Hello James,

Wow do I hear you! I hope others will respond ON the list so I can listen
in.

My Board sounds like your Friends group-- they have been the fundraisers for
years and are simply burned out and out of ideas. Only one Board member has
actively recruited people in the community to pitch in on fundraisers, and
those are willing to commit for only one event. We feel a strong need for a
supportive "party" type of group, who like to do fun events.  With such a
small population, the residents end up doing events constantly for the huge
number of non-profits on this island.

We do a Historical Day the first Saturday of each July, where people who can
demonstrate handcrafts and traditional skills get a 10 x 10 booth space
free, and vendors pay (or have paid in the past) $20 to $50 for each 10 x 10
booth space. We encourage hand crafts and vendors with a historical motif,
such as one who sells copies of historical post cards and photos not
duplicated in our museum shop. Our museum sells hot dogs, cold canned drinks
and pies-- the hot dogs are sold to us wholesale and the pies are made by
piebakers in the general community. The labor is our Board. We allow no
other food sales. We also sell quilt raffle tickets and items from our
museum shop. We rent the village park and outdoor stage next door, for which
the county charges $600.  The Chamber of Commerce holds their annual
Independence Day parade the same day, so the audience pretty much comes to
us.  We also provide free space right down the middle of the park for a
military reenactment group, who come in costume and demonstrate the kinds of
things a military encampment of the 1850s would have done here, where the
only war was over a wandering pig and was conducted mostly by the British
and American Camps sharing holidays. Musicians play on the stage for tips
and donations, which they may keep in full. There is no alcohol sold.

I'm holding my breath this year, as the rental fee to the county doubled
from $300. I think I will boost the price of the booths $10 each, and see
what happens. The smaller fee is paid by non-profits who sell items related
to their cause, the larger fee by vendors from the mainland who intend to
make a profit.  Many demonstrators take one free space and pay for a second
one to sell the items they produce on site. Last year I tried the tactic of
taking a sales fee of 10% of sales over $200, but met with much resistance
because it costs so much for vendors to get out here on the ferries.

We cover expenses with the booth rentals, and make our profit on the hot dog
and pie sales. Last year almost everyone who was called for a pie said,
"AGAIN???".

This year we are also having a Barn party to promote historic preservation
and have fun, and a live auction will be part of it. Last year we had a
membership event not intended to raise funds but it did cover expenses; it
was a beach barbecue picnic on a private beach (beach picnics for groups are
a tradition here dating back to the 1880's).  It was so nice I'd love to do
it again as a fundraiser, and have music or an entertainer of some kind.
Our biggest problem is the silence, or worse the groans, when I bring up to
the board that we need to recruit help for any of these events or
fundraisers. Volunteering for events was the least checked item on our
volunteer recruitment form last year!

For three years until the end of 2006 the Board ran four fundraisers a year
to build up our construction project funding, getting the most contributions
from a live auction and competitive pledging. After we set the date for
groundbreaking, four board members resigned-- they were just at the end of
their energy capacity and felt the job was finished.

Not a pretty tale but that's reality.

Micki Ryan, Director
Orcas Island Historical Museum
[log in to unmask]
PO Box 134
Eastsound WA 98245
360 376 4849
www.orcasmuseum.org



-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Burns, James (William)
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 3:41 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: "Friends" Groups Fundraising Ideas

I work for a relatively small community history museum.  We have a
"Friends" group that is going through a major transition and is trying
to redefine itself.  They are closing the museum store they have run for
over 20 years and are looking for suggestions for potential fundraising
ideas.  Keep in mind this is a group of citizens from "founding
families" of the city - and while they have much passion for the
organization they don't have a lot of means themselves.  Any ideas you
may have based on successful activities or events your own "Friends"
groups have done would be much appreciated.  You may respond off-list to
the email below.

Many thanks!

James Burns

Curator of History
Tempe Historical Museum
809 E. Southern Ave.
Tempe, AZ 85282
[log in to unmask]
480.350.5110
480.350.5150 fax

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