Fundraising | Kiwanis International

Five favorite fundraisers

Apr 23, 2024 | From the archives of Kiwanis magazine, Fundraising, General interest | 0 comments

Kiwanis clubs around the world are getting creative with their fundraising. These successful moneymakers could offer inspiration for your club.

It’s an age-old problem: You’ve got to make money to spend money. Your club is no different than the next when it comes to money. Everyone needs some. The more, the better.

Over the years here at Kiwanis magazine, we’ve seen our share of great fundraising events. We’ve had our taste buds tantalized with incredible food festivals and we’ve been wowed by one sporting activity after another, from one side of the world to the other. It seems Kiwanians have some unique and fun ideas when it comes to bringing in the cash, and we wanted to highlight a few of our favorites.

Some of the best fundraisers out there are annual events with decades under their belts. Others are quite new and still knock our socks off.

What are you doing in your community to not only make people aware of your Kiwanis club, but also to make some money to help provide service to children and families?

We hope you’ll get some inspiration from a few of our favorites. Go raise some money. And have fun!

Dinner In White

Kiwanis Club of Nürnberg-Franken, Germany

Elegant white-themed meals raise money for a hospice service for terminally ill children. The event raises awareness for Kiwanis as well.

Estimated amount raised: 4,000 euros

Estimated attendance: More than 100

Tips for your club: Create enthusiasm through word-of-mouth advertising, fliers with information about the event and your club. Stage the event in an area that has heavy foot traffic so others are intrigued.

Zozobra

Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe, New Mexico

Annual event that rids the town of doom and gloom. Residents and visitors write down their worries and stresses. Then their notes are placed inside a 50-foot marionette known as Old Man Gloom. And then set afire.

Estimated amount raised: US$100,000

Estimated attendance: 60,000

Tips for your club: While we know Zozobra is a one-of-a-kind event, we encourage you to take a hard look at the community in which you live and determine what makes it unique. Then build an event around that. The fundraiser could focus on food, music, agriculture, a historic landmark, a waterway. Oh, the possibilities!

Biltmore Classic

Kiwanis Club of Asheville, North Carolina

An annual 5K/15K race on the grounds of the historic Biltmore Estate.

Estimated amount raised: US$20,000

Estimated attendance: 1,000

Tips for your club: Road races are a huge success for many clubs and could be for yours as well. Runners take their races seriously. Consider hiring a professional fundraising group to help.

Rock Shrimp Festival

Kiwanis Club of St. Marys, Georgia

This annual festival celebrates the area’s sweet delicacy from the sea and offers a parade, vendors, road races and more.

Estimated amount raised: US$14,000

Estimated attendance: 5,000-10,000

Tips for your club: Street fairs are great fun and can draw big crowds, so plan for food, music, merchandise and fun activities. Center your fair around a local food favorite!

sKreamers

Kiwanis Club of Orleans, Ontario

Ottawa’s scariest haunted attraction offers two haunted barns, zombie paintball, scary wagon rides and more.

Years in existence: 14

Dollars raised: CAD$30,000

Number of attendees: 6,000- 10,000 annually

Tips for your club: Start small and grow as public response increases. Scavenge in your community to find inexpensive props. The club produces a manual of rules and trains its 250 student volunteers how to make visitors sKream.

This story originally appeared in the October 2018 issue of Kiwanis magazine.

How to plan a prosperous race fundraiser

Apr 16, 2024 | Fundraising, General interest | 0 comments

A Kiwanis club in Florida, U.S., has held a 5K run for 16 years. Their tips can help you meet your fundraising mark.

By Julie Saetre

In January 2024, the Fort Myers Metro-McGregor Kiwanis Club held its 16th annual BUG Chase 5K run. Nearly 300 enthusiastic participants raced along trails at a local nature center, helping the club raise over US$12,000.

Proceeds from the race benefit the club’s Bringing Up Grades program at three local elementary schools as well as other club-sponsored youth service projects.

At the helm of this successful effort was Rachel Toomey, the BUG Chase chair and the club’s public relations chair.

“Rachel is results-driven,” says Kim Berghs, the club’s secretary and a BUG Chase team member, “and extremely organized.”

While the race itself and its financial results are impressive, the long hours and hard work behind the scenes by Toomey and her dedicated team are just as significant. Their combined experience makes these Kiwanians ideal resources for other clubs hoping to replicate results by starting their own fundraising runs. Below, Toomey and Berghs offered a primer on organizing a race and/or walk, from initial planning to effective follow-up.

Prerace planning

Start early. Give yourself a minimum of at least six months to prepare.
Designate a director. Make sure that person has a team of support volunteers.
Delegate duties. Create a shared Google Doc or similar folder and give key volunteers access so they can store information, enter updates and cross reference details. This avoids an endless stream of easily misplaced emails.
Pick a date wisely. Research other walks and races in your area so your target participants don’t have to choose between your event and others.
Recruit sponsors. Create an attractive sponsorship packet with detailed benefits and deadlines. Ask a club member to take charge of sponsorships.

Member engagement

Identify which members can volunteer on race day. Assign pre- or post-race tasks to members who can’t attend the event.
Call on your Service Leadership Program members to volunteer on race day. With a large event, you’ll need many hands to help.
Make sure race-day volunteers are assigned tasks that they can comfortably complete at their mobility, skill and ability levels.

Support services

Work with a professional race-timing company. Different timing companies offer different services. Get two or three quotes and compare details to find a company that best fits your needs and budget.
Look into race software such as RunSignup to handle registration, check in runners and post results.
Select a vendor for race shirts and awards. Make sure to get deadlines for orders and schedule those into your timeline.

Ask your community partners and the schools/organizations sponsoring your Service Leadership Programs to help you promote the race. Let them know how they will benefit from race funds raised.
Reach out to coaches of running clubs and track teams at local schools. “Over half of our race registrants this year were from local run clubs,” Toomey says.

Race day necessities

Ask local law enforcement or safety officers to help with traffic control. This might come with a fee, so budget accordingly.
Recruit on-the-ground safety assistance. The Metro-McGregor BUG Chase team fills out a request form each year to ask for volunteers to help with safe pedestrian crossing from the parking area to the registration and race-start locations.
Request donations from local companies (grocery stores, restaurants, convenience stores, etc.) for race-day food and water; be sure to recognize them as in-kind sponsors.
Be flexible. With so many moving parts — literally and figuratively — a lot of items will be out of your control. “Roll with the punches,” Toomey says, “and lean on your Kiwanis members for help.”

Post-race follow-up

Ask for feedback. Toomey sends a post-event survey to all runners, sponsors and other participants. Included are links to race results, event photos and business sponsors. “I forward that email to all club members (some were also participants) so they can see the nice recap and access the same information,” Berghs says.
Thank sponsors. Two club members send out personal letters of thanks to sponsors and in-kind sponsors. “Included in each letter is an actual thank-you letter or two from children in some of the elementary schools where we do a WorldAtlas distribution,” Berghs says. “That way the sponsor can see firsthand one of our club projects from the eyes of a child.”

Club grants span continents

Mar 25, 2024 | Fundraising, General interest, Kiwanis Children's Fund, Service projects | 0 comments

Kiwanis Children’s Fund grants help clubs start projects that support kids’ health and education.

By Erin Chandler

This March, the Kiwanis Children’s Fund awarded club grants to 12 outstanding Kiwanis club projects that are making a difference across four continents. The following projects highlight the truly international spirit of Kiwanis and show how Kiwanians have addressed the specific health and education needs of kids in Italy, Panama, Austria, Nepal and the United States.

Bright futures start with a diagnosis
Kiwanis Club of Lalbandi, Kathmandu, Nepal
According to a survey conducted by the Kiwanis Club of Lalbandi, four to five cases of autism spectrum disorder are being diagnosed each day in one Kathmandu health clinic alone. Some children stop attending school as a result. Seeing the clear need in its community, the club is partnering with local autism centers to support kids dealing with this often-misunderstood condition. Club members will receive training to help screen for autism spectrum disorder and assist at therapy centers that provide speech-language, play-based, physical, occupational and nutritional therapies. A grant from the Kiwanis Children’s Fund will help purchase medications and food supplements for those who can’t afford them, as well as software to track patients’ progress.

A new dining room for a healthy start
Kiwanis Club of Libertad, Coclé, Panama
The Kiwanis Club of Libertad will use a Kiwanis Children’s Fund grant to purchase tables, chairs, eating and kitchen utensils, a refrigerator, an industrial sink, paint and food for the remodeled dining room at Boca de Chiguirí Primary School. Children in the area suffer from food insecurity and often come to school without receiving meals at home. The club is partnering with various government ministries, local companies and others to create a self-sustaining nutrition program that will include vegetable gardens and poultry farming at the school. Once the dining room is structurally safe and furnished, students, parents and teachers will collaborate to bring the program to life.

Children’s gardens for kindergartens
Kiwanis Club of Mühlviertel, Schwertberg, Austria
The word “kindergarten” means “children garden” — and the Kiwanis Club of Mühlviertel is taking it literally, installing raised-bed gardens at 19 kindergartens in the Perg district of Austria. A Kiwanis Children’s Fund grant will help cover the cost of the aluminum beds. Once the gardens are installed, the “little researchers” will learn how vegetables grow and thrive, how insects pollinate flowers and how fruits and blossoms form — and they will develop a sense of responsibility from caring for the garden.

A soft room in a safe house
Kiwanis Club of Gallarte, Varese, Italy
A Kiwanis Children’s Fund club grant will help the Kiwanis Club of Gallarte build a Montessori room for children ages six and under living in “protected houses” after leaving dangerous home environments. These children often arrive experiencing severe physical and emotional complications. The room will be painted in “soft colors” to promote tranquility and filled with child-size furnishings, sensory panels, carpets, games, “work” surfaces and more. The club hopes this room will help develop the children’s creativity, intelligence and sensory awareness, setting them on a path for healthy growth.

Reading in the rain
Kiwanis Club of Malden, Massachusetts, U.S.
Since 2016, the Kiwanis Club of Malden has provided free books to hundreds of local children at its Bubbles and Books event. (It also features a bubble magician for extra fun.) A puppeteer storyteller even takes part to enhance a love of literacy for all kids in this very diverse community, where over 50 languages are spoken in the public schools. Recently, however, the club has had to cancel or reschedule Bubbles and Books due to rain or extreme heat. A Kiwanis Children’s Fund grant will help the club purchase tents for shade and shelter, so kids can choose new books to take home in rain or shine.

More books, playgrounds and essential supplies
Other projects that received club grants in March include:

Book giveaways from the Kiwanis clubs of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, U.S.; Cicero, Indiana, U.S.; and Literacy in Salinas CA, California, U.S.
A book vending machine from the Kiwanis Club of Lincoln, California, U.S.
Inclusive playgrounds from the Kiwanis clubs of Portsmouth, Ohio, U.S. and Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
A supply closet for students in need from the Kiwanis Club of Olmsted Falls, Ohio, U.S.

Apply for a club grant
The upcoming deadline to complete the first application step for a Kiwanis Children’s Fund club grant has been extended to April 15, 2024! Learn how your club can apply for a grant to help kids in your community. If you have any questions, contact grants@kiwanis.org.

How you can help
The Kiwanis Children’s Fund makes grants that improve the lives of children around the world by identifying projects that create a continuum of impact in a child’s life — one that spans their entire childhood and sets them up for a bright future. By funding projects that target the Kiwanis causes — health and nutrition, education and literacy, and youth leadership development — whether through a Kiwanis club’s local service project or a club’s partner, the Children’s Fund ensures that its grantmaking has the greatest possible impact.

If you are interested in extending your and your club’s impact beyond your community, make a gift to the Children’s Fund.

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