How to best raise money for a cure?

Hi guys,

I’ve always wanted to do more to help make a difference for folks with diabetes. I was diagnosed at age 11 and have been dealing with this for 17 years now. When I was diagnosed, my doctor told me that we were within 10 years of finding a cure. It makes me really sad to think that kids being diagnosed today are still hearing the same thing. We’ve obviously come a long way, but I think there is still a long way to go. This year, I’ve decided to walk with JDRF in November. I’ve chosen JDRF very carefully since their organization is focused solely on Type 1 diabetes and research supported by them has proven extremely helpful in the path to a cure.

I’ve always made a point to give what I can as often as possible to support diabetes research, but this is my first time ever doing any sort of serious fundraising, so I’m not extremely confident about this. I’d like to raise $1000. Any pointers would be much appreciated. I’m currently working on a letter-writing campaign, which I’ve heard is a good way to raise money (although gosh, the stamps are expensive!). I’m also planning to email and/or write to my close family and several local businesses that I support.

I’m sure there are others out there who have done this before. I’d love any advice you have to share. What works well? What are the most and least effictive uses of my time and money?

I currently have a fundraising page at http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=87380125

Thanks in advance!
Carolyn

Just knocking on your neighbors doors. I have always been surprised by the amount people will give. If you can have information like what percent goes to research. People like to hear that their money isn’t going to more fundraising. Friends at work are usually good for a dollar or two.

Thanks, Mark - You make a great point about people wanting to know what proportion of the money goes to research. The JDRF web site states, “Typically, more than 85 percent of JDRF’s expenditures directly support research and research-related education.” I will add that to my fundraising site and include it in correspondence. And knocking on doors is something that I would not have thought to do. That’s kind of scary, but I’ll try it if you say it works.

Thanks again,
Carolyn

Carolyn - When I used to knock on neighbours doors - I’d always do it with a friend - so it was abit safer. Also, at Halloween, instead of collecting candy - I’d have a collection box for the Canadian Diabetes Foundation (people would still give me candy tho’ - which my parents would of course go thru’ for themselves - and give some to me as a “treat”). As I got older tho’ (not sure what age you are - I’ll check your Homepage later incase it reveals your age - but remember - a Lady never reveals their age ) - I liked to sew - so would make up little shopping bags with scraps of material people donated to me. The good thing is - those are in now - so that’s an idea.

I think raising awareness is the best way to move toward a cure…make sure your walk gets media coverage and maybe you guys could wear diabetes awareness Ts (the blue circle). I have done the walks for diabetes, etc…last one was about 6 years ago here in St. Louis…and not one of the major TV stations was covering it…but, for breast cancer they have a whole week of coverage…so several of us got on our cells and called all three and complained until 1 of them showed up. There are so many misconceptions about diabetes and lack of community support to change policies and fund research. As far as raising money…try to get businesses and organizations to fund your walk…bringing people together is good for so many reasons:)

Carolyn

Do you know if sending our flyers is legal? I’ve been considering do that for years, but I’m afraid I’ll get into trouble for spamming mailboxes. Do you know if this is a problem? I made up some cards with information about T1D in it, but I’ve yet to send them out. They actually look pretty good, though! haha.

It’s definitely legal if you mail them (like pay for postage and send them through USPS). However, you’re not allowed to physically hand-deliver a flyer to a mailbox. What you could do, though, is go door-to-door and stick flyers on doorknobs. When I lived in a condo, I got a lot from the local pizza places, etc. (It’s probably a lot easier to do at apartments and condos since there are so many houses close together.) I think you’re also allowed to stick flyers between the outside of the mailbox and the little flag - at least I’ve seen it done a lot before. You’re definitely not allowed to open someone else’s mailbox though. I was thinking of paying for stamps and actually mailing these out, but now that I think about it, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a smaller version to just hand-deliver to save money on stamps.

That’s awesome! I actually just looked it up on yahoo answers and got the same response that you did! So, thanks! That’s so great. Now I can finally get this postcard awareness project under way! haha. I’m really excited about it. You just made my day

Thanks for these responses, guys. I would not have thought of some of these things before, with this being my first real fund raising effort, but am planning to try most of these techniques. I’ll report back someday (maybe closer to the walk in November) about the results, including what worked well and what didn’t.