Anyone good with fundraising and fundraising ideas?

[fryjack2]

I'm running the Boston marathon this year, and need to raise a bit of money.  Its more than I've had to in the past so I'm looking for some advice.

Is there a certain way to approach companies asking for donations (either financial or items for a raffle) that will increase my chances of getting them to agree?

Has anyone hosted a fundraising night at a bar or restaurant and would share their experience?

What are the chances that a place like Starbucks would donate say, 30 cents from every drink between 8-11am every Monday to my effort?

Any advice is welcome

[karmasabiotch]

Starbucks does charity giving but not personal donations.

You can try and see if a bar/pub in your area would host a party for you with free pool/darts and apps since your friends will likely buy drinks and they will still make money off of them and have your friends donate to you.

I sort of hate when friends ask me personally to donate. I rather an e-mail telling me about what they're doing and a link to their giving page. I get hit up weekly. It's too much. Good luck though!

Are you crafty? Can you make and sell something?

[Deleted]

A lot of corporate restaurants (Culvers, BWW, Ruby Tuesday, Bob Evans, etc.) do fundraisers, e.g. 10% of all sales from 5-8pm go to you, but typically it is for nonprofits. I guess I am not familiar with the fundraising aspect of the Boston marathon to know how that would fit in. I would try for small businesses because I think they have more leeway to work with you than the corporate places. Some stores (usually grocery stores) allow for people to hold bake sale fundraisers in their lobby area, that could be another option.

[whiskeyandwine]

Probably no dice w/ Starbucks giving you 30 cents, but there are a lot of places that will work with you. If you have a Coldstone I think they're pretty good about doing fundraiser nights. So is Panda Express. If you take them the 501c(3)/NFP paperwork for the organization you're raising money for they can walk you through it. It's usually like, X% of the proceeds go to your charity and then it's your job to get people in the door. That's easy because they handle all the money for you - send it right to your organization.

Also, I think the easiest way honestly is Facebook. Post your link, and then keep posting like, once every month leading up to the event. As it gets closer, post it ever other week, then once a week, then a BIG push the 10 days leading up to your event.

See if your work, church, gym, knitting store (whatever) will also post your link on their FB Page like, "One of our employees/members/fav customers/parishioners is running for cancer research! Can you help out?"

Have people that support you (partner, parents, etc.) also post your link.

[jacob]

I know this could be considered self-promotion; but I honestly believe it is your best bet (which is why I took the time to register to tell you about it, lol)

My friend started a coffee fundraising website that is awesome. Basically, for every pound of coffee you sell, you make around 5 bucks. Then, for every re-order that person makes, you get another $2 or $3 bucks. The idea is that you sell the coffee for your fundraiser and then you get recurring income from re-orders that could go to help fund other races.

Anyway, you can check his website out here: www.yourcupcounts.com.

To help prevent this being viewed as completely self-promotion I've separated my affiliate link. If you click this link I could make a couple bucks as well: yourcupcounts.com/affiliates/CantWeAllJustGetAlong

Anyways, even if you don't use this, I hope it gave you some extra ideas about fundraising!

[janegold]

I have a friend who does raises money at a comedy club each year for her Avon Walk. It's at Prince Pizza in Saugus. I've never been but she also sends around a link to her fundraising page and I have donated through that instead. I'm honestly happy to donate to friends who send around fundraising links.