FUNDRAISING IDEAS

Never Too Young To Do Your Part – Easy Fundraisers for Kids

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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