Easy Fundraising Ideas

By Cheryl Henderson -

I am the first to admit that fundraising has always been something of a mystery to me. My first experience with raising money was last year when my daughter became interested in Alex's Lemonade Stand. It is a charity that raises money for pediatric cancer research. We held our Lemonade Stand event at a community street fair and did okay. But I've been wondering ever since how we could have done better. The book Easy Fundraisers for Your Homeschool Organizations has opened my eyes to the many different avenues to reaching our next fundraising goal.

Carol Topp's book focuses on five easy (and effective) methods to raise money for your homeschooling groups, co-ops, etc. They are:

  • Coupon and Reward Programs: General Mills has a program that works well with homeschooling groups and Carol tells you how to make this one of the easiest fundraisers you've ever seen! I wasn't aware that some grocery and retail stores will actually make donations to nonprofit organizations as a reward for shopping with them. Were you?

  • Shopping Reward Programs: These programs return a portion of a shopper's purchases (typically 2-4%) to a nonprofit organization of their choice. The author's group received $500 during one year's participation.

  • Food as a Fundraiser: I never would have thought of this as an option! Her real-life examples are

  • Donation Drives: A great way to raise money. And if you're group qualifies, your donors can write off the donations. Carol explains how this works in the book

  • Income from Your Website: By joining affiliate programs you can set up an ongoing donation process for your co-op. Carol tips you off on the best program for this type of fundraising.

And did you know that under specific circumstances individual homeschooling families can do personal fundraisers for themselves? Carol also gives the low-down on reporting fundraiser income as well as additional fundraising ideas to bounce around with your co-op group. And as with all of the Wee Books sold at The Old Schoolhouse, there are additional website links to expand on the topic of fundraising. This book has put the "fun" back into fundraising for me. :-D

P.S. And if you'd like to make a donation to Alex's Lemonade Stand, please click here. Thank you!

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