Fundraising Ideas

Looking for some fun and creative ways to get your whole organization involved with helping out the VFW National Home for Children? Read on and get the ideas flowing!

Cut for the Kids
Does someone have a ponytail they are willing to part with? How much money is that hair worth? Set a goal and collect donations with a guarantee from the long-haired member that they will get a haircut when the goal is reached.

Swear Box
Clean up the language of your comrades and sisters while making a difference for the National Home. Put a “swear box” on your bar, or have it available during meetings. When someone utters a cuss word, it will cost them!

Gold Party
Everyone has seen the commercials about selling unused gold jewelry and other items. Have a gold party to collect all the gold stuff you can, and then turn it into cash at a local place or via mail. Send the proceeds to the National Home!

Wacky Lawn Job
This fundraiser is commonly done with pink lawn flamingos or flower pinwheels. Scatter many of these objects throughout the front lawn of various members’ homes. Charge a $5.00 donation for simply removing the flowers, $10.00 to remove and select someone to send them to next, and $15.00 to remove, resend, and find out who sent them to you. After you have gotten started, begin selling “insurance” from the trick for $20.00!

CAN You Do It?
Raise money and do a good thing for the environment. Let your community know they can drop off their refundable bottles and cans at your Post or another central location. Your group will handle the sorting and keep the refunds. A nickel or dime may not seem like much, but all that plastic, glass and aluminum will add up quickly! To raise more money and awareness, you can go door to door collecting refundables and leaving behind information about the National Home!

Penny Wars
A simple concept. Pennies are positive points. Any silver change is negative. Set up two containers: one for the Post, one of the Auxiliary. Or set up one for each branch of the Armed Forces. Give yourself points by throwing pennies in your container or take away points from the other team(s) by tossing nickels, dimes and quarters into their jug. No matter who comes out on top, the National Home wins!

Guess How Many?
Construct a clear container filled with small objects like M&M’s, pennies or jellybeans. Ask members to buy a chance to guess how many of the objects are in the container. Determine the winner and award a prize.

Cakeless Bake Sale
Instead of having a bake sale, consider collecting donations for what everyone would have spent on supplies for a “Cakeless Bake Sale.”

Event that Nobody Attends
Create an event that nobody would want to attend. Something like a banquet featuring eco-friendly seaweed and pickle soup. Proper attire of torn tuxedos and threadbare evening gowns could be required. Let your imagination run wild and be funny. Rather than selling tickets to attend such an event, sell tickets for people to stay home instead.

Raffle
Many Posts and Auxiliaries have 50/50 raffles at their meetings. Consider dedicating your raffle proceeds during a month to the National Home.

Dance the Night Away
Will you be my date for the prom? For many, it has been years since their high school prom. Throw another “prom” for your members at your Post. Hire a DJ to play all the tunes from the “good ole days” and sell the tickets to benefit the National Home. To make it interesting, let people vote, for a small price, for your Post’s prom king and queen!

Hot Fudge, Hot Flick!
Instead of having a plain old ice cream social, turn it into a movie night too! Sell tickets to the ice cream social as well as “movie bucks.” During the event, members can use their movie bucks to vote for a movie to watch! Who doesn’t like ice cream and a movie? While you have the members in front of the television, show the National Home DVD as well.

Memorial Golf Tournament
A great way to honor those beloved comrades and sisters who have passed away. Dedicate an afternoon of recreation to their memory, and donate all proceeds to the National Home.

 

Has your organization recently held a successful fundraising event on behalf of the National Home? We’d love to hear about it! Send the information and any photos you want to share to vladuke@vfwnationalhome.org, and we may feature your event on our website.