Costco. Walmart. Grocery store. Measure ingredients. Fill jars. Run more errands. Repeat. As we launched our first fundraiser, I realized I was getting out of the house more in a week than I typically get out in a month. And all of the late-night work was beginning to seem like good preparation for a third child.
I was also quickly coming to realize that we needed to think bigger. We are trying to raise an enormous sum in the next three months and our current ventures were not going to cut it. So far, we’ve focused on selling jars of bread, cookie and cocoa mix. I’ve also begun selling baby items we know we won’t need for the new baby on local buy, sell, and trade groups. Money for the adoption was coming in, but we only have three months left to raise the full amount. It was time to get some fresh ideas. I began texting a friend who used to work for the Kansas City Star to see if she had any connections to news organizations. I needed to think bigger in terms of getting the word out.
I also needed to think of different types of fundraising activities. Tim reached out to a coworker who has been raising money for her son who is ill. They’ve raised far more than our goal through a series of fundraisers. Some of the ideas thrown out were: community garage sale, church bake sales, poker night, silent auction, a 5k race, a bowl-a-thon.
It’s rather ironic, but the idea that perked up my ears was the poker night. I’m not a gambler. This adoption is the closest to gambling I will ever get in my life. I’ve been to a casino–twice–and spent $20 each time. I know so little about poker, I had to call in the experts to see how a charity poker tournament would work. Apparently, 50% of the pot typically goes to the fundraiser and the rest goes to the winner. There was possibly some potential in this idea. I also began researching online again and decided a pancake feed or community garage sale top the list. My biggest hurdle for all three events is to find a place to host them.
Normally, this is something people would do through their church, but Tim and I don’t belong to one. This means I’ll need to brainstorm possible places and let my fingers do the walking.
As I do this, I’ll repeat my new mantra for fundraising: “Think big!”
Cancer Ever After 