Coasting for Kids 2010?

Josh M said:
Can anyone give me some creative tips on raising additional funds? I had a great start, but haven't seen any donations in over a week. I've talked to co-workers, sent emails, had FB and Twitter posts, and while I definitely feel I have got the word out about GTKW, no one seems to want to donate any more. I've hit a brick wall, and would really love to be able to hit my goal!

I hope things are going well for all the rest of you. Only 11 more days till the event! Can't wait to see those of you who will be at CP.

I made business cards with a small explanation, how people can donate, and the web address for my First Giving page. That seems to help as an ice breaker, at least. I have a lot of acquaintances, and I have mentioned it to all of them, and handed them a card.

I also wrote a news paper story. Go to your local paper, ask to speak to a reporter, and give him/her all of the info. You could do the same with your local TV stations.

If I don't count the secret CoasterBuzzers donations, I would have raised more money from people handing me cash than online donations.

When asking people for donations, if they don't have the money but seem to want to donate, ask them when payday is and when is a good time to come back (If you are comfortable enough with the person to ask suck a personal question).

Make sure to ask the people that you know who own or manage a business. I got a nice donatation from the manager of a local fast food lace becasue I am there twice a week, and they all know me. I visit the post office for work a few times a week too, and they really cam through for me when I asked.

Maybe you need to come up with more people to ask. Think of the next level down from friend to acquaintances. There may be a few more groups of people that you haven't asked yet. When people ask "How are you?", tell them about the fundraiser. Put those cards in an envelope, pass them out to everyone you know, and put the cash and check donations in the envelope.

Find the balance between being aggressive and annoying.

You may have already known some or all of this already.

Thanks for the ideas Travis! Your last tip is what I have desperately trying to do. I want to be aggressive, but I certainly don't want to annoy every last person that I know...

For those who are interested, I tallied up the information for the Cedar Point people who have signed up for the event (doing all the parks would take quite awhile). As of right now exactly 60 people have signed up for the event at Cedar Point. Of those 60 people, 33 have donations, and 24 have hit the 50.00 minimum. So far a total of 5,631.50 has been raised from the CP donors alone! Way to go everyone! There may be some people who are raising money for CP, but did not specify it on their page. Those numbers were not included in this total. I'm sure we will see the numbers jump quite a bit in these last 10 days as many people wait to the last minute to donate!

Keep up the great work!

The story in my local paper can be found at this link. I wrote it, but made it sound like someone else did (lol). We were going to put my coworkers name on it as the writer, but we decided to just not give any credit to the writer (me) instead.

Since it's pretty close to the event, maybe the story will give some people some ideas for a news story for next year's event.

Wow, you live near Hamlin? And I thought I had it tough when I lived in WV...

Yeah. It's a pretty strange and depressing place to live. I am one of the better off around here, which isn't saying much at all.

The closest Walmart is 30 minutes, for example, which irritates me to death. It takes 5 gallons of gas to go to the store. lol

Central PA was a WAY better place to live, especially for a city boy like me.

And if I can raise almost $300 (so far) in THIS area, anyone can! I haven't even heard from anyone who has read the story in the paper yet. All of my donations have come from people that I know, or secret coasterBuzzers. Thanks Secret CoasterBuzzers!.

(So really, counting what the secret CoasterBuzzers have donated to my page, I have only raised almost $150, but still.) :)

Since it looks like I'll have some kind of income again, I'll be able to donate a couple of bucks. But to whom..... to whom?

Aw, does that mean you aren't going to attend the event at Dorney? I was hoping to see you there.

Yea, according to an email I just got. You better hurry and get that $50 minimum in because Monday is the Cutoff for it. If you don't have $50 in then then no Marathon Coaster Riding next Thursday. The top money raiser will be determined on a Cutoff next Wednesday. I am still hoping to raise more money for my Worlds of Fun part.

You were always my favorite poster Rather Good Bear. You know you want to donate to my page. :)

Seriously, it doesn't matter who you donate to, because it all goes to the same place. If I had any extra money right now, I would donate it to Carrie's page, for "unknown" reasons. ;)

I just checked the e-mail, and I have a concern...

"with checks made out to Give Kids The World (no cash, please)."

Sorry, but I'm bringing cash. I searched and searched the internet, for at least an hour, for how people could donate offline. Also, cash was the easiest for a lot of people. As a matter of fact, no one wanted to pay with a check. I have cash.

They could have given that information *before* we collected all that money. Just saying.

The email I got also noted that registration has now been cut off for Cedar Point. For those who already registered, you have to have $50 raised by Monday to participate (and get the meals and admission), and the top 60 who will be riding will be chosen on Wednesday. Apparently many people hadn't yet raised $50.

LK, could you maybe donate the cash under your own name on the website (via credit card or check) and mark it as anonymous?

Why not count up all the cash you received and just write a check out yourself with the total and keep the cash. Worked for me last year.

RatherGoodBear said:
Since it looks like I'll have some kind of income again, I'll be able to donate a couple of bucks. But to whom..... to whom?

Since you missed me at PPP this year, I think it should be me. :)

I'm planning on updating my numbers for CP today. I'm sure after the email last night, a lot of people are scrambling to get their 50.00 minimum. I just wrote a new blog post last night about the event, so hopefully that will bring in some last minute donations (http://bit.ly/dg58GK if you are interested)

I read it this morning. :) I'm pretty excited this is coming together so well. Though it is tough to raise money, and you pretty much have to pry it out of people, it's still so awesome to see how much we've collectively raised.

Excuse my self-confidence boost, but I'm happy to report that I'm only $20 away from my goal of $300! Yeah, I know it's not $1000, but it still feels pretty darn good! :)

LostKause said:
Sorry, but I'm bringing cash.

They can't take it. There's no accountability. Please either deposit it and write a check, or get a money order.

Congrats on nearly hitting your goal Matt! I've got 350.00 to go, but I am going to do my darnedest to make sure I hit it!

Thanks Josh! I'm really hoping to surpass my goal - family reunion this weekend. :) Best of luck to you hitting your goal! That would be an amazing accomplishment!

RGB, you could donate a little to each C-Buzzer, or as LK says put it in Carrie's page.

OTOH put it all in my family's page.