KEEN Ways to Raise

• Matching Gift Programs: Many companies will match donations made by their employees. Ask your company if they have a similar program. Then ask your coworkers to donate and fill out the appropriate forms. You can turn those $25 donations into $50 donations!
• Garage Sale: Ask friends, family members, coworkers, and neighbors to donate unwanted items and host a Saturday morning garage sale to benefit your KEEN team. If you have enough items, try a local swap meet (they give away spaces to charities). Garage sales can raise anywhere from $100 to $2,000 in just hours!
• Poker Tournament: Invite everyone over for a backyard poker tournament. Ask local businesses to donate prizes and/or food. Add a silent auction, plenty of re-buys and add-ons. Poker tournaments are known to generate $500-$3,000.
• Restaurant Fundraising: Contact your local restaurant and ask if you can do a "fundraiser night." Rules vary from restaurant to restaurant, but you will receive between 10-25% of the bill!
• Baseball Game: Like baseball? Buy a set of tickets at the group discount rate. Host a tailgate party and charge your friends, family members, coworkers, etc . twice the amount you paid for the tickets! Not a baseball fan? Do the same for football, horse races, hockey, or basketball!
• Frisbee Golf: Host a fun competition in a wacky way. There are many Frisbee courses — or create your own! Ask for teams of two for $25 and "tee-off ' at 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00 pm. Offer donated prizes for the 1st - 3rd place teams. Include a silent auction, food, and other festivities to make it more fun.
• No Dirty Dishes Raffle: Ask local restaurants to donate gift cards for a family of four. Collect seven gift cards and raffle them off together to give the winner one week of free dinners!
• Host a "Bowl-a-thon" on a rainy day: Hit a fundraising strike with this fundraiser! Invite your friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues to create bowling teams and raise funds for KEEN. Most bowling alleys do charity events and can help you with the event details. Offer prizes for the 1st and 2nd place teams, host a raffle, and have a ball!
• Have a "Lip-Synching Competition": Gather a few volunteers to compete by lip-synching. Have the audience "vote" for their favorite singer by donating to their KEEN account. You can also "vote" by donating to make people sing (like your bosses).
• Have a March Madness Pool: March Madness is an exciting time for basketball fans and general event enthusiasts. March Madness takes place each year as the men's NCAA basketball tournament occurs. People enjoy this time as the excitement of the game is elevated as people make their brackets and place friendly bets.

• Party!: Throw a basic party, but add an entry fee, silent auction, etc. Here are some ideas: 

1. Wine & Cheese Party
2. Summertime BBQ
3. Fundraising Concert
4. Holiday in July Party
5. Themed Movie Night
6. Neighborhood Block Party
7. Dessert-a-thon
8. Pub Crawl
9. Girls Spa Day
10. Closet Party (bring unwanted clothes to trade)
11. Bridesmaid Ball (all guests need to wear an old bridesmaid gown)

• Get the Family Involved!: Host a dodgeball (or any other sport) tournament, laser tag event, or Wii tournament and invite your neighborhood.
• Host a "Pink Flamingo Flocking" Night: Set a night aside and recruit some kids to help you. Send everyone an email or letter announcing your Pink Flamingo Flocking fundraiser and let them know that during the next few weeks, their yard might be "Flamingoed". In your message, say they can place an order to have one or more of their friends "Flamingoed" for a $25 donation to KEEN. They can also purchase "Anti-Flocking Insurance" to ensure that they will not get "Flamingoed" for a $25 donation. In addition, they can also purchase a "Removal Fee" for a $25 donation. Don't forget to dress in pink while decorating and take photos for everyone to see!
• Host a Family Car or Dog Wash: Ask your KEEN volunteers, sports teams, local school clubs, or church groups to donate their time to wash cars/dogs. Don't forget to advertise!
• Children Can Fundraise!: People have a hard time saying no to kids! Ask your children, niece, nephew, or cousin to help you fundraise by hosting a lemonade stand! Have children draw a picture of KEEN and send it to family, friends, etc. asking for a donation. The average American household has $100 worth of spare change lying around — send the kids on a spare change scavenger hunt!
• Birthdays: Have an upcoming birthday? Ask for donations instead of gifts!
• Get Crazy Over Bunco/Bingo!: Ask all your pals to come over for a friendly game of Bunco! Charge an entry fee, get prizes donated for the winners, and let the good times roll!
• Get Crafty!: Make something to sell! Jewelry, scarves, etc. You could even make holiday decorations. 
• Get Your Church (or Another Group) Involved: Ask your church to make an announcement during the service, you might be able to talk about KEEN at the service, and have a second collection for KEEN, or host the after-service donut table for donations.
• Get Local Businesses Involved: Ask your local dry cleaners, or a business you frequently visit to put up a change box near the register for their customers to donate spare change.
• Go to the Movies: You can contact your local movie theater to see if they will show a special taping of a new movie! They can either give you the discount movie group rate (and you sell the tickets for more) or you can rent out the entire theater and invite all your friends to watch.
• Recycle: Collect cans, bottles, and electronics, and take them to a recycle center. Donate the funds you made to KEEN!
• Borrow ideas!: Many other charities have amazing fundraising ideas! Here are some examples:

1. Kiss a Pig: One participant told everyone if she hit her fundraising goal she would kiss a pig! 
2. Shave Your Head (or Beard) for Big Bucks: People will donate to see you shave your head!
3. Sell Candy Grams: Don't be afraid to dress up and sing for donations
4. Make a cookbook highlighting your team's favorite recipes, quotes, etc.
5. Green Thumb: One participant grew veggies and flowers to sell to her coworkers and friends

Typically, the restaurant will provide you with a flyer with the date, location(s), and details and will give you a percentage of every bill/purchase accompanied by a flyer on the scheduled day.

A Couple of Tips: A great advertising tip — create a PDF version of the flyer and email it to everyone you know. Encourage them to email it to everyone they know as well! You can also go around to neighboring businesses and ask to put fliers in their breakroom. Schedule multiple days/events so you may reach as many people as possible — everyone is so busy these days! For example, set the 1st Wednesday of each month as "Applebee's Night!" Ask the manager if you can also set up a KEEN information table so people can register to become volunteers or refer an athlete.