We’ve been super busy with a number of coming fundraising events and making the new bylaws. The softball game has been rescheduled for 8/12 & we plan to have a social outing on 8/24.
Details to follow at the next General Meeting, hope to see you there.
We had a pretty good turnout last Thursday, probably around 25-30 people, and many new people. The Indian food was good, especially the mozerella filled naan with chilli. I hope we can find ways to involve the new people. I already I have several new people interested in fundraising. We will now try to reschedule the softball game and look to our next event.
These are just some brain-storming ideas to get us started. Please let me know if you have any input or suggestions, or have had any past experience with a fundraiser that worked out well.Game night/Bingo night – Depending on the $ each person donates they get a certain amount of tokens/tickets/bingo cards to play with, and the prizes are donated items from companies. Similar games could include:
Casino night/Poker night – Depending on the $ each person donates they get a certain amount of chips to play with and then as people bet & win, they get tickets (like at Chuck E. Cheese) that they can turn in at a prize table to choose from donated items from companies
Notes: Depending on value of items, for game night/poker night, we could assign a ticket value to each item for people to trade in the tickets they've earned for various "prizes"
Could we have a cash bar? Permits, etc. required, just bottled beer and wine?
50 Mile Bike Ride/5K or 10K Run&Blade – We could set up a scheduled event (along Memorial Drive in Cambridge, any number of bike/running
trails in the suburbs) for people to sponsor EWB members to help finance our EWB project in "xx" location.
Meeting with some guest speakers that would be appropriate, who would donate their time or do it cheap, we charge
interested people $xx to come, we could make profit less location fee – could advertise it with other professional engineering societies in the area – maybe an entrepreneur night or several different engineering interests…?
Silent Auction/Raffle – Contact local companies to donate items & the money raised in the auction would go towards materials needed for our
project.
Note: If everything was worth $25 or so, raffle tickets could be $10 each
www.meistersoftware.com — Leading software to produce high quality raffle tickets
www.empties4cash.com – takes empty inkjet cartridges for cash
Notes: Sponsorship – any larger companies, or surrounding engineering companies. To get donations/sponsorships/item, write letters to company. Deliver them personally when possible & write thank-you's after the event or donation.
Car wash and detailing – like high-school cheerleaders & marching bands do to get funds, on a Saturday afternoon
SPONSORSHIP AND DONATION IDEAS
Locations for fundraising activities or maybe just to hand out info about joining EWB-Boston
Someone's church fellowship hall/Rotary Club/VFW/etc. Prudential/Faneuil Hall cart or table set-up College Fest at Hynes Convention Center
Someone's company parking lot Hotel conference room, restaurant banquet room, someone's company conference room Any other engineering societies' meetings, engineering school alumni meetings
Places to contact for item donations/sponsorships Typical auction items include event tickets, crafts, accessories, photographs, and memorabilia: Harpoon/Sam Adams Pizza places Dentists (teeth whitening) Hotels Gift/Candle shops Grocery stores (food baskets) Restaurants Toy stores Spas (day of pampering) Movie theaters
Candy shops Nail salons Video stores Hair dressers Caterers (food for work) Bookstores Home Depot Pet stores Florists Sports stores Tanning Bakeries Wal-Mart Target
JP Licks Dunkin Donuts Gym (week free membership) Garages (tune-ups) Loews Clothing stores Sports franchises (Sox, Pats) Six Flags Ski lodges (lift tickets, rentals)
Duck Tours Museums Harbor Cruise
For corporate sponsorship, contact your company.
We can also simply contact as many local large and small engineering/architecture/building supply companies as we can find. Do some research to see if larger companies set aside a certain amount in their budgets for philanthropic (?) donations. I do know that some restaurants do this.
As often as possible, personally go into stores/restaurants, etc. to hand-deliver the request letter and hopefully speak with a manager/accountant, etc. They may have questions about the project, and face-to-face will definitely boost the chances of getting donations or sponsorships. Make a point of writing a thank-you note to every company that provides us something. For something like a casino night, have a flyer/handout/program that lists our donors and thanks them.
We could have a cookware party. The way it works: example… If I was the host, a rep would come to myhome. She/he would have the products to demonstrate use and application. I would also invite people that I think would be interested in the product.Usually the guests purchase merchandise. There is a certain percentage that would go toward my purchase as a discount.
BUT, they also offer that same percentage to go toward a charity/nonprofit org.If the guests buy $1000 worth of product, EWB should receive $150 to 200…some are 15%, some are 20%
Or we could have a fancy gala to sell pricey tickets to.
Given the rain last weekend we cancelled the June 10 softball game and postponed indefinitely because of Father's Day and July 4th coming weekends. We hope to revisit holding the game later in the summer. We will have a social event June 22 at Diva Lounge. The fundraising committee is also planning to soon release our solicitation package for distribution.
Well, the 2nd reschedule of our softball game has been confirmed for June 10. The early forecast is for more rain this Saturday. Many people are going to need to cancel their original attendance as well as some of the organizers I was relying on. I am carrying my umbrella with me for the next 5 days so as to ward off the rain. Will we ever do an outdoor event again that relies on good weather? I hope not.
Last night we discussed the new website. I think we are on the right track and it will serve to improve communication between our members. We also discussed how important it is for us all to be on the same page regarding expectations. We must examine ways to inspire our members and have them participate.
The weather does not look good for Saturday. Mathworkshas requested that we wait until Friday at noon to make the call on the game. So we will wait with fingers crossed…
The fundraising meeting attendance has dropped off significantly since we stopped posting meetings on the Google Groups. We need to come up with ways to get our meeting notices in front of people. Perhaps we can address this at the website meeting. I’m thinking we might also consider going back to the old days when we combined 2 meetings at one location at one night, or also going out for a drink after meetings… I know some other orgs do this.
Well, I feel vindicated after yesterday cancelling the softball tournament for Saturday, it does appear to be raining good now. I think the fields would be muddy and slippery at best tomorrow, not great for our potential donors. The event has been rescheduled for June 3.
On other fronts I left an email for Taylor at Diva Lounge to confirm things for our June 22 social.
I also went to the BCSES social event last night and talked to several folks who know about us but who haven’t gotten involved much yet. Weston from VHB will be serving as a liason between our groups. There is good potential to work together in several areas.
