Fundraising Ideas from Your CFC

Chili Feed

Costume Contest

Duct Tape Your Boss to the Wall

Game Time

Halloween Fun

Helping Hands

Hot Legs Contest

In-Kind Donations

Pie in the Face

Santa Letters Fundraiser

Sponge Toss

Survivor

Tricycle Races

Troll Toll

Work For Me, Boss

Chili Feed

Ralph Walker, US Army Recruiting Office Headquarters

Here's Ralph Walker's "recipe for success," which last year led to an almost 90% increase in dollars donated!  The campaign begins with an agency-wide chili feed kick-off to celebrate the beginning of the campaign season.  Each employee receives a letter signed by the battalion commander endorsing the campaign and a pledge card already filled out with their name and contact information.  At the end of the campaign each employee is thanked by Mr. Walker and receives the CFC thank-you gift.

Costume Contest

Cynthia Pelfrey, DHS Customs and Border Protection

First-time Coordinator Cynthia Pelfrey set the bar high when she took on CFC responsibilities for this campaign.  Her strategy included the Port Director's endorsement, coverage in their agency newletter, a silent auction for Portland Trailblazers tickets, a Kickoff with a charity speaker, and CFC posters around the building advertising the campaign.  

The most popular event was the Halloween Costume Contest, where non-uniform personnel dressed up and other employees voted with raffle tickets on the scariest and most imaginative costumes.  You can see that folks went all out to win this one!

Duct Tape Your Boss to the Wall

Diane Grantier and Donna Allard, Fish and Wildlife, Columbia River FPO

This one is easy and fun!  Sell a yard of duct tape for a certain fee (this office did 50 cents) and have employees tape the boss to a wall or door.  You can collect additional contributions as bets on how long the boss will stick to the wall once the stool they have been standing on is removed.

Game Time

Melissa Hayes and Pattiann Monzie, Forest Service, Columbia River Gorge NSA

For only $5 per day employees in this Forest Service office could test their memories and try their skills at a variety of competitions that ran Monday through Friday.  

The events were Darts, Casting into a Bucket, Bean Bag Toss and Airplane contest.  At the end of each day there were four winners, one for the highest score of darts, one for casting with a fishing rod into a bucket, one for total number of hole-in-one bean bags, and the last for the furthest paper airplane thrown.  With only a handful of people playing each day this office raised $150!  Not only that, but employees are now ready to show off their skills at the next school fair or carnival they attend.  

Halloween Fun

Kelly Torres, Bonneville Power Administration

This idea incorporates a holiday that lands right in the middle of many campaigns.  Sugary treats were sold as part of a bake sale, there was a pumpkin-carving contest, and a costume contest wrapped up the festivities.  

For the pumpkin-carving contest participants carved fake pumpkins (no mess!) and employees "voted" by contributing to the jar on the table of the pumpkin they liked most.  The carvers also got to keep their pumpkins.

Helping Hands

Melissa Hayes and Pattiann Monzie, Forest Service, Columbia River Gorge NSA

The Helping Hands is easy.  You make up Hands with numbers, for example 1-25 (depending on how many participants).  Employees pay $5 to play all day.  They choose their prizes.  We had 17 participants and 10 prizes, so not everyone wins.  The prizes came from donations in our community.  Throughout the day, usually every hour or so, we turn on the intercom with music.  When you hear the music, everyone runs around trying to find an empty number to put their hands on.  If your number is called, you win a prize.  This is a fun game and everyone always wants to play every year!

Hot Legs Contest

Linda Shelley, Umatilla Chemical Depot.

Just men participated in this contest.  Anyone could sign up; we had the Depot Doctor, firefighter, and other participants.  We had a cover over the front of the area so only thing showed was the leg - about mid thigh down.  Some had on black net stockings, one had purple high heels, others just tried to show off their muscular legs, and other were not so muscular.  We had everyone vote by putting some money in a basket, with the participants number on it.  The one with the most dollars won.  Everyone laughed, ate pie, and laughed some more.  Great time by all.

The photo is from the Federal Highway Administration Western Federal Lands Highway Division, who modified Linda's original idea for the 2007 campaign as a "Most Interesting Legs" competition open to both men and women.

In-Kind Donations

Gloria Halliday, Social Security Administration, Teleservice Center

As you can see, the employees at the Social Security Administration, Teleservice Center raised much more than money during the 2007 campaign.  This office raised awareness about the issue of homelessness among youth by collecting and donating items that could be used by someone experiencing homelessness.  The items were donated to CFC member charity Janus Youth Programs.

Pie-in-the-face

Doug Huntington and team, Bureau of Land Management, Eugene

Four brave Eugene District Managers volunteered to let employees take aim with whipped-cream pies for $2 a pie.  The fundraiser brought in $70, which adds up to a lot of pies!  As you can see in the picture at right, the employees had good aim.

"Santa Letters" Fundraiser

Susan Hair, Internal Revenue Service

Here's how it's done:

• Offer the letters below (modified as you see fit) to your colleagues at a cost of $5 each. Print samples on the Santa Stationery below or holiday letterhead and post them on a board in a common area, or on your Intranet, so that they can be seen.
• Make sure your communicate that letter #4 is for "bad" boys and girls!
  This letter is frequently sent to a spouse or partner just for fun.
• Use the sample application form below for each person to submit with their payment.
• Print the letters on the Santa Stationery below or any other holiday letterhead, addressed to the recipients.
• Insert the letters into addressed envelopes and add stamps.
• By early December, box up the stamped letters in a single package and mail that package to:
  
  U.S. Post Office
  North Pole Cancellation
  5400 Mail Trail
  Fairbanks, Alaska 99709-9998
• The Post Office in Fairbanks will send the letters back out with a "North Pole" cancellation stamp.

Santa Letter #1 - GOOD Santa Letter #2 - GOOD Santa Letter #3 - GOOD Santa Letter #4 - BAD

Santa Letter #5 - GOOD Santa Letter #6 - GOOD Santa Letter Sample Application Santa Stationery

Sponge Toss

Linda Shelly, Umatilla Chemical Depot

We did a sponge toss with department heads again.  GREAT stress reliever!  I think some sponges had been dunked in Jell-O - a little sticky, but all had a good time.

Survivor

Terri Murdock, Cynthia Pelfrey, and Naomi Charboneau, DHS Customs and Border Protection

Employees in the office are grouped into tribes and compete against each other each week to avoid being "voted off" in the Survivor Challenge.  Each tribe first chooses a name and decorates their CFC contribution jar around the "Survivior" theme, as you can see in the accompanying photos.  Then for one week employees try to raise as much as possible in their coin jar.

Employees can, of course, contribute their own change, but the tribes have also become very creative at organizing their own fundraisers, to try to get other employees to contribute to their coin jar.  For example, one tribe is selling raffle tickets good for a homemade pie in the winner's flavor of choice.  Another tribe is working on a silent auction with items like an auto detail and Trailblazer tickets.  Carnival games and coffee delivery are also options...for a donation!  The tribes all have plans in the works to try to get their co-workers to contribute to their jar.

Each week the three tribes with the lowest total contributions will be eliminated, and the remaining teams will keep trying to raise more money to stay in the game.  

Tricycle Races

Linda Shelly, Umatilla Chemical Depot

We had tricycle races with department heads.  Good for a great belly laugh.  One caveat--quite a few BROKEN tricycles!  Employees can place bets on which department head will win, or employees could pay for admission to raise funds.

Troll Toll

Chris Galster, Portland VA Medical Center

If you work at the VA Medical Center or OHSU, chances are that you pass through one of the two skybridges during your day.  The VA Medical Center CFC team is taking advantage of the traffic in these skybridges to raise money for the CFC.  A CFC Troll stands guard and asks passers-by for a toll, which goes to the CFC.  It was fitting that this fundraiser began on Halloween!

Other CFC events are C4 (Creative Cooking Competition for Charity), a charity fair, various drawings (if you've been to the VA, you understand how important the parking space drawing is!), grab bags, a donut cart, and ice cream and popcord at CFC tables in the Atrium.  One popular fundraiser is the jail, where employees can purchase warrants for supervisors, who then have to raise a certain amount of money from passers-by to be released from the jail.  


Left:  Coordinator Chris Galster and the CFC Toll Troll. 
Right:  The CFC Troll Toll poster.

Work For Me, Boss

 

Donna McCary, Transportation Security Administration

Donna organized a series of fundraisers at various TSA locations to raise money for CFC charities and build enthusiasm for the campaign.  One of the most popular and creative campaign ideas was the "Work For Me, Boss" fundraiser, where TSA employees could bid to have managers do their jobs for a period of time.