Fund-raising

I am a First Responder and the group is always grateful for all the fundraising done locally for us. Our community centre organises a quiz evening twice a year and the First Responders have been the chosen charity for the past year. The whole team try to attend/win the quiz and one of us is on call during the evening. We also show the kit that the fundraising has provided.
A local WI group kindly made us the chosen charity for their soup and pud lunch - excellent fundraising idea.

What about a book sale. People could donate books they have read and then you could sell them for £1 each.

Dog walking can raise a lot of money too. Ask for volunteers to walk the dogs and then advertise the walking. Quite a lot of people who work full time will pay £5 a time for their dog to be given a good walk around a park and a run off the lead.

Guess the weight/name of the new royal baby. You could charge people £1 a guess and then have a prize. They also say how heavy the royal babies are and their official names.

I hope you raise loads of money for this good cause.

How about organising an old-fashioned Beetle drive? Great fun and anyone from 5 to 100 can join in.

For sweeties-- coconut ice is cheap and easy to make and I've always found that it sells well because it looks pretty.

We have a Jumble Trail in our area. People pay £5 to have a table in their garden and sell clothes jam sweets books bric a brac. The area is leafleted and the stalls are manned from 10 to 2.

The homelessness charity I co-founded is funded entirely through donations. The Waitrose Community Matters Scheme; the Co-op Local Community Fund; the Lions; local W.I Groups; singers; musicians and local churches.....all can be encouraged to support the work. If you can prepare a talk that lasts for about 15 minutes and highlights the work of the First Responders then there are usually local groups that will be more than willing to give you a platform. Last week I talked about our work to the Quakers and in addition to the amount donated through a collection we also received a cheque from one of the listeners for £200 and two people offered to set up standing orders to support the work we do. Another lady telephoned me and asked if she could hold a coffee morning at her church and a very talented musician is holding piano recitals with ticket sales in excess of £1000. Apart from giving presentations and perhaps filling out a few forms none of this creates additional work for the volunteers.

That is a fantastic idea grannyactivist.

I’ve found that a fireside quiz sheet is the best way to raise money, with the least trouble. It just takes someone to devise the quiz, plenty to copies printed and people willing to sell. I did a quiz last year for our local community group and we made almost £500. Top prize for the correct answers was £10. People are happy to pay £1 for the fun of testing their wits against a clever quiz and I even had people get in touch asking for copies.

We did a fun quiz last year in the village hall along with soup and puddings. With a raffle you could raise a few hundred £’s. Four of us made a soup each and we asked for donations of puds. People brought their own drinks and glasses to keep the washing up to a minimum.