Have you ever wondered where your donations and support goes?

The website, “GoodGoes.org” allows you to meet local health workers and the children they help to survive.

Each year, almost 9 million children in the developing world die of largely preventable and treatable illnesses before they reach the age of five – that equates to approximately 24,000 child deaths a day. However, every 4 seconds a child survives thanks to the basic health care provided by local health workers.

Save the Children and the Ad Council are working together to mobilize citizen action in the U.S. to help local health workers save more children worldwide.

The Documentary category at the Oscars doesn’t often get much attention. However for me when I heard that the film, Smile Pinki: A real-world fairy tale, profiled international charity The Smile Train my ears perked up.

Smile Pinki tells the real-world fairy tale of one young life changed forever and takes you inside one of Smile Train’s incredible partner hospitals. This same magic happens every day for hundreds of children with cleft all over the world, thanks to your contributions and the 2,238 Smile Train doctors and nurses who give these children not just a new smile, but a second chance at life.

Congratulations to filmmaker Megan Mylan for winning Best Documentary Short and to The Smile Train for all the great work you do!

Dear Ms. Sims,

We just finished our second annual fund-raiser to benefit our medical/dental pediatric patients at Medical College of Georgia Children’s Medical Center in Augusta, GA. I am writing to you because your newsletter has been an invaluable tool to teach me how to be more successful in raising funds for this effort. I also have learned so much by trail and error. Some of which I wanted to share, just in case it might help some of your readers.

Helen Johnson and Miss Georgia Chasity Hardmon

We raised a total of $41,000 net for the children’s hospital. The event was pretty formal, we described the attire as “Business or Better”. I am a volunteer, however my son is a student at the dental school and my daughter is a Dr. at the Children’s hospital, so that is how I got involved.

I started trying to get the dinner and silent auction costs underwritten by corporate donations both years. Then I could tell everyone that donated items for the silent auction and those who bought tickets to attend the event, that ALL money raised at the event itself would go directly to the children’s hospital. I appealed to these corporations and businesses sense of doing good for the community that they live and work in. I also thought who would not want to give to a children’s hospital?

I did pretty well the first year, but in a conversation that I had with a friend who is a newspaper writer I was asked why he should give to my cause, rather than any of the several other causes that contacted him annually.  He said “what can you give me?”, I was shocked at first and thought, how rude, but he was asking a legitimate question. What could I offer to a business that would make them give their charity funds to me?

I started calling advertising companies and asking if they would be willing to give me free or very cheap advertising that I could then offer to the companies that would support my charity event. I found that our local Lamar billboard sign company offered 8 electronic signs for $1500.00 for a month of advertising. They could put several ads on each sign every day, the only stipulation was that somewhere on the ad, the fact that these businesses were sponsoring this event would have to be evident. Lamar Signs said that they have very low prices for public service or charity events. The more money a company donated, the larger their ad, small donations had their logo on our own ad which advertised the actual event.

The next thing is I found that Comcast has a similar policy, They agreed to give me 300 FREE public service announcements, which could include a company’s logo as being a sponsor of this charity event. I also got our local newspaper to do an editorial on this event with a story line that they found interesting (Our chair for this event was a Student at the dental school, and this was a great story about a local young man giving back to the community that he will soon be a dentist in. I am sure that all fund-raisers have someone associated with the event that would make a great story for the newspaper.

I was then able to go to these corporations and companies and offer free advertising for their support. I was amazed at how well this worked. I was told that supporting an event like ours usually only gets the attention of those individuals who attend the event, but ours put their name on billboards all over town. I also was able to trade services and goods for advertising. I got a local printer to print our invitations and programs in exchange for advertising on the above mentioned areas. I got our local Fresh Market to put all of the baskets together of the items which were donated for the silent auction, in a professional manner (they provided baskets and talent) in exchange for advertising.

University of Georgia football players A.J. Green, Darrell Gamble, Sanders Commings, David Elrod-Chair of the event, and Dr. Sarah Shelton, Mistress of Ceremony

I invited the University of Georgia Football players to our event, never knowing if they would consider coming. They are in Athens, GA, which is about an hour and a half from Augusta. Several players did come, which was a selling point not only for advertisers, because the local media wanted to cover the event with the football players attending, but it was easy to sell tickets to this event.

We also invited and had in attendance, Miss Georgia, Miss Augusta, Miss Teen USA. I never knew if they would come, but they all did! We had a band for the event that agreed to perform at half price because it was a charity event. Miss Georgia and Miss Teen USA also sang as part of the entertainment.

I had the silent auction guide and it was well worth the money I spent for it. The best thing was that the silent auction was very organized, and ran so smoothly. We made about $28,000 for the silent auction portion of the fundraiser, and as your guide suggested, I made up baskets rather than just have gift certificates sitting on a clipboard, and I combined several smaller items in many cases to make beautiful baskets. I also saw from your information that we got about what was expected for the $40,000 in value of the items we had for the auction.

I found that the local merchants were more willing to give to the silent auction then the stores in the malls. Local well known artists also supported this event. All the local golf clubs gave free golf outing which included the cart for their play.

A local design company to donated their time and talent to design our theme, our invitations and our advertising logos. The only thing they asked was to be recognized at the event for two years. This was their second year, and they offered to get more involved next year for free. They said they could set up a website for our fundraiser to bring more attention to it, and people could go to the web-site to see what would be available at the silent auction, or just to donate, or to buy tickets to the event.

I did have the help of four volunteers, which was plenty.  We started early enough that we were not rushed to do anything, including picking up the auction items. I found that several area merchants hold monthly meetings to discuss things like advertising, security etc, and so I asked if I could address these meetings, and so I was able to ask several merchants at one time if they could donate something for the silent auction, I brought a sheet with each merchant listed, and passed it around so that they could each let me know if they would donate. This made it a lot easier than “cold calling” each one of them.

I guess you can tell that I am excited about everything that I learned this year, and am already planning to learn more for next years event. I really feel that I would never have been as successful without the help of your web site. I learned a lot! I hope some of what I learned will help your readers.

Kind Regards,
Helen Johnson

Through our website Top School Fundraisers we’re sponsoring a one-time grant program.  A quality education is something that every child deserves and I’m happy to be able to “give back” in some small way.  With this in mind only projects that are educational in nature will be considered.

This grant is not a contest per se and no purchase is necessary.  You simply need to fill out an application and provide a presentation (letter, video or something creative) to demonstrate what your school will use the funds for.

Any public, private or charter school, pre-K through 12th grade, in the United States or Canada is eligible to apply.

We have already received many applications for this grant and unfortunately we only have $5000 to give away.  But don’t let that deter you.  If your educational project really stands out you still have a good chance to get an award. You can go over to the website to get more information and an application for this grant.

My name is Jim Berigan.  I am the managing editor of Top School Fundraisers, which is a sister site to Step by Step Fundraising.  Our single goal is to connect schools with great fundraising ideas.

If you’d like to know more about school fundraising, I’d like to encourage you to check out the website and sign up to receive its bi-weekly email newsletter.

I have been writing for Top School Fundraisers since January of 2008.  Before that, I worked as a private elementary school principal in Gaylord, Michigan.  During my tenure, I was involved in many of the same fundraising activities that you have tried at your school- auctions, golf outings, cookie dough sales, bake sales, you name it.  I struggled to attract volunteers and had to deal with a sluggish economy complicating our fundraising efforts.

My personal goal is to sift through all that I have learned and experienced and frame it in a way that is helpful to others who are engaged in trying to help our kids get a dynamic and thorough education.  Nothing frustrated me more than when we had to cut a program or a teacher because of a lack of funds.  I hate to see kids hurt like that.

So, I gladly welcome and invite you to not only start keeping up with our regularly updated blog, but to also take a few minutes to go back and read some of the posts from the first part of this year.  We’ve got some helpful advice in our archives.  We hope you take full advantage of everything at Top School Fundraisers.

This video is a great example of powerful storytelling through online video. It takes just four minutes and tells of one child who is overcoming many obstacles because of Juvelile Diabetes. Thanks to Paula Werne of Holiday World who posted a link to the video on the Charity Mile blog. Holiday World hosted the Southern Indiana JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes again this year.

In last week’s Resource Roundup: What’s Your Story? I featured World Vision as an example of a non profit that is always telling its story well. An email newsletter that I got from World Vision after publishing Friday’s post confirmed this once again.

While they had already published a video and other news alerts about the China earthquake, the organization did not stop there. The email newsletter at left (click for a larger image) has a strong headline and captivating photo. It gives just a sentence of the article to pique your interest. The goal is to get the reader to click through to the website and read the whole story.

The story of Li Yao sees this huge tragedy through the eyes of a young girl. It helps make this situation, a world away from me, seem so real.

On the afternoon of May 12, Li Yao and her family experienced the worst day of their lives.

“It was a nightmare,” says Li Yao’s mom, 39, who lives with her family in Hongbai Township of Shifang City in the northern part of Sichuan province, one of the areas hit hardest in the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 32,000 and left some 5 million homeless.

Read this story

Your non-profit’s story is primarily about people. How can you make your mission and vision more real to others by helping them to see through the eyes of those you serve?

Editor’s Note: The article first appeared on Step by Step Fundraising on March 4, 2004. Since that time Taylor’s Angels changed its name to Heroes for Children. This nonprofit organization provides financial and social assistance to families, within the state of Texas, with children (0-22 yrs of age) battling cancer.

An Interview with Larissa Linton of Taylor’s Angels

Though her life lasted only 4 years, Taylor Brewton’s bravery while fighting against leukemia touched family and friends. Her will to live and the love and caring she brought out in people remains an amazing accomplishment.

Taylor’s parents, Chris and Larissa, wanted to help other parents facing a similar situation so they established Taylor’s Angels Memorial Fund.

The mission of Taylor’s Angels is to provide financial assistance to families caring for a child with cancer. The families can use the money as they wish to offset the many expenses associated with a childhood cancer diagnosis. Taylor’s Angels also seeks to educate and raise public awareness about all forms of childhood cancer.

One of the ways that Taylor’s Angels raise funds toward this cause is by planning a 5K run/walk. The first 5K was held in May of 2003. I spoke with Larissa about how they began organizing this event, and about its results.

What kind of fundraising does Taylor’s Angels do to support its mission?

We host a golf tournament every October as well as a 5K every May.

How did you come upon the idea for a 5K race for a fundraiser?

My co-chair for this event, Cheri Korstvedt, actually came up with the idea. She is a race-walking coach and has had lots of experience with 5K’s on the participation side. We decided to put our heads together and see if we could pull it off…and we did!!

How did you go about organizing the first race?

Our 1st step was to meet with a local running store that helps to put on these types of events. We chose Run On. They will do as much or as little of the planning/organizing/set up as you want. We handled the planning/organizing and we paid them to set up the scaffolding, sound system and provide timing equipment. They also pointed us in the right direction regarding course certification obtaining insurance, etc…

How many volunteers helped support the event?

Approx. 100

How did you get sponsors for the race?

We approached local businesses and pleaded our case!

What kind of advertising do you do to get participants?

We printed race brochures and posters that we put in area businesses. Our emcee was a local TV personality and she had me on her talk show to promote the race. We contacted local papers and magazines who did articles and listed our event for free in their calendar of events. We went to Chamber of Commerce and Rotary club meetings. We also listed it in various running publications/websites free of charge.

Taylor’s Angels 5K, May 2003

What was the race day like?

Very exciting. Everyone pulled together to make it work. It was truly amazing!! We had approx. 600 participants, and raised over $16,000 after expenses.

What advice would you have for other charities that would like to hold a 5K as a fundraiser?

Start planning at least 6 months in advance, solicit a strong committee, and solicit the help of a local timing/running store.

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Larissa!

As you can see from Larissa’s experience, a 5K can be a fun and profitable fundraiser. It also has the side benefit of increasing awareness of your organization in the community.

As with any event fundraiser, establishing a budget ahead of time is important. Because of rentals, advertising and other costs, money will be needed upfront to prepare for the event.

As Larissa mentioned, start planning at least 6 months in advance. You need as much time as possible to raise corporate sponsors, advertise, gather volunteers and sign up participants.

With proper planning, enthusiasm, dedication and hard work, a 5K can be a rewarding fundraising experience!

Nearly 4,000 bright yellow rubber ducks were “adopted” in the very first Duck Derby for the Child Advocacy Center of Rutherford County, Tennessee. Ducks were sold for $5.00 each with the funds benefiting sexually abused children and their families. The event was held on Saturday, August 25th at the Sportsman’s Club on the River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The rubber ducks were dropped into the Stones River and they made their way across the dam behind the Sportsman’s Club on Medical Center Parkway. Many of the ducks “swam” approximately 300 feet when they were stopped by a barrier boom. Some of the faster (and lucky) ducks swam on into a tube where 11 finishing ducks were selected and awarded prizes. Any wandering ducks were rounded up and collected from the water.

The Child Advocacy Center is very pleased with the success of the unique fundraiser:

“I am thrilled,” Demos said, thanking the Wing Team for their help and all volunteers. She expects next year’s race to be even better. Kristin Demos is the Child Advocacy Board’s fundraising chair.

Source: The Murfreesboro Post

The first place duck won a trip for two to Key West, Florida. The runner-up duck won a family trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Other prizes include a $1,000 Zero Coupon Bond, eating at Demos’ Steak & Spaghetti House free for a year and a $500 gift certificate to Bell Jewelers.

Source: Duckrace.com

Elsie Hester, 11 hosted a fundraising carnival to raise money for the Pregnancy Care Center of Southeast Texas on Friday, August 24th in Huntsville, Texas. Instead of getting the traditional birthday presents this year, Hester used birthday money to obtain a moonwalk, a slip-and-slide and food. Guests that attended the carnival gave a donation of funds or an item appropriate for an infant (such as diapers) to attend the event. She had selected the charity because she liked the Pregnancy Care Center of Southeast Texas and her mom, Kristen Hester, used to work on the center’s board.

Hester planned the party with approximately $200 in funds. She made flyers on her computer and bought items from Wal-Mart and Michaels to design the carnival. When the carnival was over, Hester planned a special celebratory sleepover with some of her friends from the fifth and sixth grades.

“The carnival was a little big so I won’t have a birthday cake, but I’ll get to play games and go to bed who knows when,” she said. “The girls that helped out were really working hard just because they wanted to, and I wanted to reward them.”

Source: The Huntsville Item

This was not the first fundraising carnival Hester hosted. Hester held a fundraising carnival for her 10th birthday to benefit the Pregnancy Care Center and 80 people attended.