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There are many ways to raise money for a cause, one of which is by holding a celebrity autograph auction. These autograph auctions are usually made up of items signed by celebrities that are auctioned off either live or online via a service like eBay. Getting celebrities to send your organization these items is quite simple, but it requires using the right words, persistence, and patience. Here are some tips:

The Right Words:

Explain your cause and ask for what you want...nicely. Letter writing is an art form. Scribbling three lines in pencil on notebook paper won't do the trick. The more professional the appearance the better; typed on letterhead is best.

The Rotary Club of Ennis, Texas used Contact Any Celebrity to get items from celebrities for an auction to raise money for various children's charities. Their typed letter stated exactly what they were doing and why. The letter also listed the organization's contact information clearly. Some representatives may need to verify that you are a true non-profit organization.

The letter then stated exactly what they were requesting: "We most humbly request your assistance in our efforts by requesting a personal item from you for the auction; if it's signed, that will help even more." The Rotary Club tells us the response has been great, and they are still in the process of receiving and organizing items.

So far autographed photos have come in from Troy Aikman, John Travolta, Rusty Wallace, The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Richard Petty, Laura Davies, Dustin Hoffman, Gerald Ford, Jennifer Lopez, Dolly Parton, Charlie Daniels, Arnold Palmer, Susan Sarandon, and an autographed cap sent from Lee Trevino.

Persistence:

You may have to ask more then once. Sending your first letter to explain what you're doing and why is a must. Sending a second letter as a reminder is optional, but a good idea since celebrities receive so much mail.

One Contact Any Celebrity user sent out two letters. The first, which was only two paragraphs long, really explained her cause and what she was looking for. It also set a deadline for when items needed to be received. After a few weeks, she sent out another letter explaining the deadline had been extended and outlined the support she had already received from other celebrities. This resulted in her receiving even more items!

Patience:

Celebrities don't always respond within your expected timeframe, so it's a good idea to get started well in advance of your event. Some of Contact Any Celebrity's users have received responses as far out as one year after the initial letter.

Amy Pratt from Plymouth, Indiana wrote to more than 50 celebrities asking for autographs for a personal collection. "The photos came rolling in after a few weeks," she tells us. "The last one we got took over a year, but it's a surprise each time [a new autograph] pops up." Amy received autographs and personal notes from Ben Stiller, John Travolta, Joe Theisman, Brooke Shields, Michael Jordan, Gale Sayers, and Nolan Ryan to name a few.

Another amazing success came from Carolyn Penharlow from Vienna, Virginia who held an auction for her son's school. "I sent out almost 300 letters following the instructions on the Web site. I was astonished at the response. It was fun to go to the school mailbox everyday. Everyone would ask what I got that day!"
Penharlow's school received signed books from Henry Winkler, CDs from George Winston, and many signed photos from stars like Liz Taylor, Cindy Crawford, and Dustin Hoffman. "We raisd over $15,000 altogether and were thrilled," she says.

Jordan McAuley is the author of The Celebrity Black Book and the Founder of http://www.ContactAnyCelebrity.com located in West Hollywood, California. His exclusive online database provides accurate celebrity contact information including the best mailing address, agent, manager, publicist, production company, and charitable cause for over 54,000 celebrities and public figures worldwide to fans, businesses, authors, nonprofits, and the media.

Feel free to copy and distribute this article online as long as you link it back to Contact Any Celebrity at http://www.contactanycelebrity.com. You can also link back using our Affiliate Program at http://www.contactanycelebrity.com/affiliates and earn 50% monthly recurring commissions!

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The result of your fundraising event not only relies on how the event itself goes, but also on what you do after everything is settled and during the fundraiser event itself. Here are some of the things you can do in order to make you're your fundraising events ideas will succeed:

Motivation

Properly motivate your manpower, especially if your staff is mainly composed of volunteers (meaning, you are not going to pay them). Motivate them by emphasizing the progress and the result of your fundraiser event. Set up a fundraising thermometer which can be downloaded online, for example. This can serve as a gauge of your progress-whether your fundraising event is succeeding or failing. Nonetheless, it will not fail to motivate your staff to work harder. You should also make them feel appreciated-give them a small honorarium if you can, or even a small token, especially if they are volunteering. This way, they will readily offer their services the next time you have a fundraising event.

Involvement

Be present at the fundraising event-and make your presence be felt by important people. If you can, talk to important people or those who can potentially donate significantly for your organization or your cause. This also makes them feel appreciated, since you are exerting effort to build a relationship with them.

Communication

And in line with the previous item, you should keep in touch with those who supported your fundraising event-from the volunteers to the donors. This way, they will never forget, and they will easily be within reach once you need their help again.

Competition

It is a good idea to research about the fundraiser events of other groups. However, try not to blatantly imitate their fundraising events ideas. Use their ideas and their concepts and give it your own special twist so it will become your own. Copying fundraising events ideas might attract the attention of people who are familiar with the fundraising event of the other group. Instead of helping your cause, they might mock your efforts.

Practicality

Make sure the products and service you will offer in the fundraising event is of good quality. This will ensure that many people will support your endeavor, and that they will continue to support your fundraising events in the future. Anything factor in your event that has bad quality can affect your chances to succeed.

Seizing Opportunities

Maximize the opportunity. For example, you are holding a benefit dinner fundraiser event. During the dinner, why not sell fundraising items to increase your revenue? This is neither awkward nor ill-placed; your supporters will understand your efforts as long as it is done properly.

One Word... Fun!

Lastly, make the fundraising event as lively as possible. This is so everyone will be encouraged to participate in the fundraising event.

Follow these simple guidelines and your fundraising event is sure to be a fun and profitable experience.

Jessi McCafferty writes about fundraising and recommends the friendly folks over at http://www.easy-fundraising-ideas.com/ as a great resource for accurate information and profitable fundraising events ideas.

Easy Fundraising Ideas is the fastest growing internet based fundraising company in the country. With their legendary service and help, they make you the hero!

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While the vast majority of children in the United States attend a public school and receive a solid education, there are thousands of private schools that offer an excellent alternative. I have worked as an elementary principal of a private school, and I've had my own children in the public system. Therefore, I've seen the good and the bad of each situation.

There are many positive aspects to a public institution, but in this article, I will discuss the advantages that private schools enjoy when it specifically comes to the issue of fundraising.

Self-Reliance

I once had lunch with the administrator from another private elementary school. This man was new to his job, but had over 20 years experience in the public school system. He knew all the ins and outs of standardized testing, of meeting state educational requirements, and he even knew quite a bit about staff management.

However, he asked me to lunch to pick my brain on the topic of fundraising. For this man's entire professional career, the vast majority of the funding need to run his school came from the state. He was never forced to hold an auction or a golf outing. Sure, the PTO had some bake sales, and kids sold cookie dough from time to time, but for all the important stuff, like payroll, building maintenance, and certain supplies, the state just doled out the cash when necessary.

Now however, this man found himself in a situation where parents had to pay tuition, there was no state money, and they had to meet any budget shortfalls with increases in fundraising. He was pretty nervous about such a tall order.

Having spent my entire adult life working for non-profit agencies, I was quite used to this notion of paying for everything ourselves. So, I see this as a distinct advantage for private schools. At the end of the day, we don't have anyone to bail us out of financial difficulty. If a donor steps up and helps us out, it was only because we developed a relationship over time, so he felt comfortable making such a gift.

We at the private schools have had to build these networks of support, we've had to become experts at organizing silent auctions, at developing relationships with businesses in town that will support us, and at coming up with creative new spins of product sales.

In the end, I think that private schools are therefore more equipped to handle financial challenges, because we know how to survive on a day to day basis.

Alumni Development

Since private schools are usually smaller than their public counterparts, we often don't have the large numbers of people to talk to when we try to raise money. Therefore, private schools often look to widen their audience, a common tactic is to turn to our alumni ranks for financial support.

If alumni are properly developed over time, they can prove to be a very valuable resource. Alumni can attend auctions and golf outings, they can establish scholarship funds, they can initiate building drives and pay for the naming rights of certain rooms or halls, and they can help with recruitment of new students. Basically, with the right motivation and encouragement, alumni can generate cash for the private school in a big way!

Now, a lot of work goes into developing alumni properly. It all starts when the person is actually a student. The school needs to create such a positive atmosphere that the impact will stay with the student for his whole life. This applies to the academics, the quality of teachers, the quality of fellow classmates, the school building itself, the extracurricular programs, the school athletics, the rivalries with other schools, even the school mascot and "spirit-ware" (t-shirts, hats, etc.)

As soon as the student leaves the school, the school needs to establish a post-institutional relationship with him. Letters, newsletters, websites, reunions, and networking opportunities with the entire alumni organization will help the student make the transition to fully engaged alumnus/alumna.

Again, if a private school can successfully tap into this market, it will have a huge advantage over public schools in the fundraising arena.

Built in Community

The third area that I noticed private schools having a fundraising advantage over public schools was in the concept of community. In my experience, I saw that families at the private school felt more linked to one another than do the families I've seen in the public schools. Perhaps this was due to the much small class sizes.

Since there were so fewer families, I was able to get to personally know all the families who had their children enrolled at our private school. I was aware of the various challenges each family had at any one time and how those challenges played out in the lives of their children on a daily basis. I was able to make very strong connections with a great number of the families.

Not to take away from the genuine-ness of the relationships, but it did help the school's fundraising efforts when we all felt we were "in it together". If a parent knew we at the school really helped their child out during a tough time, they would be perhaps more likely to volunteer or to donate money. Again, I'm afraid that this sounds calculated and insincere, but it wasn't. There was a natural bonding between the school and its families, because we shared something so important in common: their children.

That's why I feel it's so important for the leaders of the school to make an effort to be involved in their lives of their families. Whatever you can do to help your students and their parents will be incredibly appreciated. They will benefit, and in the long run, the school will benefit from the friendship, as well.

Conclusion

I have been involved at both a public school and a private school, although I will admit my experience is much deeper in the private school. While both have strong fundraising advantages, both struggle with built-in disadvantages. The lesson I've learned is to make the most of whichever situation you find yourself in and do your best to maximize your strengths!

About the Author: James Berigan is a former school principal who enjoys guiding schools with their fundraising efforts. He writes for the Top School Fundraisers blog at http://TopSchoolFundraisers.com/news which includes a variety of ideas for elementary school fundraisers and PTO/PTA Fundraisers.

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Fund raising is an organized activity of asking for money or assurances for charitable associations or political crusades. It is important that each person or persons in the group be aware of the need and the purpose of the fund raising. Your fund raising strategies should include a good plan. You need to make sure that the volunteers understand what is expected of them no matter what strategies you choose. Make sure that each of them has enough fund raising information as not to confuse the group when it comes time for action.

A fund raising event should go smoothly if good fund raising strategies are in place. There are several companies that provide products that groups can sell to raise money. These are usually easy fund raising ideas because the companies that provide these services work constantly on fund raising, and they provide the groups everything that they need. These are easy fund raising ideas because the companies provide a product such as a chocolate bar that group members can sell to friends, neighbors and family members.

If you have had success raising money in the past you can repeat your methods, but if you need to make sure your campaign is done right you should leave it to yourself. Fund raising usually depends on the dedication of the group to the project. Usually it will be easier to assemble the group for the tasks involved if they are enthusiastic about the project. Young people especially will do better if they like the activities. Good luck on your search.

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Many organizations are having to find ways of raising extra money for needed programs or events. Many of these programs are being shorted on money mainly due to cut backs. Schools are one of the prime targets for lack of funding and many churches are having to raise extra money for worth while events. You will find that a fund raising event can be a lot of work, but the effort put into it is well worth the final result. There are many ways of raising money and you can actually be as creative as you would like to be. The fact is the more outlandish the idea is, the more money you will probably raise. This article will give some outlandish over the top ideas on a fund raising event.

A fund raising event doesn't require that you be like everyone else with calendar, magazine and cookie sales. Although those are great ways of making extra funds, there are so many different ways to be outlandishly different. You don't have to have a car wash or bake sale either. You can come up with things that will attract a large crowd and bring in many people at one time rather than do something that will be spread out over a period of time with a deadline on the event. You could also add an extra measure to your event by requiring the crowd to bring a can of food as they enter to be given to the food pantry or such along with your fund raising event.

You can have a fund raising event that will include some local town officials or maybe even some local celebrities if you have any. These type of people are often more than willing to help out for a good cause. They will usually benefit from the local publicity of such an event and it will give them an opportunity to get to know the local people. You can come up with all kinds of events that will bring in a large crowd if you use local influential people. You could do something such as offering a hayride at night and include some singing with it for a fee of course. Your local talent can help out here. You might even want to hold a barn dance with a buggy ride included or extra. If you live in the city, these are especially different fun things that don't occur everyday as a fund raising event.

Any fund raising event that uses important well known local people will attract a lot of publicity so often you can get much of the advertising done for free. Remember that many of the local businesses will often support financially or donate to worthy causes such as a good fund raising event. This way, many if not all of your needed items can be virtually free or of little cost so most of what you bring in will be profit. Make your fund raising event new and over the top.

For more information on fundraising events and projects for your organization try visiting http://good-fundraising-ideas.com a website that specializes in providing helpful tips, advice and fundraising resources to include Fund Raising Event and more.

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Cookie dough church fundraising has an enormous potential for profit. You can usually keep 30% - 50% profit from your cookie dough fundraiser. Because your customers will be consuming the cookie dough you also can repeat the fundraiser year after year.

The way cookie dough church fundraising works is your church will gather together a group of volunteers to sell the cookie dough. You will next train your volunteers on how to sell the cookie dough and what props to use as they are selling. The cookie dough fundraising company will have brochures, order forms and all the other selling supplies you will need.

Next your volunteers will go out to the public and to your congregation and sell-sell-sell. Using all the learned proven techniques your volunteers will collect orders for cookie dough and accept money up front for frozen dough that will be delivered on a specified date. Then when all your orders are collected you will submit your total cookie dough church fundraiser order to the supplier and wait for your order to arrive.

As with all church fundraisers there are advantages and disadvantages. You will want to take careful stock of both before you decide on a cookie dough fundraiser.

The advantages are:

Cookie dough is a highly consumable product. This allows you to hold cookie dough church fundraisers year after year.

Usually you will have no up front cost. Your volunteers will collect the money from customers when they take the orders this then is sent in to the cookie dough maker.

People love cookie dough. With a wide variety of doughs available your customers can buy a custom dough for each member of the family.

Profits are kept when you send in the order. This allows for your church to begin utilizing the funds for your ministries immediately.

The disadvantages are:

The dough must remain frozen until delivered to the customer. You will have to ensure that you have adequate freezer space before you accept delivery of the dough.

You will need to have a scheduled delivery day and time. Your dough will need to be immediately frozen and delivered as soon as possible.

Other than this cookie dough fundraising is a great way to have a church fundraiser. You may even get your volunteers to buy some dough and soar your profits even higher.

Shauna Hanus of http://www.laetans.com builds and maintains fundraising websites for churches and small ministries. Shauna has years of experience building websites and internet marketing. For more information on how to get a free fundraising website for your church visit http://www.laetans.com

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School carnivals are one of the most popular ways to raise money for schools in the United States. While the amount of planning and organizing that goes into this type of an event may be very high, the pay-off can also be substantial. If you find yourself in charge of running your school's carnival, take a few minutes to read about the things NOT to do, if you would ever like to resume this position in the future.

Repeat the Same Games, Activities, and Entertainment Year After Year

A surefire way to decrease the annual attendance at your school carnival is to find some activities that seem to work and then use them year after year after year. It's very easy to fall into the mindset that since an activity or event was popular one or maybe even two years, it will always be so. However, this is dangerous. People get bored. Also, just because you still have some props left over from previous carnivals, and it's cheaper not to have to build new ones is no excuse to stick with the "same-old, same-old".

The only exception to this rule is something that is considered a local tradition. Perhaps there is a long-established talent contest or chili cook-off that is responsible for actually drawing people to the carnival.

However, these kinds of perennial events should make up only a small fraction of your carnival agenda. Most of the entertainment, activities, and events should be continually updated to keep attracting a large audience each year.

Have Poor Food Choices

Believe it or not, there are some groups out there who place very little importance on the selection and presentation of food at school events. From bake sales to sporting events to school carnivals, food is important! You can not give a lazy effort when selecting what items to sell. You can not just wrap a Rice Crispy treat in cheap cellophane and walk away, thinking you're going to make money.

If you are in charge of organizing your schools carnival, I recommend finding the most creative person on your team and putting him or her in charge of food sales. This person should be responsible for making sure there are interesting and unique food items for sale and that the presentation of all items is highly attractive. This will boost sales and your income dramatically.

Don't Talk to Lots of People When Picking a Theme for the Year

A school carnival should reflect the tastes and interests of your entire school community at large. If the event is going to be a success, it has to appeal to a wide cross-section of your parents, students, and school staff. For instance, I personally can't stand anything to do with Sponge Bob Square Pants. I forbid my children from owning any Sponge Bob merchandise, and they know that even over at friends' houses, they are to avoid this awful, awful cartoon.

Anyway, that's merely my personal opinion, and if I were going to organize a carnival, I would have to be open to somehow incorporating a Sponge Bob theme, if that's what my community wanted one year. The point is, you should seek out a wide cross-section of opinions while determining what theme you are picking for carnival and not rely on your own personal likes and dislikes, just because you're the boss.

Not Having Lots of Places for Families to Spend Money

A school carnival is great because it serves so many purposes. Not only is it a wonderful community builder, but it is also an opportunity for a school to generate a great deal of revenue. A huge mistake on the planners' part would be not to create as many places as possible for parents to spend their money. Of course, there are the traditional opportunities, like admission tickets and food items. However, put some thought and research into other ways to get the cash registers ringing. For example, I would recommend using a space to create a small store and stock it with items from the Oriental Trading catalog. Kids love these kinds of things.

Also think about holding a contest before the carnival for students to design the official school carnival t-shirt for the year. The winning design would be featured on the front side of the t-shirt, while sponsor logos could be sold on the backside. Then these t-shirts could be sold at the event. I would also charge separately for any type of "rides" like a moonwalk or other bouncy type activity.

I would also recommend eliminating cash from your carnival and instead do everything by ticket or token. This will avoid many headaches for you and families at the event.

Not Researching School Carnival Information Online Beforehand

These days, there are so many online resources for you to investigate anything before diving into it. Not only are there traditional sites that will sell you carnival-related items and services, but there are also blogs like this one that offer general advice. Additionally, there are plenty of places, like Yahoo Answers that allow you to post questions and receive answers from people at large about a particular question you might have.

The point is, there is no longer any excuse for not finding out the very best way to run a school carnival. The Internet has provided us all with a free and easy way to gain knowledge on a mind-boggling array of topics. Use this amazing tool to assist you in your planning process.

Not Selling Booth Space to Local Non-Profit or Other Family-Focused Organizations

This may fall under the topic of raising as much money as possible at your carnival, but I thought it was important enough to deserve its own headline. Since you will be drawing a significant crowd of a desirable demographic (families with young kids), other groups will be very desirous of getting in on that action.

I think you should dedicate a section of your carnival space to non-profit groups or other family-focused organizations, so that they can pass out information about their own services. They shouldn't be allowed to sell anything or to solicit donations from those in attendance, but they can pass along information about themselves that would lead to future support. In addition, each group should be required to provide, at their booth, some kind of kid-friendly activity- even if it's something simple like fishing for a prize or a coloring contest.

Lastly, I would charge these groups for the booth space. All non-profits I have ever worked with have a budget for advertising/marketing and participation at a school carnival could easily fall into that budget category. Of course, make it affordable to them, but even at $100 per group could net you a tidy little sum for something that will add to the atmosphere of your event.

Not Embarrassing the School Principal to Raise Money

As a former school principal, I cringe at what I'm about to write, but it's true- you should most definitely use any way possible to embarrass the head of the school for cash. In a related article, I wrote that you should shave, dunk, follow, or jail him or her to raise as much money as you possible can. Inflicting (imaginary) pain on the school principal is something that appeals to the child inside of everyone, including the parents and the staff of the school.

Try selling tickets for a dunk machine, or set a bar of $1000 dollars donated to the PTO and the principal will shave his head, right there at the carnival, you could have a huge hit on your hands.

Not Providing Special Activities and Supervision for Younger Siblings

If you fail to consider that many families have younger siblings (or even elderly grandparents) that could also enjoy the carnival, you are missing a huge opportunity. In all of your promotional information, you should highlight that you will be providing supervised play areas and special activities and events for younger siblings that will be separate and protected from the older kids. You should also mention that there will be plenty of seating areas for grandmas and grandpas to come and enjoy the fun.

By inviting the entire family along, you take away the need (or obstacle) for families to hire a babysitter and also increase your gate receipts. Some families could very well decide that if they can't bring their little kids, they aren't going to bother coming at all and then you lose out.

Spend lots of money on promotion of the event

Advertising can be very expensive and dramatically eat into any kind of profit you're hoping to make from the carnival. There is no reason for your school to drop lots of money in getting the word out about your event. You can do a fantastic job of promotions and only have to spend a modest amount on making copies of your flier.

First of all, you should be sending home information sheets about the carnival months ahead of time, seeking volunteers for all the necessary tasks. Keep the event in the top of the parents' minds on a regular basis right up until the day before. Posters and fliers can be hung up around the school, as well.

Out in the community, many stores will post your fliers for free. Likewise, churches will often cooperate and write a small blurb in their weekly bulletins. I would even write a short public service announcement and send it to your local TV and radio stations. You should assume that your advertising budget is almost zero and work fro there.

Conclusion

Although taking charge of your school's carnival may be daunting, there are many resources available to help you succeed. By putting in some effort early on in the process, you will greatly increase your likelihood of pulling off the best carnival your school has ever seen!

About the Author: James Berigan is a former school principal who enjoys guiding schools with their fundraising efforts. He writes for the Top School Fundraisers blog at http://TopSchoolFundraisers.com/news which includes a variety of fund raising options like fundraising events and school carnivals

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