A great way to raise money for your cause and show your support for green living is to host a garage sale to encourage people to recycle belongings rather than discard them.

First you need to round up donations for your sale. Almost everyone has a few things in their house they have no further use for, that still has some life in it for another lucky owner. Usually people will be happy to give these types of items away - particularly if you are willing to pick them up!

Keep a list of donors, their phone and address, and the items they intend to give. Ask everyone to have their items ready on a predestinated day - preferably a week before the sale. Assign someone to give each one a call the night before, and have a local moving company or rental center donate the use of a truck to pick up donations.

Spend the next few days sorting and tagging items. Don’t be tempted to overprice! You would rather sell nearly all the items than have too much left over. Arrange with a local church to use their facility to host the sale, and ask the local paper to donate ad space to promote your sale.

On the day of the sale, local businesses can donate snacks and drinks. You can run a bake sale or concession stand to bring in extra revenue! Let people know that you are donating a percentage of the money raised to a well known ‘Green’’ charity. Encourage spending by being willing to bargain a little!

It’s best to run the sale all weekend if you can, and wrap up the final day by having a charity pick up the unsold items and take them away. Send off the check to the charity you chose, and add up the remaining profits for your project!

This is an easy way to hold a fundraiser that can really get the entire community involved. Since everything is donated, you can make almost 100% profit, and the added bonus of helping the environment is twofold, with discarded items being kept out of landfills and your ability to contribute to another worthy cause while raising money for your own!