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.

The amount you need to raise plus the cost of a grand prize should be divided by the number of eggs and adjusted for expected turnout. Amounts can be printed on the back of tickets and stuffed in the eggs along with candy. One egg will hold the grand prize token - the prize should be a nice one to encourage people to really join in and look for all the eggs they can!

Amounts on the tickets can range from 10 cents up to 50 cents or even a dollar, depending on the amount you need raised and the number of participants. You can advertise the egg hunt locally on radio (most local stations are happy to spread the news) and by word of mouth.

The egg hunt should be well organized, with clear instructions that no eggs can be opened until they are all found. You can serve refreshments donated by a local store or sell them for a nominal fee at the hunt, and even have someone dress up as an Easter Bunny for photos with the children.

The hunt itself shouldn’t take more than half an hour - and once all the eggs are collected the organizers of the hunt should hand out envelopes for each team to collect their tickets. Each individual or team donates the total amount tallied from the tickets in the eggs they collected, and one lucky person finds the token for the grand prize!

This is a fun, easy fundraiser to welcome spring to your community. Best of all, if you make a point of recycling the plastic eggs, you can remind everyone that there is another side to spring green!