Fundraising Ideas

Fundraising is a great way to increase awareness about The Dictionary Project and provide a means to obtain financial resources to start or continue a project. Fundraising also provides an opportunity for you and members of your organization to become engaged and build stronger relationships with people in your community.

Community Involvement Events:

Festivals:

The La Plata Rotary Club holds an annual Lobsterfest to support their scholarships, donations and community service activities. The event also features live music, a silent auction, and of course, games for children.

The Rotary Club of San Antonio, FL manages the Rattlesnake Festival and Run, which brings in around 5000 visitors each year. Participants of the Rattlesnake run enjoy a challenging course through the countryside of the Pasco Hills. Attendees can also watch an educational snake show, where a trained and licensed professional explains how the snakes are milked for their venom. That might get you running!

Holiday sales:

The Kiwanis Club of the South Lyon Area sells Christmas trees at a local city park to raise money for their service projects.

Adult Spelling Bee:

The Rotary Club of St. Bernard, LA, hold an annual adult spelling to help provide funds for their various education projects, which include providing dictionaries for all third grade students in St. Bernard Parish and supporting adult education. “The spelling bee brings the community together for a night of fun and fellowship” Rotary President Doris Stogner said. “There is always good spirited competition among the various teams.“

Host Dinners:

Members of the Burns Grange # 160, MI, host a monthly jamboree and dinner at their Grange hall. They have a different menu each month and normally charge between $5-$7 dollars for the meal. Over the years dinners have included: homemade soups, chili suppers, meatloaf, ham and scalloped potatoes, goulash, spaghetti, lasagna, and corned beef and cabbage. The jamboree consists of men and women from the local area who donate their time by coming to the Grange hall to play music and sing. Donations are collected at the door and a 50/50 drawing is held during the evening.

National Grants:

There are countless foundations and community investment programs across the country that are willing to help fund charitable projects. Additionally, many civic organizations at a national or state level provide grants and scholarships through their foundation or an endowment.

To help fund The Dictionary Project in Hidalgo County, the New Mexico Elks Association matches the donation made by Lordsburg Elks Lodge #1813.

Local Sponsorship:

By sponsoring projects in the community, local businesses and corporate sponsors are able to build goodwill and invest in future generations, not to mention generate positive publicity.

Gordon Geiger of the Rotary Club of Paterson, NJ, sends out over 200 letters requesting sponsor participation from members in his community.

Other Fundraising Ideas:

Bake Sale

South Greenville Grange #225 from Neenah, WI, raises funds through a bakesale, and if that is not enough, they will use the proceeds from a pancake breakfast sale as well.

Central Grange #1650, PA, bakes “shoofly pies” twice a year to raise funds for its projects-about 2,500 pies a year!

The Greeley, CO, Republican Women auction off pies donated by elected officials.

Website Donation Forms

The Rotary Club of American Fork, UT, solicits donations from businesses and individuals in their community. The club makes donating convenient by having a secure Paypal account on their website. The donors are then invited to come to the schools with the Rotarians to participate in the distribution and talk with the children.

Annual Golf Outings

The Rotary Club of Pine Hill Sunrise in Pine Hill, NJ, used their annual golf outings to raise money for their dictionary project!

Everyone Sponsors a Box

The members of the library committee at First Community Village retirement community in Columbus, OH, each sponsor a box of dictionaries for the fifth graders at their chosen school.

Parking cars

The Rotary Club of Hope, Arkansas, raises money for its dictionary project by parking cars at the local Watermelon Festival.

In Connecticut, the Rotary Club of New Haven, along with LAZ Parking Corporation, provides parking for the St. Patrick’s Day parade, with proceeds going to the New Haven dictionary project.

Quiz Bowl

The Early County Literacy Task Force in Blakely, GA, has an annual Trivia Contest.

Concession Stands

Bridport Grange # 303, from Bridport, VT, raises funds by selling food at a local auction barn.

The Fremont-Warm Springs Sunrise Rotary Club in California sells Tri-Tip Sandwiches at the local Festival of the Arts.

Members of Hopewell Grange in Mercer County, Ohio, make homemade noodles, which they sell at the Mercer County Fair. In order to provide each Mercer County third grader with a dictionary each year, they make and sell 275 to 300 lbs. of noodles, and use about 175 dozen eggs!

The Kiwanis Club of Norcross, GA, prepared and sold lunches outside their local Kroger grocery store to raise funds for dictionaries.

The Rotary Club of Robinson, IL, makes Walking Tacos (Taco in a Bag).

The Rotary Club of Sharpsburg-Aspinwall in PA, raises money for the dictionaries by selling funnel cakes and hot dogs during the Sharpsburg Guyasuta Days festival.

Raffles and Drawings

Springfield Elks Lodge # 409 in Springfield, MO, held a drawing for a television.

The Rotary Club of Eastland, TX, has a computer raffle.

Springfield Elks Lodge # 51 in Springfield, OH, raffles off two all-expense-paid trips to whatever bowl game the Ohio State Buckeyes qualify for that year.

The Ukiah Elks Lodge # 1728, CA, sold a beautiful donated quilt, the proceeds from which funded their dictionary project.

Bowling

The Rotary Club of DeLand, FL, has a Bowling for Literacy event.

Share Your Experience

As much as we love for sponsors to submit news articles and photos of happy children from distribution day, we also like to hear about how your club raises money to continue your local dictionary project. If you have ideas or suggestions, please send them to wordpower@dictionaryproject.org