A fundraiser can be an effective way to raise money for organizations and causes. While there are many ideas for raising money, not all fundraisers are effective for raising large amounts of money. Choosing a fundraiser that reaches a large audience and provides potential donators with something useful or fun can be one of the best ways to raise a lot of money for your organization or cause.
Food Sales
Food booths can be a way to earn a great deal of money for a charity or organization. Low-cost food stands are ideal for this type of fundraiser. Hamburgers, fries, hot dogs and snow cones are among some of the food booth ideas that can generate a good profit for your fundraising event. Funnel cakes and pizzas are also popular food items that can generate funds for your organization. The ingredients to make funnel cakes are relatively inexpensive, making them ideal for a high profit potential, and frozen pizzas are available in bulk from fundraising product catalogs.
Social Media and Websites
Depending upon the cause you're raising money from, social media can be an effective way to raise a great deal of money. In addition to such sites, a number of websites let you set up a fundraising page (see Resources). Some of these websites require a small fee, but the access provided to such a large audience can lead to a potentially large number of donations. Placing a free goal thermometer on your website is a way to involve the people donating to your cause, letting them watch as you reach your goal. Facebook has a fundraising application you can use on your Facebook website to raise money for your cause.
Yard Sales
A yard sale with donated items can be almost pure profit for your organization. Gather donated items by visiting neighbors and collecting useful items they no longer need, then hold a weekend-long yard sale to sell the items. Since all of the items you'll be selling are donated, everything you bring in (minus the gas money to collect the items) is money for your organization.
Walk-a-thon or Bike-a-Thon
Gather a group of volunteers to walk, run or ride a bike as many miles as they can. Solicit pledges per mile from people that will be turned into donations at the end of your marathon. Donations pledged can be as low or high as those donating wish to go. With enough volunteers bringing in pledge volunteers from a wide vicinity and capable of walking or riding a long marathon, this type of fundraiser can be quite profitable.
Selling Products
There are plenty of companies that sell offer a sales before payment option to organizations that allows an organization to take orders for their products and collect up to half of the product cost for their fundraising cause. Some of the top-selling products are cookie dough (which typically results in large sales and a 50 percent profit margin), candy bars and scented candles. Many organizations find it easier selling products because it is often easier to raise money when the person donating is getting something in return.
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