Fund Raising for Dummies (i.e. myself)

I have had several people ask me lately...

"How on earth have you raised so much money?"

You have to understand that I have NEVER fund raised before. Some things were obvious (like emailing friends and family) but I also used the internet to look for ideas. 

So I thought I would share Team Esella's not so secret secrets ;)

1) Recruit team members. This was huge...I already have amazing friends and family! I started out just with direct friends and family but then I told people ANYONE can join....even if they can't walk with you that day. For example one of my best friends can't actually walk with us as she has a wedding that day...but she joined anyway and has already raised $100! So don't limit yourselves to people local...you can get friends and family out of the area to join and help you fund raise too...then you could just carry pictures of them with you the day of the walk ;)

2) I started a website (blogger) devoted to the walk. It was easy (It took me a few hours to set it up only because I was trying to get the wording right) and FREE. In today's internet age...I think a website is key. Ours is here:


Team Esella Site

3)We started with the email campaign...every team member send out an email to their friends and family explaining that they were walking in the 2011 Arthritis walk and why. The Arthritis site has some sample letters and I basically cut and pasted and put my own twist on it. INCLUDE your website so people can READ YOUR STORY. Make them WANT to donate.

4) Then I made a video. You want people to donate? Make a very powerful video. Post in on your site, your bog, on Facebook, and email the direct link out. You need to TELL YOUR STORY and a video is a great venue. Here is ours:


Juvenile Arthritis: Did You Know?

5) Use Facebook, Twitter or whatever social networking site you are on. Ask all your "friends" and "followers" to post your site on their pages. When someone donates, thank them on the site, and tag them (so it will be on their page) AND post the link to your site...then that persons friends will see it and may also donate.

6) Get local businesses on board. A friend got a business to match donations in her name up to $500..it was an easy $500!

7) Have some kind of fund raiser event. We are having a Casino Night...all proceeds going to the team.

8) Have a vendor party and have a certain percentage of the proceeds go to the cause. You can do one vendor or several...add a little wine tasting and you have a great girls night out! One our team members is hosting a Jewelery party!

9) Have a bagel sale at your work. My husband will be doing something like this at his work...basically you bring in bagels (or some type of food) with some fixings and people can donate to the cause. Easy and inexpensive!

10) Have your children get actively involved by having a lemonade stand. Another easy, inexpensive idea. To entice people to come out, get some local businesses to donate gift cards or goods and have a raffle. For example...each patron gets one raffle ticket for their lemonade purchase...and then each $5 donation past that gets them additional tickets. We are going to be trying this out in a few weeks!

11) Other ideas: bake sale, block party, cook off, raffles, make and sell hair bows or buttons....

12) And another idea...some restaurants have a fund raising night type of thing... Chevy's does....you hand out fliers and 15% of the proceeds go to your charity.  

13) Contact all your local news stations and news papers to see if they will do a story on your cause


There you have it! Fund raising for dummies! Good luck in your walks!! If you have other great ideas, please leave a comment!