Looking for an environmentally friendly fundraiser? Want something fun that benefits the whole community? How about a project that helps our four-legged friends into the bargain?

It’s easy to say ‘spay and neuter’ - but some people can’t afford it. Even basic shots can be too expensive at times!  A great fundraising idea impacts the environment by cutting down on the dog and cat population explosion. This fundraiser does require a bit of lobbying to enlist the help of local animal shelters, pet stores/groomers and vets, so get an early start and put together a proposal they can’t refuse.
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It’s that time of year! Fundraisers that focus on the holidays are popular, but finding ones that focus on green can be hard. There is one thing about Christmas that is always green, however, and that’s the tree! Discarded Christmas trees have a big impact on landfills in the first few weeks of the new year. There’s an easy green fundraising solution, however, that can work two ways to raise funds for your organization. 

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Here’s a great fundraiser that is completely green - in more ways than one! Kids, teachers and parents alike can get together to make this fundraising idea raise buckets of cool green cash - without impacting the environment at all. It’s a win, win, win, win situation.

Ever want to motivate your kids to do something - not just for personal gain but for a cause? All this fundraiser takes is a few pledge sheets and envelopes to collect the cash!

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Books are one of the best recyclable resources around. They have value no matter what their age, and hold appeal for adults and children alike. The concept is simple - get people to donate books, then have a sale. The best way is to canvass for books, and then sell coupons for the book sale when you pick up the donated items. 

The ideal book fundraiser will work like this: 

First, arrange for a place to hold a sale, preferably 2-4 weeks in the future. Second, start your canvass - you can target schools, churches and neighborhoods to promote your fundraiser and let people know about the sale. 

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Hundreds of thousands of companies go through millions of printer and toner cartridges per year. Of these, a huge percentage end up in landfills, despite the fact that there are companies that will pay CASH for them!

If you are looking for a ‘green’ fundraising project with long term possibilities, consider hitting all of your local businesses to see if they have toner or printer cartridges you can collect and turn into money.

There are several companies that buy old print cartridges–some have been around for more than two decades now. Most will even provide you with a kit to start your fundraising effort. There are many businesses that go through a lot of ink–hospitals, insurance companies, doctors’ offices–just to name a few!

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Nature in Bloom’s flower bulb fundraisers offer a wonderful way to help Mother Nature stay happy by replanting gardens or starting new ones. Most people would agree you can’t get much greener than that - and will, when you present them with this great fundraising idea.

Planting or replanting a garden on a yearly basis helps the biological cycle of things, balancing the effect humans have on the earth. Nature in Bloom bulbs are a great fundraiser item you can use to encourage your entire community to give a little back to Mother Earth.

The profit threshold runs anywhere from 40 to 45%, which lower than some other projects but offset by the fact that there is no minimum order, shipping is free and most of the items are priced at an extremely reasonable $6 to $23. The brochures are attractive and uplifting, and with a little sharp salesmanship whole neighborhoods can often be convinced to ‘green things up’ a bit.

A great way to boost sales is to offer the services of your fundraising team to plant the bulbs upon delivery - this will ensure that they are utilized after purchase and encourage higher sales in the years to come as well!

dollars and up to a little over ten dollars per bulb.

This fundraiser will go over well in the very early spring when last frost is past. A bonus for many groups is the relative ease with which the bulbs sell and the fact that high volume orders can result in bonus bulbs being included for free. This extra product can be sold to maximize profits or used to enhance the beauty of the church, school or organization headquarters!

Don’t forget to educate younger fundraising members on the ecological benefits of gardens; they will impress would be customers with their knowledge and the bulbs should sell with ease.

Replacing ordinary products with ones made from renewable resources is a large part of what being green is all about. Aromalight Candles are made up of soybean oil which comes from (you guessed it) soybeans. And soybeans are (right again) a renewable resource!

Fundraisers that sell things people actually use are rapidly becoming more popular, as the knick knack and overpriced wrapping paper circuit is wearing thin. Products people actually use that are also eco-friendly are even more popular!

Aromalight Candles out-perform the standard paraffin or animal by-product candles most stores sell both in burning time and superlative scent, and are healthier to burn around your family. They are even better than beeswax, the other natural alternative, burning cleaner and lasting twice as long.

Using candles as a fundraising product always has a great response, and the triple scented soy candles from Aromalight have a reputation already for being the best candles around. Many fundraisers when starting their pitch will be cut short by a ready to order customer - just on the strength of the brand.

Most of the candles sell for $10 to $15 each - and around the holidays you can offer the pricier multi-candle packages that are highly in demand for gift giving. Each sale nets your organization 50% of the sale price. Since you don’t have to pay up front for the product, you can concentrate on selling as many as possible in any combination without a quota hanging over your head.

Even a group of just 30 people selling ten candles apiece will meet the free shipping minimum of 300 items, and with a profit margin of $5 to $7.50 it is possible to raise $1500 to $2250 per campaign. Larger groups can make even bigger profits! Three quarters of the country’s population buys candles on a regular basis, so let them know they can indulge their candle passion and go green at the same time!

There are two types of fundraisers that are the best. These are the ones that sell products that:

(A) everyone can use and

(B)don’t waste resources, promoting products that help the environment.

Can you imagine running a fundraiser that qualified on both levels?

Smencils are made up of recycled newspapers. They are-non toxic colored pencils made of old newsprint with a graphite core, and come in ten different scents. The grape, watermelon, cinnamon and other fragrances used are ecologically safe and the erasers are biodegradable, making this product as green as it gets.

Kids love Smencils, teachers love Smencils, parents love Smencils! These incredible products practically sell themselves, and make any group an easy profit with their flat 50% profitability. The recyclable buckets hold 50 Smencils each (five of each ‘flavor’), and a minimum order is a case of ten buckets. Most families can easily sell one or two buckets.

With the dual emphasis on education and earth friendliness, Smencils are the perfect choice for any fundraising group. The reasonable one case minimum makes it perfect for lower budget organizations, and the quick shipping allows for spur of the moment repeat orders if necessary. The ‘double your money’ return is an attractive profit margin, and the Smencils themselves sell well.

The best way to maximize profitability is to repackage the Smencils for sale in an eco friendly way. Use recycled, hand decorated paper to band groups of ten that include one pencil of each color, and get people to go for whole set! That’s only ten $10 sales per bucket, which is doable for most fundraisers as well as potential customers.

Smencils are fun, they are useful, and they sell like hotcakes. Consider using Smencils for your next fundraiser!

Wow! It seems by the positive responses we received that our eco-friendly series of articles about raising money with the three R’s was a success. We clearly understood that we needed to explore a little bit more about how to raise money with the eco-mantra: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle. Let’s kick it today with another easy to organize, fun to do and green to go fundraiser idea. This time, let’s see what we can come up with the third R: Recycle.

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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!

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