Camp Cocker, the rescue that saved Alvin, Stevie, and Timmie are experiencing a significant drop in donations, which means they can't continue to rescue as many cockers as before. Camp Cocker means so much to me because of the dogs they are willing to save. My dog Timmie had a fractured pelvis and would have surely been put to sleep had Camp Cocker not rescued him. They knew that he was going to require an expensive surgery and most rescues pass those dogs up. Timmie completely healed from the surgery and spent time visiting elderly people in a nursing home. He was the most joyful dog I have ever known. Then there was blind, deaf old Stevie who sat for months in a very scary shelter until Camp Cocker rescued her. Then Alvin, who in the world other than Camp Cocker would have rescued him because not only was he odd, but he had two bad knees that required surgery. So, I feel compelled to help try to fund raise for them but I don't know how. I am wondering if any of you have any suggestions on how to fund raise? We can't do events because it cost money to hold events and there is none of that at this time. I am wondering if any of you know good ways to solicit donations online? My sense of urgency comes from the fact that on any given day there are at least 10 cockers going into LA shelters and only about half make it out. Camp Cocker currently has about 25-30 cockers and although they have room for more, they don't have the funding to pay for their medical needs. If any of you have any suggestions on how I can help fund raise, please do let me know! Thank you so very much!
P.S. I found Alvin's food bowl about 1/4 filled today and it was two hours after breakfast time. He had clearly been distracted by something, wandered off, and forgot about the food in the bowl. Good grief! To make matters more nutty, my mom just brought over dog cookies for them and then gave them a wee bit of milk so they could have cookies and milk with grandma. Yes, we are both mentally losing it and it's all the dogs fault!
I mean this in only the best way, but it usually takes SOME money to really get fundraising. With that in mind, here are some ideas for cheap fundraisers...
ReplyDelete*Make and sell items on Cafepress -- no cost to you (assuming you can find a graphic artist to design something)....you'll make a few dollars per shirt (or whatever) sold.
Related item -- make a calendar of the rescue dogs. Sell each page for a $100 donation, maybe someone can advertise in the corner of the photo. Maybe you can get a local photographer to take pro photos of the dogs. Sell the calendars for a profit.
*Raffle - get one nice item, like maybe a Kindle? - and raffle it. If all the volunteers are out selling tickets for $5 a shot, you should get a nice profit. It'll be pure profit if you can find someone willing to donate the money to buy a Kindle. Or maybe local businesses will donate items. Often they will, if you ask!
Also have a prize for the volunteer who sells the most tickets (maybe a gift card, like a $10 Subway card or a $25 dine-in restaurant card, etc)
*Bake sale - can you make up little bags of cookies or popcorn or whatever? Will your local Petsmart let you sit outside their doors and sell them?
*Garage sale - All you need is one person with a good house location. Have all your volunteers donate unwanted stuff...have garage sale, all proceeds go to the rescue. Everybody wins.
*Service auction - what can your volunteers donate? Maybe someone is willing to clean a house, maybe someone with computer talent will donate 45 minutes of time to look at a computer problem, etc. Auction off (or raffle) volunteer talent.
*Does one of your volunteers own a business? Would they be willing to set out a donation jar in their business?
*Use social media to advertise your campaigns -- make it easy for people to find you and give a tiny donation and ask folks to share with their friends.