How to start your fundraising campaign in your PJ s

Transcription

1 How to start your fundraising campaign in your PJ s SOCIAL MEDIA BLITZ The first thing to do after setting up your Donor Drive page is to do a Social Media Blitz. You will want to send an individual private message to each one of your Facebook friends. Of course you will want to personalize but you can use a message like this: Dear *&*&*, This is not a request to play Candy Crush Saga or another Facebook game but a real request for real help in a real life situation. I am in the process of getting a Service Dog for my(self, child, spouse) and I need your help. I know times are hard and so I am asking you to just consider this. The average person spends $5 or more each day eating lunch in a restaurant. How many times are you willing to "brown bag" your lunch to help me. If you did it for a week that would enable you to give $25 and if you did it a month it would be $100. Maybe you can only do it for a few days a month...any help you give would be appreciated and all of your contributions through this link (put your link here) are tax deductible. You can even set it up so you can give each month. There is even a way to check to see if your employer is one the 100's that have matching gift programs. So please go to my page and give if you can...if not please share it my link with all your friends and I thank you so much for your help!!! You should do a follow up about every 6 weeks like this: Dear *&*&*, When I contacted you about 6 weeks ago for help about getting a service dog for my(self, child, spouse) we had raised $XXXX amount but we are now at $XXXXX. We are so appreciative of the support we have received but we have a goal to reach another $XXXXX by (a fixed date). Again I know how hard times are so I am just asking for a little spare change. The average family would empty about $1.50 out of their pockets each day. Could you save that spare change for 6 weeks and donate it to our campaign. Any help you give would be appreciated and all of your contributions through this link (put your link here) are tax deductible. You can even set it up so you can give each month. There is even a way to check to see if your employer is one the 100's that have matching gift programs. So please go to my page and give if you can...if not please share it my link with all your friends and I thank you so much for your help!!! After another 6 weeks you might just report how much you have raised, thank everyone for their support and let them know how much you have left to raise.

2 Be sure and take advantage of every holiday and birthday and ask people to donate on those special days. Now you might need to put on street clothes for this step CIVIC GROUP CANVAS How many civic groups meet within a 50-mile radius of your home? There are Masons, Kiwanis, Moose, Elk, Masons, Lions, Rotary and Ruritan Clubs and many of these organizations have auxiliary clubs. In addition, there are American Legion and VFW Posts in almost every community. Part of the nature of these kinds of organization is to help those in their community. Contact each these organization and offer to come and speak to them about how service dogs can help those with invisible disabilities such as autism, diabetes and seizure disorders. We can provide you with rack cards to pass out at the meeting and you can make a flyer or business cards with your donor drive link. Go and tell your story and ask for their help. These organizations know how to hold fundraisers and do so on a regular basis. Frequently they will hold a fundraiser for you and all you have to do is attend. The best way is to send out letters (we can provide you an electronic template that you can personalize) and follow up with phone calls. Telling your story is educational and raises awareness and there is no shortage of information you can include. For example, explaining the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes is often an eye-opener for those who do not know the difference. People are usually shocked to find out that T1D is so common. The following stats are pretty amazing: As many as three million Americans may have T1D. Each year, more than 15,000 children and 15,000 adults approximately 80 people per day are diagnosed with T1D in the U.S. Approximately 85 percent of people living with T1D are adults, and 15 percent of people living with T1D are children.

3 The prevalence of T1D in Americans under age 20 rose by 23 percent between 2001 and The rate of T1D incidence among children under age 14 is estimated to increase by three percent annually worldwide. T1D accounts for $14.9 billion in healthcare costs in the U.S. each year. There are many things that can be shared about autism as well. The following stats are fairly astonishing for those who don t live with this disability: Autism now affects 1 in 68 children and 1 in 42 boys Autism prevalence figures are growing Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S. Autism costs a family $60,000 a year on average Boys are nearly five times more likely than girls to have autism There is no medical detection or cure for autism Most of the general public is very unaware of seizure disorders and would find the following information interesting: 65 MILLION: Number of people around the world who have epilepsy. OVER 2 MILLION: Number of people in the United States who have epilepsy. 1 IN 26 people in the United States will develop epilepsy at some point in their lifetime. BETWEEN 4 AND 10 OUT OF 1,000: Number of people on earth who live with active seizures at any one time. 150,000: Number of new cases of epilepsy in the United States each year ONE-THIRD: Number of people with epilepsy who live with uncontrollable seizures because no available treatment works for them. 6 OUT OF 10: Number of people with epilepsy where the cause is unknown. By educating their organization and telling your story you are bring awareness and giving invisible disabilities a face. When you share how Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers has developed a proprietary program for training dogs to recognize fluctuations in the blood sugar levels of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. You will be able to share how that these dogs are trained to alert or tell the diabetic or a family member that the diabetic s blood sugar is going low or high. You will also be able to share that Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers has developed a

4 proprietary and unique program for training dogs to support families who are coping with the challenges of having an autistic child. In addition to providing an overall calming effect on the autistic child, there are a number of tasks the dogs will be taught including finding the child if lost, serving as a stationary ballast in the case of elopement, providing redirection away from repetitive behaviors, etc. When paired with a service dog, autistic children often have better sleep patterns, less anger and frustration and increased social interaction. You will also be able to share how Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers has developed a proprietary and unique program for training dogs to support individuals who are daily coping with the effects of a seizure disorder. As you meet with these groups, you will be making contacts that will help you in your next phase. Time to plan the big event and bring home the pup NO NONESENSE NETWORKING Each of the people that have helped you at this point is a potential member of your fundraising dream team. Hopefully, you have met people with media connections, with connections for venues, people who have connections to get supplies donated, food donated and most importantly CASH donated. First figure out what you like to do. Is it golf, tennis, wine, music, dance or whatever interests you? Hold a meeting with your team and start planning. Put at least two people together on everything from food, to decorations, to publicity or whatever needs to be covered. People work better and faster if they are paired. They are more accountable and try harder. Now each of your committee needs to recruit some hosts and sponsors. Both are critical to the success of your event. Hosts are people who will come to your event with a crowd. They will fill a table or two at a dinner and put together a foursome for golf. They like to doing things with their friends and they are leaders but don t like a lot of responsibility. Good hosts will be inspired to help you and drag all their friends with them. If you are having a dinner, hosts are the most important volunteers you have. You will have each host to turn in list of whom they are bringing at least three weeks before the event.

5 Sponsors enable you to go into your event without worrying about breaking even. Sponsors can be businesses or organization that give donations before the event to offset any expenses so that all proceeds from the event go to your campaign. It helps to have several levels of sponsorship (Bronze, Silver, Gold) so that you can attract large and small businesses. All sponsors need to be recognized by a banner or program that thanks them for their sponsorship. Allow your self plenty of time to plan the big event and while you are working on this there are many smaller, less time consuming activities you can do to be chipping away at that pledge. All the stuff you can do in between ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES AND GET TO WORK In warm weather you can have car washes. Many times local gas stations that don t have a car wash will allow you hold a car wash using their parking lot and their water. Churches are another great place to hold them especially if you have it right after church and combine it with a hotdog sale. You can make homemade gifts and have a BLACK FRIDAY sale that will really give people the holiday feeling. They get unique gifts for loved ones and will be helping you reach your pledge. Many businesses have a 2-5 percent pay it forward day that they give 2-5 percent of their profits to a non-profit. We can furnish you will documentation of our non-profit status and help you with the paperwork. Donation jars are a great at businesses and also at churches and youth oriented organizations. Smaller (pint) jars can be given to Sunday School classes, Boy and Girl Scout Troops, 4H clubs for coin drives. Yankee Candles, Cookie Dough, Popcorn, Candy, Flower bulbs and other brochure fundraisers require little to no investment and can add up if you have each one of your friends take a brochure to work, school, church and social gathering for you. If you have 20 friends who make $50 a piece for you that is $1,000.

6 Successful fundraising is hard work but it can be fun if you look at it as a way to meet new friends and increase the awareness of how service dogs can improve and even save the lives of those who have them.