Ideas for Planning a Yard Sale for Pakistan Flood Fundraising?

[carfreemama]

Any tips? I am thinking a week from Saturday, which I think is labour day weekend. Posted on Facebook. Lots of really good kids clothing and accessories, some misc. kitchen appliances. Pretty sure friends will donate stuff and probably help. I'm not a great organizer, but I live in a really good neighbourhood for this type of thing and I do know lots of people who might be interested. Should I put up notices that say something like "all funds raised to go to Red Cross (or whatever org) Pakistan flood relief?" Any ideas on how to do a good actual yard sale?

[Callimom]

For publicizing it you could send an announcement to the local radio/tv/newspaper about your sale. If you can work in the kid angle, you are more likely to get coverage. Media eat up stories about kids fundraising for a good cause.

See if you can post an advertisement on freecycle, a community group etc.

I would see if you could add a few extras to raise money. Some ideas
~ bake table/lemonade stand
~ Busker (know any kids that play an instrument?)
~ Information table with info from whatever charity is receiving the donations and some info about why it is necessary (the media coverage on this is so slow). Add a donation jar.
~ a kid's table of little trinkets etc for $0.50 or so - if you sell individually and aim it at kids you might be surprised at what kids will pay.

I would put up lots of signs at the sale about the fact that all proceeds are going to flood relief - might help limit dickering.


Good luck!
Karen

[carfreemama]

Thanks, Karenwith4. I'm in the planning stages of most of what you've suggested! The money will be going to Oxfam Canada and I will be contacting them, to see if they have any specific fact sheets I can print out for people. They also have a facebook page and I do now, too; but I'm not sure how to link them, so I'll ask them when I call.

My dd and some friends are doing a lemonade stand and I'm a baker, so we'll have the tables as you suggest. So far, lots of friends have pledged items to donate and I have some helpers. I just need to get busy and collect the stuff.

I will tolerate NO dickering at this sale. I know it's in the spirit of yard sales, but I just don't think I could stomach someone trying to haggle me down for this. We live in a fairly well-off neighbourhood, too. It's like when I hear people trying to get the prices down at the farmers' market. I can't stand it. My line will be "dickering only goes one way today...up"!

[lotusdebi]

I was a co-organizer for a yard sale to benefit Mercy Corps after the tsunami in 2004. I was lucky enough to get the help of a local Kung Fu business, and they provided the location and press releases and lots of extras to help raise money. We put the word out to homeschooling groups and people affiliated with the Kung Fu business, and got tons of donations to sell at the yard sale. It's good to have an unoffensive place to donate anything that hasn't been sold afterwards. Definitely get the sale info to the press! Also, have sheets/ brochures about the organization you're donating to. And, find out about accepting checks made out to the organization itself. A lot of people are very wary of charity scams and want to be sure that the money is going where it's supposed to be going.

Good luck! You're doing a wonderful thing!

[carfreemama]

Thansk, lotusdebi. It sounds like you were much more organized than I can be at this point. The sale is next Saturday and I am gone now until Sunday night. Good point about finding out about check directly to the organization. We are known around the neighbourhood here enough that I'm hoping people will just donate. I thought maybe I could find a way to post what we sent to the organization, to increase the sense of my accountability. Maybe I should move this back a week, so I can do more? It wouldn't be too late.

[Callimom]

Originally Posted by carfreemama

The sale is next Saturday and I am gone now until Sunday night.

How did it go?
Karen

[carfreemama]

Well, we did it! We raised $235, which will be matched by the Canadian government. The kids had tons of fun. It's not a lot of money, but not bad for stuff we gathered from our basements. I must say, I'm surprised how hard it is to get people to donate. I thought people would want to give money because of where it was going, but mostly people just wanted to do the yard sale thing and dicker over quarters. I'm not sure if there's anything I could have done differently or more effectively, since I advertised it as a fundraiser and had Oxfam's banners and such. We really didn't have as much stuff to sell as I would have liked and lots of stuff that was promised never materialized. I did hear several comments about Pakistan; mostly that it's a "hard sell," but also things like "they have nukes" and "they're a wealthy country." Overall, though, it was a positive experience. It makes me want to see what else we can do. I wanted to see if we could actually raise cash, instead of just making a donation. Our neighbours also offered to match whatever we raised; though they are a retired couple and I am hesitant to put them in a position where they feel they need to make a donation of over $200.

[TiredX2]

[Callimom]

Originally Posted by carfreemama

Well, we did it! We raised $235, which will be matched by the Canadian government. The kids had tons of fun. It's not a lot of money, but not bad for stuff we gathered from our basements. I must say, I'm surprised how hard it is to get people to donate. I thought people would want to give money because of where it was going, but mostly people just wanted to do the yard sale thing and dicker over quarters. I'm not sure if there's anything I could have done differently or more effectively, since I advertised it as a fundraiser and had Oxfam's banners and such. We really didn't have as much stuff to sell as I would have liked and lots of stuff that was promised never materialized. I did hear several comments about Pakistan; mostly that it's a "hard sell," but also things like "they have nukes" and "they're a wealthy country." Overall, though, it was a positive experience. It makes me want to see what else we can do. I wanted to see if we could actually raise cash, instead of just making a donation. Our neighbours also offered to match whatever we raised; though they are a retired couple and I am hesitant to put them in a position where they feel they need to make a donation of over $200.

That's awesome!

[KatWrangler]