cakes, babysitting, car washing, unwanted christmas presents and we produce a small brochure and people bid for the items. Used to make a reasonable amount - did stop that one as I felt we were constantly asking for things from the parents - the ladies night is seen as a treat for the mums.

[Guest]

we also use www.easyfundraising.org.uk and there are hundreds of sites on there. I buy everything online through them now. It makes you feel less guilty spending money knowing that some of it is going to a good cause!

 

Also we do a thing called the 200 club. The idea is that you get 200 members and they all pay £1 a month for entry (We pay for 6 months at a time so we know we've got enough members each month) then a name is drawn from a hat at the end of he month, the winner gets £50 and the school gets the other £150. We opened it up to staff, parents, families, basically anyone who wanted to have a go. When the name's been picked it goes back in the hat ready for next month's draw.

[Rea]

If you and the families shop online then www.easyfundraising.org.uk We've raised over £2000 on this over the last 3 years. They are a family company (not related to easyjet). .

 

That looks really interesting. I just read the terms and conditions though and they mention a service charge. I cant work out what they're saying. Is it the payment made but the parents for the goods they're buying?

 

 

 

Edited to say...I've got it now. The company you're buying from make the service charge to easy fundraising who pass on a proportion of the service charge to the registered group as a donation.

Edited May 27, 2011 by Rea

[vickymck]

You may find some intersting stuff in here

 

http://www.ncpta.org.uk/information/100582...iers_directory/

 

Also a company called Ecotex pay more than bag2school and offer a good service. We recently had a wine tasting at church - everything was run by a local wine merchant and we just had to do a few nibbles and sell the tickets and raised £600!!

[Lyanne]

We do calendars at Christmas - we get a load of the pre-printed A4 calendars from whichever of our suppliers is doing the best deal, and once we've put up the Christmas tree, get the children dressed up in our special dressing up costumes kept for this purpose (bought for the much-missed Woolworths...) and take photos of them in front of the tree on the work camera.

 

We sell them for £1 each and they are very popular! We do family groups and individuals - I mean our twins were done as a pair and individually, and we run off more prints as requested, so if Janie's mum wants more for the grandparents, we do them.

 

Cheap, fun for the kids & us & doesn't require time from the parents.

 

I like the idea of specifically naming stuff in the newsletter, most people can pick up an extra pack of kitchen roll with the shopping a couple of times a term without noticing much, but it would really help us!

[mps09]

I like the idea of specifically naming stuff in the newsletter, most people can pick up an extra pack of kitchen roll with the shopping a couple of times a term without noticing much, but it would really help us!

 

It's just accepted as 'standard' now and parents are always asking us what we are short of.... it does make a real difference - plus we don't have to go shopping!!

[Cait]

But isn't it the same few parents all the time? I know when we tried this one, it was just a handful of parents doing it out of the 30+ and we scrapped it in the end and put the fees up for everyone

[mps09]

But isn't it the same few parents all the time? I know when we tried this one, it was just a handful of parents doing it out of the 30+ and we scrapped it in the end and put the fees up for everyone

 

Quite often, but then that's the way of the world isn't it? Parents don't if they don't want to, can't afford to, and those that do, do so happily.....

 

I think it is no different from any other events! It's the same parents who come to AGM, attend fundraising events, offer to wash t-towels, help out when we need an extra pair of hands.... it's all about choice - it's not compulsory....

 

we've got a range of families attending - those for whom the fees can be difficult and those who have no financial difficulties at all!! and therefore a packet of tissues are not a problem...

[Cait]

Yes I realise that, but in this case, the few parents that were doing it were asking if anyone else was doing it too or if it was just them, that's why we scrapped it.

 

Our parents are actually generally very good at supporting our fundraising events, and we have a couple of Thank You's through the year to show them our appreciation. Strawberry tea next - yum

[Possum]

I suppose there always WILL be those parents who are quite able to help and support financially but, for reasons of their own, choose not to. Just as there we always be parents who don't contribute to home diaries and learning journals.

 

We can only do what we can to encourage participation, at the end of the day, it's them who lose out.

[chicken]

Our best fund raiser is a sponsored bounce

 

Children not staff

 

How many bounces can each child do in 1 minute, quick and simple

 

We have just done done this years and raised over £1200

[Cait]

yes we did that too a few years back, we try to change the sponsor thing every year, but the bounce has been the most successful so far