Organizing a Raffle Fundraiser Pays Off
Why Ñ–Ñ• the rðfflõ a simple, õffõÑÂtÑ–võ, and рþtõntіðllу Ñ€rþfÑ–tðblõ wðу tþ rðіѕõ fundÑ• for уþur gþþd ÑÂðuѕõ?
“ImрðÑÂt a LÑ–fõ†scholarship ÑÂþntrÑ–butþr Whitney Rose relates from personal experience õxðÑÂtlу whу уþur organization Ñ•hþuld ÑÂþnÑ•Ñ–dõr ѕõllÑ–ng rðfflõ tÑ–ÑÂkõtÑ• as a рðrt þf your nõxt fundrðіѕõr.
It all started in the year 2006. I was in the 8th grade when I received a letter at school promoting an organization called People to People Student Ambassadors. I remember being given the letter and tearing through it profusely. My eyes lit up. It was a brochure for a 30 day trip abroad to the UK and Ireland. I didn’t know it in that moment but 10 months from that day I would be boarding an international plane for the very first time. I would be surrounded by 30 strangers my age who would become 30 of my closest friends and I would be introduced to 3 inspiring adults who would lead us on our journey. I didn’t know it then because I never would have imagined that my family could ever afford to send me on a seven thousand dollar trip. Here’s how we made it happen.
First my dad and I came up with a 9 month action plan. I remember he had this giant whiteboard where he sectioned it off with different fundraising ideas. We tried all of them. First we paired with a friend who grooms dogs and had a neighborhood dog wash, it lasted all weekend and we made a whopping $850. We helped their pups and they helped us! Next we made 400 popsicles with all natural ingredients and by setting up a stand during a local town festival we managed to sell out within 4 hours. It was so hot that day in September, we gave the community a cool treat and they gave us their support. The popsicles were priced at $3.00 each, so we made about $1,200.00 with those. After that we had a massive garage sell. My parents were divorced (but still friends) so we had two households worth of stuff plus donations by friends, neighbors and family. We kept the garage sale open all weekend and made a little over $2,200.00! A few few weeks after that we approached the local bakery and set up a fundraiser offering to sell their mini, medium and large pies. I don’t believe they realized just how many pies we were about to sell for them. I remember spending two months advertising and spreading the word on these pies. By the time 60 days had passed we had made over $1500.00! By now we were just shy of our $7,000 goal. I couldn’t believe it!
Fortunately the rest of the was pooled together by my parents but I’ll never forget the hard work and delicate planning that it took to organize each fundraising event. Never had I ever experienced anything quite like that and I remember feeling at first that it was impossible. Thanks to my local community, friends and family I was able to have an incredible life changing experience that has helped shaped me to become the person that I am today. I feel very fortunate to have had so much support and even more fortunate to have had that opportunity.
“Impact a Life†Scholarship contributor: Whitney Rose
Yþu ÑÂðn hõlÑ€ Whitney Rose’s pursuit þf a scholarship award bу ÑÂlÑ–ÑÂkÑ–ng the “sharing Ñ–Ñ• ÑÂðrÑ–ng†buttþnÑ• bõlþw.
