Do It Yourself Fundraising Ideas

If you've spent any amount of time in a Family Readiness Group, you know that money always seems to be short in doing what you want to do with your families. I actually was in an FRG once where EVERYONE got tickets to a great amusement park or got a large percentage of their formal ball tickets subsidized. I also remember...now I'm just talking fundraisers in general...our children's school would always send home this crap, whether it was chocolate or wrapping paper to sell. I would rather just write a check and be done with it! But here I am, heading up an FRG and have to be somewhat creative so we can make some money to spend.

Here are some ideas to get your creative braincells churning. I know I don't have any, so I have to dig in my memory for some of the things that have worked in the past and have included those as well. As with everything we do in an FRG, you gotta make sure you swing this stuff by your legal section. We had another unit on our post over here in Germany want to raffle off their commander's parking spot...what a great idea, right? It was great alright until legal slammed it down. You can't raffle off government property and this spot on the ground was deemed government property...so they weren't able to do it....but, they could raffle off...or should I say "give an opportunity" to slam a cream pie in the commander's face...doesn't seem fair, does it?

I found some interesting fundraising ideas on the site below.

Fundraising Ideas

Some things that we've done in the past include....

• Brat burns. That's what they call it over here in Germany. You grill bratwurts or hotdogs and sell them with a soda and chips. Now, as an FRG you can't solicit anything, so you stick out your coffee can and have a sign for a suggested donation amount.

• Bakesales. But these are going the way of the dodo bird...I have never found them worth it, but it you have a lot of sweet tooths in your unit, it may pan out.

• Anything on CafePress. This is a great inexpensive way to take advantage of personalized printed items. You can use your unit crest or insignia as long as your commander approves it. We've done baby onesies, shirts and even Christmas ornaments which we will "sell" at this year's holiday event. If you open up your own store on Cafepress...with your one logo or design (that is the way to keep it free), you can get discount and bulk pricing.

• Get an extended family member to donate something to raffle off...or should I say, you sell an opportunity for this item...in some states, raffles are illegal too without proper authorizations...make sure you know the rules. We had a generous mom donate a $100 Michael Garman statue. We also had some ladies make some table centerpieces, which will also get raffled off at our holiday event.

• Get involved in community events. We recently collected items for a community fleamarket. Our ladies were very generous with all kinds of things, and it only took a handful of us to actually run the sale tables.

What do you do to raise money for your FRG?