Last month we welcomed a new Campus Advisory Board at Rutgers University that will be working in the New Brunswick community of New Jersey. Within a few days of their official start, I received an envelope bulging with checks from one of their members. Since the board was so new, I was curious about how they had raised the money so quickly.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the donations were raised at a housewarming party. Shawn M. had moved into a new home and was planning a housewarming party. Some of the guests started asking about gifts and if they were registered anywhere. He realized they already had everything they needed and decided in lieu of gifts to accept donations for First Book.

Shawn tells some of the story, “Our intention was to have a bowl set up where people could put a check or cash in, but of course as most parties go, I forgot to put the bowl out and when people arrived they were just giving me envelopes and I was stuffing them into my pocket. My partner came up with the idea to just put a wine bag on a table and write First Book donations on it. We had about 80-90 people come through the house. By the time everything was over and the house was clean, I went through my pockets and the wine bag and collected a little over $1000.”

They also played First Book’s award winning member recruitment DVD There’s a Place For You, which Shawn says really sparked more people to contribute. “It was a great thing, I’m glad that we decided to give to others instead of asking for another blender.”

I’m always amazed by what creative, yet simple fundraising ideas that our Advisory Boards come up with. If you have other great ideas, please share them with us.

View There’s a Place for You (mp4) - This is a large file and may take several minutes to download. We suggest you right click on the link and choose “Save Target As” or “Save Link As” to save the file on your computer before viewing.