Finally getting around to posting my "homework" from Tuesday's meeting: a list of suggested fundraising options.
But WHY do we need to do fundraising, Smiley??? Because running an event like this isn't FREE, and we have to cover the costs of operating a Kinetics "business" before we can even get around to the fun part of paying the up-front fees for renting venues and obtaining insurance and ordering T-shirts and making trophies. Remember, compared to KBCO's shenanigans, we're getting off pretty cheap here. That still doesn't mean FREE, and unless some wonderful benefactor wants to step up and donate $5000 to Kineticists.org for our 2009 operating expenses, we need to come up with the cash someplace.
So yes, we need money. No, it doesn't have to be a horrible experience. That's why I'm going to list LOTS of options for us to consider, and then (hopefully) ya'll will peruse them and help pick out a few you're willing to participate in. Most of these need a good group (minimum 6 people) of enthusiastic volunteers to pull it off successfully.
- Sponsorships/Donations - Requires legwork, good people skills, and someone to write acknowledgement/Thank You letters. We also need to decide what sponsors will "get" for their money or items - logo placement, acknowledgement on the website, etc.
- Concessions work at Rockies games - Need a coordinator to contact the right people & get us signed up, and a large group to volunteer. I think we can sign up for one or several games, but there needs to be a commitment to SHOW UP and WORK. Other than that, it's easy money.
- Ticket sales at Taste of Colorado - See above, except this is a one-weekend-only event.
- Bingo Hall - We arrange to run a Bingo game and split the profits for the night with the hall. Similar to above, needing coordinator and volunteers to SHOW UP and WORK.
- Spaghetti Dinner & Silent Auction - Takes more work to organize, but would be lots of fun. Could turn into an annual event with regular attendees and benefactors making donations. Sell tickets to the dinner (which is fun for all ages & cheap to prepare), provide entertainment of some sort (live music, family activities...), and solicit donations for a silent auction (free money!). I've seen how a VERY successful event is run, and learned a lot. We can do this as long as we find the right venue & have a LOT of volunteers.
- Car wash - Ok, not until it warms up! Possible option to get more money is to make it recurring (maybe every 6 weeks?) at the same place & time, and sell coupon books for washes. Not everyone will show up for every washing they paid for, and of course we'll also get drop-ins each time as well.
- Selling stuff - There's a wide variety of options here, from 50 cent candy bars & 75 cent donuts to $10 pie certificates & gift cards for local businesses to party plan fundraising (Homemade Gourmet Mixes & Tupperware plastics are two I can hook us up with for max profit potential), and plenty more.
- Restaurant-sponsored fundraising nights - I know Chick-Fil-A, CiCi's, and Sweet Tomatoes do it. There are probably more out there as well. Coordinate a date with the restaurant, distribute flyers to everyone we know, and then the restaurant donates x% to us for every person who comes in to eat with our flyer in hand.
- Rent-A-Kineticist - Could be part of the Spaghetti Dinner idea and turn it into the entertainment - auction off teams or individuals to perform general labor or other specified activities (will clean your house, detail your car, make you dinner, babysit, refinish your deck, paint your living room, build your Kinetics craft for you...). Or we could just set up a little side business where we advertise "cheap" labor to take care of handyman-type work on weekends. Reservations required, of course.
Ok, that's a good start. The floor is open for comments & discussion!!!