Fundraising is probably the hardest part of the entire Challenge, so don’t be modest or shy. So set your target high and begin straight away!

The fundraising target was set at $7,500 per team because previous experience has shown that this is a realistic and achievable target.  However, please do not limit yourselves to this target; if you feel you have the ability to raise more, go for it!

If you have not undertaken fundraising on this scale before, this target may seem a bit daunting. The following notes will help you to get started and we will be available to answer your queries and offer inspiration and guidance if you need it.

Guidelines

Don’t be modest
The event is a physically tough challenge. In order to succeed, your team will have to dedicate a good deal of time to training and preparation; so tell people just how tough it is! In any communication tell them how far you are canoeing and generally leave them in awe of the task you are undertaking.  This may gain their sympathy or their admiration, or simply leave them thinking you must be mad, but it will help to gain their attention and raise funds!

Planning
To succeed in the physical side of the challenge, you will need to plan every aspect, from your training schedule through to the food you will be eating on the day of the event. So, it makes perfect sense to plan your fundraising too.

Although the number of event participants is limited, there is no reason why you should not increase the size by recruiting additional team members to co-ordinate and organize the fundraising. In fact, we would strongly urge you to do so.  This role is likely to appeal to those who would like to be involved, but do not wish to attempt the physical side of the challenge. You are most likely to succeed if you encourage every division your company to participate. This might be by holding a fundraising event or approaching their corporate contacts. Try to get a bit of friendly competition going and perhaps offer a small prize to the department that raises the most money.

Draft a plan to show where you anticipate the money will come from. This will help to highlight any shortfall in income and give sufficient time to plan extra activities.  Revisit the plan at your team meetings to check that you are on track. 

Getting Started
Fundraising is more of an art than a science!  Activities that achieve good results in one company may fall flat in another, so as part of your planning process we suggest that you look at the activities within your company that are generally well supported.  Try to identify any unique opportunities that exist within your organization to raise funds.

Ask yourselves:

• Are events generally well supported and if so, which have been the most successful and could they be used to make money?
• Are your employees based at one site, or do you have a number of offices/retail outlets around the country?
• Is this a unique event within the company or just one of many similar activities taking place?
• Do you have close relationships with your suppliers and customers?
• Does your company use a celebrity in its advertising campaigns?
• What means do you have at your disposal to communicate with the rest of the company?
• What kind of culture exists within the company? Are most people conventional or do they tend towards the eccentric?!

By answering these questions you should start to see where your opportunities lie.

Launch
You will only gain support if people know what you are doing, so use every means at your disposal to tell them! This might include:

• Intranet
• In-house newsletter
• All staff email or voicemail
• Website
• Display in your reception or lunchroom
• Launch party
• Or if you are feeling bold why not plan a publicity stunt!

Corporate Support
If approached in the correct way and by the right person, corporate contacts can be an excellent means of boosting your sponsorship total. 

In most cases you will want to ask for a cash donation, but your company may deal with a supplier that is willing to provide a prize that can be used to generate even more money.  For instance. you may regularly book flights through a travel agent; they may be able to donate a weekend away that could then be auctioned or raffled.  In general, don’t give people a choice between giving cash or a prize, as it will tempt them to take the easy (cheapest) way out.  Decide what you would like them to give you and go for it!

• Enlist the assistance of everyone who has any contact with suppliers and business partners, not forgetting your professional advisers such as accountants and auditors.
• Ask your directors/senior managers to write to 20 of their contacts.
• Decide upon the best approach for that person.
• Stay away from uninspiring standard letters as much as possible – try to capture the imagination of the reader by scanning in photos of the team, using "In" jokes and industry buzz words, in fact anything that will make your letter stand out from the crowd.
• If you do not receive a reply, send a gentle reminder or call.
• Try to offer something in return, such as listing all of your supporters at the event reception, or inviting all of your supporters to a special event. 
• Offer to print the sponsor's logo on team T-shirts in return for a set amount; for example, $500 for a logo on the front, or $200 for one on the sleeve.

Personal Sponsorship
Hopefully, your family and friends will want to support you and this of course will raise valuable funds. However, it is advisable not to rely on personal sponsorship alone to reach your target. The best way to approach this is to regard sponsorship as just one of the ways you can raise funds, not the only one. 

You are more likely to succeed if you add personal sponsorship to a mix of fundraising ideas, for example: events, sweepstakes, donations, collections, raffles and competitions. However, if your team is particularly well connected or popular, you can focus more on personal sponsorship. 

When planning your fundraising it may be realistic to set every team member a personal sponsorship target, perhaps $200.

Spread the Net
The hub of your fundraising efforts will almost certainly be within your business unit, but it is good to spread the net a bit wider if you can, in order to capture a new audience. Hold a brainstorming session with the team to see whom you can come up with, for example:

• Online sponsorship page and send the link to your friends, family and colleagues - in fact - anyone you know! Simply go to http://www.firstgiving.com/npo/10586 and click the link for the COINS Construction Industry Challenge. The instructions are very easy to follow and you can even personalize the page by adding a photo of your team.
• Any sports clubs to which your team members belong – invite other members to sponsor you.
• Other companies in the same vicinity – challenge them to a softball game, bowling tournament or touch football tournament with a fundraising angle.

Events
Events are an excellent way of raising money and have some added benefits in that they:

• Increase the profile of the challenge within your company.
• Provide “safe” money - once they have taken place, no amount of bad weather and pulled muscles can effect the money raised.
• Provide the opportunity to involve people from outside of the company, such as friends, suppliers, and partners.
• Give something back to those supporting your team.
• Are great fun!

An event can range from something that will raise a tidy little sum for relatively little planning, such as a dress down day, to something that takes a great deal of planning, but will bring in several thousand pounds, such as a formal dinner/dance. It is up to you to decide what you have the time and resources to organize and what will work best within your company. 

Piggy Back!
If your business unit already holds an annual event, for instance a ball or fun day, persuade the organizers to add a fundraising element such as a raffle or auction. This is far easier than organizing an event from scratch!

You will probably come up with your own ideas, but these ideas have produced good results in the past. If you come up with an innovative fundraising idea that has produced good results, please let us know so that we can share it with the other teams. 

Help!!

You’ve approached everyone in the universe with whom you have ever had a passing acquaintance, with your sponsorship request. Yet your team is still falling a little short of your target.  Don’t worry, help is at hand! Here are a few more ideas, which may require some co-operation from your directors plus a bit of organization, but which can literally conjure those last few dollars out of thin air!

Tag Sale
They are not glamorous and you do have to get up early, but you WILL make money if you go to a community tag sale with a load of treasures from your attic or basement.  Everyone has unwanted items, so commandeer a spare room at the office and ask everyone to donate their unwanted but new or gently used items. Look in the local paper or ask around for the best venues.

Tidy up the Office
It is not only houses that tend to attract unwanted items. Is the storeroom full of filing cabinets and chairs that just aren’t needed any more? If so, ask about selling them off to staff members and donating the proceeds to the Challenge.

Car Parking Spaces
If car-parking spaces are in short supply, invite staff to rent spaces on a daily basis!

Auction of Promises
Everybody in the company, whether they realize it yet or not, has a skill that somebody else in the company will be willing to pay for.  They may be able to offer a few hours babysitting or gardening, or have talents as a chef or portrait photographer. If it is difficult to get everyone together in one place, conduct the auction by email.

Extra Holiday
With the co-operation of your directors, offer an extra day off to staff at say, $40 per day.

The Charities

In 2008, all funds raised by the COINS USA Construction Industry Challenge directly benefit Capital District Habitat for Humanity.

Sponsorship Deadlines

Habitat for Humanity cannot put your hard-earned sponsorship to work until the money is safely in their bank account. We therefore ask you to have all funds collected and sent to COINS USA by December 15, 2008 at the very latest. It is not necessary for you to collect all the sponsorship in one lump sum, so please send it in as it arrives.

In some respects, collecting in the money can be the hardest part of the challenge, but you can make life easier by:

• Post-dated checks - asking for post-dated checks will save a lot of time after the event and you can always offer to return them if necessary.
• Where a post-dated check cannot be obtained, collect the money promised to you directly after the event. This task becomes harder the longer you leave it.
• If you used a FirstGiving page, the collection process is automated.

Banking Instructions
Please follow these instructions to pay in the money raised, to ensure that the money is credited to the correct team.  Please pay in your sponsor money as soon as you receive it: do not wait until you have collected it all. The sooner your money is received, the sooner it can be put to good use.

All checks should be made payable to Capital District Habitat for Humanity but mailed to COINS USA to be credited to your team goal.

COINS USA
Attn: Construction Industry Challenge
6 Airport Park Blvd.
Latham, NY 12110

When forwarding checks to COINS, you should include your name and your team name for proper credit to your goal.