When most people think of fundraisers, they usually think of bake sales, catalog sales, and silent auctions. One thing most people probably never think about is a shredding fundraiser. Here's how it works:
Your company or organization works with a local shredding company to organize this event. They provide you with letter-legal boxes, and you sell them to people and businesses in your local community for a set price per-box. These can be filled with any unwanted or potentially confidential documents that they want shredded. Then, set a date for box delivery, box pick-up, and box drop-off at the shredding facilities. And there you have it: a unique and professional fundraising opportunity.
I know what you're thinking: How do I even organize that? Well, I'll tell you with these basic steps on how to make this work for your business or organization.
1. Create a timeline. Just like with any big event, it's important to plan ahead. Start by setting a goals for your fundraiser, creating a start and end date for your fundraiser, and planning how you want to go about setting up your fundraiser. Decide what needs to take place, when it needs to take place, and how it should take place to ensure optimal success for your fundraiser.
2. Contact a local shredding company about your fundraiser. Find a local records management company that is willing to work with you on your fundraiser. They will be able to help you with the logistics of your fundraiser such as pricing and dates.
3. Purchase the materials you need. You'll need to purchase boxes to distribute, advertising materials, and some other miscellaneous items like security tape to use for this fundraiser.
4. Advertise, advertise, advertise. And hopefully sell too! Advertise to local residents and businesses by creating flyers, posting ads in newspapers, etc. Hype up your fundraiser as much as possible to ensure optimal success!
5. Collect your boxes and your money. And get excited because you just completed a successful fundraiser! YAY YOU!
I hope this was able to give you a few ideas on how to start a creative, new fundraiser! If not, I hope you at least got a kick out of this idea (: