Fundraising Ideas

I've been really busy the last 2 months trying to raise money for a friend that is very sick.  My friend had to have 2 hematomas removed from her legs that have left her with large open wounds.  Because of other medical problems, her skin isn't healing well.  She can't walk and the doctor's don't think she will ever walk again.  She has been out of work for years and her father quit working to take care of her.  Their family is really struggling to pay their regular bills such as their mortgage and utilities as well as paying for my friends medical care and medical supplies.

During the last two months there have been three significant fundraisers for my friend and we have raised close to $5000.

Here is how we raised that money:

1. Online fundraiser through giveforward.com
2. Spaghetti Dinner and 50/50 Raffle - a wonderful restaurant owner that barely knew my friend or her family volunteered her restaurant and the food for the spaghetti dinner.
3. Garage Sale

Out of the 3 fundraisers, the easiest one was the fundraiser through giveforward.com and that was the one that raised the most money.  All I had to do was send out emails asking for donations and then emails reminding people to donate before the end of the fundraiser. 

The Spaghetti Dinner raised a decent amount of money and I wasn't involved in all the planning which I assume a lot of work went into planning that event.  I created flyers and tried to sell tickets to the dinner and the 50/50 raffle.

The garage sale took the most work from me and raised the least.  We had horrible weather this weekend and I couldn't postpone the sale since I had already taken time of work and paid for the ad in the paper.  I spent hours cleaning out my house and pricing items.  I also had family and friends donate items to sell that I had to go through and price.  It was so much work and only raised $160. 

But over all my friend and her family could really use the money and I'm proud of the amount that was raised.  Now I am taking a break from fundraising and party planning for awhile.  I'm exhausted.