2.  How about asking these folks for $25?: your dentist, dry cleaner, hairdresser, pharmacist, doctor, real estate agent, accountant, veterinarian, attorney, sorority/fraternity/band alumni, mechanic, financial advisor, all the other soccer moms on your kid's team, insurance agent, lawn service company, shrink, professors, home owners association members, and the employees of other companies in your office building (put up a sign in their lunchroom!).

3.  Get a bucket: Put a Light The Night sign on a bucket at your local laundromat, pizza joint, lunch room at work, etc. Stop by and pick up the money weekly. (Just make sure to ask the manager for permission!)

4. Out to lunch:  Everyone needs to eat lunch, so why not get something more out of it? Plan a group lunch at a local restaurant. Contact the manager in advance to see if they will donate a percentage of the proceeds for every person you bring n to eat. You can invite not only your office, but other companies that you work with or that are located nearby.

5.  Brown Bag Days: Have employees bring a brown bag lunch and donate the cost of what they would have spent at the cafeteria or a restaurant. You can even provide drinks, dessert and music to make it a picnic atmosphere.

 
6.  Stuff to sell: (a few reputable ideas.. with good profit margins)

·     Cookie Lee Jewelry

·     Mary Kay Cosmetics

·     Pampered Chef

·     www.thepizzapail.com (really easy, and profits are 40% of sales!)

·     www.classiccookie.com/html/fund.htm (YUM.. profit is $5/tub)

·     www.gafundraising.com (want to sell candles? t-shirts? candy? chances are you'll find it here)

7.  Candy Sale:  Who doesn't need an afternoon pick-me-up? Buy candy in bulk at a wholesale store like Sam's or Costco and sell it for regular price. Rather than paying the vending machine, have money go toward your team's fundraising efforts!

8.  Restaurant programs: Restaurants will usually give you 10-25% of the night’s profits that you bring in with a flyer. Ask your local manager today.

9.   Baseball game: Buy a bunch of tickets at a group rate (get the cheap seats) and get food donated. Host a tailgate party and charge people twice the ticket price (it will still be a pretty good price and a great excuse to hang out with friends.)

10.  Guest Bartender: Friends with your local bartender? Ask him/her to put a sign up one night that says all tips get donated to LLS. Or talk to a local bar about being a “guest bartender” for a night for a cut of the profits or cover charge (as long as you help promote the night!).

11.  Garage Sale: Collect old "stuff " from friends and family. Auction "stuff" on EBay, or hold a garage sale (make sure to pick up Krispy Kremes and make coffee to sell for the morning, too). Have Light The Night signs displayed to make sure donors know the proceeds are going to LLS (prevents haggling).

12. Follow up on your letter: Call or send a postcard to the people who haven't donated yet. Postcard idea: go to www.cardstore.com and download your favorite picture and create a postcard to send to everyone with your update. You can create an address book online and use the same list to send thank-you notes and event follow-ups. You just type in the info and pay for postage online… they take care of the rest!

13.  Wall Of Fame: Put up large, colorful "Look Who's Walking on Our Team" posters with baby pictures of those employees who have signed up to walk, along with current Polaroid pictures of walkers. Have everyone donate a dollar and guess whose baby picture is whose. The winner could also receive a small prize (lunch on the company, a Light The Night T-shirt, an extra break, designated parking for a day, or whatever incentive you think will encourage participation).

14. Hold a lottery:  Design a board with numbers from one to one hundred (or higher depending on the size of your organization or company). Put together a themed gift basket and display it near the board. Ask everyone who comes to the office to buy their favorite number. When every number has been picked, draw a winner

15.  Raffle a Day Off!: Ask your boss or the owner of the company to donate a paid day off to the winner of the drawing. Sell tickets for $5-$25 to your co-workers (this is an easy way for most companies to contribute without donating cash).

16. 50/50 Raffle: Sell raffle tickets for $2 and whoever wins gets half of the pot while the other half goes to Light The Night.  The value gets higher with every ticket sold!

17. Parking space raffle:  Sell tickets for the prime parking spot at your office. After a set period of time (one to two weeks) draw a winner and they will be the envy of the entire office. Other "prizes" could include days off or company apparel.

18.  Throw a basic “party” (“Come on over! Pay me $10 at the door!”)

18.  Create an incentive for your donors: Tell everyone that for every $50 they donate, they get a chance to win something (for instance, a gift certificate to a restaurant).

19.  Wine/Cheese/Dessert party: solicit donations from the local deli, liquor store or dessert shops. Charge $10/head (at least) and then sell raffle tickets for the extra bottles of wine/ cake/ cheese log.

20.  Raffle and silent auction hints: Get the prizes donated and have at least five items in the raffle. Charge $5-$10 for tickets.

23. Coins in the fountain: Go to your local mall and ask them what they do with the coins in the fountain. Chances are, you can have it!

24. Go to your high school alma mater and ask them (or just the athletic department) to do a "spare change" drive for you, placing buckets at the team's sporting events or concession stand. Collect the change and start rolling!

25. Contact your local high school's Student Council or other "do-good" club and ask them if they would fundraise for you (holding their own event to profit your cause). Many high schoolers just need "a cause" and they are more than happy to throw a car wash or whatever (looks good on college apps!).

26. Contact your local sorority/fraternity chapter and tell them you are an alum (we are assuming you'll have to prove it with some sort of secret handshake, but it could be worth it)  Ask them if they would do one of their "charity events" for your cause. Or just ask them for help doing volunteer work for your own event (have them bake cookies to sell outside Wal-Mart).

27.  Local Bingo games: It turns out local Bingo games are required to give some of
their profits to charity. Why not yours? Make sure to help promote the night you get.

28.  Work for a large company? Send around a big manila envelope with your letter taped to the one side and a donor form on the other. Send the envelope in rotation and have people place the checks right in the envelope. Or, place a display in the lunch room (a little sign with your picture or an Honored Hero’s picture and a note about what you are doing) next to a bucket for donations or a pile of donor slips.

29. Answering machine message: Record a message to let everyone know what you are doing. 

30. Birthday coming up? Ask for donations instead of gifts.

31. Go door to door in your neighborhood (better yet... go door to door in someone else's neighborhood... it's less embarrassing). No need to knock, just place a flyer with all your info on their door (not in/on the mailbox, that’s illegal!).

32. Host a tournament (tennis/ bowling/ basketball 3 on 3): For bowling, you pay a flat fee for the night, you provide lanes and snacks. Charge per person or team, and set the round robin going. Give prizes for the winner or worst bowler.

33. Host a “Mutt Strutt” in your neighborhood. For $30, people bring their dog and go on an organized “walk” together. Host pet contest and offer prizes.

34. Bachelor/Bachelorette auction: Grab a few of your outgoing single friends, host a bachelor/bachelorette auction at a local bar. Winner gets a date with the stud/studette (add a silent auction for the evening).

35. Start a monthly newsletter on your progress. Recognize your supporters in it and include a donor form. Ask your friends to pass it around.

36.  Ask your boss if you can host a “Dress Down Friday”. Employees buy a button for $5 and get to “dress down” on an assigned day.

37.  Hold a car wash or a dog wash. Get some kids to help (with the promise of pizza!). Place Light The Night signs all over.

38. Host a fundraising concert.

41. Hold an Oscar/Emmy/MTV music awards party. Create a pool to choose the winners, serve popcorn and drinks, always include a silent auction.

42. Matching grant programs: Wal-Mart and Sam’s have matching grant programs. Ask them for an application.

43. Many people are now using "friend sites" such as myspace.com, friendster, and yahoo 360.  One walker posted a shortened version of her fundraising letter on her site with a link to her personal fundraising page. She received donations from friends as well as people she didn’t even know. 

44.  Host a poker tournament. 50% of the proceeds goes to the winner, 50% to LLS! Add in a silent auction, and plenty of opportunities to “buy back in” once someone drops out.