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Paying for the reunion
What reunion doesn’t need money? There are many ways to raise money if you don’t just divide all your costs and assess everyone equally. Consider some of these ideas and share your ideas with our readers. E-mail us.
Creative reunion financing
Paying for your reunion may be among your most creative challenges. There are many reasons why you may want to raise money from paying for basics to the altruistic reason of helping younger family members attend college.
Tyrone Dumas, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, occasional organizer of the Scott, McNair, Brazil Family Reunion, is a master at fundraising. Several reunions ago he convinced the Coca-Cola Company to provide a sizeable contribution which covered the cost of the family's banquet, t-shirts, a permanent reunion banner and, of course, a supply of soft drinks. In 1997 Dumas took a different approach with a powerful message of his family's unity. The reunion received a gift of two round-trip tickets from Southwest Airlines. They auctioned the tickets (good for one year) in the tradition of loaves and fishes as a raffle prize to fund scholarships for family scholars.
Then, there's an almost painless way to fund your reunion and keep everyone thinking reunion year 'round. Vincent Beauford, Lithonia, Georgia, then president of the bi-annual reunion of George Schultz and His, Inc, challenged his family two years ago to save pennies. They did! At their 1997 Chicago reunion, emptied piggy banks revealed $999! The money assured payment of incidental reunion expenses.
Kathleen Wilson, Liberty Lake, Washington, organizes the Moran Family Reunion and charges $10 registration fee to all members over 12 which she uses to cover the cost of awards, name tags, a memory album, coffee and snacks.
Karl-Michael Sala reports that members of the Izmir Alumni Association who attended high school as American dependents in Turkey use reunion videos as fundraisers. They charge double to persons who did not attend the reunion and have a "reunion attendee discount" for those who did. Izmirites are also very assertive about asking for free will donations.
Chandra Martin has among the most diverse list of fundraising activities we've learned about. They too sell videos with orders taken at the reunion so they know how many to print. They've had dances including one on Valentines Day, a family rummage sale with all the profits going to the reunion. At this year's reunion they sold family portraits, souvenir booklets and held a baseball tournament. Martin organizes two family reunions and charges $50 registration for one and $60 for the other.
Auctions are popular fundraising activities. Vickie Everhart, Red Oak, Texas, makes her Pounders Family Reunion auction a real event. Last year the meat bill for their reunion was 67¢ after all the leftovers were auctioned off. Their members are "strongly" encouraged to donate handmade auction items including a description for the auctioneer. A top selling recent item was a prized nostalgic painting of a family homestead by a family member. Special auction items are recognized in their newsletter – one by a family member under 18, others because they garnered great attention (a bluebird house, jewelry, floral arrangements, autographed t-shirts, a hat rack and videotapes of past reunions). Even members who could not attend sent auction donations.
Tammy L. Davis, Lindley, New York, organizes the Jewell/Felker Family Reunion. They use their earnings to pay reunion expenses and purchase US Savings Bonds for new family members born during the previous years and ones who graduate from high school. They also have a penny jar and usually cover their postage costs from that collection. Their Horseshoe Tournament requires a $2.50 registration fee with half used for prize money.
The Jewell/Felker Family Calendar, however, is an intriguing way to laden their coffers. It was devised when they realized that several families on limited incomes were not as able to donate much through reunion activities. The calendar presupposes that everyone has loose change and won't miss it. Members choose to participate; even Davis' 10-year old daughter uses her own money to follow the calendar's instructions. If you watch TV today, pay 10¢; if you have brown eyes pay 25¢, if not pay 10¢ (you know the blue, green and grey eyed folks have their days too!); if you attended last year's reunion, if you have a pet, if you drove your car today ... Lots of ways to drop a couple of reunion coins.
One of our favorite fundraising efforts was by the Flo-Line Family Reunion. They decided to make a quilt to auction for scholarships. When squares began arriving and arriving and arriving, there were squares for six quilts and six scholarships. To extend this largesse lovely large full color notecards were made to sell with envelopes for additional scholarship funds.
And, finally, nothing wrong with those good, old all-American stand-bys – the collection plate or passing the hat.
Lots more fundraising ideas in Reunions Workbook
The Reunions Workbook is our annual planning tool published to aid subscribers with essential steps to a successful reunion. It's the skeleton, the building blocks, the things you shouldn't forget. It includes ideas for fundraising activities at your reunion and projects that take much longer to organize and execute (personalizing t-shirts, mugs and caps, publishing a cookbook or constructing quilts).
It also suggests between reunion activities. Choose some fun group activities to help pay for ongoing expenses (printing, postage, long distances calls). Solicit volunteers to organize these events. Negotiate group rates and food prices. Mark up the price and add the difference to your reunion account. Consider some of these activities and their requirements
- A theatre party requires transportation (bus), meals and tickets.
- A style show requires a location, meal /dessert /brunch and tickets
- A progressive meal or party can be paid for by generous hosts or require the cost of food.
- A casino night requires a rented hall or room, games and equipment; recruit volunteer dealers.
- Tours require transportation (bus), meals and tickets (negotiate group rates)
If the activity is something you know your friends or others not related to your reunion might enjoy, invite them to join the fun ... and help pay for your reunion.
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