Fundraising helper
Are you and your team drawing a blank when it comes to brainstorming new ideas? Or just too worn out to think (we get that feeling 100%). These ideas may be the cure.
Livestream donate on Social Media
A great example of this is The Cincinnati Zoo used livestreaming to show off some of their animals while running a live fundraiser that supported the zoo’s work.
You could ‘Go live’ on any Social Media Platform that you’re active on. Some platforms are easier to hold a fundraiser on. Facebook for instance makes this very easy and they’re taking zero percent of the transactions.
When selecting your human host or hosts, make sure to tap your most engaging and fun volunteers to participate, as their dialogue and humor will go a long way to make the live event really fun and entertaining (and likely to get folks to come back for the next one).
Livestream idea examples could be a fun dog walk or a road trip adventure for a walkie with maybe a stop for a Puppaccino on the way home; showcasing feeding time ala “Come help us feed the doggies dinner!”, preparation of their meals and meds and the happy animals getting their meals delivered; have your trainer do a series of training shorts that address various common training issues a new dog owner may have or answer questions submitted in advance and/or live during the stream about pet care, new pet in the home, children and new pets, basic training etc.
Set up a Pickleball tournament
Pickleball has become the recreational pastime of choice by folks of all ages. Work with local restaurants or even a bakery for refreshment sales and see if a local sporting goods store can donate prizes or gift certificates etc. or even a popular family restaurant donating a prize meal for the winner and a few friends.
If your shelter/rescue is small, consider asking another shelter/rescue to co-host with you or even partner with another business such as a pet store. And consider getting a sporting goods store or even manufacturer of Pickleball paddles etc. to sponsor some of the event or provide prizes.
The entry fee would cover a donation and any incidentals on top of what you would like to bring in per entry.
Sell customized tournement t-shirts or have them online so folks can buy on demand (saves you having to pay for inventory that may not sell etc.).
Run A Skills Clinic/camp
Wtih summer coming and parents looking for activities for the kids, this can get the interest of kids who maybe are too young yet to volunteer. Let’s train the next generation of volunteers while making some money! Make it fun and maybe start out with posing “kid on the street” questions about having a pet or even silly questions to get them loosened up and comfortable “if you were a pet, what would you be and what would your name be?”. Set up a skills clinic at the shelter and/ or do some online posting. Get the word out through email & social media. Charge a nominal fee for children to sign up with a slight increase for adults (if you wish, or if it applies to your event), customize the message to appeal to kids in a way to make them feel important and special by helping the dogs and cats if they sign up for this fun event and pay a small fee/donation .
Maybe a local trainer or pet store that offers training can donate a prize of a free class or gift certificate, so you can have prize drawing at the end of the clinic with all participants entered for a chance at the prize.
Photo contest, calendar dog/cat cover pet!
An organization I was with, a small breed specific rescue, used this a few years ago and it became our largest fundraiser in our history! I alone set it up and then created the calendars and we cleared $3500 +.
Animals will compete to be the cover model for a calendar. In our contest I created added winners via awarding 12 runner ups to be the featured dog for each month (runner up photos were the larger one on each month’s page and we highlighted them by featuring their name and winner status).
https://www.gogophotocontest.com/tour
GoGo Photo Contest allows your organization to run an entire donate-to-vote photo contest fundraiser online: Entering and voting happens through a customized photo contest site that's created just for your organization, backed by our easy-to-use software.
Entrants upload their photos directly to your photo contest site, and participants donate for votes where $1 = 1 vote. All of the voting is managed by our software, which means that the contest results are always shown in real time and there's never a question as to who is currently in the lead.
When your contest ends, the entries with the most votes win the contest and the prize(s) associated with the top spot! You can even award prizes to the top winners in individual categories. We got prizes donated by local (one of our categories was called “Local and Lucky”) and national businesses but the prize can also be just being selected by top votes to be the cover “Model” for the calendar.
This contest will be promoted nationwide by the gogo photo website and your Facebook boosted posts (you will pay a fee for a “boost” but very worth it) so winners could be anywhere, keep this in mind if you do look to get actual prize donations.
March Madness can equal donation madness
A popular local bar/restaurant that gets heavy traffic during basketball playoffs may be a great partner to get donations. If they allow animals you could take two per game and dress each in the team colors and have supporters donate for “their” team. The underdog may get a lot of sympathy and still get some serious dough.
Ask if the establishment may donate a percentage of take during one of the games and/or have a donation box near the bar or other strategically places area.
Pick a date where the game will likely be a big draw, i.e. the earlier matches may not be your best bet if you can help it.
Local up and coming business has a hot product
Is there a local business that has hit on a great product or service that others (not just dog/cat lovers) would love to win? Or can the product be customized as part of a prize drawing?
Think beyond pet owners and your shelter supporters as your only audience; broaden your thoughts to the general public, to really pull in maximum dollar return. This applies to many aspects of fundraising. Let’s face it, our usual supporters are likely maxing out what they can financially do, so we need to focus on other populations/consumers and what they would love to have or win etc. and how we may offer this to them by means of a fundraising event.
Ways to find more fundraiser ideas
Look to any local or regional dog friendly businesses such as breweries or places with outdoor dining and check their Facebook page and their own business website for a history of events they hosted or sponsored in the past. Looking at businesses outside of your area actually can be helpful as they may have event ideas your region has not had before. So you just found a new and clever idea that will get attention!
Put out the call to those who cannot help in other ways to be your “Fundraising Resource Officer”. We have folks out there that often say they wish they were able to do things like help in the shelter, walk dogs, clean, or provide monthly financial support, but are not in a place to do so. Big hearts that may love to find a way to help without leaving their homes.
Till next time,
From one Heart to another,
~Sandra