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ALL THINGS FUNDRAISING
Posted: July 27, 2010 at 7:10 am
One of the first things to go when tough economic times threaten is charitable giving, and while charitable giving in a church setting seems to manage to hang on a little bit longer than most typical institutions with a need for charitable donations, even these are taking a hit right now. The challenge is for these organizations to come up with ways to raise money while not directly soliciting their constituents. Phoneraiser provides a way for church fundraisers to be successful while helping the environment AND not asking their parishioners directly for funds.
Are you looking to raise funds for your church youth organization? Are they going on a youth trip, or do they just need funds to get through the yearly activities? If you are fundraising for you a church youth group then it is definitely time to get those youths involved. By doing a Phoneraiser.com drive, and utilizing the vast social networks of these youth (notably the parents of the youth and their acquaintances parents) you will be tapping into a huge and virtually untouched group of people who might have one, two or more discarded, old or unused cell phones or ink cartridges which they would be more than happy to donate to your cause, especially after you let them know that not only will they be helping their local church youth, but also be helping the environment.
Has your church adopted a few local families for the start of the new school year? These children in need might otherwise go to school without the necessary items to begin their school year on a good footing and consequently get their life off to a good start. By adopting these needy families and using the church fundraisers to benefit them, your fundraiser will ensure that these children, and the whole family have one less worry in a world that is full of stress and worry, and by making sure that you choose to do a Phoneraiser.com drive, you ensure that you are helping to give them a healthy world to live their adulthood in.
Or are you doing a church fundraiser to help get new items such as pews, chairs, hymnals or other physical accoutrements for your church? Imagine that you have your entire congregation and their networks to tap into. If you have two hundred congregants, and they each know only ten people that they can ask for used cell phones, then you have 2000 possible cell phones that you can recycle using a Phoneraiser.com drive. It cannot be said enough that to have a successful fundraiser, you must utilize every resource available to you, and no resource is greater than your own network, and your acquaintances networks.
By choosing to do a Phoneraiser.com campaign, you ensure that all funds go directly to your organization, and as long as you have no overhead, and work solely with volunteers, you will have no bills, not even shipping, as we handle that for you.
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Posted: July 24, 2010 at 3:02 am
While there are certainly countless fundraisers going on for cancer, typically these are occurring for the larger foundations, such as the Susan G Komen or National Breast Cancer Awareness Foundations. These outstanding organizations tend to help finance research into cures. But the reality is that cancer treatments can take a huge financial toll on anyone going through this most life threatening illness.
More and more often we are seeing individual fundraisers organized by friends, colleagues, church groups or social groups to benefit a particular member of the group who may be facing these trying times. It is certainly always a challenge to come up with a fundraiser that will bring the most benefit to a particular cause while decreasing or eliminating overhead entirely. Phoneraiser.com meets all of these criteria and more, by ensuring that 100% of the funds go directly to the organization. An easy and earth friendly way to fundraise, Phoneraiser.com collects used cell phones/PDAs and inkjet cartridges and uses them in a variety of eco-friendly ways, such as refurbishing them for use for people that might not have the funds to have a phone, and by stripping the phones of metals and other materials that are toxic to our environment.
Did you know that 10 MILLION cell phones are “retired” or discarded every month? Think of the fundraising that you could do if you had even a fraction of those phones? Most people are not aware that you can recycle, reuse or donate cell phones/PDAs and inkjet cartridges to worthy causes. And what could be worthier than helping a friend who is in need of support, both financially as well as morally? Start your cancer fundraiser by helping not only your friend, but also by helping the environment, and those in need. And by helping to recycle the 8 toxic materials in cell phones/PDAs, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, you might even be helping future generations avoid further health problems. When cell phones/PDAs are discarded into landfills and garbage dumps, these toxic materials will seep into the ground, the water supply, making and eventually make their way into our drinking water and food.
Knowing these facts and more will make your Phoneraiser.com campaign that much more potent. Getting people invested in your cause, not only for the end result of raising money, but also for doing good on many different levels will give your fundraiser a step up over many of the other fundraisers around.
If you estimate that your average phone will garner $3.00, you will be able to determine how many phones you will need to collect in order to achieve your goal. Having a goal is important and imparting that goal and showing progress to your volunteers and the folks that donate to you is even more critical. You will find that people who can see progress will be even more motivated to raise more.
Fundraising for cancer is a noble goal, and whether you are doing it for an individual, or raising money to donate to a larger organization in a specific person’s name, you are helping to discover a cure for this most devastating of diseases. Phoneraiser.com is proud to help.
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Posted: July 20, 2010 at 3:07 am
With our local, state and federal taxes being allocated to other things in this tough economic atmosphere, funding for school activities such as bands and sports are being cut in order to make funds available for educational resources. It’s no wonder then that the extracurricular activities that help to define and create our children’s social network and all American upbringings are being reduced or in some cases scrapped all together. As parents it’s our job to help our children’s schools provide these activities for them. This will sometimes take the form of volunteering our time for booster club activities, running the snack time or chaperoning activities, so that teachers paid time can be used to better effect for other educational activities.
Extracurricular activities in school are a rite of passage for most children, and fundraising for these activities is an age old tradition with parents. Band fundraisers, booster club activities, and PTA fundraisers are all part of the package of having your child in school, and minimizing your own out of pocket expense. And expensive these activities can be. Often there are uniforms, instruments and accessories that need to be purchased, in addition to travel and lodging for out of town games or competitions. These expenses all add up, and if as parents we had to pay all for all of this out of our own pocket, there is no doubt that the teams would be much smaller and the activities far fewer.
How can Phoneraiser.com help your band fundraiser? Typically, in the fall, bands play at the football games of their schools. Perhaps you can work with the booster club and PTA to use one of the games as your fundraiser, and instead of paid admission, attendees can bring a used cell phone/PDA to donate to your cause, and you can send these back to Phoneraiser.com in our postage paid envelope. Of course not everyone will have a used phone to donate, but perhaps they will have an inkjet cartridge or two that you can ask for as well. If you assume that the average number of attendees at a high school football game can range from 100-400 people, you are quickly talking about a significant number of cell phones/PDAs and inkjet cartridges. (And even better, you can use our handy and free marketing materials for your band members to pass out around the community and collect the cell phones/PDAs and used inkjet cartridges themselves!)
So how do you get the word out? Easy, enlist parents, teachers, and other students. Make it a competition, with the grade that brings in the most phones winning a pizza party (and you might even be able to get the local pizza joint to donate the pizza, meaning no overhead at all!).
Not only does Phoneraiser.com allow you to easily have a band fundraiser, but it also allows you to teach students about the benefits of recycling.
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Posted: July 15, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Having a baby is one of the greatest joys in the world. Unfortunately not everyone is able to give birth to a little one. Luckily, adoption has become more common than it was many years ago. It has also become incredibly expensive. There is insurance and health care assistance for people that are giving birth, but no such help for people that go through the rigors and expense of adoption. A typical adoption can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000, and that is just in fees, not in any consideration a family might choose to give the birth mother such as prenatal care or housing, or other expenses. None of these costs are covered by insurance or any other type of fund, unless one works for a company that has adoption assistance, which is not common.
Are you relatives, friends or colleagues with someone that is facing these costs? Why not help them with a fundraiser that sends 100% of the funds collected to their adoption fund? Phoneraiser is one of the most ecologically friendly fundraiser around, and the best part is that 100% of the funds go to your cause. There is no overhead, and we even pay for the shipping of the phones to our location. All you have to do is collect the phones and stick them in an envelope and send to us. We will send you a check and you can present that to your colleague, friend or relative as one more gesture of your support for the financial and emotional turmoil that they are sure to be facing at this most important time in their lives.
Phoneraiser is not only a great way to support your family, friends and relatives, but you will be doing good deeds on many levels. By using Phoneraiser, you will be helping the environment, as well as those less fortunate than many of us. Remember to spread the word of your fundraiser (but only if the recipients want to share that they are trying to adopt), and in doing so you will likely open many doors that you were not even aware existed. Get the local ladies groups involved and use your social and business networks to collect used cell phones/PDAs and inkjet cartridges.
But most importantly, by showing your support and helping with a fundraiser for those that you know that are adopting, you are most likely helping them to achieve a lifelong dream. Doesn’t that feel awesome?
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Posted: July 15, 2010 at 2:28 am
Just the other day, when driving home from a sports match, what should I see but two young children on the side of the road outside of their house, with their mother of course, selling lemonade. On the sign was “buy lemonade and help the homeless”. Well, of course we stopped, and got to speaking with the mother and children and found out that the children had been spurred to this action by a church fundraiser that they had recently attended that was raising money for the children in Haiti who are still suffering after the terrible earthquake.
Compassion comes in many forms and the compassion and unadulterated hope of young children, and the belief that they can help anyone and everyone should be an inspiration to us all. As adults we are sometimes so busy that we do not take the time and understand what and where our donations are going to. At Phoneraiser we help you clearly outline to your contributors exactly how their donation can help not only your organization directly, but also the environment and those less fortunate than ourselves. This is a really good way to get people more interested in your cause, and hopefully more active.
While we certainly advocate using all of the resources at your disposal to make sure that your fundraiser is successful, if you are allowing children to help with the fundraising activities, we do want to offer some advice to ensure that everyone is safe.
- Children should never be allowed to go about the fundraising activities alone. They should always be accompanied by an adult. (Door to door fundraising is considered unfavorable by many organizations these days.)
- Make sure that your children or the responsible adult that accompanies them keep accurate records of all donations.
- If you are collecting payment, make sure that your children are not carrying large amounts of cash. Let it be known that payment is preferred in check, not only for ease of record keeping, but also so that your children are not carrying around cash, which is tempting not only for them, but for others.
- Do stress common sense and safety for all members of your fundraising team.
- Make sure that the parents or guardian knows where the children are at all times. Insist that a plan be given of where the fundraising team will be at all times, and establish check in times and locations or phone numbers as appropriate.
Fundraising is a very good time to re-enforce the everyday rules for children’s safety and to encourage the use of common sense in everyday situations that children might encounter. If you do not feel that these types of fundraisers are appropriate for your group, choose Phoneraiser, or another similar fundraiser that allows for more central drop or selling points.
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Posted: July 7, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Or more to the point, fundraising for Boy Scouts! Why only Boy Scouts? Well, the Girl Scouts organization has its own very successful, tasty and popular fundraiser that we all participate in every year, Girl Scout Cookies! No need for a PR drive or even mass marketing for the Girl Scout Cookies. This time honored and eagerly awaited time of year brings a smile to everyone’s face. And we always buy enough to stock the freezer for just a little while.
So while there is no set in stone yearly fundraiser for our Boy Scouts, it is one of the easier organizations to fundraise for, as there are typically no political, religious or sociological aspects to the Boy Scout Troops that fundraise. These are typically the first stumbling block for many fundraisers, as these aspects tend to limit the pool of donors slightly.
Obviously, we think that one of the best ways to fundraise is through a dedicated Phoneraiser. With 100% of the profits going directly to your organization, and virtually no overhead, Phoneraisers are not only good for you, but they are good for the environment and good for others as well.
That being said, there are certainly some basic rules of fundraising, which your little fundraisers might not be aware of, and although scouts tend to the more polite end of society by virtue of their scouting experiences, reminding them of a few etiquette rules will never go amiss.
- Language matters. Especially when speaking with older donors, as they are very set in their ways typically and like to be spoken to in a way that does not contain any slang, shortening of names, and which always adheres to the proper forms of address. More to the point do not refer to your mature donors as old, elderly or senior citizens. In fact, for the most part, it is best not to reference people’s age.
- Teach your scouts to send out or hand deliver personal thank you notes. No emails for thank yous, even in this day and age. A handwritten note implies that you have taken the time to appreciate and acknowledge a person’s gift. Not only is this the appropriate and polite thing to do, but this will also encourage your donors to contribute in the future.
- Take your scouts to visible public locations, in their uniforms, so that you can attract more donors. At the same time, make sure that your scouts do not approach people alone, but do so in a group, or with a parent or responsible adult. Grocery stores, libraries, public events, these are all good places to do some last minute drives for your fundraiser.
Remember that as Boy Scouts, your group has a natural head start on many of the other groups looking to obtain fundraising resources and funds. As with schools, most people will have a connection to the scouting community, whether as a parent, teacher, sibling, family member or former scout. You have a large pool of potential donors, and using this network to your fullest advantage will help you to have a successful fundraiser.
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Posted: July 5, 2010 at 1:51 pm
In this age of constant going and running around, it’s a rare mom who gets to stay at home and do the Leave It To Beaver, June Cleaver mom thing. We are all insanely busy bringing our children to the sports, band, and extracurricular activities for which we are doing the fundraising for in the first place. We as parents certainly do not have the free time that our parents did to make fundraising successful. As such we need to use every possible advantage we have, and that includes making use of the new and old cell phones. The new to coordinate and the old to donate!
In that vein, we at Phoneraiser offer the following tips for having a somewhat easy route to your fundraising success.
- Cell phone: You have one, and nearly everyone you know will have one. (That’s one of the reasons to choose Phoneraiser for a fundraiser!) Make sure that everyone on your fundraising team has one another’s cell phone numbers so that you are all in touch and able to coordinate activities.
- Telephone Tree: If you are a larger group, a telephone tree is a must! As the organizer, it is important that you have a deputy, and that you only need to make one or two phone calls in order to pass a message along. Each person on the phone tree should be responsible for calling up to three other people, until everyone has been reached.
- Email: Make sure that your email communications are short and concise, clearly outlining action items and recapping any meetings or conversations that have been had since the last email communication that has gone out.
- Recapping: This is very important, as it is in this way that people who have missed a meeting can be kept up to date, and everyone who was at a meeting can be reminded of what was said.
- Newsletter: If your group has a newsletter, make sure to place updates in the newsletter. This will make sure that people who are working to create a successful fundraiser are recognized for their contribution, and will generally generate more volunteers.
- Website: Does your organization have a website? If so, place a ticker bar on the home page as well as a news section so that you can update your donors and volunteers. Remember that people who are donating either goods or their time are doing it out of the goodness of their heart, but that does not mean that they should not be recognized for their efforts.
You can do any of these things either from the new and improved cell phones that are available these days, or alternatively from any computer. You no longer need to be sitting at your kitchen table or headquarters in order to run a successful campaign.
Of course, the tone of your communications is as important, if not more so, than the means of communication. A positive and enthusiastic tone of communication is sure to generate a more excited and positive response than a lackluster “thanks”. Remember, you are asking people to give, and you should always do so with a smile on your face and in your tone!
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Posted: July 1, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Naturally, the you is you, and the them? Well those are your donors. The folks that you need to convince to either donate their time, their money, or their items in order for you to make that much needed fundraising goal so that your group can go to camp, on that trip, build that facility, or whatever the case may be. At the end of the day, the goal is to raise funds for your group, no matter what the end game is for the money. This means a marriage between your goals and their ideals.
So, in order to get people to donate to your cause, you must understand just what it is that makes them tick. If you don’t you might as well be a republican asking a democrat to donate money to your re-election campaign. It just won’t happen.
What does make donors tick? Why do they donate to your cause, or any cause for that matter? Why do they choose one cause over another?
- Personal Connection – Does your donor have a personal connection to your cause? These people will be the easiest to convince to “share their wealth”. They automatically see an intrinsic benefit in donating to your cause over another cause.
- Making a difference: This is another easy group, although not quite as easy as the first group. These folks want to feel good about donating. And with Phoneraiser, they not only feel good about donating to a cause, but also by helping the environment. What makes them tick is seeing a tangible benefit from their donations, so when you approach them, be prepared to spell out just how their contribution is going to help the cause.
- Crusader: Crusader might be a strong word, but these folks are taking an active interest in a cause because they feel that they are a bit more in control of the whirlwind that is constantly surrounding us because of the media or other outside influencers. By choosing one cause and sticking to it, these people can become very effective ambassadors for your cause. Make sure that when you approach these folks that they know that their personal contribution is going to make a big difference.
- Personal Recognition: Certainly not the most noble of reasons to become involved in fundraising, however at the end of the day the goal is to earn money for you cause, and you will inevitably have those that donate so that they can see their names called out. Indulge this, and accept it to a certain extent. You can’t acknowledge one donor over others who have donated at the same level too much. However, it is often not necessary to spell out the size of the donation. Politely acknowledge and thank everyone as equally as possible, even if you must pay a bit more personal attention to some.
So clearly, people donate for a variety of reasons. The key for you, just like in any relationship, is to determine the tone and tempo that you take with each person, and tailor your approach to that person. You don’t treat every family member the same, and you aren’t asking them to give you something all the time, so don’t treat all of your donors the same either.
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Posted: June 25, 2010 at 1:35 am
Depending on the reason behind your fundraising campaign, you have to devise a strategy to approach the campaign so that you start out on the right foot. On the one hand it might require very little on your part, while in some cases it might seem as if you have to do everything yourself. It all depends on your target community and of course how well you are communicating your intentions to your donors and potential donors, as well as to your team. This being the clichéd advice given time and time again, it must also be mentioned that you should adapt your approach to accommodate the needs of your organization and community.
School fundraisers are by far the easiest. You have a community which directly benefits from your efforts. This in itself motivates your students, who are the beneficiaries, as well as their parents, who are also beneficiaries, as they will have to foot the bill for things like sports uniforms out of their own pocket if your fundraiser is not successful. It is not necessary for you to conduct an external event or anything expensive to solicit sponsors. Send the parents and children out to canvas local businesses asking for their support, and among your student body you are sure to have business owners as parents.
While this will almost always be the case for school fundraisers, if you have a cause or if you are working on a community fundraiser, you might find it a bit more difficult to secure donors. (After all, nearly every local business will have some tie to the schools in that area, whether a child in the school, a niece or nephew or perhaps they themselves are alumni of the school.) This is different from school fundraiser in many ways. One of the primary differences that you will notice is the need to more aggressively market your fundraiser if you are working on a community fundraiser. (You will not have the built in benefit of parents needing to save money, and therefore being more proactive.) You will need to show donors and potential donors the benefit of participating in your fundraiser. The most important, and also the toughest job, is to get noticed. You must strive to reach the eyes and ears of everyone in your community. Eye-catching outdoor campaigns are the norm. Think of the typical summer car wash, or bake sale that goes on around school start up times.
Arm your fundraiser with a battle cry or in your case a catchy tag line or slogan that will make you stand out from the crowd. You should inspire your potential donors in a way that calls to their generous nature. This is a very important aspect of efficient fundraising. Obtaining new donors is no less important than maintaining tried and true donors.
Perhaps you can approach an influential person from the community asking them to voice their support for your campaign. Religious and political leaders have enormous potential and charisma to attract a large following. You can make use of their influential prowess by asking them to join your team.
Grabbing the attention of people and convincing them of the worthiness of your cause is the ultimate aim. Pastors and politicians are great at this (after all, they do it on a daily basis). They can explain the necessity and the benefits of your campaign. It gives a touch of authenticity and approval to your campaign that is irresistible! It also opens up your potential donor base to include all of the people that these leaders come in contact with.
By making use of Phoneraiser you can provide a valuable and a highly justified reason for your contributors to support your cause. Environmental awareness has become a high priority for many people. This is the right time to make the best use of Phoneraiser for your fundraising campaigns.
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Posted: June 23, 2010 at 2:33 am
Different people try to achieve different goals with a fundraising campaign. Most of them could be put into one of the three categories – steady income, jab and big bucks. Regardless of the organization you are representing you might be going for a campaign with one of these objectives in mind.
Steady income campaigns are focused on bringing you a continuous flow of income all year long. Obviously you would need a separate and dedicated team working on it the whole year round. If there are no standing instructions for the people working the campaign, you might find that they spend more time trying to sort logistics out rather than profitable fundraising activities. Given the statistic that on an average a person uses a mobile phone for one to one and a half years, you could ask your donors to agree to contribute one used mobile phones each year or so! Phoneraiser helps you get the most for those used mobile phones! Make sure that the basics are covered at all times, and make sure that you have clearly defined instructions for your team.
Jabs are just what they sound like. If you are planning to run a campaign to add to your primary income, you are going for a booster or a jab campaign. This requires you to come up with some innovative ideas to bring in quick money. Social events are the best way to go. You can always arrange a social event and sell tickets in advance. With the idea that you get back what you have invested by selling about half of the total tickets and rest being the profit, you can gain a lot in a short time. Further, selling tickets in advance increases the chance of more people turning up for the event and helps you plan. Use the event to build a rapport with your community and also to extol the benefits of your organization. Selling your benefits is the most important aspect of fundraising campaigns.
On the other hand, if you are trying to pull big strings and make a mountain of cash, you are looking for a big bucks fundraising campaign. This no doubt requires you to spend a lot of time on fundraising activities. A grand event is what is needed. Getting a celebrity or well know person to help publicize your campaign is the best way to go. You have to put in your best efforts and give everything you have to give to make these types of campaigns successful. In essence you are looking for an idea where you would raise big money in a short period of time. Phoneraiser pitches in with a huge contribution for this kind of effort. You can collect a lot of used mobile phones from a group of people as almost everyone is likely to have one or two up their sleeve. You can return these to Phoneraiser, who will help you raise the much needed funds that you are looking to raise. (And with the release of the iPhone 4, now would be a great time to start looking at this fundraising opportunity. People galore will be looking to upgrade their phones to this newest and coolest model of the ever popular Apple iPhone.) With every penny going directly to your campaign, and no overhead cost for your cause, this is one of the most economical fundraisers around!
No matter what you are planning to achieve with your fundraiser efforts, Phoneraiser can fit right in and can bring you unmatched benefits!
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