I put together a very, very inexpensive fund raiser
for an organization (not a museum) that only cost a
few dollars to pull together, but raised a couple of
thousand (in pure profit).

Lots of people like to go to garage sales.  Lots of
people like to know "how the other half lives."  So I
combined the two and got a number of executives to
contribute "things" for a silent auction.  They could
be things from their home, or activities.  We got
ceramics, and used appliances; we also got someone's
photo in a crazy costume with an opportunity to have
lunch at a foofy restaurant, the use of someone's
parking space (executive) for a month, white water
rafting, and lunch on someone else's boat.

You might ask your chamber of commerce to see if they
would be willing to kick in for such an event.  Heads
of companies in your area (large or small) who might
want to unload something for the event (one person's
trash is another person's treasure).  The only cost
came from the table tents describing each item, and
some buttons (I bought them in bulk to make it look
like it was out of the garage) and doilies I put
around to spruce it up.

Doing it as a silent auction means less work all
around.

Hope this helps.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tracy Lunquist
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2004 3:12 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Small-scale fund raising
>
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm curious if anyone has ideas about fund-raising
> efforts that can be
> done at the museum operational level (no black-tie
> dinners, capital
> campaigns, etc -- stuff that an overworked,
> undersized staff could
> manage on top of the rest of their tasks) that have
> been successful for
> you in the past.
>
> We're located in a semi-rural area on a former air
> force base.  Our
> local community is economically a bit depressed and
> not as supportive
> as you might hope, but we are near a town with a
> huge state university,
> and there are numerous other small towns and local
> history museums in
> the area.
>
> What have you tried that has worked?  What kinds of
> events, programs,
> maybe raffles or auctions, anything at all that
> you've tried that
> worked well?  Anything you tried that was a total
> flop?  Anything
> really unique that museums don't normally think of?
>
> All ideas are welcome!
>
> Tracy Lunquist
> Program Director
> Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum
> http://www.aeromuseum.org/
>
>
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