FUNDRAISING | TIPS AND IDEAS The secret to fundraising is to ask and keep asking. Below are some strategies that will help you and your team reach your goals! ONLINE LETTER-WRITING CAMPAIGN | Send out requests for contributions through your Walk for Wishes personalized fundraising page. This is the quickest and easiest way to raise dollars to share in the power of a wish. Online gifts are generally larger than gifts made in cash or check. Think of everyone you know. Your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, vendors, college alumni, local businesses, social network friends do want to help. Make it personal! People give to people - they just need to be asked. SNAIL MAIL LETTER-WRITING CAMPAIGN | Mailing an old fashioned letter is also a great way to raise money. The best letters incorporate a specific dollar amount, a deadline to receive contributions, a personal message that explains why you are passionate about Make-A-Wish, a picture, your personal fundraising web page address, and an enclosed envelope and donation slip for donors to return contributions.

Here’s a great example of a personalized letter written by one of our Wish Granting volunteers! Share your own story to make it your own. Hi Sarah, The kids and I are excited to join hundreds of local families at Walk for Wishes® this November to raise money for Make-A-Wish®! I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I've been involved with the local Make-A-Wish chapter for 2 years. As a volunteer and supporter, I've met incredible kids and witnessed some unbelievable wishescome-true. It truly is amazing what a wish experience can do for a sick child and their family. I'm currently involved in granting the wish of a 9yr old boy who’s been battling cancer since he was 2! I don't think you’d believe me if I described what his life has been like. Needless to say, but he is an inspiration! Click here to view our Walk for Wishes page or to donate. If you have questions, please let me know. We would love to raise $6,000, which would fund a wish! Thanks! Chris

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP | Local businesses want to support causes that effect people in their community! Contact your Make-A-Wish® representative for more information about how businesses can support your Walk Team.

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JEANS DAYS | Challenge your company and/or your child’s school by arranging a “Jeans Day.” All contributions will benefit Make-A-Wish and be a part of your total. Set a specific amount (e.g. $5) and make it a competition among departments. If the office or school is already a casual environment, conduct a hat, flip flop or funny shirt day instead. ICE CREAM SOCIAL | Host an ice cream social in your office or neighborhood. In an office environment, ask the president or managers to scoop the ice cream. Employees can make a donation to your goal in exchange for a frozen treat. While your co-workers or friends are enjoying ice cream—invite them to join your team! GARAGE SALE | Rid your house of clutter and raise money for your team! Consider having a team or neighborhood sale to raise funds. MATCHING GIFTS | Many employers have matching gift programs and will match charitable contributions made by their employees. This is a great way for you or your team to quickly double or triple their efforts. PLAN A PARTY/EVENT | Throw a children’s party, house warming, game night or dinner party and ask for donations instead of gifts and give the proceeds to Make-A-Wish.

MAKE USE OF THE WALK FOR WISHES WEBSITE The Walk for Wishes website is an extremely helpful tool: Personalize your online fundraising page with a story and photo that represent why you are walking Send a personalized email to your contacts asking them to donate online and ask them to forward the page to their network Download fundraising tools Update your contact information Track both your personal and team’s fundraising progress And much more!

PARTIES | WHAT’S MORE FUN THAN A PARTY? CHILDREN’S PARTY | Throw a themed party for kids (dinosaurs, princesses, etc.) and charge a “fee” to attend. Parents would gladly pay a fee for a free afternoon while their children have fun, especially for a good cause. GAME NIGHT | This can be anything from basketball to Monopoly to PS3 to poker. Charge an entrance fee and give 30-50% to the winner and the rest to Make-A-Wish. BIG GAME/SHOW/EVENT NIGHT | Show the Super Bowl, Olympics, Reality Show Finale, Academy Awards or any other popular TV show. Ask for a $20 donation and provide papers for attendees to guess things like who will win, who will score the most points, which company will have the most commercials, etc. Give 30-50% of the money to the winner and the rest to Make-A-Wish. MOVIE NIGHT | Pick up the hottest new release and have friends over to watch. You could even rent a projector to show it on a wall or outdoors during the summer. Admission is a donation. DINNER/COCKTAIL/WINE AND CHEESE PARTY | Throw a fancy party and charge guests a fee for attending. Try and get items donated or plan on a budget so you can donate at least 75% of the funds raised, if not 100%.

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EVENTS | THEY TAKE A BIT OF PLANNING, BUT ARE ALSO A TON OF FUN! PLASTIC DUCK RACE | Secure prize donations and charge people to purchase a duck. Number the ducks, release them in a pool or stream, and the first one to reach a certain destination wins a price! Just for kicks, you can add a kiddie pool and charge kids to pick a duck out of the pool to win a small prize. POKER RUN | (Can be done with bikes, walking, rollerblades, skis, etc.) Charge a fee and give participants a map or clues. At each check point they are given a playing card. At the end of the event, the best poker hand wins a prize. This could be coupled with a party where non-participants pay admission. SILENT AUCTIONS | Get items donated and arrange for an auction at a local venue. Or, send out forms and have people submit their bids via mail or email. This is a great event to combine with a party, poker run, or other event. It also can be done online, and is a great way to involve friends and family that live far away. HOLIDAY EVENT | Host an Easter Egg Hunt, Breakfast with Santa, St. Patrick’s Day Party, Valentine’s Dinner etc. and ask for a donation to participate. RESTAURANT NIGHT | Do you have contacts at a local restaurant or bar, or are you are just a frequent customer? Ask if they would let you plan an event! Maybe they would donate a certain percentage of their sales, maybe their tips, or you could organize a celebrity bartending night. COUNTING ON YOU | Perfect for your business, restaurant, classroom, etc! Count jelly beans, pennies, candies, etc. and charge participants to guess. The one who guesses correctly wins the prize, and Make-A-Wish benefits from the donations. Great as a standalone fundraiser or can be combined with another event. FLOWER SALE | Work with a local florist and sell flowers for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or just because! You could charge extra for a volunteer to deliver the flowers with a special message. This is also a great fundraiser for a large corporation or school, and flowers can be replaced with suckers, chocolates, cookies, etc. GO TO BAT FOR KIDS | Have a slow-pitch baseball or softball game and recruit teams from local businesses or groups to pay an entry fee. Get volunteer umpires, donated door prizes, and sell food at the event. CONCESSION STAND TAKE-OVER | Many sports venues and high school stadiums allow groups to work the concession stand to raise funds for charity. Look into the arenas near you. Or, if your child’s little league does not have a concession stand, ask if you can sell water and treats! SPORTING EVENTS | Work with a local sports team to sell tickets with a portion of the proceeds going to Make-AWish. See if you can get the athletes involved! HOME TEAM CHALLENGES | Have a community group or other organization challenge a local sports team to a game. Advertise and sell tickets, with proceeds going to Make-A-Wish. SPAGHETTI DINNER OR PANCAKE BREAKFAST | Great ways to raise funds, build community, and educate others about our mission! See if you can partner with a local restaurant that already has the equipment.

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ON THE JOB | FUNDRAISING AT WORK IS GOOD FOR MORALE AND EMPLOYEE BONDING… REMEMBER TO CHECK WITH THE BOSS BEFORE YOU GET STARTED! ROUND UP FOR A CURE | Does your business sells goods or services? Ask customers if they want to round up to the nearest dollar and donate their change to Make-A-Wish. That change can add up fast! MATCHING GIFTS | Check to see if your employer has a matching gifts program where they match your donations to charities. Or, see if they will donate money for each hour you volunteer. SPONSORSHIP | Walk for Wishes is always looking for sponsors! See if your company can sponsor the Walk. The funds will be credited toward YOUR fundraising goal! PROMOTION | See if you can promote the Walk at meetings, place posters in the break room, or an announcement in your company newsletter. DRESS DOWN DAY/BIG GAME DAY/CASUAL FRIDAY | See if you can charge your co-workers a donation to Make-A-Wish for the privilege of coming to work in casual attire. Or, perhaps your company would let them wear team colors the Friday before the big game! FUNDRAISING CHALLENGE | Pick a period of a few weeks and challenge your coworkers to raise as much money for Make-A-Wish as they can on their own. The person who raises the most wins a prize. Perhaps you can persuade the company into giving them a bonus day off! TIP NIGHT | If you typically receive tips for services provided, ask your co-workers to have a day where all tips go to Make-A-Wish. DONATION CANISTER | Place a donation canister in an area that is highly visible to customers. Ask businesses that you frequent to do the same. MAKE-A-WISH DAY/NIGHT | Ask your place of business to give a percentage of sales to Make-A-Wish for a day. Make sure to promote the event so lots of people stop in! GOOD TO THE LAST DROP | If your business has coffee or soda fees, commit one month of fees to Make-A-Wish. If you cannot do that, place a Make-AWish fundraising canister up in the coffee area and encourage coworkers to add their spare change. TASTE A DISH FOR MAKE-A-WISH | Tell your coworkers that you will be bringing in breakfast or lunch to benefit Make-A-Wish and charge for their order. You could take advance orders and get carry out, or do some cooking! Bring in bagels, muffins, sandwiches, and charge for each item. Perhaps you can get a local business to donate the food so there is no cost to you! CELEBRITY BAGGERS | Invite local celebrities (mayor, athletes, coaches, TV personalities) to bag merchandise for customers and ask for tips. CRAZY HAT DAY | Great for retail stores or events where lots of people are present. An employee or group member has to wear a crazy hat until he or she raises a set amount for Make-A-Wish and then passes the hat on to a coworker of his choosing. You can continue this event all day!

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SALES OF GOODS OR SERVICES | ANYTIME YOU DO A FUNDRAISING SALE, IT’S WORTH A TRY TO CALL BUSINESSES AND SEE IF YOU CAN GET ITEMS DONATED. EBAY SALE | Are you are computer savvy? List your items online and donate what you earn. CAR OR DOG WASH | A car wash is always fun! Make it a dog wash for extra excitement. BAKE SALE | Feel free to jazz up the old standby by pairing with contests, non-traditional items, or plan it around a holiday. GARAGE/YARD SALE | Invite your friends and neighbors to donate their items. Or, make it a multi-team event and have each team add donations from their items to their own team totals.

SOCIAL MEDIA | USE YOUR NETWORK S There are many ways to use Facebook at Twitter to help fundraise and encourage others to join or support your team. Following are a few ideas on how you can leverage the power of social networking to help you easily reach your Walk for Wishes fundraising goals! FACEBOOK | We’ll post updates related to the Walk for Wishes pretty regularly, so make sure you’ve ‘liked’ our chapter’s Facebook page WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/NCWISH! Check back every once in a while for updates and stories on the Walk for Wishes that you can ‘like,’ comment on, or share on your own Facebook page. Your timeline is a great place to post a link to your personal Walk for Wishes online fundraising page to encourage your friends on Facebook to visit your site and offer their support. FACEBOOK EVENT | Visit our Facebook Events page WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/NCWISH/EVENTS and join the Walk for Wishes event you’re attending! Please- feel free to share the event and invite everyone you know to join! Also, we’d love for you to share your success stories and photos from team fundraising events and past Walks! Be sure to tell us what you are looking forward to during this year’s Walk. This is also where we’ll update you with any social media tools, including Timeline cover photos to show your support and other Walk promotions exclusive to Facebook. FACEBOOK GROUP | Create a Facebook group for your team! This is the perfect way to post regular updates, drive enthusiasm, highlight milestones, post photos or videos, pose questions and drive some friendly competition within your team. This is also a great place to share why this cause is so important to you with your social network. You can use the Facebook Group to reach out to those who may not EASY STEPS | RAISE $500 AS A WALKER IN ONE WEEK be able to walk in person, but still want to support your team. DAY 1 Make your own $25 contribution ($25) TWITER | twitter.com/MakeAWish_CWNC #WALK4WISHES We’re on Twitter! Are you? If you have a tweeting guru on your team, allow him or her to be your team’s social media ambassador! Promote the Walk online by using the hash tag #walk4wishes. If you tweet at us @MakeAWish_CWNC, we’ll retweet! Tell us your team name on Twitter and keep us updated on your goals and milestones.

DAY 2

Ask ten neighbors for $10 each ($100)

DAY 3

Ask your boss to contribute $50 ($50)

DAY 4

Ask ten co-workers for $5 each ($50)

DAY 5

Ask three family members for $25 each ($75)

DAY 6

Ask two businesses for $50 each ($100)

DAY 7

Ask ten friends for $10 each ($100)

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