I have been asked to present a guide about fundraising but in the experience of our User Group (Gold Coast Macintosh User Group www.gcmac.org) we seem to work the 2 together. Hope it is helpful! Remember that projects and dollar amounts will vary based upon the size of your group but you can IMPROVISE! That is a sure sign of success.

Know names! Your membership card can double as a name tag if you purchase or get donated the plastic sleeves with pins. Calling someone by name can make a huge difference when asking them to volunteer or make a donation. Be sure officers are identified in a different way.

Forgetting your name tag (particularly in smaller groups) can cost 50¢

Have the board select a "member of the month". Someone who has worked on more projects than most or who volunteers without asking. Put them on your web site or in your newsletter.

Order special hats, shirts or pens that are only available to those who work on fundraising projects and decide how many projects earn the gift. If you can't afford to buy special items, save one door prize (you can ask a vendor or retail store) for these volunteers to be eligible for a drawing at the end of the year.

Auctions! "Blind or Silent" Services work really well: e.g. 2 Hours of tech support; Baby sitting on meeting night; Special "hand designed" Occasion Cards; Bake a Cake; A week of walking the dog, etc. you get the picture

Bake Sale! If your venue allows eating, then all should be individual portions. If it has to be taken home then whole cakes, whole pies, bags of cookies, bowl of fruit salad, home made loaves of bread. Tip: The following month, offer recipes for what you sell.

Raffles! T-shirts, hats, make your own shareware CD's, 1/2 & 1/2, hand made craft items seasonally, software, hardware, give free raffle tickets to members wearing something with the club's logo or your platform logo.

Most major sports stadiums have concession stands operated by non-profit groups. Check in your area. You can sell programs or beer or sodas or combinations and make a lot of cash in a busy stadium. (Our group cleared $1,000 on our last event)

Custom t-shirts! Someone in your group is creative. Design one of a kind funny stuff and print on iron-on transfers. You can get shirts on sale at K-Mart for $3.00 and sell 'em for $10 or $12.

Snack Bar! Buy goodies at the local warehouse store and sell them at the meeting. Folks usually don't have time to eat before the meeting and we find coffee is the best seller.

Garage sale! Clean out those closets, basements, garages, attics, etc. Sell tables and take out an ad in a local paper. You may get new members out of it and your trash may be someone else's treasure. We even invite our local retailers to buy a table.

A computer show! Definitely on a larger scale but big bucks

Sock Hop! Rent a juke box, go to a church hall or school gym. Get prizes donated. Have costume contests, dance contests, hoola hoop contest, bubble blowing contest, trivia contest and you can even have an area of "then & now" computers. Charge admission too and invite all surrounding area groups.

In 2 years, we made enough money to buy a brand new computer, a brand new laptop and a projector. We have enough money to buy and refurbish equipment to give to the community and have fun doing it!