If you are a member of a non-profit organization such as the Boy Scouts, you probably know the importance of fundraising to your organization. The question is: how do you continue to raise money year after year without going stagnant? After all, if you just sell popcorn every year, eventually people will tire of the same old thing and your sales will continually drop. The key is to put the FUN in fundraising and come up with new and interesting ideas year after year. By doing so, the fundraisers will continue to stay engaged and the community will benefit as well.
Pizza Kits
The most beloved items that I sold to my neighbors as a young Boy Scout were Joe Corbi Pizza Kits. In fact, I still received requests for them from around the neighborhood even after we stopped selling them. These kits come with some pizza shells, packages of sauce and cheese, and pepperoni. The pizzas are extremely easy to put together, and are a great way to get the kids involved in making dinner. And you’d be surprised at how good the end product tastes. Once you add these pizza kits to your fundraising repertoire, don’t be shocked at how much your neighbors will clamor for them once your campaign ends.
Haunted House
Another great memory of my days as a Boy Scout was when we put on an annual haunted house for Halloween. Each year one of the local schools would hold a Fall Festival right around the end of October, and they would let our troop set up a haunted house on the gymnasium stage for the kids in attendance. We charged $1.00 to go through the “house”, which consisted of a maze that was set up by standing gym mats on their sides. Eerie music was played, decorations were hung, and all the scouts dressed up as monsters and jumped out at the appropriate times. It may not seem possible, but a dark gym stage can indeed be transformed into a scary place, especially to a small child.
Hot Dog Sale
Does your town have an annual street festival? If so, how about setting up a hot dog stand? This was another fundraising activity that was practiced to great success by, you guessed it, my childhood Boy Scout troop. If the festival allows such stands to be set up, odds are you’ll have competition from the other organizations around town, and you may even be competing against other hot dog stands. The key is to have an ingredient that is sought-after but can only be found at your particular stand. We always used to advertise that we had Grey Poupon mustard, and the public really seemed to like that. It may not seem like it, but it can be a lot of fun working at a hot dog stand during a street festival on a hot summer day, and depending on the popularity of the festival, there can be a lot of money to be made as well.
