Fundraising Resources:
Special Events
Carnivals
To create a real carnival atmosphere, you've got to have games—lots of games. For those who like games of skill there are basketball, ring toss and bowling. There are also traditional children’s games like the cakewalk and the fishing pond. All of these are simple to run and kids love them.
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Basketball Shoot. Players stand several feet away and aim a basketball into a hoop. With each basket, points are earned that can be redeemed for prizes.
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Fishing Pond. Each child is given a cane fishing pole, two or three feet long, with a clothespin clamped to the end of a string. The moment the children toss their fishing lines over a screen into the "pond," they pull out an exciting catch.
Two volunteers are hidden behind a screen, waiting to attach a prize to the clothespin. (All of the prizes are donated.) Although the kids know the volunteers are there, they are still elated when they reel in a prize.
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Cake Walk and Book Walks. Parents bake pastries and cakes for two cakewalks, which are run simultaneously. While the music plays, children stroll around a circle of numbered squares. When the music stops they stand on the nearest square. A caller draws a number from a box. Whoever is standing on the square with that number wins a cake. At the Austin RIF carnival, kids play a variation on this game called a Book Walk. Members of a high school student council run the game.
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Balloon Sculpture. For two tickets, a clown makes eye-catching balloon sculptures of animals, whatever kind of animal the child requests.
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Ring Toss. It requires skill and coordination to pitch a ring into a series of containers, each marked with a different point number. Points are added to the score each time the child gets the ring into the container.
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The Lollipop Tree. Little children flock to the wooden lollipop tree, which has 50 peg holes on each side, so that a volunteer can load it from one side, while children are choosing lollipops from the other. The object is to pull out the sucker that has a blue or red tip and win a great prize.
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Face-Painting. Everyone lines up at this booth to have older kids or volunteers paint their faces with water-base paint.
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Craft Tables. Set up and supervise craft tables where kids can color their own T-shirts and decorate their own bookmarks with beans, macaroni, glitter and paint.
Other proven "moneymakers" include:
- Admission fee
- Pictures with cardboard cutouts of book characters
- Book sales
- Cotton candy
- Popcorn
- Coffee and Baked Goods Sales
- Door prizes
- Bingo
Volleyball Tournament
How the Tournament is Set Up
The tournament is always held at the high school gym on a Friday night in mid-November. The RIF coordinator restricts participants to leisure league level players, or “fun players,” as she calls them. The teams are divided into two pools—A and B. Teams are made up of equal numbers of men and women. Participants must be 18 years or older and out of high school. There are two volleyball courts, so the first four teams start the match and play “round robin.” There are usually 25 to 45 games a night, with every team playing at least three games.
There is a concession stand which serves hot dogs, cabbage rolls, refreshments, candy, and baked goods. All of the supplies for the stand are donated by local retailers and all proceeds go to RIF.
Organizing the Tournament
Six weeks before the game, the RIF coordinator begins lining up teams and referees. Then she solicits donations of food, services, and time from members of the community. The tournament is also advertised in the local newspapers.
After the tournament, the RIF coordinator always writes a thank you to the “Letter to the Editor” column, which is headlined “RIF Coordinator Thanks Tourney Participants,” and is published in the local newspaper.
Final Checklist
- Six weeks before the tournament, sign up teams via letter.
- Solicit shopkeepers to donate food and trophies.
- Line up referees and judges.
- Organize concession stand.
- After the tournament, thank everyone for donations of time, money and food.
Spelling Bee
One year the El Paso Jaycees, who are active in promoting literacy teamed up with local news outlets to sponsor an “Executive Spelling Bee.”
For a $125 donation to the Jaycees literacy program, a local business could enter a speller in the contest. Each speller received a T-shirt, a practice spelling book, and 10 tickets to take his or her cheering squad to the bee. Prizes were awarded to the three top spellers.
Tickets to the bee were a $12.50 donation. Snacks were served throughout the contest. The money raised was donated to RIF and other literacy programs in the El Paso area.
"A-thons"
A-thons work like this:
- Participants go into the community to sign up sponsors.
- Sponsors pledge to contribute a set amount of money to the RIF project for every book read, mile cycled, kite flown, and so forth (though some donors just pledge a set amount, which is fine, too).
- While participants are finding backers, volunteers solicit prizes from banks, sport stores and other retailers.
- After the A-thon, an award ceremony is held in which those who bring in the most money in pledges win prizes.
Kites for RIF
“Kites for RIF”—organized by the American Association of University Women of Brownwood, Texas—has all the elements of a good fundraiser. It raised $500 to buy RIF books, was great fun for kids and got good coverage in local newspapers.
First, children in grades K-6 obtained sponsors from among the business community. Next, they built and decorated their own kites. Then, on a windy day in March, they gathered on a big baseball field to fly those kites.
Prizes were awarded for first kite up, highest-flying kite, most original kite, largest kite and smallest kite. A Grand Prize was awarded to the student who had collected the most money for RIF.
A Reading Marathon with a Twist
An annual reading marathon, organized by the Jane Warren RIF project (Salem, Ill.), turned out to be a big winner, when children were given the opportunity to earn prizes by bringing in additional sponsors.
All of the prizes are sports related—the kind that appeal to kids. The RIF coordinator at the program negotiated with a local sports store to get special discounts on T-shirts, hats, sweatshirts and gym bags. These items were offered to kids who brought in $25 or more in pledges.
The reading marathon starts off like any other. After pledging to read 10 books, the children find retailers, relatives and friends who will back their effort by contributing to RIF.
After several weeks, the award night is held. The child who brings in $25 in pledges gets a T-shirt. The one who brings in $50 wins a T-shirt and a hat, and so forth. Kids who meet their reading goals can also enter their names in a raffle for a brand new bike, which a sports store donates.
Craft Fairs
For craftspeople and artists, the difficulty is often in finding a central place in which to exhibit. RIF craft fairs around the country are making money for RIF while offering artisans an opportunity to display and sell their wares under one roof.
Food Sales
Selling food can be as simple as a baked goods sale, or as complicated as a sit-down dinner with entertainment and an emcee.
Cookbooks
The regional cookbook idea has been around awhile, but new variations are always cropping up. A bilingual RIF cookbook found a new niche in Dallas several years ago. The cookbook sold for $3 per copy and featured more than 500 “multiethnic recipes, ranging from Japanese teriyaki to Italian squash, Mexican style.” A parent, a student, or a teacher contributed each recipe. All of the proceeds were used to help buy RIF books for kids at the Davy Crockett Elementary School.
Used Book Sales
Many RIF projects are holding used book sales to raise funds — “a book for a book” as one volunteer quipped. Remember, used books may not be distributed as part of the RIF program.
Flea Markets
A number of RIF programs, after considering ways to make money, decide on a rummage sale.
Charity Auctions
Long a favorite with fundraisers because it brings in lots of bucks, the charity auction requires a team of hardworking volunteers, great bid items, good publicity and a fast-paced auctioneer to be a success.
Penny-pinchers for RIF
Place penny collection jars wherever people congregate—on store and restaurant counters, in gas stations or in the teacher’s lounge at school. Signs with catchy reading slogans urge customers to promote reading by donating their loose change to RIF.
Calendars
T-shirts, Buttons, and Bumper Stickers. Check out items in the RIF Online Store.
“Bakeless” Bake Sale
For a RIF program in Weyauwega, Wis., the biggest moneymaker is the easiest fundraiser of all, a “bakeless” bake sale. In this project, people simply donate the money they would have spent making food for the bake sale. The coordinator gets donations by sending the following poem home to parents:
No need to heat the oven, no need to grease the pans,
No need to test the batter, or get flour on your hands;
We’ve got to raise some money so our RIF quota can be met.
Figure your cost of flour and other things you’d use.
The baking soda and raisins and icings of many hues.
Then dig deep in your pocket (for that is how it’s done).
To make our sale successful, as well as lots of fun.
Count some nickels and pennies and a dollar and a dime
And place them in this envelope along with this short rhyme.
You’ll feel you’ve done your bit; it isn’t hard, you’ll find.
Quilt Raffle in Idaho
For several months, volunteers at the Boosters Club in Arco, Idaho, spent many hours putting together a unique black, white and red quilt featuring the handprints and autographs of RIF children. In September the president of the club and other volunteers went to the elementary school, traced the handprints of each child, and had the child sign them.
Afterwards there was an old fashioned quilting party, where the handprints were transferred to scraps of material and stitched together into a beautiful handmade quilt.
The quilt was displayed in the windows of local merchants around town for several weeks before the raffle. People paid $1 for a raffle ticket and the quilt was raffled off during the Festival of the Trees in December.
Valentine’s Day Fundraiser
Students in the Pendleton, Ky., Middle School raised $500 for their program on a $7 investment by making and selling lacy paper valentines for 25 cents. These youngsters also wash cars, sell poems, and do other odd jobs throughout the year for RIF.
RIF of Cowlitz County, Washington, developed a similar St. Valentine’s Day project. It has used the project as its primary fundraiser for several years and raised more than $3,000 in 1998. The RIF coordinator said it worked well for them because they were the only group doing a fund-raiser on that day.
Plant Sales
Invite a local botanist or amateur gardener to speak and comment on each plant. Talks about herbal remedies, advice on safe pesticides for use in the garden, and discussions on kinds of plants that grow best in the soil of your area are appealing topics.
Garden Show Blossoms into Popular Fundraiser
An annual spring flower show attracts lots of attention in DeKaIb, Ill. Altrusa teams up with Glidden Campus Florist to hold the show at the Egyptian Theatre. Tickets are sold at the door. The show features hundreds of exotic and seasonal flowers from different parts of the world, including tulips, orchids, lilies and forsythia. The Altrusa Cultural Award is presented at the event, which benefits RIF and other projects.
Tree Seedlings Sale in Virginia
In Richmond, Va., the Virginia Department of Forestry made available packets of seedlings, which were sold by the PTA and Community Council to benefit George F. Baker Elementary School RIF and the Arbor Day Program. Orders could be placed at the school. For $1, a customer received two seedlings, an eastern white pine and a green ash. According to the Forest Department, both prevent soil erosion and provide buffers.
Coupon Book
To raise money for RIF programs under the “Young Children: Priority One” initiative, Kiwanians ask merchants in their communities to offer special discounts on goods and services. These offers are then compiled into a coupon booklet, which is printed, bound and sold to people in the community. Proceeds from the sale of booklets go to RIF; the merchants who donate get more customers.
Membership Campaign
The basis of RIF of Southern California’s fundraising strategy is a membership campaign conducted throughout greater Los Angeles. As a gesture of support for children’s literacy, local citizens are asked to pay a once-a-year $5 membership fee (the fee for businesses, of course, is much higher). Members receive the program’s newsletter and are invited to special events, such as the annual RIF literacy fair. The program refocuses on the membership program twice a year, when it writes thank-you notes to the members and when it renews the memberships.
Talent Show
A RIF project in Buffalo, Mo., held a two-hour RIF “Hee-Haw” Talent Show in which both youngsters and adults sing, play and dance to raise money for RIF. One highlight of the show was a teacher’s skit. Tickets were $1.50 for adults and 50 cents for students. The kids sold the tickets; all of the proceeds went to buy RIF books.
Family Game Night
How about an evening of Scrabble©, Monopoly©, or authors in the school cafeteria? In Keyser, W. Va., for example, Kiwanis held a very successful Bingo Night, in which $2,000 was raised for the local RIF program. Invite the families in your neighborhood and set up a reading corner where a storyteller spins tales for little children while the adults and older kids play games. Profits come from the rental fee for game tables ($5 per table) and from food and refreshment sales.
Tours
RIF programs have held house tours and garden tours to support their reading program. The RIF coordinator at P.S. 92 in West Harlem, N.Y., has organized bus tours for holiday shoppers. Look around you. See what places might be of interest to others. A local historian might conduct a walking tour of your neighborhood. A high school botany teacher might organize a nature tour along the banks of a nearby bayou. A tour of a newspaper plant while the presses are rolling would be interesting.
School Store
A school store in Portland, Ore., provides kids with everything from school supplies to “healthful snacks.” The entire local share for RIF books comes from the profits of the store, which is run by the Irvington Elementary School PTA. The store is open three days a week in the fall and one day a week for the rest of the school year.
Sales on Commission
There’s an easy way to make money on sales and that is to sell products on commission. Profits are not as high as those on the food you make or the used goods that are donated, but organizing the sale takes less time. A few examples:
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Book Fairs. Many book publishers will offer assistance in putting on a book fair if your program will act as sponsor. Your program gets a percentage of the proceeds.
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Magazines on Commission. Under an agreement with a national subscription company, the Student Council at Ladysmith Middle School (Ladysmith, Wis.) sells magazines and books during the back-to-school season. Sixty percent of the profits goes to the subscription company; 40 percent goes to help buy RIF books. Those who sell 10 magazines or $100 worth of subscriptions can also earn a “Pizza Pig Out” badge, entitling the bearer to all the pizza he or she can eat at a local pizzeria.
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Candy Sales. The PTO in Montgomery City, Mo., appeals to the sweet tooth by selling candy bars for $1 (the project makes a 50-percent profit).
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Tupperware© Sales. In Idaho, Head Start parents hold home parties and sell Tupperware to raise money for RIF. Fifty percent of the proceeds goes for RIF books.
Hiring Out
Some program volunteers hire themselves out to clean up after sports events or fiestas, or to run coat checks at school dances and concerts. Other services provided to raise money for RIF include car washes, basement clean-ups, lawn mowing and snow shoveling.
Library Fines for RIF
At Phillips (Wisc.) High School, fines from overdue books are donated to the high school’s RIF program.
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