IDEAS 2001

FUNDRAISING

Charge a little extra. If you are having a social, going out for a meal, putting on a barbecue or picnic, charge a little more than you need to cover the costs and send the extra to us.

Get yourself sponsored. If you need to lose weight, get fit, improve your score, pass an exam, give up smoking, resolve to do it by Veg Week and get all your friends and family to sponsor you. It's good for your health, strengthens the willpower and benefits the Society!

Put out a collecting box if you have a stall offering free leaflets. Members of the public are often willing to donate 20p or so when taking free literature. It does help if you can mention that we are a charity and get no funding from the government or the lottery! (If you need me to make a little tent-sign to go in front of your box, just ask). As long as the event isn't taking place on public land or in the street, you only have to ask the organiser's permission to have a collecting box. (Street collections are a different matter – you need to apply well in advance to the local council.)

Make some veggie biscuits, cakes or sweets and sell them to your friends and colleagues.

Sell home-grown bedding plants, strawberries or whatever surplus garden produce you may have. I know of a lady who raises considerable amounts of money for her favourite charity simply by potting up all the self-sown seedlings, baby plants, rooted suckers and easily-grown cuttings she finds in her garden and holding an annual sale. Use all your yoghurt pots for containers and there's very little initial outlay.

Have a raffle. If you are organising any kind of social event during or in the run up to Veg Week, a raffle adds an element of fun and is an easy way to raise a little money. You don't need a lottery licence as long as you observe the following rules:

There is lots of scope for asking local businesses to donate a suitable raffle prize, such as a basket of fruit, a bottle of veggie wine or a hamper of veggie toiletries in return for some publicity.

Organise a quiz or competition with a "Refresh the Menu" or a healthy eating theme. Charge a small fee to enter. Any competition that has some element of skill (even if it is essentially a "draw" but people have to answer a very simple question to be included in the draw), is exempt from needing a lottery licence.
Again, you might get a local veggie business to donate a prize, or ask people to clear out their unwanted Christmas gifts.

Sell advertising. Produce a special Veg Week edition of your local newsletter with a centre-page spread advertising feature for local veggie businesses.

If you are having a stall at a fayre or garden party, don't forget traditional garden party money spinners like guess the weight of the cake, name a doll or teddy bear, mark the spot where the "treasure" is buried on a map and so on.

Organise a "Talents" auction or sale. If it is too difficult to get enough people together to run a proper auction, you could get your helpers to write "promises" down on cards which are placed in blank envelopes then offered for sale at a flat fee, say £1. The purchaser must select a card without seeing the contents. This way, you can spice it up by making some cards more "valuable" than others. The sort of promises you can include are:

Washing the car; cooking a meal; walking the dog; polishing shoes; weeding the garden; cutting the lawn; a smile; a hug.

You might also be able to scrounge some free tickets to a show or a voucher from a local shop to add interest.