Fundraising tips 2007-2008

The following ideas have been submitted by leaders and girls from all over the world for World Thinking Day 2007 and 2008. You may have already tried some of the ideas, but some might be new to you.

Sent in by Kara from Canada

I found this idea in Canadian Parent magazine while doing some research for my thesis. It looks like a fun, creative and rewarding fundraising idea and can be easily adapted to encompass Girl Guide/Girl Scout projects around the world:

The Calgary Bowl
Each year a group of teens with Child and Youth Friendly Calgary organizes a fundraiser for homeless youth, called Empty Bowls. They plan the evening, create and paint ceramic bowls and prepare soup and bread. Patrons buy a ticket for $15, choose a bowl and get it filled with soup.

"The kids do the whole thing," emphasizes Renže Hopfner, program director for the organization. At the end, the handmade and freshly washed bowls go home with the patrons, as reminders of homeless and hungry kids.
"The special part about Empty Bowls is that youth are doing something for other youth," says Hopfner, adding that it’s also great "because it involves people of all ages in the community. The volunteers are really conscious of all the links, of who is involved in the project with them.

Sent in by Helen from United Kingdom

In 2004 we asked the Guides how they’d like to raise money for the Thinking Day Fund and they came up with “Sock It To ’Em”. Their idea was that each Patrol had a sock and throughout January and February they brought in their loose change and added it to the Patrol sock. On the meeting nearest Thinking Day each Patrol used the coins they’d collected to create a money picture. Small prizes were given for most creative picture, heaviest sock, most money collected and teamwork.

2004 was only our second Thinking Day as a Unit but the Guides clearly loved creating their own money spinner and most entered fully into it.

In January we’ll be asking them again how they’d like to raise their Thinking Day pennies... can’t wait to see what they come up with this year

Sent in by Grace from Lebanon

This is what we did. Each group decided upon a country and made some of its traditional food. We then invited parents and friends to a World Thinking Day evening.

The entrance was 4$ each person. All the parents encouraged us by coming and eating our foods!! It was really a success, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Sent in by Mary from USA

In this country we go out to eat a fair amount. We should ask our girls and their families to skip one of these trips for a happy meal & collect what they would have paid to give to World Thinking Day. We would likely not miss the meal or the calories for that matter. Why not try this in your troop this year.

Sent in by Tina from Canada

Our Brownie unit last year had a great fundraising idea. They held a “bake sale and auction night”!

They started a couple of meetings ahead of time making papier-mâché hats, vases etc and drawing "art Exhibits". When they were all completed they sent home an invitation inviting the parents to their event.

They hung all the "Art Exhibits" - signed of course, on one wall resembling a gallery and laid out their "sculptures", with an index card in front, on tables. Each had the name of the child who had made the item and the first entry on the index card was a fictitious name or a name of a pop star with a dollar amount. This started the bidding for the item.

That night, the girls all brought along a baked good which they sold (homemade baked bread is always a winner and you can’t go wrong with cake cones).

Then the parents proceed to view the "sculptures and "Art Exhibits". It became a friendly competition with the bidding. The parent would jot down an amount on their own child’s card but quickly after a leader would raise the bid by entering another humorous name below it.

Sometimes a parent would bid on another child’s item to keep it interesting...of course, the parent of the child would always beat the bid so as not to lose their prized art piece. Some sold for over 5 and 6 dollars each! The art exhibits were part of the package that the highest bidder received. At the end of the night parents went home with baked goods, priceless sculptures, art and had so much fun in the process!

The total for an hour and a half of fun was $300.00!

Sent in by Beryl from Chad

A “Bakeless Bake Sale” is for people who are too busy to bake pies, cookies, etc. Count the cost of the materials, heat and time lost.

Everyone sends in their donation of what it would cost to make one of the above and before you know it you have raised a large sum of money. This could be done with a Guide or Brownie Unit and the money raised sent to World Thinking Day

Sent in by Lynn from Canada

We give the girls a container and for 2 weeks they fill it with pennies. Each day they have a different challenge that makes them aware of their world around them:

- Put in one cent for each time you used water today for drinking or washing.
- Put in one cent for each pair of shoes, boots or slippers you own. - Put in two cents for each bed in your house.
- How many bathrooms are there in your house? Put in two cents for each one.
- Put in five cents for every car your family owns.
- How many eggs are in your fridge? Put in one cent for each egg.
- If you ate in the past three days, put in ten cents.
- Put in one cent for each piece of fruit in your home.
- Put in two cents for every television in your home.
- If you had a glass of milk today, put in five cents.
- Put in two cents for every tap in your home.
- Put in five cents if you feel safe in your home.
- If you have someone who loves you, count your blessings – that is worth
more than all the money in the world!! Put in any amount of pennies!

Sent in by Christina from UK

We recently raised £270 by volunteering to pack people’s bags in our local supermarket. We had great fun and people enjoyed finding out who we were so that is something that anybody can do.

Sent in by Crystal from Canada

For the last two years our division has held a World Thinking Day carnival. We try to have every unit in the division come up with a station.

Some of the stations include:

Fishing pond, ring toss, fortune teller, coin toss, cotton candy stand, nail painting stand, japanimation station (girls got a picture of themselves drawn as a animal character), pin the tail on the unicorn, bakery stand, and several more.

The girls are welcome to bring friends and family to the event. The tickets are a quarter. Most stations are only one ticket.

When the girls complete a station they receive a prize! (which are all donated to the carnival from units or outside organizations.)

This year we helped raise approx $400 in a two hour span. The girls all get to come out and have fun and raise money at the same time.