Fund raising

[Snowman]

I am an instructor involved with two high school scuba clubs. We are based in northern Canada and over the pass ten years have taken groups of 16 to 24 high school students to such places as Mexico and Fiji.

One of the great challenges for a youth group is fund raising. Due to our location, open water activities are VERY limited. That leaves pool and land based. Myself and the club’s Divemaster are doing a “diveathon” in the near future whereby the students will get sponsors to keep us underwater (at the pool) for six hours.

I would be interested to hear of any other ideas people have come up with the raise funds for a youth group that are pool based and related to Scuba.

 

[frenchy07]

My little group of scuba scouts just finished their second candle sale. Good fundraiser if they will go out and sell, crappy if they won't. In the fall we will do candles and popcorn (boyscout popcorn is popular). In the meantime we just got back from our 1st trip to our LDS's lake house (their OW training site and fundive site) where we did a bunch of yard cleanup and preparation for the coming dive trips. We will be going back in a month or so to do more yard work and painting. Good for the LDS and good for the kids to see where they will be diving, get's them excited to do the work when they get to see what they will get in return. We will cover the cost of our cert training with the fundraising monies and trade out the time at the house with the sweat of our brow. Next year we are planning a trip to the Scout's scuba camp in the Key's or to the LDS's boat in BVI.

Don't know who is more tired from our weekend, them or me from running around keeping them on task. I often look in the mirror and ask myself if I have gone insane, LOL.

 

[AbobA]

Snowman,

Our Venturer Company paid for their OW certification and a trip to Belize selling Chocolate Covered Almonds. We found that sales were best at the big-box hardware stores where you could catch the customers as they were coming away from the tills with change in hand. One weekend we managed to clear $1200 with just the five of us.

Advisor Bob A.

 

[xSandman3]

I am a middle school band and choir director, and fundraising is a huge part of my job. The best fundraiser I have found in the past few years, although not scuba related, is selling Yankee Candles through GBI Marketing. It's an easy one to do if kids can just get their parents to take the brochure to work with them. Every year I have at least one kid sell over $1,000 worth (profit is about 37%).
Another great fundraiser is Ozark Delight Lollipops. Excellent product and easy to administer.
Both companies have great websites and are easy to find with a search engine.

 

[baltimoron]

Well, as a high school student of a MAJORLY underfunded Baltimore City Public School, I would like to think I know something about fundraiding. Selling candy works, but the thing that I have found works the best (and this might just be for Baltimore people), is to find a place with a lot of foot traffic and plop down with a table, a banner, and a money box and ask for contributions. Go to any area that people might be on the wealthy side, or any place that supports divers. I found that upscale food markets, or fancy malls work the best. Just ask everybody that comes along, "Hi there, would you like to make a donation to the _________ ? We are trying to raise money to ______ …" I've done this before, and made a good 500$ a weekend. That, and it's all profit and you don't have to give any back to so and so company.

The fundamental thing about fundraising is that it takes a lot of dedication. Just keep going at it. Now Fiji might be a little (I'm lying.) expensive, so just keep at it and don't give up.

Zack

 

[Jason B]

In my community the local gymnastic team puts on car washes.

A local dive shop held an underwater casino where the non-diving community came in and were taken down to do a discover scuba (for a $10 donation) in the pool then escorted to the underwater blackjack tables for a few hands of cards. Player with most chips won a prize (donated by local merchants). Pretty good turn out.

Jason