Fundraising Ideas from National and Local Groups

I've been going through the old LDA (national) Statelines, trying to find all the items that I missed and would have liked to have seen shared on this blog. Here's a good one for all presidents, executive directors and membership chairs.--KK

Source: www.istockphoto.com

Letter written October 15, 2008:
Dear Affiliate Leaders,

I hope by now you have had the opportunity to view the recent materials sent to you from the Membership Committee for your use. The Membership Committee has been very active and attempting to provide you with usable materials in our efforts to increase our membership base. I wanted to share with you that at a recent LDA of Illinois board meeting, we tried one of the suggested activities. Our state board members were notified ahead of time to bring names and addresses of friends, colleagues, and relatives with them to the board meeting. At the meeting we filled out the letters and addressed envelopes and the membership invitations were then mailed out from the state office. A few days later my principal walked into my room and indicated she had received my letter and membership information. She said the membership fee was very reasonable and she was joining. That night my mother called and said she was joining also. It had never crossed my mind to ask either one of them! I was very encouraged that this small effort on my part resulted in two new memberships. I encourage all of you to review the membership materials and put them to use. Contact your state president and have membership items put on the agenda for your next state board meeting. Only through our active efforts will our membership increase. Please feel free to call or email Sharon Tanner or myself for any further information or clarification. Thank you for all your hard work and efforts on behalf of LDA!

Sincerely,
Ernie Florence
Membership Chair

Our county chapter does this with fund-raising. We have a database of all the past contributors to the chapter, and print address labels for our annual appeal. We print out an appeal letter with a tear-off at the bottom of the appeal letter. Return envelopes are pre-addressed with our treasurer's address label. Each board member gets a stack of envelopes and selects the labels for people whom they know. They write a short personal note at the bottom of the appeal letter, stick the address label on the envelope, and fold the letter, and return envelope into the mailing envelope. We have one board member who seals the envelopes and stamps them. Finally one member takes the batch to the post office, pre-sorted and bundled.

Source: artofmakingmoney.info

This chapter has a pretty good return on their letters. Some contributors designate their gifts to a reading tutoring scholarship in the name of a founding member. Others designate their gifts to a community college fund we set up in the name of another founding member. The remaining money goes into a general fund for other projects of the chapter. It's a lot of fun for us, because we get together for the mailing and a potluck, and it's a good return on our investment of time, postage and printing costs.

Kathleen