Fundraising ideas for the mob I volunteer for, tombola prizes, something for our stall in 2 weeks time - ideas please?

[Vallhala]

Come on you lot, I need your help! :o Put your thinking caps on please - vet and food bills are pouring in and we need every penny we can get.

The dog rescue I help at has been offered a stall at a local agility show... in less than 2 weeks time!

We ran a stall at another show just this Sunday - raised some pennies and boy do they need it so we're incredibly grateful but we really need ideas on how to improve on it (think £900 per pallet of food for the epileptic dogs alone). We had a tombola on Sunday so we haven't sufficient prizes for another (am trying to work on that though goodness knows how so far!), we have some doggy items to sell although they don't exactly whizz off the stall and I'm just trying to drum up some donations from other PFK volunteers for a childrens' "jam jar tombola".

Has anyone any other ideas please? Asking local businesses for tombola items is almost a thankless task these days, so many either don't donate to charity any more or already have their chosen ones. I'm scouring the free samples websites for things to put in the jam jar tombola and have asked my fellow PFK rescuers to do the same... but what else?

Thanks!

How have you sold the "adoptions", Scuttle? Would you do it at, say, a collection point in a supermarket for example? Fish is beautiful and, as you say, perfect for such a fundraiser.

Through the charity's website, regular monthly e-newsletters to supporters (these are brilliant for getting out messages/brainwashing/featuring special dogs) and very easy to set up, when people adopt a dog from us, when we do meet and greets, on our stalls at events, our paper newsletter twice a year. It is much harder to hand out paper on sponsor dogs at an event like a supermarket although easier if you have a merchandise stall somewhere - these days it is simpler just to point them at the website. As so many places have wifi nowadays, it can even be a good idea to take a laptop, load it up with a nice slideshow, and have that going, and if people are interested, show them the website pages that are relevant...

Ahh.. thanks for that, Scuttle. Lol at "brainwashing"

scuttle - thanks for links and info.
motherjack - peg bags sounds good idea too

I've just had a look at your link for the Tote bags, Scuttle. I'm tempted to dust off my sewing machine now!! Do you know why fat quarters are called fat quarters? I need to know if I can use any material that has never been called a fat quarter in it's life!
Thanks

Hi Mother - this is rapidly turning into the Dogs And Quilting Section!!

They are called FAT because you can also get THIN quarters. Most fabrics are sold on the roll by the metre/yard and if say a metre is cut you end up wiht a rectangle shaped rather like a flag. A quarter is one quarter of this but you could cut it different ways - you could do thin quarters where you effectively salami slice the fabric and end up with four skinny rectangles or you could do fat quarters where you cut the fabric down the middle and again in half so you end up with four square-ish pieces. It very much depends on what you want to use the fabric for. However, the fat quarter is a very useful size of fabric and often you'll see bundles of FQs in quilt shops, tied together in tempting little packages as three or four FQs from a fabric range will often be enough to start/inspire a quilt with some backing fabric added into the mix. You can also sit there stroking them ( stash addict confession time)

Lol at you stroking your fabric stash. Sorry Val - this has gone a little off topic

Sorry - I meant to say thank you for that explanation - it makes sense now!!

You know - she never came back - i wonder if she's still wringing herself out?

I was wringing myself out! Sorry chapesses! :o

Bloody laptop charger has a loose wire and unless I wiggle it in just the right way and stay VERY still it stops charging and dies. :( Waiting for a new one to be delivered, very impatiently, and sitting in a very uncomfortable position atm!

THANK YOU ALL for your kindness and offers, goodness I'm humbled... I wasn't expecting anyone to offer practical help but boy are we all grateful. I'd love to accept, thank you, and will pm PFKs address tomorrow to you kind ladies (and get busy sewing, ScuttleButter). :)

We do a "sponsor a lifer" thingy and had a facepainter at last weekend's event (dunno if she's available next event but crikey I tell you she is clever).

The advice you all have is great and I can see where we need to improve things too now, such as having clear areas for the different items. The forthcoming event is an agility show and so a new type for us as stallholders. Our resident agility star says she's not seen a tombola at such an event before so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Oh... and the jar tombola for children... it involves collecting little bits in jam jars, such as small toys, colouring pencils, balloons, hair accessories, costume jewellery, mini bubble bath bottles, that sort of thing, topping them off with a lid made of pretty fabric and then... well, using them as tombola prizes.

Lots to do here and some pms to answer - if I don't manage to answer all of them tonight I apologise (DDs still up and interupting too!) but I will do so tomorrow.

Again, THANK YOU!

Re. the jam jar one, sticking the stuff into clear plastic cups which you cover with some cellophane then tie with ribbon can be easier, look better and be a bit safer - and also saves having a house full of jam jars

Guessing the soft toy dog's birthday is less hassle than doing names - Ikea do some quite cheap toys with accessories (am just sorting this for our playgroup fun day!)

Good luck!

Oooh.. pm me the address, quick! Son in school tomorrow and thus I now feel a huge "sort out" coming on ;-) And if only I had known a couple of weeks ago as I was in your neck of the woods and you could have had a car-full!!

After all that the rescue had to cancel the stall at the show!

The owner became very ill with a suspected UTI/kidney infection thingy last weekend - he was incoherent, shaking, unable to move for days but just slept in his chair by his dogs and kept telling his DP that he'd fed/exercised/medicated dogs which he hadn't but genuinely thought he had in his confused state. His DP was struggling to cope with just a couple of volunteers - I couldn't get there being miles away with my own 3 dogs and DDs, the owner normally picks us all and our belongings up when we stay there as I have no transport. He had us all really worried... when after a few days he was able to move and again said he'd dealt with some of the dogs his partner went to check. This time he actually HAD let dogs out into the paddock to play - just two, all he could manage - and his poor DP burst into tears with relief. Thank goodness he's on the mend now but we had to concede that we needed to cancel the pitch at the show as there was no way he was well enough to drive the 40 or more miles to collect us or to drive to and from the showground.

So, we have decided that we'll all pitch in and do some stalls and car boots over the next couple of months. Bless 'em, we even have a volunteer who lives on the SW coast who's going to do so with her sister, who'll visit her from middle England to help.

The owner and his DP are overwhelmed with the generosity and kindness of you MNers and have asked me to say a HUGE thank you. It's only over the past couple of days that his DP has had time to open mail and do anything other than dog care but that's not through lack of gratitude. If it's okay with all the kind people who have donated things we'd like to use them for raffles/tombolas at the shows we plan to take part in over the forthcoming weeks. I hope that this is fine with you all but of course if there are any problems please do say.

Again, thank you all for your advice, tips and generosity.

Val x

The Sand Lady is wonderful....it's sand art in bottles and you orer the supplies from the website and she sends them for free and you keep a % of the profits and so does she.

The kids and some adults LOVE making these things and every time I have seen a stall with them on there is a massive queue.

I see it's been cancelled but, if you can work it, ice creams sell well when we sell them at school - buy them BOGOF at the supermarket and sell on. This does mean you need to be able to keep them frozen though.

Oh no! Poor bloke! That sounds awful, Val - he must have been properly ill (reminds me of the time I woke up so ill, I got dressed for school whilst crying, put my bag on my shoulder whilst still crying and walked straight out of the house (no breakfast or anything) and just sobbing "I don't want to go to school!!" My mum caught me half way down the drive with no shoes on and sent me back to bed!!!)

As far as I am concerned, the rescue can do whatever they see fit with stuff I sent. Just hope they can make some money with it, whatever that is :)

Sorry not read all of thread so may be a repeat. But at some of our local school fairs, the committee bought lots of jibbitz for crocs dirt cheap on Ebay (i.e. job lots) and sold them for profit.

Also if you could get job lots of kiddie tattoos they always go down well.

Oh 10000 apologies, just read it's cancelled. . Hope the poor bloke feels better soon.