Fund Raising
Looking for ways that you and your
child can raise money for his/her trip? Look no further.
Christian Discoveries has put together this web page to assist
you in finding creative fundraising ideas and pointers
on how to request assistance from outside companies.
1.How
do I get started?
2.How do I fund
raise on my own?
3. How
do I get help from outside companies?
4. How do I
submit fund raising money to Christian Discoveries to pay for
my child’s trip?
How
do I get started?
- Your first step is to contact
your child’s teacher to find out if fund raising
is being done at the school.
- Volunteer your services, if
your child's teacher will lead fund raising efforts.
Most teachers are looking for help in coordinating
fund raising efforts or involvement in an activity
or two.
- Select some fund raising activities
throughout the school year. Here are some suggestions:
a) Penny Drive: Each class or each
grade can compete against one another. Place gallon
jars in each room with a sign explaining the purpose
of your fund drive. Whoever ends with the most points
gets to watch a movie at school, complete with popcorn…or
whatever prize motivates the students and is acceptable
at the school. Pennies each equal one positive point.
Silver-colored coins and bills each count as negative
points.
b) Duck Race: You need a body of
moving water – a stream or river – for
this one. Buy, or get someone to donate, inexpensive
plastic yellow ducks. Use a waterproof pen to put
a number on the bottom of each. Each participant
pays a designated price (suggest $5) per duck. Release
all of the ducks at the starting line and give cash
prizes to the winners (suggest $100 for 1st, $50
for 2nd, and $25 for 3rd). This event could also
include prizes donated by local businesses.
c) Taste of Your Town: This is
a fun and delicious event. Sell tickets for $5 to
$7.50 throughout the community to come to the school
for a “taste of the town.” Get local
restaurants to donate food items and have a buffet
style dinner. Local businesses get exposure and
future customers get to sample food they may not
have tried before, such as Thai or Indian cuisine.
Students participate as hosts and hostesses. Use
the school cafeteria dishes and facilities for easy
access and clean-up.
d) Car Wash: It’s a classic
fundraiser for a good reason – it works! Designate
your location (generally gas stations have hose
hook-ups) and advertise in the local paper. Get
students to volunteer to wash, vacuum, and dry-off
the cars, as well as students to sell coffee and
doughnuts and hold signs advertising the car wash.
e) Dance/Raffle: A junior high
school in New Hampshire raised 64% of the cost of
the trip for 92 students in one night. They solicited
raffle prizes (gift certificates, services, and
products) from restaurants, retail, grocery and
video stores, canoe and ski rental companies, styling
salons, etc. Local grocery stores and restaurants
donated refreshments. Students sold tickets to the
dance where former students who had formed a band
performed. Prizes were raffled throughout the evening.
How
do I fund raise on my own?
- Determine how much money you
would like to raise (a percentage of the trip cost,
the entire amount, etc.).
- Discuss with your son/daughter
your expectations of their involvement in the fund
raising process, and ask them for suggestions –
you’ll be surprised at their creative ideas.
- Here are some suggestions for
creative fund raising:
a) Have your child solicit your neighbors and closest
family members to perform jobs for them. The jobs
can include washing cars, raking leaves, shoveling
snow, walking pets, caring for plants, cleaning
out garages/attics, etc. The money earned from these
jobs will go towards the trip cost.
b) Conduct a yard sale. Get out all of those items
you’ve been collecting in your attic, garage,
and basement and know you’ll never use again.
Price them higher than you would for a normal garage
sale. Place an ad in the paper and a sign out front
indicating that the proceeds from this yard sale
will all go towards your child’s educational
trip with his/her classmates.
c) After school job. Your child can get an after-school
job to help pay for the trip. Some jobs might include
tutoring younger students, organizing a baby-sitting
co-op, working on a paper route, or working at after-school
programs in your area.
How
do I get help from outside companies?
- Many web sites are dedicated
to fund raising. They will provide you with great
ideas and resources. Here is a brief list of web
sites:
www.fundraising.com
www.fundraisingdepot.com
www.neofundraising.com
www.fundraisingweb.org
www.brickmarkers.com
www.fundraisingcompanies.net
www.fundraiser.com
www.lollypops.com
www.wowfundraising.com
www.yesfund.com
www.fundraising-ideas.org
www.school-fundraisers.com
- There are many companies that
teachers who have traveled with us have used and
recommend. Click
Here to see.
- One option in getting outside
companies involved is writing a
“Trip-A-Thon” letter. Ask the company
(or family members and friends) to sponsor your
child on his/her trip. Ask people to sponsor minutes
of sight seeing time towards the trip. For example,
if the trip cost is $1440 and the trip length is
5 days you would calculate your cost per minute
like this: 60 minutes x 24 hours x 5 days = 7,200
minutes. $1440 divided by 7200 minutes is 20 cents
per minute. How many people might be willing to
sponsor 10 minutes or more of your child's trip?
Send out as many letters as you can. Keep in mind
that people who you know (or companies in your local
area) will be more likely to respond. And don’t
forget to send a nice thank you note to everyone
who participates. We suggest that students write
or e-mail their sponsors and tell what their 10
minutes was spent doing.
Looking for ideas of who to send this letter to?
Here
are some suggestions.
How
do I submit fund raising money to Christian Discoveries to
pay for my child’s trip?
- If you are fund raising
on your own, simply submit the money directly to
Christian Discoveries’ accounting department (P.O.
Box 9033, Charlottesville, VA 22906-9033). However,
here are a few important things to keep in mind:
a) You must remain on your payment
plan. If you have a payment due before your fund
raising money is available, make the payment regardless.
This will ensure your child’s spot and keep
you from incurring late charges.
b) Your trip must be paid in full
by your final payment due date — 60 days prior
to departure.
- If the school is doing fund
raising, the teacher will be responsible for making
sure fund raising money gets deposited into your
child’s account. Please note that any fund
raising money raised by students at the school belongs
to the school and is at the discretion of the teacher
to appropriate accordingly. If your child should
need to cancel, most likely the fund raising money
that he/she raised for the trip will be applied
to another student’s account and not refunded
to you. Check with your teacher for details.
We hope this section has been
helpful to you. If you have any fund raising suggestions
or success stories, we’d love to hear them.
Contact Discoveries@Christian
Discoveries.com
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