Sherri’s Fundraising Ideas:
(Keep in mind that my fundraising efforts came from previous experience with Habitat as well as the
Leukemia Society. Some of the attached documents are for the Leukemia Society, but should give you an
idea of how to write a fundraising letter and sponsorship form.)
The Presentation: Good for offices, and other places where people can stop by casually. Create a
presentation that shows people what type of event you will be participating in. A friend of mine held one at
her office in a conference room. Here is what she included in the presentation:
1. Snacks and beverages
2. Global Village video (playing repeatedly) that describes the program and shows footage from
different countries (I have this on VHS and on a CD in mpeg format.. feel free to borrow)
3. A large map showing where she is and where she’s going with a large red line (straight line
and line showing airplane hops). Variation: show where all team members are coming from.
4. A Habitat Country profile on the wall for people to read about how Habitat builds in that
country
5. Blown up pictures from one of my prior trips that show the progression of a house being built
and close-ups of the type of work we do. She mounted them on poster-board with captions
and put them on the wall to show the progression of a build. (I can provide photos)
6. Sponsorship forms (she made) and envelopes stamped and addressed for Habitat for
Humanity (or for her… either way works. If you have them send $ directly to Habitat, make
sure they include your personal ID number and the trip number).
7. A computer with the online donation form up so that people could donate online right away.
The Presentation can be done formally (sit-down style) or informally where people can come and go as
they please.
The Raffle: Get local businesses or friends to donate goods/services. Raffle them off. You can raffle them
off live at a party or do it in a manner that people do not have to be present to win. My friend Melissa had
friends donate: artwork, manicures, haircuts, rockclimbing lessons, hand-knit hats, and other items. She
made $700 in one night with only 40 people there. I did a similar auction for the Leukemia Society and got
local restaurants to donate, friends donated sporting event tickets and opera tickets, CDs and other things.
With the raffle you can have tickets go into one big drawing, or you can have separate envelopes for each
prize and people can put their tickets into the envelopes for only the prizes they want to win.
The Party: Throw a party and charge a cover charge. Do this in a bar, in your dorm room, at your church,
wherever you hang out that has a lot of people. Charge a cover charge to get in. Many bars will let you use
their facilities on an off-night free of charge if it’s for charity, and they will not demand a cut of the money
you bring in. My friend Melissa had her raffle at a local bar, charged $10 to get in, and that gave everyone
5 raffle tickets. She sold additional tickets at $2/ticket. Throw a theme party. Make everyone wear
construction gear. To be honest, most people will give you $10 for charity. I have gone to events such as
wine tasting parties where they have the wine donated from a local winery and charge $20 for everyone to
get in (all they can drink). I have gone to a Kegger for Kancer, which was basically a keg party with chips
and pretzels as food. Talk about low party costs. Throw a singles party. A beach party. A costume party. A
Halloween party. A Scavenger Hunt. A Gourmet Dinner Party. Any theme will do.
The Auction: I raised $6000 earlier this year in one night by throwing a Bachelor(ette) auction. I rented
out a bar, got 30 people to agree to auction off dates with themselves. They came up with a date they would
offer, such as skydiving, dinner at a nice restaurant and salsa dancing, hiking, sailing on the bay. Every
person had a date that showed a little bit of their personality. Some came out in costume and did little
dances. Some just stood there looking cute. We invited everyone we knew.. word of mouth travels.. and got
around 375 people. We charged a $10 cover charge. A friend and myself auctioned them off (they went
from $50 - $370 per person). We had a friend’s band play. The bar offered drink specials. A variation of
this would be the silent auction. It was a lot of work, but it really was fun!
The Auction – non-people: Instead of having a raffle, you could get people to donate things and auction
them off.
Corporate Sponsorship: Ask your company to sponsor you. Find out if they will donate to Habitat, or if
they will match funds for people who sponsor you. Also ask people who sponsor you if THEIR companies
offer matching gifts.
Foundations: Write to local charitable foundations to ask if they will sponsor you.
Letter Writing (**RECOMMENDED**): This is the most effective and the easiest way. Write a letter
to everyone you know. EVERYONE. It really doesn’t hurt to ask, and you will be surprised at where the
money comes from. But be warned that you will get it from unlikely places while your friends might not
sponsor you. Be prepared to not care who sponsors you. :) I raised money for my first 3 Habitat trips this
way.
Letter writing tips:
1. Introduction: Your Personal Motivation. State your purpose for writing the letter. Make it as
personal as possible. Be sure to describe the Global Village program and your personal goals.
This is a very important paragraph.
2. Invitation to Contribute. Share your fundraising goal. Do not speak as through you ‘need’ or
are required to raise x dollars, but rather that it is YOUR goal, YOUR commitment. Don’t
diminish your request by being apologetic or by saying something like “I hope you will give
something”, but rather ask them to give generously, as much as they can. You can address the
concerns of those who feel they can’t give a lot by adding that “whatever they give counts”.
Make sure you ask them to contribute.
3. Where the Money Goes.. Information about Habitat’s Global Village program. Inform them
about how their contribution will be used. People want to know how they are halping a cause
and that they are making a difference. Make this an important part of the letter. Describe the
benefits of a safe, decent home on children (better able to do their schoolwork, less illness,
etc).
4. Due Date: Request they send their contribution by a specific date (within 2-3 weeks of
receiving the letter.. any longer and they will misplace the letter or forget about it). Be sure
you say that you will accept contributions after that date so people don’t think it’s too late
after that date.
5. Closing: Thank them for considering your invitation and express your appreciation.
6. Sponsor Form: Include this with your letter. Give people clear dollar amount choices and
instructions on what to do. Keep in mind that many people will choose the lowest amount on
your list, so choose that amount thoughtfully. Designate an ‘other’ category so they can
contribute less than your lowest or more than your highest amount. Make sure you have space
for their name, address and phone number, and tell them where to mail their contributions to.
Be sure to keep their info and send them a thank-you letter and update later. Be sure to
mention that they will receive a tax receipt from Habitat for their contributions.
7. Self-addressed stamped envelopes if you are sending letters via real mail. Email is also
perfectly acceptable.
8. Country Profile: Be sure to print out the country profile from Habitat’s site and include it in
the letter, or if sending a letter via email, include a link to the country profile.
Letter Writing Enhancements: Post one of your fundraising letters near your cubicle, office, or dorm
room door. Make sure everyone who comes to see you sees the letter. Maybe put some bricks or cement
blocks there too to be sure they ask about it. Make it stand out.
Car Wash: Get your friends to help out with a good old fashioned car wash. Even better, ask a local high
school or church group to help you run a weekend car wash.
Sushi / hot dog / pizza eat-off
Brick wall building contest – big prize
Bingo!: contact a local bingo and get put on their fundraising calendar. Bingo’s are required to give a
portion of their funds to charity.
Garage sale: get others to donate items and have a huge garage sale.
Toolbelt: wear a toolbelt to work or school every day. When people ask you why you are wearing a
toolbelt, tell them why and give them a sponsorship form. Or carry a trowel, or something contruction
related.
Club Donations: Go on the speaking circuit at local clubs and organizations (e.g. Kiwanis, Elks, Lions,
American Legion, Jaycees, etc) and ask if you can have a few minutes on the meeting agenda. These
groups are very responsive and have a treasury set aside for just this type of request.
Bake Sale: Make goodies at home and sell them at work or school. Have one big bake sale where your
friends/family donate baked goods. Or if you aren’t a baker, start tempting your co-workers daily with a
box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Mark them up, place them with a donation cup (and of course a
description of the fundraiser) in a place that lots of people walk by.
Barnes and Noble & W.B. Dalton – Contact your local Barnes & Noble book store for donating a
percentage of sales on evening.
Percentage of Sales: Ask owner or manager of establishments you frequent (grocery store, restaurant, dry
cleaners, etc) to donate a percentage of the days’ profits to your fundraising efforts.
Crab Race: Buy a bunch of hermit crabs and paint numbers on their shells in nail polish. Get a local crab
restaurant to sponsor the event and tell people about the crab races to raise money for Habitat. Get a big
piece of wood and paint a start and finish line on it. Each person gets to pick a crab and put down $5.00 to
win the ‘race’. The winner gets a free dinner at the restaurant and the rest of the proceeds go to your trip.
Variations: multiple prizes, crab tournament. Another variation: use rubber ducks in an inflatable
swimming pool. Have prizes donated.
Kiss a Cow or Pig: Get employees to nominate their boss (or students their professors) by donating money
on their behalf. Whichever manager/boss/professor has the most donations would then have to kiss a live
cow/pig.
Notes for fundraising:
1. You have to have all of your money in by the deadlines posted on the site. If you don’t get
sponsorship, you are responsible to supply the funds yourself. Talk to me if you expect the money
but it just isn’t in yet and we’ll see what we can do.
2. You can have people give the checks/cash/cc info to you, or to Habitat directly. I recommend
Habitat’s site for credit card payments to ensure security of their information.
3. I can give you weekly updates on who has sent money in on your behalf
4. Be sure to have everyone include both your personal ID number and our trip number (GV4301) on
ALL payments.
5. If they pay in cash, deposit it into your checking account and write a check to Habitat. Be sure to
include a note indicating who the payment is from and their address so that they get a receipt.
6. Let me know if you would like to borrow the Global Village video or cd for presentations.
7. Let me know if you need any photos of prior trips for presentations.
Follow up for sponsors:
1. send them updates about preparing yourself for the trip and what you are learning
2. send them postcards
3. bring them small souvenirs from your trip
4. send them all a letter on your return or do a presentation to show them where their money went.