A close friend of mine was in a car accident a little over a year ago that shattered a few vertebra in his neck (cant remember which) leaving him a quadriplegic. He has slowly regained some function in his arms but no feeling and has recently been accepted for a stem cell research program. We are planning fund raising and have so far come up with 'change for a chance" drives at local businesses and penny drives at schools. So my question is, does anyone have any other good fund raising ideas? We'd really appreciate any brainstorming help!

hiya

I am currently trying to fundraise to get me some of the lever things for my wheelchair so I can be more independent. Although I am a para and not a quad, I used to be pretty good at the piano (was sort of concert pianist level lol), so I am giving a concert to fundraise, I'm charging £10 a ticket and having someone else do something as well so I don't tire myself out too much and food as well.

I thought that as it is something that I can do (although I am not as good as I used to be) then it's better than just going round with a bucket or packing bags at Asda lol.

Maybe this can spark a few ideas off?

Hope this helps

Hannah

Here's a couple of sites of people I know are fund-raising for help:

Oscar Lotis, and Claire Lomas

Generally, a good way forward is to offer something that represents good value to those going and then add something in on top with is optional but because they are having a good time and feel they have had a good value they WANT to chip in.

e.g. a dinner, hog roast, party with lots of booze - something where you don't necessarily make much but is WELL organised and good food & drink
THEN have an auction (good prizes donated, all proceeds go to the fundraiser) or a raffle/sweepstake with good or cash prizes.

Also, get out and do stuff. It'll challenge you (good for self-confidence and motivation) and people love the triumph over adversity / can't keep a good man down approach to life. It's inspiring to others.

Be wary of people helping who want to spend your money on their great ideas. Being lumbered with 5,000 calendars and no way of shifting that many ("but buying in bulk gave a smaller unit price...") can lose you money and cause extra stress!

Try and get local sponsors. Be clear about your own goals and set them out to your sponsors and show them how you can give them publicity - big logos on a website, wearing their logos on a t-shirt while doing the event, banners at an event, etc..

And ALWAYS be grateful to donors - write and thank each one personally and explain the difference it is making.

Good Luck!!!

ive thought about this too. A topless womens football match would be good, would definitly sell tickets if you had the right women.

A good fun way to raise funds is to get people to pay to do wheelies or see if they can stay in a wheelies for X metres. If they manage to keep a wheelie for X mins, they win a prize - if they manage to go X metres in a wheelie, they win a prize - if they go X metres and turn and come back maintaining a wheelie, they win a prize.

The prizes can be items donated by a larger company - cans of Coca Cola, vouchers from MacDonalds, beer from your local bar/pub.

AB's find doing wheelies in a wheelchair a real buzz and an addictive challenge. You could go to local bars and get bar owners to offer free beer to winners (beer from the tap is cheap for them), so all you need is a wheelchair and no other costs. It helps to have someone do the challenges though.

If you try this, let us know the results and what worked best so others around the world can do the same.

Thanks for the awesome ideas guys, I'm thinking maybe wheelchair Olympics! with a dinner and maybe some sort of bake sale or something would be awesome. Don't you just love creative teamwork? Ill be sure to let everyone know what we end up doing and how it turns out!

There are lots of posts on here regarding fundraisers to help pay for much needed services, equipment, household bills for newly injured persons. I know b/c I've answered many.

If you do a search for old posts you'll get some more ideas.

Good Luck!

Hapa