Unit Fundraising Efforts

[Matt_Fisher]

Through several discussion threads I've noticed that the subject of fundraising for either charity activities, initiatives to purchase regimental uniforms not provided at public expense, etc. has come up.

I'd like to hear what various units are doing for fundraising activities so that we may share some ideas and programs that have been particularly successful, or others that have not.

My unit's main fundraising push every year is our annual Marine Corps Birthday Ball held held in November.  I've seen some units do such things as car washes which are usually pretty labor intensive in getting people to turn out and the result is usually a pretty modest amount of revenue generated.

What our unit has done which has been tremendously successful is a raffle program.  In our case we normally raffle off some type of commemorative/historic firearm such as an M-1 Garand or Colt 1911 pistol.  By selling $10USD tickets at local gun shows we were able to raise approximately $14,000USD in a period of 3 months.  Now with the firearms laws more restrictive in Canada, raffling firearms is probably not a good idea, however the idea of doing raffles, especially when the prizes are donated can be a terrific money raiser ie. big screen tv, appliances, ski packages, dining vouchers etc.  2 things that are key are a good points in doing raffles are getting a good location/venue to sell tickets from and having somebody who's very outgoing as a salesperson.  This person cannot be afraid to reach out to people proactively to get them to purchase tickets. 

Anybody else who's got good or bad fundraising experiences please contribute to this thread.

 

[lostmuskrat]

I remember stories my grandpa told me about regimental fundraisers in Germany in the 60s . . . 

 

[pbi]

In our Army the DCO is usually responsible for non-public finances, which includes the Unit Fund. When I was DCO of 1PPCLI, some of the things we did included:

-raffle of keen kit (Garmin GPS, high-speed camping gear, etc);

-raffle of tickets (to the public) to win a turret ride in a LAVIII durng the Stampede Parade;

-operating "wet" canteen during unit events;

-subscriptions from local businesses in exchange for advertising in Regtl magazine; and

-donation of services or goods in kind to unit events. This is isn't exacty the same as cash, but if frees up existing cash for other uses. We used this to great effect during our Farewell to Calgary celebrations in '97. It was done in exchange for publicity on our event posters and banners. We got quite a range of useful goods and services this way.

Fundraising is very important these days, as the "good old days" of being able to charge all sorts of things to public accounts are long gone: all such expenditures are closely scrutinized, especially after the LFAA Change of Command fiasco of a few years ago that brought unfavourable attention to pubilc funds being spent on military ceremonial events. Cheers.

 

[Matt_Fisher]

pbi,

Don't mean to be too nosey, but generally speaking how much of a non-public fund budget is required for a unit such as 1PPCLI to cover its NPF type expenses annually?

 

[bgreen]

Matt...,

A few years back we were looking for some funds for our military museum at the unit.  So we had a working Br AFV 435 tracked APC and one of our members donated a car.  And for 5$ you got to drive that AFV over the car and get your picture taken.  I think we made several hundred dollars.  Mind you we had the wrecked car to get rid of after the fun.

Nowadays we rely on our Regimental Senate  and Honourary Colonel to look after the needs of the unit.  They have established an education scholarship fund and funds for our 100th anniversary in 2005.  Our Senate is composed of past serving COs and Sgt Majors.

I like your gun raffle idea.  I'd by a ticket just to thumb my nose at our gun registry.

Cheers
BG

 

[pbi]

bgreen: you are a naughty fellow. Stop that.

matt: It really depends on what you want to do. I can't recall an exact dollar figure, but here are a few examples of things we had to spend Unit Fund money on pretty well every year:

-buying/repairing scarlet uniform items, pith helmets, accoutrements and instruments for the battalion Corps of Drums;

-outfitting the various battalion sports teams with sweaters, jerseys, etc in PPCLI colours;

-buying flowers/cards for funerals of servng and retired members; and

-buying new shop equipment for the battalion carpenters in the Trades Section of the Assault Pioneer Platoon (this equipment was not funded by the Army)

Bursaries and retirement gifts were normally funded by the Regimental Fund, not by the Battalions themselves. IIRC in 1PP we usually ran with about 5,000 dollars ballance, although I recall that as a result of Farewell to Calgary we made around 14,000 dollars. I am not familiar with the USMC system but under our system , while there are CF rules to govern the administration of NP funds, there is more freedom on how they are spent. Cheers.

 

[Art Johnson]

In the 48th Highlanders our main fundraiser is the Caddilac Draw every year the tickets are $100.00 each. Auxillary units like the IODE, Ladies Auxillary, Old Comrades, Former Sergeants hold various events such as bake sales, garage sales, wine and cheese parties to raise money to support the Regiment.