Small Group - Fundraising

[Deleted User]

Hi folks - for my sins in a previous life (they must have been belters ) I have been elected Treasurer of a small organisation (a choir actually). We have the usual concerns that other small organisations have - we put on a number of performances each year, enter competitions and so on, and these things all involve expense - venue booking, travel, accommodation, etc.

We charge members £100 per year membership fees (4x£25) and run the odd raffle etc, but this means that most of our income is from "ourselves". I'd like to widen the range of the fundraising a bit. We already claim back the tax on our membership fees. The retired and student members pay reduced subscriptions. A number of our members are students, on low incomes, or retired. Our ability to compete and perform is sometimes restricted due to the expense of the trips.

I'd appreciate hearing about any hints and tips from any other folk who have successfully raised funds for any clubs or societies they are associated with:beer: .

Thanks in advance!

WR

Savvy_Sue

Before I make any detailed suggestions, have you looked at the sticky on 'fundraising, raffles and generally useful sites' at the top of this board?

And can you give us a clue as to how much you might actually want to raise, either for a sample trip or for the year overall?

And also I know someone's asked a very similar question before, and if it wasn't on this board it was on the 'charity' board, but I think it was this one, so a search could prove fruitful. I think t-shirts sponsored by the local pub was one idea there ...

[Deleted User]

Hi Savvy_Sue - I had a look at the stickies but I don't think thay are what I am looking for, e.g. as we are a Choir, we use practically no "consumables" so reduced rates for these kinds of things are not that much help - I am trying to increase the income, not really cut the expenditure. Our biggest expenses are room hire at the local school for our weekly rehearsals and members travel and accommodation for competitions.

The kinds of things I am looking for are ideas that will appeal to as many members as possible so that more of us are involved in fundraising, not just the usual few who sell raffle tickets, tickets for performaces etc. We find that by the time we book a venue, hire a band and provide food, even running a ceilidh can be a bit hit and miss, even when we run our own bar. We have done bag packing at a local supermarket, but the experience didn't go down too well with some of the members.

I have been thinking about things like a monthly draw (50-50 split between prize and funds) but am a bit concerned that if entries were sold outwith the membership, I'd be getting into "gaming and lotteries" legislation territory. If the entries are only for members, again we are feeding off ourselves, not bringing in "new" funds. I thought about seeking sponsorship for our rehearsal room cost with a mention in the annual concert programme in acknowledgement and maybe freebie tickets to choir events to the company/ies involved, but don't know how that would go down with potential sponsors - it's not much of an incentive for them, is it?.

I was hoping to hear from folk in similar positions to us to see what they did and how how successful they were. If I could find with ideas that would raise £1,000 to £1,500 a year that would be brilliant, but frankly I'd be happy with some one-offs that might raise a couple of hundred pounds just to show folk that it can be done.

Regards,

WR

Savvy_Sue

Did you find this thread? I don't think I can improve on what I said there ...

And this is the Fundraising Challenge thread referred to there, where there are a few 'events' ideas.

But it would also be worth looking at the Charities Board, which may be better suited to your needs. (Because I do take your point about not having many consumables to reduce the costs of!) That's the place where people seem to talk about raising money for individual trips, or wanting to help raise money for a charity but not sure how to go about it.

Hope that gets you a bit further forward ...