Raising Money for the 2006 World Scholar Athlete Games!

• Let People Know What You're Doing!
• Ask for Donations
• Offer Services
• Raise Money Through Raffles
• Pledge!
• Sell Goods
• Follow-Up Advice

• The newspaper is a great way to get the word out that you have been accepted to participate in the 2006 World Scholar Athlete Games.
• Explain how excited you are to be selected from an elite group of students from around the world.
• Find out if the newspaper would include information about your fundraising efforts in an article.
• Let the public know that you are trying to raise money to cover the program fee and transportation costs. Be sure to include what it means to you to be able to attend this event, and represent your family, friends, school, city, state, and country.
• Make a suggestion to the newspaper that you could be an international correspondent while at the Games. Explain to them that you would be able to write articles for the kids or sports sections.
• If published, bring the newspaper article with you when conducting fundraising events to show people.

• Speak with local business owners or store managers, and ask if you can hang up flyers in or outside their store. Often times, if you explain what you are doing, and why you would like to put up a poster or two, they will be more than happy to help you out. They may even throw in a donation themselves or sponsor you!

• Addressing local YMCA's, VFW's, churches, or other organizations can be another good way to get the word out about your acceptance and future fundraising.
• Many of these organizations have weekly bulletins that they give out to members and parishioners, ask if they would publish a short article about your acceptance to the World Scholar-Athlete Games, and how excited you are to be attending.
• Explain that you are fundraising to enable you to attend the games, and give dates and locations of your fundraising events. People may even be interested in donating money, goods, or gift certificates from their businesses in order to help you out.
• Local Rotary Clubs are big supporters of the Games, and would be another good example of an organization to get in contact with.

• If your school does not know already, notify your school of your acceptance to the Games and explain how you will be representing them.
• Talk to your Principal or Headmaster, and Athletic or Arts Director, and see if they can offer any suggestions on how to raise money.
• If your school has a website that is updated regularly, ask if you can put an announcement on it. Many parents and students check school websites often, and this would be a great way to let your peers and community know what an honor it is for you to be going to the Games.

• First, introduce yourself and mention where you live and go to school.
• Explain how you have been selected to attend the World Scholar-Athlete Games with an elite group of students from the US and around the world. Explain what you will be doing at the Games, and how important it is for you, personally, to attend.
• Bring your acceptance letter and any newspaper articles to show and help them understand just how special this is to you and your community.
• Tell them that you are trying to raise money to cover the fee and the cost of transportation in order to attend this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
• Mention your other fundraising plans, and if you have already made a deal with the newspaper, let the business or organization know that whoever donates time or money may be recognized in the paper for their efforts. By showing support for you, this will help the business further develop its community relations.
• Kindly ask if they would be willing to donate towards your cause. If they decline, thank them for their time and consideration.

• Find a teacher, coach, or family member to help you find benefactors near where you live who would be interested in helping you.
• Write them a letter telling them who you are, why you wanted to apply, what an honor it has been to be chosen, and what attending the Games will mean to you.
• If you have gotten in touch with the newspaper, let the sponsor know that their name will be provided in the paper along with other businesses and organizations that have donated their time or money towards your cause.
• Remember to thank the person in the end for his or her time, and consideration.

• There is nothing the School Board loves to see more than one of their eager young minds accomplishing great things, and furthering their education and talents.
• Explain to the board of education that the Institute for International Sport is an organization that has developed the World Scholar Athlete Games, as well as other programs such as National Sportsmanship Day.
• Explain what an honor it is to be accepted, and what a learning experience it will be for you to attend. Talk about how the program only selects 2,000 students from all over the world based on extra-curricular activities, grades, athleticism, and community involvement.
• Finally, tell them that you would feel privileged to represent your school, town, state and country at such a respectable event

• What persons can resist the opportunity to have their yard mowed, leaves raked, garden weeded, or walk shoveled? Ask for a donation in exchange for doing various chores.

• When you need some last minute cash, car washes are usually a good way to raise it.
• If you choose to wash cars for a flat fee, do not make it too costly. The general service charge at car washes such as these is between $3 and $5 a car.
• The free car wash is simple. Find a good location that will allow you to use their space and water. (Town Fire Departments are always willing to help just as long as you are out of the way of the trucks.) Wash the cars, but do not ask for money. Rather, explain why you are having the car wash, and that there is a donation box if they would like to help support you. At this point, very few people can resist donating money to your cause.

• Utilize your scholarly skills and help tutor Elementary or Middle School students.
• Talk to teachers and find out what a good hourly fee would be, and then contact the Elementary and Middle school Principals to find out how to start tutoring.
• Not only will you be fundraising to help get you to the games, but you'll also be helping others at the same time, which always feels good!

• Collect different items and gift certificates from community members and businesses.
• Ask your school's sports teams to offer an afternoon of yard work or other services to the highest bidder.
• Set a date, time, and location for the auction, and publicize it within the community. Hold it during a popular football or basketball game, or holiday concert.
• Allow bidding to take place for a few days prior and then announce the winners at the event. Make sure there is a sufficient period of time during which individuals may submit bids.
• Display the items, and provide slips of paper for people to mark their bids and a box where they can deposit them.

• Whether it's offering the yard work services of the High School Soccer team or a gift certificate from the local restaurant, raffles are always successful.
• Ask local businesses for donations of discounted, or preferably free, services or gift certificates as a prize for the raffle. A great way to get businesses to go along with this is by having their name printed on the raffle ticket as free advertising.
• Obtain more than one prize in order to raise the incentive for people to buy tickets.
• If getting a donation from a local business is out of the question, then offer to raffle off services. Getting the football team to shovel a snowy driveway is a great prize to raffle off.

• 50/50 raffles are a fast, easy way to sell raffle tickets. All you need are tickets, and people to sell them.
• No prize is required. Rather, the winner would receive half of the money you raised. So, if you raise $100 before halftime of the football game, the winner of the raffle would win $50.
• These raffles work best at school events such as band concerts, sports games, and family nights. Make sure you announce the winner before the end of the event! Sometimes, the winner may even choose to donate their prize back to you!

• Have your friends and classmates gather pledges for each trip down the hill.
• This is a lot more difficult that it sounds; once you get down the hill, you have to climb back up! It is a fun and entertaining way to raise money, though, and can make quite the profit. One school did this and made over $2,000!
• Afterwards, have a potluck dinner and hot chocolate for the participants and their families.

• Find a local business or venues that provide lock-ins, and you could have an instant fund-raiser! It is a great way to spend time with your friends all night, while raising money for the Games!
• Ask people to pledge a certain amount of money towards the successful completion of a particular feat you and your friends will be attempting.
• Many venues that host lock-ins will also give you half of the entrance fee from each person. (i.e. if the admittance fee is $16, then you will get $8 per person!)

• Have money jars placed in locations throughout school, such as the library or front office. At the end of each week, post the total of each jar on a poster where everyone will be able to see it. If the goal is $500, then set smaller goals as incentives along the way.
• Ask the Principal, or a well-known faculty member if they would help you out and agree to do something wild and crazy when a goal is met. For example, if $100 were raised, then the faculty member who agreed to help you would have to come to school dressed in a weird outfit for a day.
• This is not only a great way to raise money, but it can promote school spirit as well. Just make sure you can find a teacher or faculty member who would be enthusiastic about helping you out.

• Empty out the back of your closet, find those boxes of old toys in the basement, and ask people to donate used items for a yard sale.
• Yard sales almost always make some money, and are a great way to empty the house of unwanted clutter!
• If you do not want to ask friends and family for monetary donations, ask if they have unwanted clothing or items lying around the house that they would be willing to donate to your yard sale
• Chances are, you'll find people will be more than happy to donate a box of old toys or clothing. If you have any unwanted items left over, consider donating them to charity.

• For those computer-savvy people out there, sell some of your old items on eBay! If it's the middle of winter, and yard sales are not an option where you live, consider posting a few items online, in order to make some fast cash.
• Make sure it is okay with your parents, and you have thoroughly read and understand the eBay terms of agreement.
• EBay's diverse trading background and worldwide popularity will ensure that your items are seen by a lot of people.

• What school event is complete without snacks and drinks? A great way to raise money is to sell refreshments at your next high school event.
• If there is already a working concession stand at the football games, choose to work at a basketball game instead.
• If a team does not typically have refreshments, fans might be quite thankful to have a soda and a bag of chips! This is a great venue for baked goods and donated items from local food shops and stores as well.

• You can assemble small "Friendship Grams" that students can purchase to be delivered to their friends during the school day. A Friendship Gram can consist of a small, inexpensive piece of candy, and a note from a friend.
• These are great around the holidays, and don't necessarily have to contain candy. For example, around Valentine's Day, provide a carnation with the Friendship Gram. When someone buys a Friendship Gram, he or she notes whom it should be delivered to and writes a message to accompany it.
• If the people helping you out are willing, you could also offer singing Friendship Grams.

• There are many different websites on the Internet that provide you with the option of creating your own, custom, temporary tattoos. Put your school's mascot on a temporary tattoo and sell it at sporting events. Or, set up a stand outside the cafeteria and sell them throughout the day.
• Many of these sites offer 1,000 custom temporary tattoos for $70. While that may seem like a lot of money to put into it, the profit would be much greater than that.
• If you were to sell each tattoo at $1.00 a piece, you would end up making more than enough to cover the initial cost of the tattoos.

• When necessary, writing thank you letters is an important part of our fundraising efforts.
• You should write a personal note to everyone who helped you throughout the development of your event, and let him or her know just how grateful you are for the their help.
• A good idea is to write the letter after the Games, telling them of your experiences, including examples of how the Games have influenced you and what a great opportunity it has been.

• Raising money to attend the World Scholar Athlete Games will only be what you make of it. It can be frustrating, or it can be fun. Your initiative will dictate how much money you raise. These are just a few ideas to help you in your fundraising experience. Use your creativity to raise money in ways that were not mentioned!
• If you have any questions, or would like to discuss any of your ideas, feel free to contact us! We can be reached by phone at 401-874-2168 or 401-874-5088, or by e-mail at wsag@internationalsport.com.