Fundraising Ideas and Materials
Pennies Building Peace:
A Penny Drive How-To
A penny/spare change drive is one of the easiest and most effective fundraisers that children can take an active part in. Pennies Building Peace is the name of our spare change drive for Cambodia.
We based this idea on Greg Mortenson’s “Pennies for Peace” campaign that he writes about in his best-selling book, Three Cups of Tea. (See www.penniesforpeace.org to learn about Greg’s Penny fundraisers or www.gregmortenson.com.)
Pennies Building Peace Tips:
Our graphic designer made some materials that anyone can use:
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•Click here to download a Pennies Building Peace flyer flyer that you can customize for your community. Our penny drive took place at the Haggerty School. Important: if you want to hold a penny drive at your school, be sure to ask your Principal about rules regarding fundraising in Cambridge Public Schools.
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•Click here to download a label for Pennies Building Peace collection coffee cans. You can also decorate your cans with photos of Cambodian children available on the web. We collected recycled coffee cans and put them in each classroom at the Haggerty school. A black and white version is available here.
Our cans of spare change were emptied each Friday into a large 5-gallon water jug from Poland Spring that was kept in our Principal’s office. The kids loved watching the big jug fill up!
If you hold a penny drive at your school or your office, you can try some friendly competition if you like. Classrooms or departments can compete for a grand prize (a pizza party is a good idea for kids!) for the ones who collected the most change. Some schools holding penny drives have integrated mathematical concepts into their curriculum based on counting their spare change!
You’ll need to set a clear timeline and a goal, as well as a system for counting what you’ve collected. The timeline is particularly important, because without one, people tend to forget there is a penny drive going on, and donations slow to a trickle!
If you’d rather not count the change, your favorite Cambridge bank might be willing to donate an “in-kind” service of counting your change for free.
A good kid-friendly guide to penny drives, which we are using at the Haggerty, can be found on the ZOOM website: http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/action/way08.html
When you’ve collected all your change and deposited it in the bank, you can write a check to AAFC. (See “How to donate” for more information on writing checks to AAFC.)
REMEMBER, YOUR CHANGE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!
Cookies for Cambodia
Have a bake sale! One group of Cambridge youngsters did this recently at a dress rehearsal for The North Cambridge Family Opera and raised $300.
Presents for Peace
One of our Cambridge Moms is throwing a birthday party for herself and in lieu of gifts, she’s asking for donations for The Cambridge School for Cambodia. That’s a smart mom!
A Cambridge eighth grader made an online donation for a birthday gift and was able to send an email to his friend through justgive.org (on our website) so his friend knew that he had made a Present for Peace!
This is also a great idea for graduation gifts, Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, and Confirmation gifts.
Cambcamb.org T-Shirts:
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•Our graphic designer made gorgeous t-shirts that anyone can buy online by going to this link: http://wearpower.com/stores/sale_items/801
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•Wearpower is owned by a Haggerty parent who is giving us a generous discount on the baseline price.
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•If a community group wants to buy a bunch of t-shirts, just email Mara at wearpower@gmail.com. You can even pick up the shirts at their business office on Concord Ave, near Fresh Pond, to save on shipping. If you buy in bulk, you will be responsible for paying for the total amount and making a profit on your mark-up.
Host a Fundraising Party:
You can invite local musicians to perform.
You could show a film about Cambodia:
New Year Baby: A Documentary by Socheata Poeuv
Contact: Charles Vogl, Producer, www.newyearbaby.net
The Flute Player: Arn Chorn-Pond
www.pbs.org/pov/pov2003/thefluteplayer/update.html
www.teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/flute/latest_news/index.asp?article=man
Contact for sales and rental:
Nicole Tse -- Distribution Associate
Center for Asian American Media
145 Ninth Street, Suite 350
San Francisco, CA 94103-2641
415.552.9550
distribution@asianamericanmedia.org
www.distribution.asianamericanmedia.org
Help Organize an Online Auction!
Setting up an online auction with 78,000 viewers is easy using www.emarket.com, a Cambridge company that runs www.biddingforfood.com, which hosts national auctions to benefit non-profits.
Our Cambridge School for Cambodia Auction runs May 1st-18th and is accessible at www.cambcamb.emarket.com We will continue to accepting auction donations until May 14th. Join in the fun and do some bidding for good.
Reach Out to Cambridge Businesses:
Join us in asking your favorite Cambridge business to donate $500 and become a Corporate Partner listed on our web site. Please contact Heather Faris (hcfaris@comcast.net) for more information about this program.
Cambcamb.org Bookmarks:
Bookmarks are great give away items that advertise our website, showing folks where to go to get involved and how to donate to the school we’re building. We have donated a pile of them to all the Cambridge Public Libraries. You can download, print, and distribute these bookmarks in your community to promote the Cambridge School for Cambodia.
Click Here to Download the Bookmark Template!
Tips on making the bookmarks:
We’ve had them Xeroxed onto 110 lb. cardstock in blue and yellow at Staples.
The cost is far more economical if you cut the bookmarks yourself on your own paper trimming board or on one that is available at Staples in the Fresh Pond Mall.
You can order printing at Staples online through www.staplescopycenter.com. The 110 cardstock does not come up automatically, but you can write the paper weight and colors specifically into the “notes” section of the online order form.
Email Cut ‘n Paste:
Tell Your Cambridge Friends: Let's make this a cross-Cambridge fundraiser! Send your pals an email or cut and paste one like this: Click here to download the Word document.
Other Cool Materials:
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Download and use our logos for any materials that you want:
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