Holidays and Charity work .. what are some ideas how to fund raise??

Ok so every year I try to give back to charity and I was wondering If anyone had any great Ideas on how to fund raise some money to give back to the needy or someone going through a rough time?

My idea was maybe hiring a photographer and do a calender shoot with different providers and put a company and unique logo (safety) for the title . Such as Everyday girls at its best or just something different. Nothing too provactive, like maybe pin up style??

what are your ideas on how I can help raise money & especially for Thanksgiving and Christmas...

thanks everyone in advance

~~Lauren Starr

I'm not sure how comfortable some of the ladies would feel about being in a calendar? In case the calendar option does not work out, you could gather/donate particular items instead of cash for a charity or group of charities.

I knew a provider, who use to send care packages to soldiers. She was always asking for items like tooth brush/past, books (paper back preferred), candy bars/cookies and stuff in general. You could also do a toy drive aka toys for tots. Food donations (non-perishable) for the local food pantry. The womens shelter always is in need of supplies.

A topic near & dear to my heart....
I spend a lot of time/$ working with charities throughout the year, but the holidays are definitely a time of year that helps them "bulk up" to make it through the lean times.
Every year between Thanksgiving and New Year's 40% of my "donations" plus any tips are donated to a local group that caters to men who are injured while serving. But bc this is my "fun job" and my other job funds my christmas shopping, I'm in a unique situation. Not all ladies can pull cash from their donations. I always make an anonymous donation as a money order & no tax write off. I wouldn't want them to question whether or not to use the $ if they somehow discovered the source. (Though I did accept a shirt the woman insisted on giving me at my last drop off - my fav shirt now!)
Last year a (non-local) provider got national attention when she was collecting toys for a major organization, so it's always best to NOT publicly name the organization. Many gents are willing to donate specific items or gift cards.
My advice/suggestions when asking for donations:
1) start early - they will be bombarded later on
2) be specific - name specific items they can pick up
3) offer a discount when someone makes a donation
4) give them a deadline - some may drop off early and take appt later to make sure it gets to the org in time
5) make sure the gent knows it's appreciated

SA37 has a great list. I'd like to add one more. In a past civie job, we sponsored/chaired/hosted many charity functions. One of my favs was collecting food & toys for the animal shelters. Many gents don't have kids but care very much for their pets. Shelters are overwhelmed right after christmas and getting their stock up. An 8 yr old Lab is as cute as any kid when Santa brings him a new ball


PS I guess it was nearer to my heart than I thought... didn't mean to write a book in ur thread ... sorry

Nod to my peers as you've already gotten the two best ideas right off the bat. But I'd like to expand on these concepts with typical marketing science theory.

1a) A common fundraising technique is to announce that for a set time span (1st-10th) you will donate a percentage of your earnings to charity x. People are already buying your product so fund raising is a little more certain. (i.e. the same people might not purchase an auxilary product (like a calendar))

1b) Variation: instead of %, you could work an extra day you don't normally and just donate those proceeds.

1c) You could advertise a charity special where you increase earnings and donate the overage - by raising your session prices but then offsetting the increase by "extra" session time. (e.g. normal hhr 120 becomes 160 with 15 extra minutes); the "real" result (marketing science) is that you have taken a consumer who normally buys hhr and temporarily converted them to a higher value consumer; someone who buys 45min sessions.

(nod to atxdream since these are just more detailed versions of what she suggested)

2) Collecting "Discards" - you donate your service as a facilitator; collect things that people have that they might not want anymore (old books, old clothes, etc)
You could either donate these directly to a charity or convert them to $$ (sell them to consignment store, second hand book store) and then donate the $$.
2b) you could combine collection with extra session time insentive mentioned above

3) You could directly donate your time to an already established charity system. The structure/concept they have set up may be incredibly effective but might simply not be earning enough because they don't have enough manpower.

3b) You could give away free sessions to people who sign up with you.

Best of Luck and Happy Holidays in Advance

P.S. I like sexy calendars and would LOVE to see a sexy pin-up cal of our lovely ladies, but...

But... to throw more marketing science out there, in general, low-cost products are not an effective way of raising capital. This is true of any merchandising item (calendars, t-shirts, etc) which is why they only exist in limited markets (concerts, book stores, etc)

First you'd have to outlay (raise) the capital to produce a commercial quality calendar. Then you'd have to order it in a relatively large bulk to bring the production cost down.
Then you'd only be able to inflate the price a small percentage so you'd have to sell a LOT of them to raise any significant amount of $$.
You'd also first have to recover your initial investment before profit occurs.

There is significant risk with this marketing model because you have to guess and spend $$ to make $$. If you guess wrong you could actually lose $$. (As many who "wing-it" find out too late)

Not slamming your original idea; in certain situations the model does work. Just wanted to point out there's a little more to this one than might be intuitively evident.

Cheers,
GC007

I normally find a family in my area that dosent have much and try to give them a good Thanksgiving and Christmas

I dont let them know who is doing it -- I will have a friend or ask a police officer to go and drop off the food and gifts

I had a provider give a discout for can food.

Remember when Hermes Music was around.
I didn't donate money but I sure did give alot of time.
They always gave away bicycles, tricycles, scooters and such.
But they needed people to assemble them.
That's what I did.

Lauren - your idea sounds good and I kinda hope you have success with it..

About once a month while out dining with my SO - it is hard not to notice a younger war veteran (usually missing a limb or with severe burn scars) out with his or her family having dinner. We simply ask our waiter/waitress to make sure we get their tab added to ours without any fanfare nor them knowing who has done this for them. We always insist dessert be added because many times there are children at the table. I simply write a note that says something like, "thank you for your service from a retired non-commissioned officer."

Every year I do a toy drive for children in our community that will not have a great Christmas. I offer a discount to those men that bring a toy to the session to donate.

This will be the 4th year I will do it, and it's always a great success. Last year, a lot of the ladies got together and got everyone to donate and then we had a christmas party to collect the gifts to donate.

I help alot of people all the time. Last month alone I helped about 4 famlies but I am always willing to help more if I can. I believe it comes back to you. If you want to do the calendar let me know I will be glad to help with that. You could also do a fund raiser with scensty candles. I was trying to think of something to do. I was thinking about just taking so much money and going to a store and just walking up to some people and giving them money. I also thought about going to a resturant and just giving some major tip. I know alot of people could use help but are too prideful to ask and those are sometimes the ones that need it the most. I love going some where and just giving a person something. I think it would be awesome to gather up food and just drop some off with a note on the front steps. I know of a guy that is Santa and he has a sexy Mrs Claus and he has a group of people that go with him and it makes everyone's day to receive just 10 from Santa. It is so cool. Good luck and let me know about the calendar. Have a good week.

You guys/gals are so wonderful and thank you for all the ideas.

I hope to link up during the holidays and make it special for someone other than myself.

I do charity and volunteer at the womens shelter but with school lately I havent been able to do

much lately. I dont just do this in the Holiday season but i tend to try to do More during this time.

Well once again thank you all.


~~~Lauren

There may be some sister providers that may be in need, but afraid to ask for assistance.
Im ALWAYS willing to help someone in need, that is at least trying to help themselves.

This year, ive been debating on finding a nursing home to buy gifts for or a needy family.
Every year i usually help a family in need (with small kids) but this year ive been thinking of doing sonething for those, " that dont have family".

Maybe a group of ladies and gents, could find a nursing home to help, and we coukd attend their xmas party and sing carols and such.

I like where this thread is going...and will definately stay tuned!!

I always do something every year...always willing to help those in need. I'm planning a fundraiser right now...will probably be in a week or two. I'll post it in Coed when I decide where to hold the party.

pm me ladies would love to help in any way