Practical Fundraising Ideas

To be practical is to be smart in this economy. One of our eco-friendly fundraising goals is to offer practical fundraising products. We do not want people to fill their homes with fundraising products that they will not use for many years to come.

Green fundraising ideas need to fit in with recycle, reuse and reduce. We offer recycled products to your school for your next green fundraising. We also offer green products that can be reused. Quality is the top priority for us when selecting products to add to our eco-friendly fundraising program. Finally, by offering quality products, we are allowing your fundraiser supporters to reduce what they will have to purchase over time. We want the products they buy to last them for many years.

If you are part of a school or non-profit, email us with your fundraising ideas for products to include in our line. We are always happy to review products that you have used and find to be favorable.

We're In the News!

From time to time, we like to share with our readers places you'll find us in the news. We are often featured on "Green Blogs" or news websites talking about Eco-friendly Fundraising or Green Fundraising. We certainly enjoy any assistance in getting the word out on our program, and further appreciate any feedback from participants or potential participants in our program. We are love you ideas and input!

Here's a couple of places you may have seen heard us mentioned:

• WABC-TV News (ABC7) of New York: http://www.greenrightnow.com/wabc/2009/01/09/forget-the-candy-bars-green-school-fund-raisers-are-hot/2
  
• Modern Eco Blog: http://www.modernecohomes.com/blog/eco-internet/the-worlds-best-eco-blogs
  

If you feel like you have ideas on how our program can serve your Green Fundraising intiatives better, please let us know.

Presenting....Catalogs for 2009!

Our goal is to serve your organization with as much versatility as possible. In aiming to become the best we can be in 2009 at spreading the word about eco-friendly fundraising, we are adding catalogs to the tools we make available to your organization. Because we promote green fundraising, our catalogs are printed on 100% eco-friendly paper using soy-based inks.

Your customers will now be able to purchase on-line to receive their orders within a week or by ordering the traditional method via catalog.

We are thrilled to serve you in 2009. If you have any questions or would like to order an eco-friendly fundraising catalog, please feel free to drop us a note at info@ecolabelfundraising.com.

Being green is not difficult. Leading by example when fundraising is even easier with eco-friendly fundraising.

Green, Going Green, Green Fundraising!

"Going Green" is a term we hear all over the news and in magazines. It really has become a way of life in our everyday lives. Most people recycle and understand the basics of conserving energy around the home, which is a really great step! So, congrats to those of you who have made those strides.

At EcoLabel Fundraising, we hope to expand your eco-friendly reach in to your child's school or your church. Facilitating a green fundraiser is just as easy as any other fundraiser, but comes with many more benefits. For instance, each time a parent buys a green fundraising product they are likely to have one more conversation about the environment than they may have otherwise had before. And, that's pretty neat.

Conducting a fundraiser allows the organizing committee to make a positive impact not only monetarily, but also by leading by example in encouraging others to be environmentally aware.

Eco-friendly fundraising is our passion, and we hope it will become yours!

2009 Earth Day Fundraising Activities

We thought we'd offer you some ideas to kick off your Spring 2009 Fundraising Drives! Luckily we have Earth Day coming up in a couple of months, so we can refocus on the environment. EcoLabel Fundraising's program works well with the activities we have below to tie into your Earth Day festivities.

Ideas for Action around your School Campus or Non-profit:

1. Dedicate a spot in your school or non-profit's parking lot for collecting plastic water bottles. Ask children to bring in water bottles to be recycled that their families consume at home. Teachers and staff may tie in many lessons about water bottles, and their impact on the environment when they are not recycled!

2. Ask each class to come up with a new way to reuse an everyday product that may otherwise end up in the trash. Reward the winning class with a prize!

3. Ask children to individually write down 3 things they could do to help sustain the environment. Even kids can make a huge difference!

Feel free to utilize our Lesson Plans link at the bottom of the EcoLabel Fundraising page, for more ideas to utilize around your school or non-profit! Scheduling these events over the next few months will really help to keep your Eco-Friendly Fundraising campaign on the minds or your supporters.

Fundraising Help!

We certainly appreciate the current economic situation, and how difficult it has become for non-profit and school organizations to raise funds. We'd like to tell you how our program can support your fundraising efforts.

First, we are here to support you by offering you our advice for FREE. We have years of experience standing in your shoes, so we know how it feels to struggle to raise funds.

Second, fundraising can evolve into many things within your organization to raise awareness. You can utilize your skills and understanding of the environment to support your monetary goals. For instance, you may want to couple your fundraising efforts with several eco-friendly activities to which you do all the planning. You can spread the activities out over six to seven weeks. By doing this your serve two purposes:

1. You keep your fundraiser on the mind of the organization's supporters.

2. You impact your organization in a way you may not have done before, since previously you may have just relied on monetary contributions to support extra resources needed within the organization. You or other committee members probably have much to offer that hasn't been tapped in the way of planning activities to support the staff. They will undoubtedly appreciated the extra support at a time where they are probably feeling the pinch due to the lack of monetary resources available to them.

Finally, choose wisely. We offer items that people can justify purchasing in a tough economy. Our green fundraising program items are selected according to quality, longevity and value. We realize there are cheaper alternatives in some cases, but unfortunately many of those products will cause you to have to reach in your pockets to replace them in a short period of time. Of course, we always believe it is important to consider whether or not the item is helping to protect and sustain our environment's resources.

Raising Funds in a Sluggish Economy!

We've had the pleasure of speaking with many PTA boards, Booster Clubs and Non-profit fundraising chairpersons over the holiday season. In those conversations, we often hear how hard these tough economic times are on your fundraising goals.

Don't fret. Take a deep breath, and believe in your supporters. In times like this, people will undoubtedly scale back on many things including what they contribute to some fundraising efforts.

We have several important notes you may pass along to your supporters to help you steadily towards your fundraising goals:

1. Ask your supporters to re-think their normal holiday shopping habits. You may want to ask them to reconsider spending the fuel to head out to the shopping mall or big box store. They can easily shop for their entire family from the comfort of their home via their computer by hitting one site - www.ecolabelfundraising.com.

2. Ask your supporters to re-think their shopping strategy so that it covers practical areas of their family life. In other words, you may suggest that they buy their child a new lunchbox rather than toys they may not enjoy for as long.

3. Tell your supporters that you know and empathize that times are tough, which makes you especially grateful if they support the school, church or non-profit. You do appreciate it, so why not let them know?

4. With all honesty, it a budget-savvy to avoid the bustle of the shopping mall or big box stores. By shopping for your organization, they are better able to avoid getting caught up in the holiday hub-bub that often guilts people into over-extending themselves.

5. By driving from store to store, grabbing lunch here and their while out holiday shopping, costs can really add up! People often overlook those built-in costs to holiday shopping.

We'd love to hear your tips for fundraising in a tough economy! Email your tough-economy fundraising tips over to us at myfund@ecolabelfundraising.com.