Great Fundraising Ideas

There are many great ideas that participants over the years have used to raise funds.  Each year participants get more creative on fundraising.  Participants had wine tasting parties, daily office loose change collection, picnics in the park with a silent auction, morning coffee and bake sale at the office and other creative office contests.  We even have a "Fundraising Ideas" kit for you if you want to host an event to raise funds from your friends. Just call (562) 987-5200 and ask for the kit.

Listed below are a few ideas to assist our Heroes in reaching their fundraising goal. If you have a great idea you would like to see here and tell everyone about, please email the Teams Coordinator. 

How to raise more...

People can't donate if they don't know you are participating in the Walk! Talk about the AIDS Walk Long Beach with everyone you come in contact with and how the money stays locally. Use your social networks like FaceBook, Twitter, Youtube and more to connect with friends.  Today, it's even easier to connect with friends and family and let them know what is important to you.

Talk to your grocer, doctor, nurses, dentist, hairstylist, etc.
Ask them if they would be willing to support your efforts.

Bring a sponsor pledge form to your place of worship.
If you attend religious services regularly, bring along your form and ask fellow members of your congregation to support your efforts.

Recycle.
Collect and recycle aluminum cans. Recycling is now worth more!  The State has raised the recycling value on cans and glass containers. Put a container in your break room for collecting the cans and let colleagues know that recycling helps AIDS Walk Long Beach. And don't forget to collect cans at home.

Answering Machine Message.
This will alert everyone who calls you at home that you're up to something special. Let them know that you need their support and to go to the web site.

Ask your local bartender or waiters/waitresses to donate a portion of one day's tips.
You can create a sign for the bartender to place on the bar or a slip to put with checks that reads, "All tips collected tonight will go directly to Joe Walker who's walking 5 kilometers to raise money for people living with HIV/AIDS." When people see the sign they may be willing to dig a little deeper in their pocket!

Hold a benefit tag, garage or rummage sale.
Ask your family, friends, and co-workers to donate items. Have all proceeds go to your Heroes Club fund and give anything leftover to a local non-profit organization.

Business Cards.
Print some inexpensive business cards on your computer so that you can hand out the web address of your site and get more online donations. Hand them out to everyone you meet!

Find your creative outlet.
Do you love to cook? Can you make the most fabulous brownies? What about creating stationery or designing T-shirts? Use your creativity to work for you! Sell to your family, friends, and co-workers, with proceeds going to the AIDS Walk Long Beach.

Raise Money on the Job
Include the AIDS Walk Long Beach information as part of your auto signature file in your email. Include a link to your AIDS Walk web page in your signature. Each time you send a message, the recipient will be reminded to sponsor you.

Get your company to have a Denim Day.
If there is a dress code in the office, have company employees wear jeans and a red ribbon to work one Friday if they donate $5.00 to the AIDS Walk.

Sell goodies to your officemates.
Pick up bulk packages of the most sought after sweets and set up an honor snack area near the photo copy machine. Charge $1.00 per item.

Collect Loose Change.
This is a fun one for many people.  Did you know that an average person has $30-40 dollars in loose change monthly? Everybody has a stash of loose change in a cup or jar just sitting around. Ask everyone to donate theirs toward your goal. You will be surprised how fast it adds up. Just imagine if you collected all the loose change from everyone in your office on a daily basis, just how much you would raise!

Post an AIDS Walk Long Beach poster or sign.
Put up a note by the elevator, coffee maker, copy machine, vending machine, break room, or bathroom on your floor, letting everyone know that you are a Heroes Club participant for AIDS Walk Long Beach and that you would be grateful for their donation.

Designate an AIDS Walk Awareness Day.
Give out red ribbons to each person who donates.

Skip-a-Snack.
If you normally buy candy, sodas, or other snacks, donate the change you would have spent to the AIDS Walk Long Beach instead. It may be fun to pick a day or a week when your friends or co-workers do it together!

Sandwich Runs.
How many of your co-workers wouldn't donate a few dollars to have a trusty runner fetch their sandwiches?

Hold an office potluck.
Ask everyone to cook and donate an item for a themed luncheon in the office. Then ask everyone who partakes in the lunch to donate $5 to the Walk.

Decorate Your Desk at Work.
Hang up AIDS Walk Long Beach posters, registration cards, note cards, design your own poster, hang up the Heroes Club celebration invitation--go wild! Make a poster with a thermometer, your goal being the top, and fill it in as you raise money. If you did the event last year, hang up paraphernalia from it. Get creative! Make sure people know that you are a member of the Heroes Club for AIDS Walk Long Beach, and what that means.

Event Ideas

Don't Come Event.
Are there times you would rather not attend a function? Do you feel that you would rather stay at home, relax and help out a really good cause by doing so? Then a Don't Come Event is something that you should seriously consider using as a fundraising event! Send a humorous invitation for an event that will never take place. The invitation must be clear in explaining that the event will never take place and why it is to your invitee's benefit not to come to an event they have paid for. Be original and use your imagination. Since the event will never take place you can have it anywhere, anytime and it won't cost anything extra. After the invitee has paid for their ticket(s), issue a Thank You note for their non-attendance. Again re-affirm all the benefits the invitee has enjoyed by their non-attendance mentioned in the original invitation. Where possible include a speech by the guest speaker who also did not attend.

Awards Show Party.
Everyone watches The Oscars, The Grammy's, The Golden Globes and The Tony Awards -- so turn your party into a fundraiser. Charge a cover and hand out ballots to see who can predict the most winners. Of course, charge a fee for entry into the competition. You can also present the winner with a hand-crafted statue that they will be able to take home and use as a bookend.

Murder Mystery Dinner.
Use one of the scripts from the board game, How to Host a Murder Mystery. Decorate your home in accordance with the theme. Follow the characters and scripts. Perform Scene One and then serve the salad. Perform Scene Two and then serve dinner. Dinner is followed by Scene Three, then dessert, then Scene Four. All who come are then invited to guess who the murderer is. Charge per ticket for the dinner. Make sure your meal is low-cost, even donated if possible.

Karaoke Night.
Sell tickets for an evening of awful singing at a local bar or at home. Get people to donate money to stop their friends from singing or have a singing contest. Charge an entry fee, and have proceeds from the ticket sales go to your Heroes Club fund.

Have a pop idol competition with your friends and co-workers.
Everyone gets sponsored to perform a song and you choose your own panel of judges, making sure at least one of them is as nasty as Simon on American Idol! Of course, charge 'em at the door and put the $$ toward your pledges.

Disco Party.
Plan a Disco party on a Saturday night. Sell tickets in advance, and have a raffle during the evening, appoint judges, and give a prize to the winners. Have refreshments, a costume contest, and a dance contest. Relive the glory days of disco and raise money for the AIDS Walk Long Beach.

Reverse Raffle.
Hold a non-raffle raffle, the raffle no one wants to win. Intriguing, yes? Everyone at an event is issued an equal number of tickets in the raffle for free but they have the opportunity to buy back their tickets stubs and reduce their chances of winning. Why? The first prize is one that no one wants to win, i.e. having their hair dyed green for a week!

Benefit concerts/gigs.
If you know a rock band, barn dance caller, jazz group, disco DJ or string quartet, ask them if they will do a benefit evening for the AIDS Walk Long Beach at a local club or coffeehouse.

A FEW MORE IDEAS TO HELP YOU...

Don’t be afraid to ask.   The art of asking is to ask BIG in the earliest stages.  You can adjust over time and then ask BIG as the event draws near.

Find out if your company has a matching gift program, or if they will make a one-time donation.  Don't forget to ask the people sponsoring you if their companies have a matching gift program.  Go to the Company Matching link for a partial list of companies that offer matching gifts.

If allowed by your company/school policies, put a sign or note up in front of your desk or office saying “AIDS WALK donations accepted here” or something similar.  We will have posters available for you to use - just call the office at 562-987-5200.

Piggy Bank: you might try putting a jar or container in a safe location for people to put change in.  Every penny counts!

Reward Coupons: If you can, "sell" tickets for a popular reward:  dress down privileges; leave work early; comp time; best parking space...think of something fun for your co-workers.

Barter your talents:  massage, haircutting, dog-walking, babysitting, landscaping, cleaning.  Offer these skills (or others) in exchange for a donation to AIDS Walk Long Beach.

E-mail Signature: Add a tag to your personal (or business if appropriate) e-mail signature and/or voicemail message mentioning how to support your participation in AIDS WALK Long Beach.

Great Eats!: Everyone loves to eat!  Try selling (homemade/store-bought) cookies or bulk candy.  Hold a breakfast or lunch and ask for donations.

Penny Wars: Ever heard of penny wars?  This is a great game that pits different departments/floors/classes against each other.  Each team gets a closed container with a slot on top for donations.  Every penny deposited is a positive point; every silver coin or paper bill is negative.  For example, your team could donate 100 pennies and have all 100 points wiped out if a competing team puts a $1 bill in your jar (or four quarters or 20 nickels or 10 dimes).  The team with the most net points at the end, wins!  The prize is up to you.

There are many structured fundraising programs out there that essentially offer a product for you to sell, then split the proceeds with you.  A few we've noticed:  Krispy Kreme Donuts, Ultrazone Laser Tag, Hershey's Products.  A quick internet search on "fundraising programs" will turn up dozens of ideas and possibilities, one (or more) of which may work for you!

Come up with more creative ideas!  There are a lot of ways to raise money:

• Hold a raffle in your building - ask a local business or vendor to donate a prize.
• Silent - or live - auction.  Collect prizes and auction to the highest bidder.
• Throw a theme party or a barbeque - charge a small admission - donate the proceeds.
• Ask your favorite businesses to sponsor you - this is easier than you might think.
• Have a garage sale - your trash is our treasure!
• Pressed for time?  Sell your items on e-bay or similar site.
• Recycle - collect bottles and cans to redeem - adds up fast!
• Two words - Car Wash.

Follow up with people you've contacted.  It's OK to remind your friends and family that you're still fundraising.