The last post about this was a year ago - so I'm looking for fresh ideas! I'm an officer in my nursing class, and we are trying to come up with good fundraising ideas to help pay for our pinning ceremony next year. Does anyone have successful fundraising ideas? Thanks for your help! :)

We've been raising funds from within our class doing things like 50/50. I also like the idea of silent auctions for instance bidding on a basket of lottery tickets. Sometimes we just pass the bucket before lecture. Only a portion of our pinning ceremony is financed by fund raising.

Is your pinning ceremony entirely financed by fund raising? Just curious because I'm a class rep on the fund raising end of our graduation gig and I'm curious how others handle this.

Yes - it is all financed by fundraising, and I'm just beginning to realize what a big job it is going to be. Our 2005 class had to pay almost $1,000 just for the church! This doesn't include the cost of flowers, photographer, food, candles, etc. That is why we are starting our fundraising efforts during our second semester instead of waiting until the beginning of next year! Thanks for the ideas - I have written them down to present at our next meeting. Please keep sending them!

A volunteer group I used to be in raised money selling Sally Foster gift wrap. Everyone needs gift wrap, and this stuff is the best! Once you use it, you can't go back to the regular store-brand paper.

Good luck,

Beth

Is there a local candy company/chocolate factory that is good in your area. The one here (Sarris Candy) has chocolate covered pretzel rods in packs of two. You get 50% profit. We have been selling them for $1 each and it has been going really well. People will come back for more when they only have to spend a few dollars and don't have to wait for the candy to be delivered. Most of the sales are impulse. The other faculty and students at the college see us carrying them aroung and flag us down to buy them. Our clinical instructor was able to sell a whole box for us during one clinical day. A lot of people go on and off the units and wouldn't mind a snack. Especially if there are residents there working 24 hour shifts. I'm going to try and paste a link just to give you an idea of how their Sarris' program works and you can see if there's one similar where you are. If not, I know Sarris can ship you the candy. (It's sooo good! )

http://www.sarriscandies.com/prrobpr.html

We also did a 50/50 raffle. We have done several bake sales at school functions, as well as in the hospital cafeteria. We've also had a yard sale, and almost had a car wash, but the class was being stupid and didn't approve it. Cold Stone Creamery has a fundraiser you can do in parternship with them. Someone suggested just asking businesses for donations. Another group before us did Skratchers. http://www.skratchers.com We chose not to do this, because you need money to get it going. Krispy Kreme also is good with fundraisers, but this one also requires money up front. Good luck-Andrea

You can write letters to companys, flower shops, stores, etc... requesting donations or gift certificates for a non-profit organization. I know the company I work for sets aside so many dollars per fiscal period and if any organization submits a written request, a donation can be offered with two weeks notice. My school doesn't offer any financial assistance to my nursing club which is funding the pinning ceremony. You can get stuff like cakes, veggie and fruit platters, and flowers . It works for us. Goodluck!!!

Also, our class made up "nursing school survival rules" t-shirts. We sold them for about $3 more each, so we made a small profit. We have clipbaords with oodles and oodles of info that were GIVEN to us by the class before us. We sell those for $15 each, no cost to us.

All of these are great ideas - I'm getting more excited knowing that I at least have some ideas now. I've been checking back all day and I'm putting all of these ideas in my notebook for the next officer's meeting! Please keep them coming - we need a lot of money! :)