Adding a Fundraiser Hat to my Evergrowing Hat Collection

Hats, Hats, Hats - So Many Roles to Fill

So, I always like to equate the different jobs and roles I need to maintain as wearing a different hat for each one. 

I have my mom hat, my disciplinarian hat, my marketing hat, my accounting hat, my budgeting hat, my party hat, my wife hat, my daughter hat, my pet hat, my…Well, you get the picture. Lately, I've added a Fundraising Hat and a Fielding Questions Hat.

A lot of people have been asking me a bunch of questions recently like:
1.       Why are you so tired?
2.       Why are you overdoing it?
3.       What are you doing?
4.       Why haven’t you been posting as much on your blog?
5.       Are you going to make new illustrated quotes soon?

Well, the short answer to all of this is simply: I am overdoing it, because I am expending a lot of energy on fundraising for my oldest daughter. Because my body and mind can only handle so much on a daily basis, when I focus a lot of energy towards one thing, other things tend to be put on a back burner.

Photo of My Daughter
by Photographer Hollie ten Berge

My oldest daughter was selected to go to a convention where she can showcase her modeling, acting, and dancing.  Her modeling agency selected her to go and it will be a great opportunity for her to learn more.  Of course, it costs a lot of money.  Once the cost of the convention, food, travel, clothes, and everything is factored in, this trip will cost nearly $7,000 dollars.  But it will be a once in a lifetime experience for her, where she can learn and grow.

Well, my family and I are not made of money. We totally missed the sale on money trees to plant in the back yard and we don’t seem to be lucky enough to win the lottery. Though, my understanding with the lottery is that your chances of winning go up a bit if you actually buy a ticket…

As a result, we need to get creative and do a lot of fundraising. Because we are not fundraising for a giant group, simply selling things takes too much time and doesn’t have a large enough of a return. 

Don’t get me wrong, we are selling things.  We’re just trying to be smart about it and not focusing all of our efforts on one big sales product like many schools and activity groups do (which is successful because if you have 200 kids sell boxes of candy bars you can easily make thousands of dollars). 

But with only one person and her family, we are having to focus on a few smaller fundraisers like recycling cans and selling candy bars (much smaller amount than large groups) and then a couple of larger events.  We are also relying heavily on sponsorships from businesses, family, and friends.

Our fundraising efforts include:

 · Doing a Recycled Can Drive – This has already brought in almost two hundred dollars. We will be continuing to do this throughout the fundraising months (September – December). 

 · Donations from Family and Friends- Obviously, our family and friends are the people most likely to support this endeavor, so we are systematically making sure that we ask everyone for donations and/or assistance with fundraisers.  Every amount helps and assistance is helps too!

 · Obtaining Sponsorship from Businesses- For $100, a business will be listed in the Conference book, gets a post on my daughters new blog that I started at http://taylorreneelivingmydream.blogspot.com/, and a shout out on Facebook.  A business also gets a photograph of her at the business.  Because of the internet presence and the line in the convention book, most businesses can have their accountants use this as an advertising expense.

 · Bake Sale/Barbeque – Grandma is doing a bake sale and barbeque to raise money this month. She is organizing everything so we can just show up for this event!

 · Selling Candy bars – We are selling $1.00 fundraising candy bars throughout the entire time.  They make about a 40% profit for an item that sells pretty easily.

·  Concert – My husband and I have recruited a few bands to perform a fundraising concert. We will be selling glow sticks, drinks, snacks, and tickets to raise money at this event. This is our biggest event that we hope will make the most money.

·  Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction – Depending on how close we are to reaching the amount needed, we will also do a spaghetti dinner and silent auction. 

·  Gift Wrapping - If we still need more money in December, we will do some gift wrapping as well.

Of course, I am not the only one doing all of the fundraising, but I am the one organizing everything (with the exception of the Bake Sale/Barbeque Event) and it certainly takes a toll.  That said, the fundraising will only be for a few short months, then things will get back to normal.

So in answer to the questions, I’m tired and overdoing things because I love my daughter and want her to be able to participate in this convention.  As a result, I haven’t been posting as much on the blog, BUT I’ve committed to doing the October Ultimate Blog Challenge, so I will be sharing a new post everyday in October! On Sundays, I will post a new illustrated quote. So there are more quotes on the way also!

Have you ever done fundraising? If so what kind of fundraising and how did it work out?