Fundraising Ideas and Topics

Combined Federal Campaign

UnclePotBelly — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:08:41 GMT

Is there a way to actually verify that my 2009 CFC contribution made it to Any Soldier? At the moment i can not locate my slip from a year ago so i don't recall exactly how much went to Any Soldier. I know i had the money split between local fire/rescue and AnySoldier and will be doing the same in 2010. I do know how i am spliting the money for 2010. Thank you.

RAFFLE BUY NOW !!!

kathy cunningham — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:37:45 GMT

The AS raffle ends today. If you have 5 bucks to spare (or more), why not get yourself a ticket? The site could use the support and maybe you'll win an awesome XBox for one of your contacts, or one of the other cool prizes shown. And I am wishing all our Veterans and those still serving, the best on this Veterans Day. A huge slice of gratitude going out for all that these brave warriors have done and continue to do for us all.

Kathy

XBOX 360 raffle

kathy cunningham — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:02:34 GMT

Hey folks we need about 100 more tickets sold and they will raffle off the xbox 360, extra controller and 3 games to be sent to the warrior of your choice. The tickets are only $5 each. So let's hurry up and buy those tickets, so that I can win it for my guys! LOLOL You can click on the raffle on the News page and get the info. I've got my tickets....do you?

Kathy

Membership?

KristenF — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:55:03 GMT

The recent question regarding the number of requests allowed per month led me to think of this, I'm sure there are pros and cons I haven't considered so any and all thoughts are welcome...

Perhaps the site stays "free" and anyone on earth can request a nominal number of names per month (5?), but then "members" who pay a membership fee get the benefit of requesting 20 names a month, for an annual tax deductible contribution of $20ish?

It's out there, it's a paradigm shift from the philosophy of the site being free. But people could still get addresses for free, just less. Would that turn people off? If 1000 of us are requesting addresses and 500 decide to pay a $20 annual fee... $10K? Is that worth it? (I can't find the stat with the # of peeps requesting addresses, so who knows what kind of $ we're really looking at...) Is the administrative task of tracking who is a member and who is not, too cumbersome/expensive? Would paying a fee give "abusers" the impression that they could abuse to their heart's content? All unanswered questions...

Any other thoughts?

Current Catalog Fundraising

VickiV — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 03:09:30 GMT

I emailed Marty a while back about this fundraiser, but I haven't heard anything back. I am sure he has more than a few things on his mind right now. http://currentfun.com

It seems easy enough. The charity registers with Current Fund Raising and everything can be completed online. All purchases made from the Fund Raising online catalog will earn 50% of the price of the items ordered when the code is entered at checkout. Additional items may be purchased from their regular catalog and will earn a %, but I think it depends on which items are ordered.

If you haven't shopped from Current, then I urge you to take a look at the items they offer. There are many that AS junkies could use themselves and send to contacts or even as gifts to other people.

The good thing about this is that your order is shipped directly to you, so that no one needs to keep track of anything or distribute goods to the purchaser. The only thing that you have to remember is to put in the code for AnySoldier if Marty decides to okay this. The contributions are paid quarterly.

Vicki

Cookbook

tammypanter — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:59:46 GMT

I haven't been to the site in a while and have been trying to catch up. Can anyone tell me what the status of the cookbook is? I did a search but didn't find anything.

Thanks!

Possible ways to increase donations to AnySoldier.com Post your ideas!

GeorgeATL — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:43:06 GMT

I’m trying to put my thinking cap on, and was just thinking about possible ways to get more people to donate to this great website. Here are a couple I thought about, perhaps other forum junkies have more!

1. In the email that's sent out with the name/address, how about moving the donation part to the top of the email, and then the name/address under that? I know that the way I have Outlook (which I think a lot of people have it this way) it has my emails at the top, and then the preview screen at the bottom. Honestly, because the name/address is at the top of the email, I never scroll down past that. If the donation part was at the top, that I think it would be viewed more often, and perhaps more donations would be made.

2. Add a "bar" or button at the top of the "Where to send" page. I know that there's the menu at the very top, but I think it would be noticed more if there were just a bar across, under the "WARNING: Contents of this site are addictive" bar that said something like “Help us continue to support our great men and women in uniform by making a donation to our website today.” Then there could be a “Donate Now” button or something like that. I think a simple, but positive message like this might help.

Just a couple of ideas. I hope other “junkies” can think of other possibilities so that we can get some funds rolling in!

George

Fundraising at Kent State University

KMRksu — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:21:28 GMT

Hey all!
Just wanted to share with you my wonderful experience.

I am a resident assistant on campus at Kent State University. I held a Veteran's Day program today for my residents to write cards and letters to our adopted soldier as well as raise money, dvds/video games.

I was soooooo excited by the turn out. We had over 50 residents write cards, upon cards,upon cards. They made letters, cards, pop up cards, colored pictures. They really just went above and beyond. They also bought DVD's to send to the soldiers as well as donating a video game system.

I just wanted you to know how much college students can get involved. We really can make the difference!

Have a great day!

-Katie

Cafepress.com

Jodi — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:09:33 GMT

I don't know if this topic has already been discussed, but has anyone considered creating an Anysoldier.com store for Cafepress.com? AnySoldier could probably make a good bit of money (with the Any Soldier junkies buying 2 of everything) and no one from Any Soldier has to stock any of the merchandise.

I've bought things from Cafepress.com before and the quality is really good. And they've added a lot of products to their selection. They ship fast and guarantee the products. I just don't know if their stuff is made in the US, which I know is important.

I could use an AnySoldier.com tote bag, clock, T-Shirt, journal, notecards, fridge magnet, BBQ apron and about a million other things! And there are neat things we could order for the soldiers to send as gifts too...

Just a thought.

Virginia $$$ Opportunity

plbishop — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:03:12 GMT

Marty et.al.,

One option for bringing in some additional funds could be through the Combined Virginia Campaign (CVC). You'll need to jump through some hoops between 01 MAR 09 and 30 APR 09 to become approved but once you are there are 100,000 + employees eligible to donate. You can check the CVC out at http://www.cvc.vipnet.org/charities.htm . Feel free to pester me if you have any questions.

Love to help...

ShanonRice — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:41:52 GMT

I live in Corvallis, Oregon and would love to help raise some money. I do have quite a few connections around town, and some great fundraising ideas... I am very new to this site, so I am not quite sure how all this works.

Could some one please help me by getting me the information I need to figure out some guidelines, and what the site is looking for? It would be greatly appreciated.

Fundraising at the University of Minnesota

Kittenwitt — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:24:13 GMT

Hi Guys! This is my first time posting on this forum, but I am really excited to! I have recently gotten really interested in Any Soldier and the activities that are going on on the site. So I decided I wanted to do my fair share to contribute to the troops. I only just graduated from the University of Minnesota, so I don't have a lot of money to send a lot of packages, but I decided that I wanted to bring together a student organization to make an event out of collecting donations to put together packages. We are calling this project "Operation Any Soldier" and we are collecting donations over a month long period. I was just wondering if you guys had any ideas on how to increase donations from the students? Any incentive ideas?

Anysoldier shirts?

Widget — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:49:16 GMT

Are there anysoldier.com shirts for volunteers and supporters available somewhere? I keep thinking it must be around the site somewhere and I'm just overlooking it.

Also, any plans to do something like this again? I found it while searching for anysoldier shirts (click to see the blog post). Very cool, and would be a big seller for care packages and vets.

Thanks!

Donations - BLACK & WHITE

Mimi Z — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:09:47 GMT

Hey all,

Well, now it is stated officially by Marty that "If the House Raffle is successful, Any Soldier will be in good shape."

"If not, It's over. That isn't an option for me." This to me means that there will no longer be an Any Soldier Website to get contacts from for us to support. There will be no more forum to meet all the "soldiers" and "junkies" of Any Soldier.

So, if you cannot afford the $100 for the raffle ticket for the house, please send any amount of money to help this site survive. I know as junkies it would be a very hard habit to break.

Thanks everyone,

Mimi

I have been away for a while.....

tammypanter — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 06:11:53 GMT

Can anyone give me an update on the cookbook that Sue was putting together?

Sorry, but I have to squee now--

sharkindeepwater — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:53:09 GMT

I'm kind of broke and haven't been able to keep up with sending as many care packages as I'd like, and the requests for boots have been getting to me because they're needed and I don't have a prayer of helping with that. Today I was heading by the fraternity/sorority advertising pool on campus and one slogan caught my eye--"A Helping Hand." I stopped and pivoted and talked with a guy there about what I'm doing and about how I can't do as much as I'd like alone. He said they'd love to coordinate and flagged down their leader for me to talk to. I told him about my efforts and how soldiers only get two pairs of boots a year, and when they wear out--which was when I saw him nodding.

"You know about this?"

"Yeah, a lot of us are from military families."

It sounds like we should be able to get something done. I gave them the AnySoldier.com address and watched the coordinator write it down, so if our collaboration falls through, members will still know about it and can help individually. I don't know anything about fundraising and I'm not sure what they'll need me to do, so I may be back to ask for ideas.

Also, this summer I realized there was no Cellphones for Soldiers drop on campus, and today I got permission to place one. I'll be buying a bin this weekend and painting it, and then taking responsibility for watching it and shipping out the phones--hopefully the campus GLBT group will take it over when I graduate. They've been looking for a good cause to adopt.

Okay, I'm done gleeing.

Donations?

Rachelle — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:10:16 GMT

I have been asking stores for donations and some say you have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get a donation or most of them say they can't give them to "private" people (for lack of a better word). Have you gotten a donation from stores without having to jump through a bunch of hoops? What store? Thanks!

By the way, I would only be asking for a couple of things and they would not exceed $30.

Promoting AnySoldier

Anonymous — Wed, 30 May 2007 22:40:09 GMT

I am much bigger on promoting than fundraising. One thing I would like to do is put together a little booklet with some of the more touching and humorous quotes from soldiers. I think it would really make "the soldiers" and "the troops" seem less like a uniformed monolith and more like real individual people that someone would want to help. I'd like to be able to pass them out along with the business cards I carry.

I can make the booklets myself. Please let me know if it would be okay to do this.

AnySoldier on AFB Radio

colourful — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:18:16 GMT

I thought I'd post that I'm going to be interviewed tomorrow (Thurs 21st) on AFB Radio (2:30EST), and I will be giving props to AS while they interview me about Cards for Heroes. My org couldn't do what we do without AnySoldier, so I'll definitely be talking up AS!! Tune in if you can - it's an online radio station, so go to http://afbradio.us/ and click on Listen Now.

You can also leave a phone shout-out for the troops there on their toll free number, or register and type in a shout out to the troops on their home page shout box.

(FYI AnySoldier has had a great PSA on AFBRadio for some time now, so when I talk about AS, their listeners should be good and familiar with it.)

Unique Excuse - What's Yours

Mimi Z — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:50:37 GMT

Okay Junkies,

Marty just posted again in the thread "House Raffle" under General Chit Chat the following:

"The make or break is not just to pay for the house, it also raises funds for this company that is in critical shortage. Still, only 4% of the people that use this site help support it, the other 96% come up with the most unique excuse not to."

Now..........I'm not a rocket scientist............but I know a cry for help when I hear it.

Soooo, what's your excuse for not making a donation to Any Soldier?

Mimi

Twin Cities Area AnySoldier Breakfast Fundraiser, 9 August 2008

Jenifer_one_N — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:59:55 GMT

To anyone in the Twin Cities area, have you seen the notice on the News page about the Fundraiser?

http://www.anysoldier.com/News.cfm

I'm going to be there, and would love to see some other AnySoldier Junkies there as well! I've been in contact with Nancy (the Junkie who is coordinating this event) and she could really use our support for this very worthwhile event. I know there are other Forum members who are in the area, so let's do all we can to make this fundraiser a success! It's a great opportunity to involve family and friends with supporting AnySoldier, and what better way to meet some fellow AnySoldier junkies?

Thanks,

Jenifer

Auto Show Booth

kathy cunningham — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:27:42 GMT

Under Chit Chat I wrote about a booth that we had for anysoldier at the Syracuse Nationals car show. The show is run by Right Coast Association. They would be willing to donate booth space at their next show which is the Myrtle Beach Fall Cruise on Oct. 16-18, 2008. It will be on Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC. I believe that it is an outdoor show. If anyone is interested in running a booth, please email or PM me and I will tell you who to get in touch with about the show. It was a very rewarding experience to do the booth and I plan to do it again next year in Syracuse. I had no experience and it wasn't all that hard. I can give some tips, as can many other forum members. Right Coast also ran shows in May in Atlanta and Gilford, NH. Anyone living there? Thanks for everybody's help with the Syracuse show.

Kathy

Raffle Question

GeorgeATL — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:51:37 GMT

I'm always a little afraid to ask questions when money is concerned. Certainly I'm not trying to pry, but I would like to know the answer to the following question. . .

Does all of the money from the Raffle go to AnySoldier? The reason why I'm asking is that if I want to make a donation to AnySoldier would AnySoldier get the same amount if I purchased raffle tickets as opposed to making a "regular' donation? Honestly, I would prefer to purchase a few raffle tickets, so I have a chance of getting something to send someone. but I don't want to "short" AS either, so do I need to do both?

By the way. . . . The raffle ends this Sunday, June 15th, so BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!! Click HERE!

George

amazon.com??

meechie2 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:22:29 GMT

I've been a longtime, if slightly lapsed, anysoldier.com junkie, but I do remember being able to enter the amazon.com website through a portal here on AS, so that AS would receive a portion of my total purchase. I've looked, but I can't find that portal anymore. Does anyone know if that particular fundraising option exists anymore? Is it gone, or did I just overlook it?

Thanks!!

-Mitra

Kroger Share Cards in Texas and Lousianna

dnash — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 01:24:48 GMT

I have been using the Kroger Share Cards since the program started; and also had Marty send me more cards to give to friends and family who have also been using them. I was in the grocery store last week and the card worked fine. Last night 4/25/08 I tried to use it and the clerk said they don't work anymore. I asked if it was Any Soldier or Kroger, he quietly said Kroger (I'm sure he has been yelled at a lot from other people and other organizations for saying so). I told him what a shame that was and the girl working with him told me that Kroger hadn't even told them the cards didn't work until they tried to scan them.

If this is the fact then I would imagine that a pertty good chunk of fundraising money has come to a screeching halt. I'm going to try again in the hopes that it was a glitch in the computers or something, and have sent an e-mail to Marty to see if Kroger has really stopped the program. I'm hoping it is a mistake. I've not been a very good junkie lately and need to get back into the groove of sending and donating especially now if the one SMALL thing I had been doing may have come to an end.

Like I said this will be a loss in revenue for AnySoldier so we all need to try and rememer to donate. Times are hard for all of us financially with everything going up, but we sure don't want to lose this resource.