Help with Degree show fundraising

rolf_harris · 19 December 2007 at 10:37PM

hi guys,

this is my first post on here so forgive me if i get anything wrong!!

I'm a fine art student at Coventry uni, and i'm in my 3rd year, we have an exhibition of our work in may and we have to raise at least £7000 to pay for stuff like catalogues and the private view, i'm in the fund raising group, and i thought i'd see if theres anyone who could give me some advice on the quickest way to raise money.

so far we've been doing face painting in town but thats not bringing in much, and we did a cake sale which was good, but we need a way to bring in some serious cash.

is there a way of approaching companies that gives you a better chance of them sponsering you?

any help or advice will be gratefully recieved.

thank you.

Lokolo · 19 December 2007 at 10:58PM

Have you approached any companies so far?

What you want to do is submit some of your art and say you and your colleagues are holding exhibition and looking for sponsorship. You should think of ideas to why it would benefit them (if i come up with any ideas I will state in later posts) such as brand name over the place etc. And state who will be coming (figures maybe a good idea).

Also, think about the companies you're approaching, obviously MUFC wouldn't be a good idea for an art show in Coventry, but things like this should be considered.

Obviously cake sale and face painting are small little things. Try to start thinking of bigger ways to earn some dosh. How about trying to sell some of your art?

You've got until May so don't panic yet.

£7000 in 5 months is £1400 a month between how many of you? Try and get a parttime job if you can, obviously you have bills to pay and food to pay for but its most probably a better way to earn some money than face painting!

Keep us informed of how you're doing over next few months.

pixiedust_2 · 19 December 2007 at 11:21PM

£7000? Thats a lot of money! I hope you've made sure that all the catalogues etc are the best price

Um... Fund raising. All a bit childish I know, but how about the obvious bits - bag packing at a local supermarket, sponsored activities? Or maybe a few of you are good at sketchy drawings or caricatures(sp?), could maybe have a small stall somewhere doing this, either at the uni, or out and about somewhere?

rolf_harris · 20 December 2007 at 12:33AM

We're gonna sell our art work next year in march, people will be bidding for it so it'll be quite exciting to see how much we make, i think last year they made around £1500, and they had half the amount of students that we've got. its because we're such a big group that it's costing so much, it's largely down to printing costs, as i'm in fund raising, we just get told how much other groups need and we have to raise it, so hopefully they've been sensible with the printing costs.

We've sent letters out to a few companies, but i'm hoping to ask Ikea because they've just opened a new store here, but i want to make sure the letter i send them appeals to them, so i've got to work on that.

I think Lokolo's sugestion of us getting part time jobs is an interesting one, plus its something that everyone can do.

I really wanted to get the Enemy to do a free gig for us, i spoke to andy from the band and he said yes but the management arnt keen and said it would cost us £2000. i'm still gonna try to get some freebies out of them to sell on ebay, so all is not lost.

I've also entered in a competion on line for artists, it's through charles saatchi's website, theres a top prize of £1000 which would really help us but i need lots of votes and i dont know many people, this is the link to the page http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown/index.php?showpic=107075 i hope thats not too cheeky, obviously only vote for me if you like the work, i'm hoping that i can get a few more of my friends on the course to enter aswell so we'll have a better chance of winning.

Sorry, this post is so long, i really never know when to shut up! i'm really grateful for your help, and it's nice to talk to someone that isnt involved! so thank you Lokolo and Pixiedust.

melancholly · 20 December 2007 at 12:24PM

if the money goes to charity, then raising the £7000 would be much easier! you could try the charities board for fundraising ideas as there are some real experts on there.

Lokolo · 20 December 2007 at 2:41PM

Heres an idea. Have you tried haggling with your local SU bar?

If you can get like a fancy dress night going on or something on a studenty night just say 'ok we'll charge you £3 to get in but theres a competition for best fancy dress or whatever'.

or another idea is auctioning! get the ladies to get on stage and show their moves and auction them off to the guys, handcuffed for an hour, all money going towards your fund.

pixiedust_2 · 21 December 2007 at 11:30PM

Lokolo wrote: »

or another idea is auctioning! get the ladies to get on stage and show their moves and auction them off to the guys, handcuffed for an hour, all money going towards your fund.

Now come on... Need guys and girls on stage - more people that can get involved with buying, the better!

We've sent letters out to a few companies, but i'm hoping to ask Ikea because they've just opened a new store here, but i want to make sure the letter i send them appeals to them, so i've got to work on that.

If you're writing letters asking for sponsorship/donations, make sure that you are really, really clear about what the money is for, and what the company involved is/isn't getting out of it. They may want their logo's printed in the brochure (always a nice thing to offer - takes very little to add a page to a programme/brochure, and they get to look good in the same move), or posters around your display - there is no such thing as money for nothing, especially with large businesses. You may also find that they aren't willing to hand over a cheque, but would be happier to pay directly towards printing costs/rentals/whatever, so make sure you list (but not in too much detail!) what the money you are raising is going towards.

As for people to approach... Big companies, like Ikea, are good to include, but a lot of these will have their own internal "charity" programmes, and may not be willing to donate money your way. Local companies, although smaller and with a lower turn-over, are much more likely to give, even if it's only £50 here and there - there are a lot of small companies to approach if you sit down with a Yellow Pages! Send a letter to the local councils (any that you cover - districts as well as town/city), and then approach "big" charities, like Rotary, Lions Club, and Round Table. If you have some specific local charities or organisations, go for those too! The more letters you send, the more you are likely to recieve.

When we do this for the local scout groups, we send letters to all the places I've listed, as well as putting a small advert in the local papers (never know who may want to donate something - and never say no!), but we probably only get replies from around 60% of the letters we send, and about half of those replies will be positive.

(oops - sorry for the mammoth post!)

DrFluffy · 22 December 2007 at 11:50AM

What did last years fund raising group do? The usual problem with new committee's is they want to make their own stamp and don't look at what's worked previously... But, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Lokolo · 23 December 2007 at 4:31PM

pixiedust wrote: »

Now come on... Need guys and girls on stage - more people that can get involved with buying, the better!

Ha, its alrite in Wycombe as the male/female is a least fair whereas in Stafford theres 9 guys to 1 girl so you can't do guys and girls, once you've done girls they've all been taken! But yeh hehe better idea

pixiedust_2 · 23 December 2007 at 11:09PM

Really? Think I need to get myself up to Stafford then... That many guys around....

Help with Degree show fundraising

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