RFPADirector Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 This may have been one of my better posts...it led to an extended discussion with a couple of drum corps pals and it's sparked ideas on here. Nice work people!Hey...I had a thought as well. I have a friend who used to run the booster organization for a drum corps. They did haunted houses every October. In Tempe alone there are like 6 different ones and all are very well attended...they charge $15 a person and they get between 8 and 10K in guests over a 25 day period. For those non-math inclined...$120K - $150K for maybe 35 days worth of work. Now..you must have a local base of members and volunteers, but for about $10K in construction costs it's a huge profit margin. The members who worked had so much an hour deducted from their dues and if both their parents worked with them (as was usually the case) it was 3X the amount per hour. So kids could get a significant part of their dues paid by working this fundraiser. Do any corps still do a haunted house? I think Glassmen used to at one time...anyway, I know a guy with tons of experience and nuts and bolts knowledge on how to get this done. We did this in college (the first time through). Phi Mu Alpha (music fraternity) would get a vacant space in a mall. The people entered from the outside. They used huge trashbag type things put on poles (I think of huge guard flags) to mark out the direction and separate the rooms. Each brother planned a room. They had a butcher shop, a crazy preacher, a spider that rappelled from the ceiling. My favorite was a dark hallway where we would stick our hands out and grab the kids coming through. We had a room full of leaves where people were hiding under the leaves with ugly masks on. That one always got people. If a group was moving to slowly, we had a guy dressed up as a werewolf and "Jason" (with a chainsaw) that would chase the group through. Those two would also come out and scare the line. We charged betwen 5-10 and the cost was reduced if they brought a new toy for a charity. They did REALLY well, but they also were the only one around. We had a blast doing it too. I only remember it being open for two weekends. Lots of prep, but I don't think it was that expensive....the sky's the limit though with these things.... Chalet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InHiFiStereo Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 The Regiment Haunted House was A HUGE money maker. I'm shocked that they do not do either the haunted house or bingo anymore. Where did they have bingo in Rockford? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyboy Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 (edited) A few thoughts on the subject: YEA! gets free instruments from Yamaha, uses them, then sells them when they get the next set. George set up a sweet deal there. YEA! first camp for The Cadets (and Crossmen this year) is an "experience camp". No cuts, no negativity.....just a drum corps experience, you try-out later. Cost is $90 to non-vets. 300 newbies equals $27,000. Corps with big names can do this. My age-out year I went around asking for donations. $20 from Kmart, x$ from Walmart. It added up. ASK! When I taught a Div 2 drumline I needed foam to muffle the bass drums. I said "what the heck" and wrote to the foam manufactuer for some foam, with a picture of the bass line using their product. The sent me two boxes of the suff for free (I asked for a donation but offered to pay shipping). The stuff would have cost $50 in the store and was enought to last the whole season. Our local hospice sells raffle tickets for a car each year. I bought a ticket for $50 and grilled them on how it works. They buy a car in April for dealer invoice. The dealer lets them leave the car on the lot, and they pick it up on weekends to take to events for tickets sales (they said you HAVE to show the car to drive sales). The don't have to pay for the car until July 1st, giving them a few months to sell the 400 tickets needed to pay for the car. The dealer also sells tickets, and the drawing is at a local restruant the weekend after labor day. They max the sales at 1500 tickets, and sold almost that many this year. Let's see, a $20,000 Mustang can drive sales of 1500 tickets at $50 each, for a total sale of $75,000, minus car cost is a cool PROFIT of $55,000. More ambitious? Raffle a Jaguar like our local hospital. Less ambitious? Raffle a Harley (like the Raiders DB Corps), a John Deer Tractor, a four wheeler ect...you get the idea. The only thing you need is a few individuals to make the deal for dealer invoice and sit selling tickets at local events. Edited October 31, 2006 by jonnyboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFPADirector Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 Our local hospice sells raffle tickets for a car each year. I bought a ticket for $50 and grilled them on how it works. They buy a car in April for dealer invoice. The dealer lets them leave the car on the lot, and they pick it up on weekends to take to events for tickets sales (they said you HAVE to show the car to drive sales). The don't have to pay for the car until July 1st, giving them a few months to sell the 400 tickets needed to pay for the car. The dealer also sells tickets, and the drawing is at a local restruant the weekend after labor day. They max the sales at 1500 tickets, and sold almost that many this year. Let's see, a $20,000 Mustang can drive sales of 1500 tickets at $50 each, for a total sale of $75,000, minus car cost is a cool PROFIT of $55,000. More ambitious? Raffle a Jaguar like our local hospital. Less ambitious? Raffle a Harley (like the Raiders DB Corps), a John Deer Tractor, a four wheeler ect...you get the idea. The only thing you need is a few individuals to make the deal for dealer invoice and sit selling tickets at local events. I LOVE This!! I always wondered how they pulled off buying or getting the car donated. Now it makes sense. We have a Harley plant in York (the one that Bush visited a couple months back). This is definitely Hog country. I see a spring fundraiser in the works! Thanks for the inspiration!! Chalet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper11 Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 one thing i've heard about is back when the troopers needed new uniforms the alum association set up a program where they "bought" a uniform and the members wore them in the summer. On the inside of the jacket was the name of the person who bought the uniform. ... think of all the alum for some corps, new uniforms could be a reality very easily that way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourouttheforty Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 Hahaha, what about instead of Ads by Goooooooogle you saw Ads by Blooooooooooocoats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHSmirage Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 The best fundraiser I've been involved with was a tshirt sponsorship. Platoon of the band (about 10 kids per platoon) would sell no less than 10 ads.....most kids sold 20+. The ads were sold for $10 each and were no bigger than 20 charaters long. The front of the shirt was the 'show' shirt. The back would be 3-4 columns of the ads. 150 members x $200 in ads = $30,000 in total return (minus cost of shirt production that you could get donated) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpsanchez Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 150 members x $200 in ads = $30,000 in total return (minus cost of shirt production that you could get donated) Sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarblap Posted November 1, 2006 Share Posted November 1, 2006 One of my corps from the past got most of it's money from raffles, always having small ones runnning,with one large one every year,usually a high end car. No bingo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InHiFiStereo Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 Who do you usually contact at corporations to request donations? Do you send a letter or call? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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