EVEN MORE FUNDRAISING IDEAS!!

Grants - Charitable trusts and foundations have a great deal of money to give to deserving causes. However, they often have very strict guidelines on who they support. Identify which trusts operate in your area via local library, council, community grants unit etc. Make contact by phone and ask them for details of their grant making procedure. Many trusts will not give to individuals so you may need to submit a group application so it would be a good idea to link together with other participants in your area. Try to
identify if you have any connections with the Trustees - this can often be the best way in. Make your application interesting, relevant to the Trusts guidelines and highlight the benefits to the community that would result from a grant to your cause.
Some local authorities have funds available to help groups and young people. Contact your local authority to find out what is available in your area and the procedure for application.

Support Letter advice and tips are also available on the Moot Fundraising area of the website.

District and County Commissioners - Don't forget to ask them. This is one of the only national opportunities for your age group to attend an international event. Districts and Counties want to support young leaders. Think positively and ask for help!

Catering at Events – Run the food or refreshment stalls at major local events. You need to comply with the UK Food Hygiene rules.

Thrift Shop/Jumble Sales/Auctions – Collect articles from the public and sell them in a variety of different ways. This is a great way of raising a lot of money.

Musical Convert/Recital – Sell tickets for events to be held in your own premises or some other local hall. Provide homemade refreshments to maximize profit. Use skills you/your parents/friends have.

Burns' Supper/McGonnagal Night – The McGonnagal night runs in reverse from normal with the coffee being served first and finishing up with the starter. Print the programme in reverse and introduce a few fun raffles and your night will be a success.

Leaflet Drops – Cheaper than local free newspapers or Royal Mail and with plenty of keen helpers, you can deliver leaflets and flyers for all sorts of local businesses. Particularly profitable if many can be collated and delivered simultaneously.

Barn Dance/Ceilidh – Many Groups ran these primarily as social events, but were surprised just how much money they raise, particularly from the bar. Members who would be benefiting from the funds could serve food, collect/wash glasses, run raffles and do all the other tasks!

Supermarket Bag-packing – Best if you limit the number of times a year, restricting it to busy periods at Christmas/New Year, Easter and end of months when the stores need help. The supermarket and public welcomed helping another charity.

Donations of Foodstuffs – Obtain donations of foodstuffs from local companies/farmers for use at activities and fundraising events. Charge the same as usual and bank the surplus.

Garden Hit Squads – Managed by an "expert", use the labour of members to provide a garden clearing service. There is always a call for regular grass cutting or annual hedge trimming.

Collect Lemonade Bottles – Particularly from around industrial estates where refreshment van sits at lunchtimes or from the various factories. "Borrow" a supermarket trolley or other suitable receptacle to gather them in.

Cycle Treasure Hunts – Organize these locally. Similar to car treasure hunts, but much more local and for all the family. Get prizes and publicity donated and charge an entry fee.
Collation of mailings for businesses – Many small businesses need letters or cards stuck in envelopes for mail shots and will happily pay for this to be done. A tedious job that can be fun if you only have to do it a few times a year.

Laser Toner Cartridges – Check to see if local businesses, parent's workplaces already have an arrangement – if not then collect these and arrange for their sale to the various recycling firms.

Talks to local business clubs – Talks to local Rotary, Round Table, Lions, Speakers, Chamber of Commerce etc can often result in much needed financial and material support. Top Tip – sell raffle tickets or take sponsor forms with you if you are talking to one of these clubs. Very profitable!

Fruit/Vegetable/Potato Picking – Arrange with a local farmer to crate the produce after any machinery has harvested them. Hard work, but can be extremely profitable and a good day out. They day can be finished off with a barbecue or barn dance at the farm.

Firewood Sales – Useful training for members can be turned into a fundraiser with logs and kindling being bagged and sold. Arrange with landowners to clear fallen timber.

Cheese and Wine Nights – Always better when combined with something such as a slideshow of an overseas expedition or last year's activities. A great social event.

Book or Tombola Stall in Local Shop – Sell books or run a Tombola stall in
the local shopping centre or foyer or supermarket. Good publicity as well.

Community Gala Day Stalls – Offer a variety of fun games and refreshment stalls. With a good rota and involvement of all, much money can be raised. Popcorn and candyfloss machines or bouncy castles can be hired for these.

Anagrams/Puzzles/Word Searches – Once a year these can be a bit of fun and raise lots of money. Done too often they can be a nightmare in parents' places of work!

Quiz Nights – Organize a quiz with teams from parent's places of work, local pubs etc. Run it in your premises with donated prizes and refreshments provided by the Committee.

Pool/Snooker/Darts/Ten-Pin Bowling – Organize competitions with reasonable prizes for either youngsters or adults and charge an entry fee. A great way to raise funds and good opportunity for PR locally.

Working with local garages – Hosing down cars on forecourts, polishing showroom models and various other tasks are often required. Providing one or two youngsters once a week is usually not that difficult and can provide a regular income over the next 18 months.

Car Washing – Whilst washing at supermarkets and garden centers is popular and others do screen-washes at Drive-Thru fast-food restaurants or petrol stations another more profitable car-washing method is to go round industrial estates during school holidays, collect money and registrations in the morning, with all day to wash cars.

Discos – Run discos in your premises or other premises for local youngsters' birthday bashes. Full packages including catering can also be offered at a price. Always popular and can raise a lot of money.

Signed Football/Football Skirts – Obtain from popular teams and auction at a function near to Christmas. Anything that will make good presents is always popular and a good little earner.

Swimming Nights – Hire the local swimming pool for your exclusive use and then charge members and friends. It'll be cheaper than them paying individually and is a good social activity. If you can lifeguard, it's cheaper.

Equipment Hire – Make up a brochure showing what tentage, marquees etc Scouting/Guiding owns locally and what your charges are. Encourage local organizations to hire from you rather than commercially.

Decorated Cake Auction – There is usually some wonderfully skilled mother, auntie, granny or even you out there who is superb at creating wonderfully iced cakes that can be made for events and auctioned. Webb Ivory – The use of the catalogues and sale of cards and goods again can raise a lot of money. Always popular.

Person/Car Counts – At various times organizations or companies need visitors or cars counted and will pay to have these jobs done.

Local Telly Addicts – Organize a family telly addict's quiz in your community. Entry fees chargeable and use donated prizes. This can be great fun to watch or take part in.

Sponsored Events – Avoid the normal and hold the sponsored cream cracker eating, haggis hurling, jail-break, wheelchair pushing, public speaking, dogdirt flagging etc.

Community/Parish Councils – Approach your local Council for financial help. They often have funds for helping those representing their country at International events and you are!!!

Shoeshine – Inside the local shopping centre, supermarket or large company premises, you can raise large sums if properly organized and trained.

Car Boot Sales – It you have access to a car park or centrally located hall you can raise funds regularly by charging cars/tables for entry. You need to build up a clientele to be successful. Or just take a stall and sell whatever you can find or make.

Mountain Bike or Running Races – Organise for your local community or mountain bike or running race, either for adults or youngsters. Ensure that you put a disclaimer in about not being responsible for any damage to their bikes or personal accidents. Charge an entry fee, provide marshals and maps, man checkpoints and offer prizes. With refreshment stalls etc you can make a lot of money. Hard work, but fun!

Karaoke Nights – Buy or preferably borrow karaoke videotapes and organize a fun night for friends.

A Night at the Races – Another highly popular social event that has raised a lot of money in the past. Many Groups own their own equipment and hire this out to others.

Football Coaching – Arrange a local player or manager to donate a day or days training and sell place on half-day course. Parents will pay for professional coaching.

Sportsmen's Dinners – Invite some local sporting celebrities to speak and arrange suitable catering. A few games such as throwing money towards the whisky bottle, hoopla etc. will raise more.

Empty Bottle and Aluminum Cans – If your community does not have a bottle bank scheme it is worth getting one from the glass recycling companies and collecting round the doors after Christmas and New Year particularly or just locating it in your hut car park. You can then sell the glass to the recyclers. Equally aluminium cans can be collected and sold to the recyclers.

Village/Community Clean-ups – You can frequently get grants from local councils to clean-up local beauty spots or organise sponsorship from local businesses – skips and gloves etc are often supplied free.

Voluntary Groups - Rotary, Round Table, Lions Clubs and Ladies Circle are often very keen to help young people. Find out if you know anyone who is a member and will endorse your request for funds. Find out whom to contact, it probably will be the Chairman. Contact them by phone or letter and explain all about the Moot and your need for funds. Why not offer to do a talk to the group when you come back from the Moot or before you go or both!

Local businesses - They will support good causes in their area and if you can attract good coverage in local papers this will be free advertising for the company. Before you make a approach do your homework - look in local papers to see which businesses support good causes, find out which companies you may have some contact with, who do your Scout/Guide Leaders, neighbours and family work for? The personal approach is often the best and if your application can be endorsed by a member of staff this may increase the success rate.

Don't always ask for money - what about gifts or prizes for a raffle or tombola at a fund raising event. Remember don't promise to do something you can't deliver – its your reputation that will be dented. It is best to try to avoid formal sponsorship arrangements, as the company will want something in return for their money and this maybe harder to deliver, aim instead for straight donations.

ADVICE NOTES:

Raffles and Lotteries

A lottery is the distribution of prizes by chance where the persons taking part make a payment or consideration in return for obtaining their chance of a prize. There are three categories of lottery that can be held...
Small Lottery - usually held at fetes, dances or similar entertainment. They do not have to be registered but the following regulations apply...

• No more that £50 can be spent on prizes.
• No monetary prizes (store vouchers are allowed).
• The lottery must be incidental to the event and result must be declared at the event.
• The profit from the lottery must not be for private gain.

Private Lottery - intended for a society, organization or group of people (not connected with gambling). The key restriction is that the lottery is not promoted outside the premises of the organization. They do not have to be registered but the following regulations apply...

• The price per ticket must be fixed (£1 per ticket, not six for £5)
• All proceeds after deductions of printing expenses must be used for the purchase of prizes or the purpose of the society
• Tickets cannot be sent by post
• The promoter must be authorized by the benefiting organization
• There is no restriction on the price of the tickets, the total value of sales or the size and type of the prize offered

Society/Public Lottery - A lottery that involves selling tickets direct to the public must be registered with the appropriate authority, usually the local authority. Where the ticket income is likely to be over £10,000 the lottery must be registered with the Gaming Board of Great Britain. Society/Public lotteries cannot be held more frequently than once a week. If you intend to operate a lottery within this category you must get the relevant details from your local authority

Local Authority Raffle License
This required in order to promote a raffle in which you are selling tickets except if it is a small lottery held at a dance or other event. Small lotteries are exempt if the following conditions are met – where no more than £50 has been spent on prizes; where there are no monetary prizes; where the tickets are sold and results declared at the event; and where the profit is not for private gain. Gaming Licenses are normally renewable each year. Advice available from Fundraising Department or request copies of the Fact-Sheet "Lotteries and Gaming" from the Information Centre. In all cases the permission of the District or County Commissioner is required as set out in P.O.R.

Public Entertainment License
The venue that you are using must have one, if it is a public event for which tickets are being sold. Most local halls will already have this and will have been annually inspected by the local Fire Officer, the Environmental Health Department and the Health and Safety Officer.

Auctions/Sales
Because we are not operating shops selling electrical and other such goods you are exempt from criminal legislation resulting from the sale of potentially dangerous items, but if an item was obviously dangerous you might be liable under civil liability, but it's unlikely.

As far as the sale of upholstered furniture is concerned, pre-1950's is okay and post-1990 is fine, but the period in between should be avoided unless there are labels stating that it's match resistant.

Sales of Home-baking
Sensible precautions should be taken and meat or cream products avoided. There should be no problems continuing to serve home baking at coffee mornings or evening functions.

Insurance
As long as the event is a fundraiser Scouting's /Guiding legal liability policy should covers you for any claims.