Fundraisins ideas?

[pyrolady]

Does anyone have any ideas for raising money for my volunteer fire department?

[IGO4IT]

if bingo is as big in your area as ours, then a "longerberger" basket bingos are great.

[JeepFireNY]

Some other good fund raisers are raffles... power tool & gun raffle are especially popular around here. Also, if you have a somewhat busy main street, a road drive is also a good idea. People are always generous when it comes to fire departments. We have a very busy main road that runs through our town, and we hit people on the way to the Renaissance Festival in Orange County. We do it on Saturday & Sunday... we don't even bother with Friday night cause it just ends up ****ing commuters off.

Hope this helps

[UTFFEMT]

Matching GRANTS, go for those instead, you will get lots more $$$ and alot of less head ache in the long run.

[jzigmont]

Most Volunteer fire departments have done bingos and raffles with great success. I know our raffle is one of our largest fundraisers. We also do very well with a 'bloomin onion' booth at the local fair. Bloomin onions are labor intesive to make, but cost less then $1 and can be sold for over $6.

One of the other 'fun' fundraisers we do with success is our 'Harvest Dance'. If you can find a good DJ, its a very good fundraiser that is also great for public relations.

Yours in Service,

Jason

P.S. As a side note, I've made a place to share fund raising information (among other info) for Volunteer FD's atwww.volunteerfd.org

[AsstChief11]

Our department has had a spook trail/hay ride in October. We have always done well with that. We also had a car show last year that went reall well. We charged for entry but our concession during the day was the main money maker

[GreatPlainsFF]

A bunch of the smaller fire departments around here get all the proceeds from pull tabs.

Another town here operates the beer garden during the 4th of July festival and dance. Last year, I alone, drank. . . I mean contributed enough for a new fire truck

[iceman4442]

As mentioned above, look into finding sources for grants - your money goes a lot farther when you only have to pay 10 - 28% of a bill!

Our department has done well with raffles the last few years; but we have a member who goes balls to the wall and runs with it, from organizing it to soliciting prizes, to lining up all the other necessities like printing, advertizing, etc.

As an example, in a small community (around 3500, I think), we netted about $6000 with last year's. Not a lot with what equipment costs, but much better than a sharp stick in the eye!

[MetalMedic]

I wonder of Sparta, KY is still "passing the boot" at the local strip club???

[BFD930]

Our dept has a bbq on July 4. We start on the 3rd with a street dance and sell sandwiches and drinks while we cook for the fourth. On the fourth we sell bbq plates with chips, beans, slaw and a drink or bbq by the pound. We also get items donated and have an auction. One time our asst. chief donated his golf clubs (without his knowledge) and had to pay $125 to get them back. We also invite EMS and the local Rescue Squad and Air Evac to bring there equipment and set up displays. You usually get a good crowd when the chopper makes a couple of orbits over the community before landing.

[old timer]

Lets see, at the station I belong to now, we are currently living off of money that was generated by years of bingo, that run by our older members and that money was invested wisely. We also get returns on our ems runs and that helps also. But, we do have other functions like a street fair (carnival), and night at the races.
I have also worked chicken B-BQ's, dances, festivals, card parties, gun raffles, poker runs, golf scrambles, raffles for various items, bake sales, craft sales, door to door canvasing, soup and sandwich sales, breakfast with santa and the easter bunney, and tag days.
As stated there is money out there as well in grants allocated for fire-ems-rescue companies, but the problem is it takes time and some initiative on the departments part or you need a grant writer on some of them. Then there is also the major companies in your area that may make in kind donations for your department.
But the key I feel is that before you set off for a fund raiser, make sure you have an idea of what you are going to do with the funds. From experience, if the public has an idea of what your department wants to do with the funds generated they generally respond more. But make sure those funds are used for that specific purpose and let the public see what their help provided.


KEEP DOING IT FOR THE RIGHT REASONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!