AndyRoo Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Hello all, I'm currently volunteering with a charity who want to raise their profile in the city and do more fundraising, and I have offered to try and organise some bits for them. Have any of you done anything similar? We're looking at attending some of the city's big events: the carnival, the harbour festival, pride etc., and I don't know if we still need a permit for the council for those as if we were collecting on the street without attending an event? Also, and most importantly, what is likely to make you donate at those kind of stalls? The volunteers? Freebies? The charity itself? Cheers, Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Well done you for getting out there and putting the work in! Firstly, it's really important to make sure that you are 'fully compliant' so I'd contact the relevant dept at The Council just to check the legalities. Thereafter....well you could have a static stall (although it would need to be where there was a good footfall) hand out flyers, organise Lucky Dips for youngsters (you can chat to the parents regarding your charity whilst the children are dipping ) 'sell' balloons (there are lots of companies that would print them for you). Do you have T shirts with the charity details on? If collectors wear those then that, too, raises the profile. With regard to what makes ME, personally, donate......it is identification with the 'cause' - I do think that, if you feel a connection to a cause you do want to contribute. EG; YS was born at 29 weeks and we had a sticky time with him so I always bung a folding into the neo natal charities either for hospital direct or for SANDS etc. Boys and OH sail so we also support Lifeboats and, having had several cancers in the family, we always give to cancer causes. Help for Heros and Poppy collectors also tug my heart strings and open my purse! Good Luck, AndyRoo! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted February 9, 2019 Author Share Posted February 9, 2019 36 minutes ago, soapdragon said: Well done you for getting out there and putting the work in! Firstly, it's really important to make sure that you are 'fully compliant' so I'd contact the relevant dept at The Council just to check the legalities. Thereafter....well you could have a static stall (although it would need to be where there was a good footfall) hand out flyers, organise Lucky Dips for youngsters (you can chat to the parents regarding your charity whilst the children are dipping ) 'sell' balloons (there are lots of companies that would print them for you). Do you have T shirts with the charity details on? If collectors wear those then that, too, raises the profile. With regard to what makes ME, personally, donate......it is identification with the 'cause' - I do think that, if you feel a connection to a cause you do want to contribute. EG; YS was born at 29 weeks and we had a sticky time with him so I always bung a folding into the neo natal charities either for hospital direct or for SANDS etc. Boys and OH sail so we also support Lifeboats and, having had several cancers in the family, we always give to cancer causes. Help for Heros and Poppy collectors also tug my heart strings and open my purse! Good Luck, AndyRoo! Thank you. I've offered to buy all the promotional goods for them; so they will have stickers, balloons, t-shirts, flyers, posters, and a branded gazebo and table with branded cloth. I love the charity I am helping out, and I am running their social media and organising fundraising for them - but they're not well known in the city, and, bless them, they haven't been that successful at promoting themselves. As such, I am going to be putting up posters all over town and dropping flyers off at various locations. I know we have loads of regs and rules to comply with, so I am trying to find those out - I read some of them and it made my head hurt! Why people can't just write things in plain English, I'll never know. I like the idea of having a sweet jar. I make soaps as well, so I was thinking I could make them multiple bars and 'sell' those for a few pounds too. The charity I am working with right now offers free long-term counselling for victims of sexual abuse / violence, so it's really worth while to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 A word of warning on the soap front! I make soap too (hence the name!) and wanted to sell it but found out that, if anyone had, or felt that they had, a 'bad' reaction to it then I could be sued. I looked into insurance but found it hugely expensive so scaled back production for just friends and family as gifts! Sad. What about local radio who often like to do features on local charities? Also worth contacting local papers - both free and paid for - to see if they will run an article about the organisation? Posters in GP surgeries and libraries.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia W Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Do you have a Community Shop where you are? I’m just back from 2 days putting up a display in our local Community Shop for an Art Group I belong to. We are allowed to use an empty shop in our local shopping centre and there is a local organisation who helps local groups use it. We had the shop for free and it’s really been a useful way of spreading our message. Good luck, Andy. A really worthwhile cause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted February 9, 2019 Author Share Posted February 9, 2019 21 minutes ago, soapdragon said: A word of warning on the soap front! I make soap too (hence the name!) and wanted to sell it but found out that, if anyone had, or felt that they had, a 'bad' reaction to it then I could be sued. I looked into insurance but found it hugely expensive so scaled back production for just friends and family as gifts! Sad. What about local radio who often like to do features on local charities? Also worth contacting local papers - both free and paid for - to see if they will run an article about the organisation? Posters in GP surgeries and libraries.... Oh, really? Maybe not the soap then! I've thought about having some chocolate bars made, and I was going to get some of those cheap charity silicone wristbands made. 9 minutes ago, Patricia W said: Do you have a Community Shop where you are? I’m just back from 2 days putting up a display in our local Community Shop for an Art Group I belong to. We are allowed to use an empty shop in our local shopping centre and there is a local organisation who helps local groups use it. We had the shop for free and it’s really been a useful way of spreading our message. Good luck, Andy. A really worthwhile cause. We have lots of local cafes and libraries and what have you. Once we have the posters and leaflets made, I am going to do a walking tour round Bristol asking anyone and everyone if they will let me put a poster up and leave some. I'll thank them with a tweet from our official account and a Facebook post. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmashazzie Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Also AR a good place to put poster, leaflet given type of charity is health centre and social services. Also if you have local woman’s aid shelter. I think for sure have something to draw kids to stand, for my lot a bowl of wrapped sweets works very well. Is stand for info or fund raising or both? If you are selling at carnivals etc then something to eat is good as people aren’t planning to shop. I don’t know what rules govern these events ie hygiene, ingredient listings etc. Perhaps hire candy floss machine. Am sure there must be good profit on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted February 11, 2019 Author Share Posted February 11, 2019 14 hours ago, Grandmashazzie said: Also AR a good place to put poster, leaflet given type of charity is health centre and social services. Also if you have local woman’s aid shelter. I think for sure have something to draw kids to stand, for my lot a bowl of wrapped sweets works very well. Is stand for info or fund raising or both? If you are selling at carnivals etc then something to eat is good as people aren’t planning to shop. I don’t know what rules govern these events ie hygiene, ingredient listings etc. Perhaps hire candy floss machine. Am sure there must be good profit on that. I think we can stretch to a jar of sweets or two. We discussed getting some chocolate bars made the other night, but came to the conclusion that if they didn't sell we'd have a problem storing them etc. Instead we're now looking at getting silicone wristbands and badges etc. made - maybe some canvas bags. The stand will be primarily for fundraising, although we can also obviously give out information on the charity and the services offered - though because of the nature of the service, a lot of people feel too nervous or embarrassed to ask about accessing the service in a public space. I've also just been investigating some new donation methods that would allow us to accept donations via text and card payments, so I hope that might help a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia W Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Storing chocolate bars! Whoever heard of such a thing. I’ll volunteer to help if you did have spare. Not sure you’d get them back... Seriously, homemade cakes always sell well. But I’d limit the range of things you decide to do. Being focussed will help you market it, and make life easier for you. You can always do another Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
