Raising Funds for Nature Fundraising Tips and Ideas

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1 Raising Funds for Nature Fundraising Tips and Ideas Thank you so much for your interest in fundraising for the Nature Trust! We ve assembled some tips and ideas to help you in your efforts. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, if you d like help promoting your activities, or if you have your own great ideas that we should add to the list or feature online! FUNDRAISING TIPS SET A FUNDRAISING GOAL having a clear goal helps to give you a clear picture of the task ahead, and helps donors/supporters decide on an appropriate gift towards your goal. TELL PEOPLE about your participation with the Nature Trust and why you are raising this money. You may have a personal story of why you are doing this, and the more people you share this information with, the more awareness you raise. BE STRATEGIC ask on pay day! MAKE YOUR OWN CONTRIBUTION Lead the way by making your donation first. THANK YOUR DONORS they make our work possible and your hard work worth it. REMEMBER Ask with energy and enthusiasm! You are helping people connect to an excellent cause. Donors receive a tax receipt for their donation of $20 or more. Send out updates with information on your fundraising goals and training. This is a good way to remind people who said they would support you but haven t yet donated. Educate your donors about the Nature Trust and why you are taking this initiative (see highlights below) After it s over, share your success. Let your supporters know about your success, how much was raised, what it will help to accomplish. Be sure to thank them. Stay positive! Remember the reasons you re involved with the Nature Trust. Fundraising comes with a lot of "No's." Forget about those and keep going for the "Yes's." You ll never hear yes unless you ask! Think big! However small the event or activity you're running, you'll want to make sure that your idea is going to bring in as much money as possible and make all your hard work worthwhile.

2 Make it easy! The best fundraising ideas are ones that are easy to run and easy for people to participate in, so tailor your event to the people it's aimed at. (e.g. if you're fundraising at work, make it short and simple to enter, unlike a sponsored event which needs more time to allow people to plan their involvement and for you to seek sponsorship). GETTING STARTED Get creative with the amounts you ask for especially if folks are writing cheques (e.g. ask for a penny for every acre the Nature Trust has protected (6,000 acres) or $1.00 for every conservation site saved (47 to date and counting!) Use company and community newsletters and s, as well as personal Facebook/Twitter pages to seek support. Use public bulletin boards to target high traffic areas (lunch rooms, washrooms, elevators, etc.) Organize a small fund-raiser like casual dress days at work, ice cream treats, pizza lunch, bake sale, BBQ, personal services auction or raffle at the office, or garage sale to supplement individual pledges. DOES YOUR WORKPLACE HAVE A MATCHING GIFT PROGRAM? Some employers have programs to match funds you raise for a charity, or make a contribution to a charity for which you volunteer. Company matches can quickly double your success. Approach your company or other companies about a corporate sponsorship or donation. Start a letter-writing campaign to everyone in your address book. Put up a penny jar at work, your local store, local coffee shop etc. in support of your efforts. WHERE PLEDGE DOLLARS GO Your pledges help the Nova Scotia Nature Trust to save those special places that we all treasure beautiful beaches and rocky shores, pristine lakeshores and wildlife-rich wetlands. Why support the Nature Trust? Close to 75% of Nova Scotia is privately owned land, including: over 85% of our coastline habitat for 11 nationally endangered species that are found nowhere else in Canada habitat that is globally critical for the conservation of five endangered plant species much of the last remnants of Nova Scotia s old growth forests Pressures on these private lands are growing like never before, from cottage development on pristine lakeshores to subdivision and development of beaches and coastal islands. The remaining 0.1% of our old growth forests is falling to deforestation. By raising pledges, you can help to save Nova Scotia s special places.

3 SPREAD THE WORD COMPOSE A WELL THOUGHT OUT OR LETTER and send to everyone you know and include a weblink to your personal GivingPage. Also, ask them to forward the /letter on to others or print it off and hang it up in the lunchroom at their work. The more people you reach the better your chances of meeting your fundraising goal. A LOT? Be sure to include a line in your automatic signature that tells people what you are raising money for and how they can support you! SOCIAL MEDIA Post a personal message on your Facebook and/or Twitter with a link to your personal GivingPage to alert friends of your involvement with the Nova Scotia Nature Trust. You might find some more nature-loving friends out there! SIGNING YOUR CORRESPONDENCE Start the habit of signing your notes, letters and cards with your name and the name of the event. You will be surprised at how many people will ask you about it. DO YOU HAVE A LOCAL OR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER? Usually they allow free ad space for not-forprofit causes so why not place an ad asking for donations, explaining why you are raising this money and where it goes? Including a picture is always a great touch but most importantly, make sure you include information on how people can contact you. NEWSLETTER Does your company or local group distribute a newsletter or interoffice mail/bulk ? Ask them to include a story on your fundraising and event. It s a perfect way to get the word out. ANSWERING MACHINE MESSAGE Leave a message on your home machine and/or your cell phone. This will alert everyone who calls you that you're up to something special. Let them know that you need their support! BIRTHDAY/SPECIAL DAY GIFT PLEDGE ask your family members and friends to donate or sponsor you for your birthday or special occasion in lieu of a gift. HONOURING FRIENDS OR FAMILY If you re participating in an activity in memory or in honour of someone, be sure to mention this (and include a photo) in your donation letter, , etc. BUSINESS CARDS You can easily create inexpensive business cards. Include your name, contact information, the event or activity, how they can donate. Hand these out to everyone you meet. INCLUDE YOUR NEIGHBOURS Write a letter to all the neighbours on your block (or in your building). Tell them about the event and ask them to help you by making a donation. Or do the old-fashioned door-to-door fundraising a great opportunity to catch up on neighbourhood news and it s always hard to say no face to face.

4 GET SOCIAL! HAVE A GARAGE SALE Think of all the great items that you no longer use that would be a valued treasure for someone else! You can also ask your neighbours if they would like to donate items for your garage sale. Make posters to let people know where the proceeds are going. In addition, you can create a donation jar for people who may just want to support you. E BAY Round up some of your goods and goods from your friends and place them on ebay or another online seller. Add your sale profits to your donations. ASK A LOCAL RESTAURANT to donate a percentage of their sales for a day or at a busy time of day to support your venture. Make flyers and post them or hand them out to patrons entering the establishment. BAKE SALE Why not have a bake sale or ask your local social club or church to give you a hand in fundraising through a bake sale together. DINNER PARTY Have a dinner party and set a donation of $50.00 per person to attend. Plan out your meal plans and try to spend $20.00 per person (or less) on your cost to prepare the meal. By inviting 10 people, you would receive $300 or more in donations. Make it more fun by providing a theme! HAVE A BBQ Some larger grocery stores have fundraising barbeques throughout the year. Approach a store and see if the proceeds from one barbeque can be donated to your fundraising cause. CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP Choose one or several large companies and contact them directly. Most have funds for community support. PLACES THAT YOU ATTEND REGULARLY such as church, the gym, etc. are good places to approach to look for sponsorship. Or ask if you can put your posters at their facility to help let people know what you are doing and raise donations. SPORTS GAME Buy a section of tickets at a group rate and ask your family and friends for a donation of twice the price. Get food donated and host a tailgate party. LOCAL CLUBS Many areas have a local Lion s Club, Rotary Club, etc. Write a letter to your local club and ask them to support you. LOCAL FAIR OR CARNIVAL Some cities/towns have annual carnivals, fairs or craft shows. Talk to the organizers to see if they are willing to donate some funds to your cause from proceeds of the fair. Offer to participate in an event, like the dunk tank. HAVE A BOOTH Talk to organizers of your local fair, carnival, market or event. Ask them if you can set up a donation booth. It would be good to have posters or brochures available for people. You can talk to people at the event and ask for their support. At your local event, ask organizers if you can paint children s faces, etc. for donations. SILENT AUCTION Ask local businesses to donate items or gift certificates and hold a silent auction fundraising event or on a payday at work. Things like a book of car wash certificates, $10 off dry

5 cleaning, movie passes, play tickets, restaurant gift certificates, pet grooming, a week of free coffee; the list is endless! Set minimum donation limits and allow people to bid them up. A business may agree to set up a silent auction for one item every Friday at work. They get something donated and the office has fun bidding on something new each week. LIVE AUCTION Same as above, but with an energetic auctioneer. Good for a large crowd and some big ticket items; a trip for two, a special bottle of wine, landscape work, pool or housecleaning service, or auctioning off husbands for handiwork. SPORTS TEAM Organize a local soccer, ball hockey, ultimate, or other sports tournament. KARAOKE NIGHT So you can t sing worth beans? That makes it all the more fun! Spend a Friday night at a karaoke bar and sing to your heart s delight. Have the announcer tell the crowd that you re singing for donations! CAR WASH Always a goodie! Ask a local gas station to donate the cleaning products, put up balloons, signs and wash away! SPECIAL SCREENING Ask your local movie theatre to donate a special screening of a new release. Invite everyone you know and make flyers to get the word out. Ask for a suggested donation at the door. Also, see if the theatre will donate a percentage of the concession sales from your event! NATIONAL HOLIDAYS Don't forget about Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day weekend and other picnic opportunities. Bring your donation forms and a donation jar to ask everyone in attendance. POPULAR LOCAL BAND Do you know someone in a band that plays regular gigs? Ask them to check with the venue whether the band can ask for donations from patrons, letting them know about your cause. You can also organize a party at a local pub/bar. GAMES NIGHT Dust off those board games and start playing! Have a poker, cribbage or euchre tournament. Break into teams or groups and let the fun begin. Or you can have a game a thon. CURSE JAR Everyone slips one out every once in awhile. Now they ll have to pay for it. Place a Curse Jar in your office/at home and whenever someone says a bad word they have to open up their wallet and put a dollar in the jar. ASK FOR EMPTIES Ask your friends for their empty beer bottles with the promise of returning them in exchange for the money to be donated. USED BOOK SALE Everyone has books that have been sitting on shelves, in the attic or in the basement collecting dust. Ask your friends, family and neighbours to donate whatever they ve got and set up a little weekend book sale in your front yard. Put up some signs so people will know where the money is going. Once they re aware of your cause, they may even give you more money! "THONS" Cut a thon (hair salon), Mow a thon, Shovel a thon, Rake a thon. You name it, you can do it for donations. You can even use local Girl Scout or Boy Scout troops as help for these fun activities.

6 BEAUTY SALON Have your hairdresser put a donation jar at their station with a small flyer. Hairdressers are great at talking things up and spreading the message. WALK IN PUBLIC Set up a treadmill outside of a store and walk for donations. Set out a donation can for people to drop donations in. LEMONADE ANYONE? Have a yard sale with a lemonade stand, or just a lemonade stand. This is a great way to get your kids or neighbours involved and have them feel like they are joining you in making a difference. RENT A PORT A POTTY for a small town parade: Decorate it, and ask for donations for use. GARDEN TOUR Hold a garden tour at your home or at a local historical home. Have the tour promoted through your local newspaper. HOST A COFFEE GET TOGETHER at your home or at a local coffee shop. Ask your favourite coffee shop to donate the coffee (and maybe even some goodies!). MOVIE/TV MARATHON Host a movie or TV series marathon. Choose a theme (Hitchcock, Seinfeld, The Office) and start the popcorn! Ask for a suggested donation at the door. Enhance the theme with a suggested 1 dollar donation every time a specific word or phrase is spoken, every time Hitchcock himself appears, every time Jerry has an "aside" with Elaine THEMED MUSIC/DANCE PARTY Host a music/dance night 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's style! Play all of the old favourites and ask people to come dressed in costume to dance the night away! Serve donated drinks and food. Ask for a suggested donation at the door. You can even ask a DJ if they'd donate an evening for you, so you can have a complete selection of tunes! TEA PARTY Host a traditional High Tea, or ask a local hotel to do so on your behalf. Ask for a suggested donation at the door. INVOLVE YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY The rewards can be well worth the effort. Community events like craft fairs, garage sales and fashion shows can be great fun and can run as annual events once you've got them off the ground. Try choosing a seasonal theme for your event, such as an Easter egg hunt or a Christmas coffee morning and make sure you get as much local publicity as possible.

7 RAISING FUNDS WHILE YOU WORK! WORKPLACE FUNDRAISING IDEAS DRESS DOWN FRIDAY Ask your boss if you can host "Dress Down Fridays." Employees then make a donation in order to dress down on the specified day. PERSONAL VENDING MACHINE AT WORK Purchase some of the office favourites in bulk (or better yet have them donated!), mark up the price, and sell them from your desk, lunch room or prominent spot. COFFEE BREAK Host a special themed coffee break at work, getting a specialty coffee shop or bakery/restaurant to donate to the cause and charge a charitable (i.e. generous) price. Or ask colleagues at work to donate baking you can sell for a special coffee break event. PANCAKE BREAKFAST or BBQ Host a pancake breakfast or BBQ at work, charging a charitable (i.e. generous) price for charity! 50/50 DRAW Hold a 50/50 draw at work, or if your company already holds a regular draw ask if one month the draw can be held for your cause. POOL OR POKER TOURNAMENT Organize and office pool tournament or poker tournament with an entry fee going towards your fundraising efforts. HOCKEY POOL Start a hockey pool at work. Everyone pays to enter their picks weekly (which teams will win) and highest score wins ½ the money and ½ goes to your fundraising! LUNCH ROOM Put up a display about your fundraising in the lunch room with a donation jar and info on donating to you online (contact us about setting up your own, free, online fundraising website). CORPORATE MATCHING VIA A FRIEND Ask a close friend to see if they can cooperate in fundraising with you, and have their company match donations. You can even ask your friend to see if their company would be interested in a corporate fundraising contest against your company. SHORTEST TIE CONTEST Executives participate in an all day contest to end the day with the shortest tie. Employees pay to cut an inch off their favourite executive s tie. You can vary the game by paying for the ugliest or most ties, etc. All proceeds are donated to your event! You can shop resale stores for ties! UNION AT WORK? Why not approach your Union at work for a donation. Most groups such as these have funds set aside for donations or supporting a cause. SPARE CHANGE BOX Start a jar and keep it on your desk or in a prominent place at work with a sign about what you re raising fund for those loonies and toonies add up quickly. Take it one step further by putting it on your desk at work and asking others to join you. GOLF TOURNAMENT Does your company host an annual golf tournament, Christmas party or conference? Ask them if you can have a charity hole (a prize for the closest to the pin) and participants pay a couple of bucks to compete. Or add some fundraising element to other work events. Or if you re feeling ambitious, organize your own event for colleagues at work and their families!

8 DO YOU HAVE KIDS? "LOOSE CHANGE DAY" Ask your child's school to have a "Loose Change Day." Make a flyer encouraging each child to bring in loose change from their house to be donated. Encourage the math classes to assist with counting, predicting and rolling the change. This is a great way to involve the entire school. You can hold this event multiple times; every week or every month. PANCAKE BREAKFAST Host a pancake breakfast at a school, park or place of worship. Ask for a specific suggested donation amount at the door. Get the pancake mix and other food items donated by local stores. KIDS' GAME DAY Invite your kid's friends, your nieces and nephews, the neighbourhood kids, the soccer team, to a game day at a local park or donated indoor location. Like a drop off party, you coordinate a couple of hours worth of fun activities and ask the parents for a donation in exchange. Tetherball, Four Square, Jump Rope, Potato Sack races, Yo Yo contests, you name it! Have donated snack food and juice boxes available to round out the fun. SWIM PARTY Ask a local public pool to donate (or rent at a reduced rate) a couple of hours for a private party. This is a great way to get teenagers involved in the fundraising effort. Have donated snacks on hand and be sure to include a lifeguard. Turn on some music and ask for a suggested donation at the gate. OUTDOOR PURSUITS The outdoors is what the Nature Trust is all about! Combining some healthy exercise with fundraising is a great way to stay active and support the Nature Trust at the same time. You can involve friends, family, work colleagues, fellow members of your local sports club or simply do something on your own. Select something you will enjoy, and is within your ability, to keep it fun. SOME TIPS ON FUNDRAISING PROTOCOL Many fundraisers host local events and activities to help them reach their fundraising goal. If you plan to fundraise through these methods, please remember the following: Often, local communities have laws governing fundraising activities like raffles, garage sales, leafleting, and other promotional activities. Please check with your local government before fundraising in these ways. If you plan to post flyers in a public space (grocery stores, malls, parking lots, etc.) please check with the Property Manager first before posting your materials. If you're charging admission to a fundraising event, you must indicate it is a "suggested donation" and not a required fee, in order for the amount to be considered a tax deductible donation. Remember to have each of your donors fill out a donation form and fill out cheques accordingly to be eligible for a receipt (for donations of $20 or more).

9 THE NATURE TRUST CAN HELP! If you are hosting an event, contact us! We can help promote the event on our Facebook page, our e- newsletter and website. We can provide you with our logo and information on the Nature Trust to have available. We may also be able to have a staff person attend the event. GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY FUNDRAISING. And Thank You!