Fundraising Promise We do all we can to ensure that fundraisers,
We are committed to high standards
volunteers and fundraising contractors working with us to raise funds comply with ORM Codes and practices We comply with the law including those that apply to data protection, health and safety and the environment
We are honest and open
We tell the truth and do not exaggerate We do what we say we are going to do We answer all reasonable questions about our fundraising activities and costs. Please contact us, visit our website or see our Annual Report if you require further details
We take care not to use any images or words that cause unjustifiable distress or offence
We are fair and reasonable
We take care not to cause unreasonable nuisance or disruption
We are clear
We are clear about who we are, what we do and how your gift is used Where we have a promotional agreement with a commercial company, we make clear how much of the purchase price we receive We give a clear explanation of how you can make a gift and amend a regular commitment
We respect the rights, dignities and privacy of our supporters and beneficiaries We will not put undue pressure on you to make a gift and if you do not want to give or wish to cease giving, we will respect your decision If you tell us that you don’t want us to contact you in a particular way we will not do so
We are respectful
We are accountable
If you are unhappy with anything we’ve done whilst fundraising, you can contact us to make a complaint We have a complaints procedure, a copy of which is available on request.
Remember that
The list was compiled by a combination of previous volunteers that ran very successful fundraisers over the past 10 years and with input from other Charity web sites that have vast experience in the fundraising field. It is not exhaustive and by all means feel free to write to us to add your special ideas also. These Tips can be used by all people looking for novel ways to fundraise for whatever cause is dear to their hearts.
great trust and responsibility is placed on those initiating a fundraising event so if you are not sure of what is required of you please contact the office regarding licences and permissions if you wish to collect in Public Places.
FUNDRAISE FOR
Fundraising Dinner Host a dinner at home or ask your favourite restaurant to host a dinner for you. Everyone can bring a course and you supply the pledge forms. Restaurant collection
Ask your local restaurants to place a money jar at the front of the restaurant. Be sure to check with the manager- they may even place it in a high traffic area where many patrons see it. The ORM office can supply posters
Ice Cream Social Invite everyone to bring a topping and a donation – at home, in the office or at school.
Cake Sale Host a cake sale. These work well in conjunction with other events. Get others to help prepare the treats.
Picnic Easy to organise with friends and family, everyone brings a different item of food and everyone pays 10 euro to attend
Lollipops Why not tie 3 lollies together in a lollipop bouquet tied with a lovely ribbon and sell lollipop magic. Simple, little cost and great return
Corporate Matching Gift Ask a local company to match the amount of pledges you receive from the company
Boot Sale
Local Shops Ask a local store manager for a percentage of the profits from one item in their store to go towards ORM, make sure you pick a popular one!!
Gather all the stuff you want to get rid of and ask friends to do the same. Put all the money you raise towards ORM
Raffle Get donations for prizes and hold your own raffle. Be sure to check the ORM fundraising guidelines.
School/Youth theatre or concert
Music Night If you know any musicians, ask them to perform a benefit concert for ORM
Organise a play/concert and charge parents admission.
Movie/Theatre ticket Donation Ask your local cinema or theatre to donate several tickets. Sell or auction them and put the money towards ORM.
School/University Challenge
Classes If you hold classes or teach any kind of class – invite everyone in the class to contribute to ORM
Get the local students involved in fun challenges – it can be a test of brains or brawn.
Read Me What about a sponsored book club or read-a-thon. Get together like minded souls and share the books you are reading. Apply a membership fee and enjoy your experiences knowing that you are helping others while doing something that you love.
Recipe Book Gather recipes from a group of friends, family members, work colleagues and create your very own recipe book. Sell them and donate the profit. .
Read it to me Do you know anyone that has written any poetry or books that are on sale? Organise an “evening with…” and they can have a Q&A afterwards with the audience and sign books etc. Used Book Sale Ask everyone you know to donate the books that have already read and that are just gathering dust on their shelves at home. Set up a book sale and be sure to put up information so that they know where the proceeds are going. Once people know – they usually give more.
Get Fit Extreme Sports for the more adventurous of you there is always the sponsored team or individual events such as quad biking, 4 x 4 adventures, Skydiving, Bungee Jumping, paragliding, scuba diving events. Please note that these all require proper training and certification prior to jumping in, but they give an extra dimension to your target audience of the lengths you are willing to go to help ORM’s cause.
Tournaments Like Golf? Tennis? Table Hockey? etc – why not organise a 4 ball, a company day out, a . school/university event
and raise money at the same time– Why not try an exercise fundraiser, taking part in the mini marathon, the real marathon, sponsored bicycle race etc. For tshirts, bibs and other information – please contact the office for you fundraising pack Five a side Get a game together, lads and lassies of all ages love this, make a league and get mums and dads involved too and hold a championship tournament, Cup for the winners – everyone donates to participate.
Sports Day Why not have a sports day with egg and spoon races, wheelbarrow races, sack races, mini marathon, long jump skipping competition? Be sure to have a wider range of events to suit all levels of ability. This could be at work, at school or in the back garden with your family and friends. Sponsored Lose weight We all need an extra incentive to lose those extra pounds, why not have your friends and loved ones sponsor you at the same time.
Share a Lift Campaign If you or your colleagues or school friends live in the same area why not think of sharing a lift to work/school every day for a week/month and the money you saved on the journey to be donated to ORM. It’s green and eco friendly but also for a very good cause.
Break World Records Climb the Wicklow Mountains on the stair climber in the gym, row from Spain to the Canary Islands on the rowing machine. Make sure you get sponsors and if possible spectators.
Carwash Volunteer to spit/sparkle and shine those cars in your neighbourhood and work parking lots. People are so busy these days that they would gladly pay to have this done for them. Being a Hoover, need to tackle the inside too – but be sure to put all items found in a plastic bag in the boot afterwards, as what may be rubbish to you, could very well be a prized possession to the owner.
Flower Bulbs Flowers are the essence of the spring season, which is why organising to sell flower bulbs to your friends and family make the perfect spring fundraiser. Bag Packing A time old tradition, packing groceries in a supermarket – a great way to promote your cause while shoppers can’t escape until their bill is paid. You will need a licence, please contact the office
My Phone Changing/updating your mobile or charge? Well have you thought about donating your old phone to charity? We have several drop off points around the country where your old mobile phone can be sent and the charity can benefit from your recycling
Homemade goods Do you sew, knit, crochet, paint, sculpt etc? Sell your works for this good cause.
Dress Down Day Best dressed awards Organise a day at work or in your home and encourage everyone to put on their best bib and tucker all in a great cause. Don’t forget the men in this one!
Hold an ORM Dress down day at school or at work. Every person gives a donation for the privilege.
Arts and Crafts Fair Bring a group’s talents together with an event. Whether Photography is your hobby or your profession, painters, craft masters, the list is endless for stalls.
Imagine 3 generations of the one family saying their “I Do’s� together with the 4th generation in attendance, if that is not a photo opportunity then nothing is.
Why not talk to friends and families and see who is interested in renewing their wedding vows. Organise the group, the couples (of all ages) get that wedding dress out of storage and give it one more whirl surrounded by friends and loved ones.
Organise a church blessing for all couples together, and an after service knees up in a local community hall or hotel, trying to get as much sponsored as possible.
Church Announcement Make sure everyone in the church knows that you are doing. Put an announcement up or get an announcement made.
Or get all your best Girl friends together and have another day out with the tux and the dress and all your family by your side. It is ideas like this that bring people together, warm the heart and all for a good cause.
Quacker Dash Run your own event, allow everyone put their name on a duck for a fee, gather up all the ducks and set them loose in a body of water and whatever duck crosses the finish line is the winner and gets a prize. This can range in event size from a family at home with the ducks in the bath to a school/university/business with a pool involving everyone sponsoring 1 duck. It promises to be great fun and enormous earning potential. Quacker dash Easter Eggs
An evening of light
There are so many great products for Easter fundraising including: Milk Chocolate Bunnies & eggs that you can buy and sell to friends and family, raffle, auction. Remember that many stores have left over stock after Easter that you can get your hands on and bring chocolate smiles to all for the benefit of ORM
This is a lovely way to remember those that have gone before us. Organise with your local community centre or place of work/worship to have the names of our loved ones read out and each person representing our passed loved ones to light a candle in their honour. It can be multidenominational with/without a blessing. It brings family and friends together for a very moving event. Tea and Coffee brings people together afterwards where donations can be collected for ORM.
Christmas Cards A time honoured tradition in Ireland everyone sends Christmas cards to family, friends and colleagues. Why not this year instead of sending cards send a donation to ORM instead or convince your company or school to do the same. You can send an email to your Christmas card list letting them know you are thinking of them and that the cost of your card and postage has been sent to ORM for the Santa appeal. Guaranteed that no one will mind.
Cards Everyone loves a game of cards, only not all of us know how to play. Why not organise a poker tournament or a fun night in with friends and family, host the event at home, tonight at ours, next week at yours etc and see how your social life begins to take off all in the name of a good cause.
Antiques Road Show Imitate the TV program with your friends/Colleagues and class mates. Get everyone to bring in their old things and ask someone with a little knowledge to assess their value. Sell the items for ORM.
Christmas Party Take a collection at the party or hold your own in honour of ORM at work or in your own home.
Children’s party
Birthday Gift Pledge Instead of gifts, this is a great way to raise money as your friends are spending the money they normally would, plus they don’t have to find you the perfect Gift!
Be a clown for the day – donate your time for a child’s birthday party and be sure to gather all donations from all the parents.
Unwanted Gift Sale After the holidays, people always have gifts that they would like to get rid of. Invite them to bring them in (unused only) and offer them for a discount to others. Collect all profits for ORM
House Party
Wine and Cheese Party
Everyone loves a party. Either take Donations or Charge an entrance free at the door.
Ask your local wine cellars and grocers for donations for the party and ask for donations from all the guests.
In Lieu Why not ask for donations in lieu of Birthday, Christmas, valentine’s gifts? In lieu of wedding gifts or flowers at a funeral? Do we really need everything we get, the answer is no – but we can certainly ask others to channel their thoughtfulness and kindness directly for those in need.
Who’s the Baby? Have a competition with old baby photos – whoever can guess the most wins a small prize and everyone contributes to play.
Baby Sitting Offer your services to give your friends a nice quiet evening out and put your babysitting funds towards ORM
Creative Friends Find a local artist or ask a creative friend if they would donate a piece of jewellery or art that you could auction
80’S night Skip the clubs, skip the pub. Get everyone around to yours in 80’s fancy dress, strictly BYOB (it is a recession after all), strictly dress up as a favourite character from the 80’s TV shows (knight rider, dukes of hazard etc) and boogie into the small hours with the likes of ABBA, BoneyM, Soul to Soul. Have fun, charge an entrance fee. Charity ball Takes months of preparation but EVERYONE loves a chance to dress up and have a night out with their friends.
Neighbours Write to all your neighbours on your street and tell them what you are planning to do and ask them to help you out with donations or organising events or with fundraising.
Fashion Show Create your own stylish event either in school/ with friends or at work. Make it even more fun by giving a best prize for the worst outfit found in a closet since the 80’s!
Game Night Get out the old favourites, monopoly, trivial pursuit, quiz night etc and get playing. Invite friends and loved ones to donate.
Music Quiz Play your own version of Name that tune or what’s the next line. See how good your friends are.
Karaoke Night It totally doesn’t matter if you can sing or not. Spend an evening with friends and loved ones singing up a storm either at home or in a bar. Ask for donations and they can even pay you to stopSex singing if youCity, are in the that bad. Girls night out Think a Pampering evening – Aromatherapy, massage, hairdressing & nail parties can be a great wonderful and relaxing way to raise money for ORM
Bowling Nights Plan a great fun night out of bowling at your local centre. Ask the owner to waive the cost and collect all the money as donations.
Balloon Race Get participants to write their names, addresses and contact instructions on a small card inside the helium balloon. Release all the balloons from the same place at the same time and see whose gets the farthest! Charge a small entry free.
Guess the Number Fill a Jar or tin with sweets (make sure you count them) and invite everyone to guess the count for a small fee. The winner gets the jar. (Seal the jar as sweets can disappear!)
Mystery Games Hire a murder mystery game company to help you organise an event. Or invent your own. People are always excited to try these out.
Spelling Competition Encourage all kids and adults to get involved in a spelling competition. Get them sponsored for every correct word. A great fun way to approach children’s education and show just how much adults now depend on computers for their spelling!!
Bingo Get access to a hall and a willing caller (with a very loud voice and even louder dress code) and have a group bingo night. Everyone can bring food for a great night. Charge a small entry free.
Polaroid Scavenger Hunt Arm your teams with Cameras and Clues and see who can get the most pictures in the shortest amount of time. Be sure to include silly items like - whole team inside a phone box, the team dancing in the aisle of a grocery store, two people eating bananas from either end, the entire team in the boot of a car etc – there are 100’s of ways to have fun and make a day out of it.
Photo Competition Get all friends and colleagues to submit their favourite pictures from holidays in different categories such as fun, romance, family, child etc. Get them to pay a fee to submit and then offer a prize to the category winner.
Non Event event Make invitations for a “non Event”. Imagine the money your guests might spend on a black tie party, including Dress/suit hire, makeup, hair, transportation, accessories, fake tans, manicure, shoes etc and ask them to pledge that money to ORM, instead of going through all that cost and trouble.
Elastic Bands Again great team building exercise. Great for Kids and Adults of all ages, split up into equal teams, and everyone must go through a large elastic band from head to toe and step out and pass to the next contestant and whatever team is the quickest wins.
Toilet Paper Amazing things can be done with toilet paper if you think of it. This is a game for adults and children alike. It is also a great team building experience. Break the teams into two groups (or more depending on your numbers) Pick a “mummy” and wrap the mummy as quickly as possible from head to toe in toilet paper from which they have to wriggle out. Make this be your boss/manager or your teacher and it adds a new element. Everyone pays to take part and great fun is had by all.
Shoot for Hoops Test your skill and endurance with your colleagues/class mates/friends with a basketball hoop tournament. It can be used as a team building exercise. All for a good cause.
Another idea is to have this event at every game where participants have the chance to win a small prize like a coupon for a free pizza, or movie rental. This type of fundraising event is a lot of fun, especially for basketball fundraising because it really gets the fans involved in the game, and it can be a great way to raise funds!
Coin Painting Draw a simple Design (Sammy the snake – 30 M long) on the ground and encourage participants to fill it in by placing coins inside the limits of the design. Or organise a mile of coins and gather enough coins to span the space.
You can encourage players to buy a shot. Everyone who makes a basket then goes on to the next round. In the next round, they each take a shot and everyone who makes it that time moves on again (if no one makes a basket, have everyone go a second round). Repeat until you have a winner!
Clubs and Organisations Offer to speak to local community clubs and organisation about ORM’s work with children in a developing country in exchange for a donation.
Pet Sitting Are your family or friends going away for a weekend or on holidays abroad and need someone to look after the cat or the dog? Professional services can be very expensive – offer them an alternative – you. All proceeds to go to ORM.
It’s a Dog’s Life What about a night out at the dog track? Novel and social gathering to share time with your friends and loved one’s. Even if people attending don’t know each other it is a very informal atmosphere with a common theme that means that everyone will feel comfortable from the get go. A Great way to raise funds and show you care.
Sponsored Dog Walk Combine exercise with a fun way to fundraise – Get friends, neighbours and family’s dogs and charge them for walking them.
B-B-Q Who needs an excuse for a good old fashioned BBQ? Charge an entrance fee, get others to help with the preparing and have fun. If it rains, so what – everything can be put under the grill in the kitchen!
Walking Get walking all in the name of charity. Sponsored walks from Shops to home, office to home or more hardy of us; town to town, or have you thought of a walking holiday abroad. The ideas are endless. Save money on petrol, get fit and raise funds for a good cause.
Coffee Morning Gather everyone together for espresso’s, Latte’s, cappuccino’s, or better still good old fashioned cups of tea and coffee and charge an entrance fee.
Hair Today – Gone tomorrow Sponsored Beard, leg shaving/waxing for the brave male contestants – always a winner
Extra Change boxes – Create these little boxes for your friends and family and ask them to place them in their bedroom. At the end of the day they can drop spare change in the box. Be sure to collect.
Swear Jar Put a swear jar at home and in work. Whenever someone says something naughty, make them pay up. This can even be adapted for insults, complaints, constant moaning to encourage better behaviour.
Contribute yourself Always lead the way with your own pledge. If it is high, then people will be more generous.
Auction Accept donated items and set up bidding tables at work, in a pub, at school or at home.
DIY Are you good with DIY? Do you have trade Skills? Many friends and neighbours would probably rather pay you to do repairs or paint than paying someone else. Advertise your services around the area and make sure to take a collection for your work.
Poetry/Short Story evening Give your friends and colleagues a chance to bring their work to a group reading – who knows maybe you even have the next best seller sitting at home on your computer.
Silence How to get a few minutes peace and quiet – Get all the relatives together to mark a special day and get the kids involved. Each adult has to sponsor the children to have a sponsored silence 5 cent for every minute they could contain themselves, Time it, great fun, giggles all around but it becomes like a challenge who can last the longest, all ages can get involved, but remember that the little ones may not make it past the 2 minute stage, the older ones can hold out for hours but make sure that the adults all reward them for their efforts. The same is for a non blinking contest, whoever lasts the longest wins.
Historic sites/tours Check with a local historical society to see if they would sponsor a garden tour or a tour of historical sites in your area with funds raised to go to ORM
Answering machine Message This will alert everyone who calls you that you are doing something special and trying to raise money. Let them know you need their support.
Radio Station Call your favourite radio station and ask them to make an announcement on the air. They may even interview you. You can ask for pledges to be sent directly to ORM in your name
Return address labels Print return address labels for your outgoing mail. Include a cheerful message about ORM and your work. If you want to make it really simple, include a pledge forms and a stamped address envelope.
Get the word out Write a newsletter or a mass email to all your friends and colleagues to let them all know what you are doing.
Go Online Facebook/Mycharity.ie – Set up a page for your event where people can leave comments, see who is attending and share photos before and after the event.
eBay.ie Have an on line sale. Gather up items you no longer need from you and your friends and auction them all on eBay!
Local Newspapers ORM is more than happy to help you get your articles in your local paper about your efforts. Let us know if you need help.
Remind People If you don’t receive an answer the first time, ask again. People are busy and often just forget – but don’t pester people.
The very best of luck but remember you should believe in yourself and all the hard work you put in will pay off. It can be a challenge but it is also supposed to be fun. Be proud of all your achievements, knowing that you are helping the lives of those who have so little. Say thank you to all your sponsors, they are being pulled in all directions for charitable donations every day.
Tel: e-mail: web:
+353 – 1 – 219 0268 moldova@ireland.com www.outreachmoldova.org
Charity Number:
14229
Company Number:
336502
Address: Suite 104, DMG House, Deansgrange Business Park, Deansgrange, Co. Dublin, Ireland