One aspect of the Cub Scout experience that teaches boys how to work together as part of a team is Cub Scout fundraising.

If you are a parent of a child attending school, you may be concerned that your child is not getting everything they need in the classroom. After all, young children need lots of different settings in order to develop a healthy-minded attitude when they reach adulthood, and schools just can not offer everything that they are going to need for this.

That is why many parents are encouraging their boys to join the Cub Scouts. Whether its because Dad has fond memories from his youthful days in the Cub Scouts, or simply because you want to give your boy an outdoor activity that will teach him a new set of skills, Cub Scouting is a great activity for young boys to get involved with.

One aspect of the Cub Scout experience that teaches boys how to work together as part of a team is Cub Scout fundraising. This will help to rise money for a good cause and give the boys something new and exciting to be a part of with their friends.

As a parent of one of these boys, you may have decided to take Cub Scout fundraising on yourself, and help to organize the next event. But if this is your first time in the saddle, you might want to take a step back before you begin and look at some of the issues that may arise. First of all, you will want to make sure that you have a team of willing helpers to make the planning and implementation of your Cub Scout fundraising event a lot easier.

Knowing when and where your event will take place will also help to make realistic decisions about the scale of your event. You will also need to come up with a concept that will ultimately help you raise money. Just keeping these few things in mind will help you to pull off the best Cub Scout fundraiser that everybody can enjoy.

After 22 years of work, filmmaker Jennifer Fox found that she had a completed film with no way to pay the bills and fund the distribution. With no hope left, she reluntantly turned to Kickstarter to ask for help (read more details of her story here). Future of Film wanted to tell more of her inspiring story, which came with some very useful and inspirational advice. Below are 10 things she learned while trying to reach a six-figure funding goal on Kickstarter.
By Jennifer Fox

1. Reach Out to Family and Friends
Unlike what many will tell you, I must say that for me family (and friends) are more about getting emotional support than money. It is very dicey to ask people you know and love to give you their hard earned funds. I had some friends tell me that they felt offended that I was emailing them about our campaign. Discussing this with them led to some very interesting insights about why I feel this is a democratic and legitimate way to support the arts. But I am not here to proselytize. I immediately backed off. In a way what they are saying is true: they don’t ask me to fund their passion, why should I ask them to fund mine? However, that’s not exactly how I see it: I believe that the film project, My Reincarnation, has a greater good for humanity and is a contribution to people’s lives. Hence, it must be seen and is worth funding.

2. Build a Team
Filmmaking is a collaborative experience, but so is fundraising. It takes a lot of brainstorming and thinking out of the box. It takes multiple skills that one person rarely has all of. Without a team you just can’t get the traction and the reach into the world. But also it helps with the fear factor. I don’t know about you, but this kind of public fundraising scares the sh*t out of me. My team kept me from losing it. Having a team is also essential for Tip #3.

3. Brainstorm the Campaign as a Rollout with Different Phases
Our team, Katherine Nolfi, Lisa Duva, Stefanie Diaz and myself, discussed how the campaign would start and how we would keep rolling out new facets over time. This included building email lists, adding new incentives, and creating regular new videos for our website, Facebook and Twitter that could be linked with our consistent updates on Kickstarter.

We saw our campaign as having three initiatives: the web campaign; seeking out and approaching larger private donors to become Producers; and setting up “Sneak Preview Benefit Screenings” in key locations. The screenings were part of our plan because we had a unique problem: we were fundraising for a film that was technically finished, but that no one had seen. We hypothesized that people might need to see the finished film to give it money. In the end, festivals also helped on this account. But I also learned that the film’s trailer was often enough for people…

4. Make a Good Trailer
Of course “make a great trailer” is common wisdom for any kind of film fundraising. However, My Reincarnation was such a difficult film that I didn’t edit a trailer during the fundraising process. When I looked for funds, I always showed edited scenes assembled in a half-hour or hour format (which is probably why we failed miserably much of the time). Once we finally cut the trailer, right before launching at festivals, it was rather easy to do because the story arc was so clear. Now I’ve been told by some people that they cry when they watch our trailer. It has helped many people to make a donation when they haven’t seen the film yet.

5. Incentives
Since you can’t really put many images on your own Kickstarter page, Stefanie created a full brochure of pictures of the Kickstarter incentives on our My Reincarnation website so people could see what they were getting. She used the PBS pledge images as her model. We gathered a mixture of incentives, some Buddhist oriented and some film community oriented. One thing that we did very early on, even before the Kickstarter campaign began, was to offer a Limited Special Edition Pre-Release DVD for sale on our website at a very high price: $108. We started to sell this a good six months before our Kickstarter campaign to help keep our office running during the festival release. When we put up the campaign, we decided to offer the DVD in two ways: the Commercial DVD in 2012 at $25 and the Limited Special Edition Pre-Release DVD in September 2011 at $108. This was our most successful incentive.

For higher priced items, I raided anything I could find in my home: there are two of my own museum quality paintings by a very well known Buddhist Painter and a beautiful antique Tibetan chest that my parents gave me. I even put up a limited edition watch I received from being on the Zurich Film Festival jury last year. Basically nothing I own was off limits. It’s been a great Buddhist teaching to struggle with–and let go of–my attachment to my objects (that chest is one of my favorite possessions)!

6. Write, Write, And Write
Early on in the process, I would send my eblasts to my team to edit. We thought one page, max–so they cut and cut (my writing style can be a bit longwinded). Then we noticed that we were receiving the most donations following longer, more personal messages. They received overwhelmingly positive feedback. What at first seemed like a weakness, turned out to be one of our strongest tools. Writing became fun. As some of you may know, being on the road with a film can be the one of the most uncreative jobs one does over the course of film. But suddenly, writing these weekly Kickstarter updates and email blasts became a creative outlet for me.

7. Reach out to Appropriate Partners to Help Blast for your Campaign / Befriend the Tastemakers
The first tier we reached out to were listserves connected to the students of the film’s protagonist, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. Rinpoche has centers around the world, so we regularly wrote new, special updates to be blasted to their membership. These letters were less chatty than the ones I send to the general mailing list or post for our Kickstarter patrons.

We started a web series called Outtakes From the Film (O.F.F.) that we edit and post online and in our Buddhist eblasts to give those communities new video to enjoy, and entice them to become more involved with the project. These videos have helped assuage Buddhist students around the world, who are anxiously waiting to see My Reincarnation and are not so happy that they have to wait for the distribution rollout. The other thing we did–but could only do with the Sneak Preview NYC Fundraising screening–was offer incentives to appropriate organizations to blast their membership on behalf of our campaign. We gave the heads of each organization a free ticket to the screening in exchange for sending out an announcement. And of course, this laid the groundwork for establishing partners and building an audience for the film down the line.

8. Use Web 2.0: Facebook, Twitter, Bloggers…
This is absolutely obvious in today’s world. We posted updates on social networking sites many times a week. We worked hard to build up our Facebook and Twitter pages daily. We also posted on other organizations’ and individuals’ pages and walls – searching for related topics like “Buddhism,” “Tibet,” “Spirituality,” “Religion,” and “Yoga” – with information about the Kickstarter campaign, new videos, incentives and screenings.

9. Blast Often, Regularly, and Best at the Beginning of the Week
Get those eblasts out on Monday or Tuesday. Later in the week they get lost in people’s over-loaded inboxes. It’s important to keep up the pressure. It’s hard to know what the “tipping point” is for someone to make a donation. It can be the first letter or the twentieth letter that brings them over to the Kickstarter site.

10. Go Beyond Your Limits
Every step of the way on this journey, I had to go beyond my comfort zone to publicly ask for money: on the web, in emails, in person, on stage – over and over again. At every point, I had to push through my reticence, fear and a general “I just don’t want to do it again!” attitude. Facing these inner demons is necessary if you are going do this type of campaign. Believe me, crowd-funding certainly pushes those buttons, but it also requires you to let go and not listen to your ego so much.

My motto is, “Never say die!” Despite years of experience facing rejection, it can still be hard to pick yourself up each time. Somehow we have to find a way not to take rejection personally and move on. Of course, with some potential funders, you just have to give up, back off, and try somewhere else. A person who says no today may still say yes tomorrow. And if you give them new evidence to change their mind, they often do.

All of Jennifer Fox’s helpful tips were posted originally on Hope for Film.

Stay tuned for her insights on how to round off a successful campaign.

Jennifer Fox is an award-winning filmmaker and educator known for her ground-breaking features and series, including Beirut: The Last Home Movie, An American Love Story, Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman and My Reincarnation. She recently co-wrote the half hour television pilot The Good Egg, and is developing the feature script The Horse’s Tale. She has executive produced many films, including Love & Diane and On the Ropes.

The Tribeca Future of Film blog is a place where leading filmmakers and experts within the film industry share their thoughts on film, technology and the future of media.

Follow Tribeca Film on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TribecaFilm

Your volunteers work hard for your organization, and offering incentives to the top sellers is a great way to reward them. Going overboard with incentives, however, can eat into your profits. Keep your incentives budget manageable. Have a finite amount in mind for your incentives, or keep it to a small percentage of your overall profits. Also keep in mind that the incentives don’t have to cost any money at all. This can be as simple as offering to wash the top seller’s car or even baking a cake from scratch. Simply recognizing hard work can be enough of a reward all by itself.

With so many great fundraisers available, it can be tempting to go all out and try four or five at once. While this may seem like a great way to make even more money, it really isn’t. Stick to one fundraiser at a time. By running multiple fundraisers at once, you can run into many problems. For one, the logistics of running multiple fundraisers requires more time, more volunteers, and a lot more organization to keep things running smoothly. Trying to do too many things at once can risk getting orders mixed up, funds misplaced, and can take a toll on your volunteers’ morale.

The second reason to avoid running more than one fundraiser at once is that it can spread your potential customers’ budgets too thin. Each potential customer has a finite amount of money that they can give at any one time, and asking for too much of it at once by running too many fundraisers means that even if they want to participate, they may be unable to financially. Even worse, they may view your organization in a negative light for asking for too much. Instead, focus on one fundraiser at a time. Volunteers and resources can be more fully committed to one task, and your potential customers won’t be spread too thin.

Just today we brought you news about how popular social networking siteshave become, sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Tumblr. We know that they are a fantastic way for you to keep in touch with loved ones and of course friends, upload and share photos, follow your favorite celebrity or even just finding that all important job vacancy.

But have we ever stopped to wonder the good that the sites have and/or could be in relation to fundraising efforts. For example, in times of past earthquakes and tsunami’s such as the huge one that hit Japan recently, many took to Facebook and Twitter to find loved ones, they were used to help those without homes, raise funds and so on.

What we are leading up to, is a new document produced by the Institute of Fundraisingand global telecommunications service BT. The new guide to fundraising will give you tips particularly when using the two most popular sites listed directly above.

For example just basic tips on Twitter could be the inclusion of using hashtags “marathon” or “charity” to help access important information, or on Facebook it could just be a conversation that is struck between two or more people once they know whatcharity is in need of support. As thirdsector.co.uk pointed out from the guide, the importance of talking to people on Facebook’s wall is to thank them for their support and keep them informed of the charity’s progress.

The guide is titled “Networked for Good: How to use Social Media to Give Your Fundraising a Boost,” and is available now.

Tell us have you ever participated in fundraising and used any of the sites listed above? How successful were your efforts?

Source: http://www.onlinesocialmedia.net/20110616/social-media-assists-fundraising-efforts-how/

With less money available for extracurricular activities after the previous election, schools had to cut back on their support of sports teams, bands and clubs. Students who wanted to continue participating in these programs and their parents were not always willing to accept the cuts. They turned to raising their own funds. Car washes, bake sales, clothing drives and other events sprang up as they found creative ways to get residents to support them while offering a service to those residents.

One fundraising idea that has become popular with many organizations is the “can shake.” You must have encountered that somewhere. Before the school budget cuts, you would most likely see it in action when volunteer fire departments need to raise money. Members, holding a collection can — or a boot, which is a clever idea — will walk up to cars stopped at traffic lights. There’s no pressure to donate. You’re in your car. You can roll down the window and hold out a dollar for them or keep the window up, look away and drive off.

It does raise funds but it looks more like begging than a fundraiser.

Now that school groups also have begun shaking their cans, several children or teens will stand right outside the exit of a supermarket and ask for your support of their cause. “Help the girls softball team,” for example, is all the explanation offered. They will be wearing a team shirt or jacket. The can will have the name of the school or team on it. So you give them a dollar. Otherwise you have to pretend that you neither saw nor heard them. They are right there, often one student on either side of you as you leave the store.

The next week when you return to the supermarket, a different team is asking for money. So you give them a dollar.

And the next week, another team. Do you just assume that each trip to the store is going to cost you an extra dollar or do you stop giving? Should you take the time to ask what the money will be used for: uniforms, equipment?

The “can shake” must be effective or it wouldn’t be such a popular method but we’d prefer to see students return to the fundraising efforts that offer their supporters something in return. That seems like learning to earn the dollar, not begging for it.

Source: http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/121370559__Can_shakes__make_fundraising_efforts_look_more_like_begging_.html

May is Mid-Year

May is the mid-year point for your fundraising. Now is the time for your fundraising committee to sit down together and ensure you are meeting your goals for your fundraising efforts.

Things to consider include:

1. Are you meeting the goals set at the beginning of the year? This is the most important question. If you are not, then you need to reconsider and re-evaluate your goals. Are they unrealistic or can you work harder?

2. Is your staff happy? If there are disgruntled members working, they are not as efficient as they could be. Are you listening to your staff?

3. Are you choosing effective fundraisers? With the economy still slowly recovering, are you choosing the correct fundraisers? Many inexpensive fundraisers are often more effective than a few expensive ones.

More candy and flowers are purchased in February than in any other month. Take advantage of this statistic and come up with some unique ways to earn money this month. In addition to the lollipop fundraiser, think of other ideas for your club or organization.

Romantic Raffles - Purchase two movie tickets, a gift certificate to a local restaurant, candles, a “mood music” cd and arrange attractively in a basket. Sell tickets for the basket and announce the winner several days prior to Valentine’s Day. Many businesses and movie theaters are willing to donate gift certificates and small items such as candles to a worthy cause.

Dinner for Two - If your club or organization is large enough, try opening your own Valentine’s Day Restaurant. See if you can get local grocery stores to either donate steaks, potatoes, and salad ingredients. If not, most will give a worthy cause a discount. Sell tickets to the dinner and then have the members of your club or organization act as wait-staff. Dinner doesn’t have to be steak, you could do a “heart-warming chicken soup for the soul” or ” a spicy-hot love chili” dinner. By sitting down and brainstorming with your members, you are sure to arrive at a menu that fits your budget. Be sure to have your members stress as they sell tickets that all restaurants will be crowded on Valentine’s Day weekend. By purchasing your tickets, guests are guaranteed a leisurely, romantic dinner with excellent service.

The start of the new year is the perfect time for your club or organization to sit down together and plan your 2011 fundraising strategy. With a solid plan you can venture into the new year knowing that you are ready for the tasks that lie ahead. When planning ahead, there are a few things to consider:

• What holidays fall when? The holidays are undoubtedly the best time of year for fundraising. Sweets for Valentine’s Day, flower seeds and pots for Mother’s Day, cookie dough for Christmas, go ahead and fill in your major holidays and plan for them now.
• What about planning the rest of the year? While the holidays are an excellent choice for fundraising, don’t neglect to plan for your other months. There are many different ideas for these months also, so don’t let the ease of holiday planning stop you from devising a strategy for the rest of the year.
• Look back on last year. What fundraisers performed the best for your club or organization last year? Which ones didn’t meet your expectations? By looking back, you cannot only see what worked best for you, you can also analyze the fundraisers that didn’t work as well as you thought. By analyzing these, you can make the proper corrections to ensure that your fundraising goals are met each month.

Cultivate your supporters: Let them know they are appreciated. A small holiday thank-you card is nice, or perhaps a mini candy cane. Both of these ideas are festive, inexpensive, and seasonal.

Don’t discount social media sites: You can reach hundreds of potential supporters by joining Twitter and Facebook. Remember to post and “tweet” your fundraising information. Make sure you “follow” others on Twitter and “friend” as many people as you know on Facebook. Please note that it is considered rude to only “tweet” about yourself and what you are doing. Be sure you “retweet” other relevant issues posted by people you “follow.”

Thank your volunteers: Your volunteers have worked hard for you all year. Plan a special outing for them, or handwrite each of them a special note, thanking them for their loyalty and service throughout the year. Showing your volunteers that they are appreciated will mean a lot to them.