A great way to help the environment and boost your group’s income for the year is by getting innovative with natural products and educating your local community about how to clean green! Many people have dozens of cleaning products in their home that may do a great job of cleaning, but have some bad side effects. They can harm the environment either while being used (as with many aerosol products) or else wash into the water table and cause harmful agents to be released.

A great way to raise awareness is by selling natural, homemade cleaning products!  The ingredients are cheap, and many can be found at your local grocery. Check out your local dollar stores for oversized salt shakers with large holes and plenty of plastic spray bottles (don’t forget peel and stick labels!) Grab some simple plastic buckets - clearance Easter baskets and cheap sand buckets work great. If you can convince the stores to donate the items, even better!

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It’s almost time for shorts and tank tops, swimsuits and flip flops!  How many people have children’s stuff from last year that just won’t fit anymore, and will have to upgrade? There are countless other items to that become unneeded by one family, but might just suit their neighbors’ needs.  It’s the perfect time to host a ‘re-use’ rummage sale, to help pass things along to new owners and keep them from being thrown out.

Designate a location and specific days for people to drop off items, and get your local print shop to donate  flyers. Start a week or two in advance, and let the community know that you are collecting items for your rummage sale. Your local radio station might be willing to remind folks in the morning about going by to drop off items in selected days.

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The end of the school year means tests, tests and more tests!  Your organization can cash in on the need for alertness and get a message out about staying green. All it takes is a little imagination, and you can make test taking a snap for this kids in your community!

This project does require a small investment to get up and running, but these little brain enhancers work like a charm and sell like hotcakes. With a profit of 50%, you can turn a $250 investment into $500 in no time.

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Easter is all about renewal and the earth coming alive in the spring, so why not have a green fundraiser that gets the kids and adults involved? An egg hunt can be double the fun when you raise the stakes!

Plan a community egg hunt around Easter, and get local stores to donate plastic eggs and candy. (You can recycle the plastic eggs.) Let people know that individual children sponsored by parents or family teams will be allowed to sign up for the hunt. You can also ask local businesses to sponsor children of members of your group or organization.

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Need to spring clean? Worried about that trip to the dump, and how it affects the environment? This year spring clean and pass it on - reusing uses 100% less energy than recycling does, and one person’s junk is another person’s treasure!

It is easy to set up a fundraiser sale online. You can auction things off, or merely list them for sale at bargain prices. Spread word of the sale through email, and let folks know that they can participate by donating items as well as by purchasing.

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