Fundraising ideas

#1
Hey guys, for my marketing class, my group gets 75 dollars to spend trying to raise money for the department. Anyone know any good ideas that would be creative enough to raise pretty good money. I cant really think of anything. All the losing teams get B's or lower, only the winning team gets an A :). any ideas would be appreciated.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#3
All the losing teams get B's or lower, only the winning team gets an A :). any ideas would be appreciated.
Is this for real? What a lazy way to grade.

Are you allowed to solicit donations and that kind of thing? Along Ryle's line of thought you could do a full on casino night. Do a poker tournament, black jack and maybe roullette. Everyone comes in and donates $10 or $15, gets a fixed amount in chips and then auction off a few prizes at the end of the night to the highest chip holders. Allow people to rebuy if they lose all their chips.

I've seen this done to great success in some of my local sports leagues.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#4
This is a school project. I'm willing to bet (pun intended) they aren't going to allow gambling, Casino Night or not. In many states - including California - you can only put on things like Casino Nights if you are recognized tax-exempt non-profit organizations like the Lions, Kiwanis, etc. A class project would not fall under those restrictions.
 
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pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#5
I presume we're talking college, and at least junior level here when most undergraduate business students start taking their marketing courses. Maybe I'm wrong.

I've seen casino nights be regular part of school sponsored grad night events at the high school level. We had them for amusement purposes at Christmas parties at for profit businesses I worked at (in California). I did not know this was such a sensitive subject, I've always been under the impression that as long as no cash prizes were involved that it was ok. Its pretty much the same thing as awarding tickets for ski-ball.

In any event I was just trying to be helpful.
 
#6
Actually, a search of the internet will give you plenty of ideas other folks have used. The thing is that it needs to be tailored to yout most likely taget grooup and that depends on the community where this will be held.

Some ideas:

A good ol' garage sale or to put a twist in it, round up donations that could be auctioned off on E-bay.

Or a used book sale.

Some kind of a tournament: volleyball; 3 on 3 basketball; or something for the sedentary like mah-jongg; checkers; scrabble or ??

A scavenger hunt or some kind of cook-off? Maybe a cook-off of ethnic cuisines.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#7
I presume we're talking college, and at least junior level here when most undergraduate business students start taking their marketing courses. Maybe I'm wrong.

I've seen casino nights be regular part of school sponsored grad night events at the high school level. We had them for amusement purposes at Christmas parties at for profit businesses I worked at (in California). I did not know this was such a sensitive subject, I've always been under the impression that as long as no cash prizes were involved that it was ok. Its pretty much the same thing as awarding tickets for ski-ball.

In any event I was just trying to be helpful.
Nope. The law underwent major revisions a couple of years ago, to the point where - up until this Jan. 1 when it was relaxed somewhat - not even the Lions, etc. could host Casino Nights.

Sorry if I came across too strongly. It was a knee-jerk reaction to the stupid laws that were apparently passed to prevent any kind of competition to the Indian casinos. Like they don't already get enough money??? Anyway, that's a totally different topic and I don't want to get this too far derailed.

:eek:
 
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#11
I work at a high school and I have seen all sorts of fundraisers. One that typically works well at this time of year is a Valentine's gram. You charge $1 per "gram" and give each person a card to fill out. On Valentine's Day you deliver the card with a carnation or a heart-shaped sucker. Students tend to send out 2 or 3 each. Your start up costs are minimal and you are doing pre-sales so you get the money all up front.

Another great fundraiser that our school did this last weekend was a Battle of the Bands. The students form their own bands and have tryouts that are reviewed by a panel of staff & students. Obviously you are hoping the music is original (and also clean).

The panel chooses the top 10 bands who then get a couple of weeks to practice and then they all perform on one night. They charged $5 - $7 a person at the door and each paying customer got a ticket. Each band has a box with their name on it and at the end of the night every person puts their ticket in a box as a "vote" for their favorite band. This way the crowd gets to be the judge and the winning band got a $100 prize.

Between the door ticket sales and a snack bar, our school's senior class raised over $3000 for their prom. They held it in the school gym, so the location was free and they were able to use the school's sound system. There was very little start up costs...just the time invested in getting the bands picked and ready to go.

Good luck and let me know if you need any other ideas. I work with ASB so I am always involved in the fundraisers.:)