Sacbreathe.org

ASK ASK ASK!!!

Perhaps the most important but most overlooked key to successful fundraising is the ASK. Don't assume that because you're excited about the event and you've shared your fundraising goals that friends and family will automatically give you a donation. You must ask. Ask, and ask BIG.

You know what most people can give. Ask appropriately, but always ask for more than you expect to receive. If you ask for $100, they may give you $50, but if you ask that same person for $25, they will give you $25, even though they can give more. Don't be afraid to ask, and don't take rejections personally. Especially in these tough times, not everyone is able to give. Remind people that anything they can do is going to a wonderful cause. No amount is too small to accept….and no amount too big to ASK!

Step #1

Create a list of people to ask. Think of friends, family, business associates, your company, community groups, workout buddies, businesses you patronize, high school or college networks etc. Be creative and thoughtful in your list and give yourself flexibility to add more people to the list at another time. The important step to take is action, and by beginning a list, action turns into results.

Step #2

Now start asking. There are several ways to ask: in person, on the phone, via e-mail or computer, or in a letter. A new and extremely effective way to contact people is through websites such as Facebook or My Space. Start a Facebook group for your Breathe California trek and send it out to all of your “friends”. You will be amazed at the many people from both your past and your present who are excited to support you in your good cause. Another effective way is to send an e-mail (example is below) using our online services. You can also send a letter and include a self-addressed, stamped envelope and wait two weeks. After two weeks have gone by, begin calling these people (or, if you run into them, talk in person, or e-mail them) to remind them of your letter and ask them if they would like to give you a pledge. By taking your fundraising seriously, your supporters will pledge you seriously. If they say no, simply thank them for their time. But they can’t say no..if you don’t ASK!

It's as easy as that. Honest. Some of our biggest fundraisers simply write a compelling letter and follow it up with a call, a visit, or an e-mail.

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Other Ideas That Work

Pledge yourself first! Your first donation should be from you. You know your financial abilities; give the most you can. It's more convincing to outside sponsors that you believe in what you're doing if you sponsor yourself. Show them that you are serious.
Ask your sponsors to dedicate their donation to someone they know who has or had lung disease or someone they hope will never contract it (a child, husband/wife, and parent). Tell them that you will dedicate a portion of your ride to this person.
Take a potential sponsor out to lunch and ask for a large pledge ($500?).
Find out if your company has a volunteer recognition program. After all, as a Trekker, you are a volunteer of Breathe California. Many companies offer cash recognition for volunteer services. Also find out if your company has a matching gifts program.
Network with friends to see if they know any companies that give to charities. More than one Trekker has received a $500 check for Breathe California from a company with whom they had no previous relationship.
Use your talents! One Trekker bakes goodies and charges a donation. Another collects prizes and raffles them off to make money. Be creative, you will definitely find fun and easy ways to collect extra money!
If your birthday or a major holiday falls before the Trek, ask for pledges instead of gifts.
Get on the agenda of your local service club. They might vote to support you.
Throw a party and borrow the ETBT slide show presentation and "WOW" your guests by showing them what a terrific time you will be having-don't forget to ask for pledges!

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Breathe California Hosted Fundraising Events

To assist you in your fundraising efforts, Breathe California will host two events that Trekkers can participate in:

One Person’s Discards are Another Person’s Treasures…Join us in July for a Breathe California hosted Garage Sale! We’ll secure the location and promote the event! Open to all registered Trekkers who want to clean out their garages and raise donations for the Trek. Details will be posted on the Fundraising page on our website as they are finalized.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame…Sell tickets to family, friends, co-workers for ETBT Night at the River Cats!, Tuesday, August 11, 2009. Registered Trekkers can sell tickets and earn money to put toward their Trek donations. Download the ticket order form now!

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Raise Money for the Trek Through MissionFish

Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails has been certified by MissionFish for the eBay Giving Works program.

Here’s how it works:

Community seller lists an item on eBay and requests that 10-100% of the final sale price be donated to Breathe California.

eBay sellers are encouraged to give a percentage of their proceeds to a nonprofit certified by MissionFish each and every time they list an item for sale.

Participating sellers are rewarded for their generosity with special eBay Giving Works features that help them get more bids and higher sale prices.

The nonprofit receives recognition in the listing and benefits from the seller’s success.

MissionFish and eBay do the heavy lifting – we collect and distribute the donation, issue tax receipts and keep everyone informed along the way

Nonprofit organizations across the United States received $36 million in 2008, by using eBay’s Giving Works. EBay’s Giving Works program is administered by MissionFish which allows eBay sellers to give proceeds from their sales to a favorite nonprofit, and helps nonprofits raise funds by selling on eBay. MissionFish was launched in 2000 and provides crucial services like screening all nonprofits wishing to become members, processes all of the donations that result from successful eBay Giving Works listings. MissionFish ensures every donation makes its way to the intended nonprofit, ensures compliance with government regulations, manages the tax benefits of giving through eBay Giving Works and powers the technology that makes it all possible. To date, over 12,000 nonprofits have registered with MissionFish and since November 2003 over $66 million has been raised for nonprofits.

The idea of e-Bay Giving Works is simple; an eBay seller can donate all or part of his/her listing’s final sale price to a participating nonprofit organization. First, nonprofit organizations are certified by MissionFish for the eBay Giving Works program. Next, the Community Seller chooses how much of the final sales price to donate to their favorite nonprofit. After the listing ends, the Buyer pays the Community Seller; subsequently the Community Seller ships the item to the Buyer. MissionFish then collects the donation amount from the Community Seller. After the Buyer and Community Seller provide feedback to one another, MissionFish delivers funds to the selected nonprofit (less a small deduction for donation processing costs.) Finally, MissionFish provides the Community Seller with a tax receipt to the Community Seller on behalf of the nonprofit.

Click here to get started fundraising through MissionFish!

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Sample Letters

These sample letters in Microsoft Word Format are to help you in writing your donation letters. Use them as inspiration or as a template in your fundraising efforts.

Sample Letter 1
General Ask

Sample Letter 2
General Ask

Sample Letter 3
In Memory

Sample Letter 4
Silver Dollar Sue Letter

Sample Letter 5
Silver Dollar Sue Letter

Sample Letter 6
Silver Dollar Sue Letter

Sample Letter 7
Silver Dollar Sue Letter

If you would like to share your sample letter(s), please email them to jschwan@sacbreathe.org and we will post them here.

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Collecting Donations

Donations must be collected and turned in by August 29, 2009.

Donations can be submitted via credit card on our Web site. Checks should be made out to BCSET (which stands for Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails) with the Trekker's name on it and mailed to our office at:

Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails
909 12th St., Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95814

We cannot be responsible for or give a Trekker credit for checks mailed but not received by our office. Therefore, it is a good idea to hand deliver your money (especially cash) to the office if possible. That way you can pick up any incentives that you have qualified for as well. Our office is open from 9 am to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday at the same address listed above. Click here for a map/driving directions. Money received by our office will appear on your Web site totals when the site gets updated (usually Tuesdays and Fridays).

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Quick Links

You Gotta Ask!
Other Ideas That Work
Breathe California Hosted Fundraising Events
Raise Money Through MissionFish (eBay)
Sample Letters
Collecting Donations

ASK SUE

Sue Schooley, Silver Dollar Sue to many of you, is consistently one of the Trek’s top fundraisers. Lately she’s been at the very top, raising $4,400 in 2008. We thought it would be helpful to find out exactly how she does it.

Breathe: Every year, you are one of, if not the top, fundraiser. How do you do it?

Sue: I have a few suggestions. The first is to make a donation to yourself. This shows the people you’re asking that you are committed to the cause. I think it takes money to make money.

The second tip is to remind yourself of who your audience is. A portion of mine is older, from out of town, and I don’t see them everyday. For them a letter with a self addressed stamped envelope works best.

Breathe: What do you put in your letter?

Sue: I always try to insert humor into the letter – it may not be good humor, but it’s my humor! I always make the letter personal – I talk about why I ride, what I did on last year’s ride, how I’m training for this year, etc. I also give everyone options: join my team or donate. I give them options on donating too – everything from “I’m sending you good thoughts” to a monetary donation. I start it at a $1 as every dollar counts, but no one ever sends just a dollar. For previous donors I remind them what the donated last year and ask them to increase or double that.

Breathe: Would you be willing to share your letters?

Sue: Of course. You can find my letters and other samples by clicking here.

Breathe: You always write a letter, what about e-mail or the online tool?

Sue: For younger tech-oriented audiences, the online tool is great. It saves you time, money and printing. But for my audience, they all still get a letter.

Breathe: You mentioned the stamped self addressed envelope? Other suggestions?

Sue: I think it’s important to make it easy so that envelope works. I also give them a deadline. I usually send out letters in May and June and give them a July deadline. After that July deadline, I start to get obnoxious. I send notes messages like “did you forget me?” or “did you peel off that stamp and use it for something else?”

Breathe: How many letters do you usually send?

Sue: I mail about 100-150 letters. I send them to friends from school, work, family, parents of my children’s friends, parents with asthmatic children, pretty much everyone I can think of. Of those 150 requests I usually get about 100 donors.

Breathe: What about those big donors?

Sue: Anyone who donates more than $100 to me gets some kind of additional thank you – I’ve purchased the Macy’s community shopping day tickets for them, put in the Breathe wrist bands, sent a special photo, that type of thing. And this year, anyone who donates $100 or more will be entered into the Breathe raffle for a chance at some great prizes.

Breathe: What about after the event?

Sue: I ALWAYS send a thank you letter. I send it after the trek so I can tell them about the ride. It’s usually some humorous take on the trek. One year it was all about numbers: the number of flat tires I got, the number of hills I walked, the number of road kill I saw, the number of miles I rode, etc. I always include a picture or two in the letter.

Breathe: What other advice do you have?

Sue: The number one thing to remember is ask, ask, ask. The worst thing that can happen is they say no. And I get a $1 from just about everyone.

You also should start as early as possible, and set your goal for $1000 or more. If you feel like that’s too much of a stretch you should still try to raise more than you did in previous years. You also need to make sure you know you’ve shared that goal with everyone you’re asking.

Breathe: What’s the quickest way to raise money?

Sue: Make that 1 st $50 donation yourself. Then ask 10 family members to donate $40. There’s your $450. Or ask 40 people to donate $10.

Breathe: Any other fundraising ideas?

Sue: I haven’t tried all of these as the letters and e-mails work really well for me but some other ideas I’ve heard of are:

Have an old fashioned cookie/brownie sale. Bring goodies into your workplace and put out a donation jar with an explanation. If you don’t bake, buy candy bars, bakery cookies or even licorice.
If you are a service provider, put out a tip jar for donations
Hold a dinner party for $20 friends and charge them $20 per person.
Have a garage sale or participate in the Breathe garage sale.
Sell things through Craig’s list or on E-bay. With E-Bay Breathe is signed up with Mission Fish so it’s pretty easy.
Ask your employer if the have a matching program.
Wear your t-shirt or jersey from past years, a bike pin, anything that might generate a conversation.
For business sponsors tell them you’ll put their sticker on your bike or wear their t-shirt in camp to promote their business.
Fundraise as a team – you can work at the River Cats or ARCO concessions, golf tournaments, etc. for donations

Breathe: Wow, these are some great tips. Are you willing to answer questions from our Trekkers?

Sue: Sure, I’m happy to help.

Breathe: Thanks Sue for you time and all your amazing efforts on behalf of Breathe California.

If you have more questions for Silver Dollar Sue, please send them to jwarren@sacbreathe.org and we’ll get them answered and posted. And if you want to see Sue’s sample letters along with others, click here. We’re always looking for samples so feel free to submit yours to Janelle and we’ll get those posted too.