robert Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Hey friends, I have an idea. I know some people would like to come but simply can't afford it. That's just the way things are for a lot of us. If it weren't in Portland, I'd probably have a hard time getting somewhere, as I'm always living paycheck to paycheck myself. So I was thinking that we could brainstorm ways to do some fundraising to help those who really truly want to come, but $ is the only thing keeping them away from the Vegan Vacation gathering. This isn't anything anyone should be ashamed of, and actually nobody has even brought it up. I just thought of it recently and wanted to offer the idea. This would specifically be for those who really really do want to come, but financial restrictions will keep them home. We still have 7 months, so I thought we could do some fund raising to help a few people experience the summer that was (or will be) crazy 2007. Any thougths on this? Is this fair? Is this a good idea or bad idea? Any ideas on ways to fundraise? Thanks! This fundraising could also extend to helping fund the actual event (lodging for all of us, food for all of us, travel and activities for all of us, etc.) There are many functions fund raising can help out in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Any thougths on this? Is this fair? Is this a good idea or bad idea?It's not a good idea, it's a great idea. I think it could be done fairly, as well.Any ideas on ways to fundraise?Not off the top of my head, but with all of us brainstorming, I bet we'll come up with some ideas.This fundraising could also extend to helping fund the actual event (lodging for all of us, food for all of us, travel and activities for all of us, etc.)Covering lodging and food for everyone would be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveliberate Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Making VV07 more accessable & welcoming to as many folks as possible is a great idea Robert! I'm very familar with living paycheck to paycheck & would also have a tough time going to VV07 if it wasn't so close. I'd hate to see folks here be unable to participate due to lack of cash... Like last year, my wife is interested in helping with fundraising efforts such as contacting businesses & individuals who might be interested in donating goods or services for a fundraising auction, etc. That is something that pretty much any of us can do & if anyone has any questions on how to do this, please just ask. Another thing we can do is to simply to ask folks from the forum (& anyone else who cares to contribute) to send donations to someone who can pool the funds & then send them out to whoever needs them. Many of us may not be able to contribute much but almost all of us can donate something - every donation makes a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pelicanAndrew Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 I would gladly donate money. Even being in college i could probably drop in 50 bucks and still be able to afford my plane ticket. I could also have a vegan cupcakes bake sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted January 27, 2007 Author Share Posted January 27, 2007 Great! I'm glad this idea is being supported. I think we can do a number of things. I can donate % of DVD and clothing sales to a fundraiser fund. I can actively recruit sponsors and companies to donate food and other items for us while we're here. I'm sure others, I won't name any names (madre) could do bake sales and things like that I also think it is a great idea to have "donations" in general. You're right, we can all give a little. Our community is amazing. I'm reminded of when Topher traveled across the country to come live with me in Oregon. Michelle helped out by sending him a gas card. I'm also reminded of when my bodybuilding competition in Oregon got canceled and I had to go to California to compete but didn't have the funds. michaelhobson and others bought t-shirts from the website to help me afford the trip. We've all supported each other well in the past and I want all those who sincerely want to come to be able to come. I'm learning a lot about fundraising, so I'll get some things started. If we're sending money to a specific place, I'd rather not be the person. I'm trying to deligate other tasks and not take on any additional projects for myself. Lets keep brainstroming. This will be really good for all involed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveliberate Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Bake sales - anouther tried & true, easy to do fundraising option! Some more ideas that pretty much anyone can do very easily: - Yard/garage sales - get folks to donate unwanted stuff & sell it. If it's really cool or valuable, ya might be able to sell it on E-bay! - Dance &/or house parties, donate at the door - Movie showings - it could be Vegan Fitness, a AR movie or even just something fun that's entirely unrelated. You can do at someone's house. If you expect a large turnout check with local libraries or schools/colleges - they often allow folks to use their facilities for free. Let's hear some more idea's folks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 What about setting up an online bookstore for the veganbodybuilding site through Amazon Affiliates or something similar through another company? If we each submitted a list of our favorite vegan cookbooks, vegan literature, and other books/movies/music related to bodybuilding, fitness, or being vegan, we'd have a nice collection to work with. Oh, and blenders.. I bought one of those on amazon, too. It'd make a terrific resource for someone who finds the site and is interested in becoming vegan... to have links to all the best books, as selected by our members. I've personally spent at least three hundred bucks at amazon in the past year or so, and will probably continue to shop there, often based upon recommendations made in these forums. So, I'd like it if "up to 8.5%" of my future purchases (which I'll make anyway) benefitted our group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveliberate Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Good idea Michelle! That reminds me of yet anouther option we can all do - having VV07 dine-out's & buy-in's! Here's how it works: Contact a local restaraunt, grocery store or whatever & ask them to donate a certain percentage of sales from an event or day/week/month/forever to VV07. It can be a 1 time event or something that occurs regularly - say every Friday evening from 6 to 9. Then all you have to do is get your friends, family, allies & enemies to shop there & BAM: $$$$! It even works out well for the businesses from an economic standpoint because they get more customers, free advertising, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted January 27, 2007 Author Share Posted January 27, 2007 I did a dine out, a last minute thing for Vegan Holiday Festival, and we raised over $100 with nearly no effort...just a few announcements, phone calls and e-mails. We could do that once per month at a different restaurant and if we actually put effort into it, we're talking $250 or more per dine-out x 7 months = an addition $1750 dollars.......any other European members want to come?....I think we'd be able to afford a ticket if we get this kind of bling bling just from dine-outs alone!!!!! loveliberate....do you want to set this up? I've done it in the past but I'm trying not to to take on other things (as I'm a main organizer for VegFest, etc). I can set it up with some places since I go out so often, but if someone wants to be main coordinator that would be cool. If not, another PDX member could do it. Also, if others did it in their towns too. We're looking at thousands of dollars going towards a vegan celebration and if we have left over funds we can keep an account just for events like this and carry it over to next year. Michelle, great idea too. Let's get the ball rolling on some of these and we'll totally rock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted January 29, 2007 Author Share Posted January 29, 2007 I propose a meeting for this here in Portland. This weekend is pretty crazy for me. I'll be attending a wedding reception and working and have appointments, board meetings, etc. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'll also be in Hood River and out of town some other days too! But.....I say we get a few of us together soon, maybe early next week. loveliberate, xdarthveganx, davidtarrfoster, robert, and anyone else locally should attend. If we get ON this Fundraising stuff soon......we'll be laughing. We'll be all set by time summer comes and we'll help out a lot of people to get out here and we'll lower all of our own costs. Thanks! Please let me know what days are best. Sorry I'm so insane this week. Just lots to do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zack Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 I don't think it's a good idea. There will be a limited amount raised, and probably enough people will want it, and could cause argument and other trouble... The better idea is to fundraise and make it cheaper for everyone, that alone will help all of us and also some who couldn't do it otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted January 29, 2007 Author Share Posted January 29, 2007 That is the plan....to fundraise to make it cheaper for everyone.....I'm just proposing an idea for a few of us locally to get together to brainstorm ideas and get the ball rolling. Don't worry............I always see the big picture....we'll go in the right direction with this. Thanks and please feel free to share ideas too. We're just going to do a local brainstorm session since we're all friends and live nearby, but we'd love more ideas to work with. Thanks. We'll make it happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveliberate Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 My wife & I are both up for helping Robert, but dont want to commit to bottomlining anything right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigress Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Could you open a paypal account or similar so those of us far away can donate if we want to ? I think its a great idea to fundraise towards the cost of the whole event. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveliberate Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Great idea Tigress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigress Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Great idea Tigress! I do have them at times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xdarthveganx Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 you mean all the time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigress Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 you mean all the time? I was being modest lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted January 30, 2007 Author Share Posted January 30, 2007 Good idea to have a paypal account for fundraising. Thanks I have an account but I'd rather someone else keep track of money. I don't want to mix my business account with donation stuff. You all know how well organized I am! Yeah, I'm not good with stuff like that. As far as the meeting goes. I figure a bunch of us who all live near each other in Portland can get together for a brainstorming session at my house next week. You won't be expected to carrry out any tasks, just get ideas flowing as to how to get sponsors, food donations, equipment donations, raise money for the cost of the lodge, fuel travel, food, etc. during our trip. Let's meet at my house (street fighter II turbo, mortal kombat, mario kart, tetris, Vega Smoothie Infusion, and we can even sneak up and put stickers on each others' backs). Who's in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odidnetne Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 TETRIS?! I'm SO THERE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DV Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I am available every evening except Friday, but I'll leave the video games to the rest of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 Great! We'll figure something out soon. It's mostly an excuse to hang out and visit with each other, while helping me brainstorm ideas to make this event possible for a lot of people. Last year, as organizer I lost a bunch of money because I tried to do too much on my own, covering costs, paying for food for others, etc. This is NOT a money-making event for me. All money raised will help us get a place to stay, get food for the week, assist people with travel, etc. (as in a small amount to each person, rather than more to one person and less to another....therefore it helps everyone!). This is a community event. Other things like festivals I do will potentially bring in a bit of money for me, but it's a ton of work to put those things on so basically just getting honored for my time. This is about planning ideas to generate some "budget" funds for us to make it all posssible. Should be fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zack Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Whatever happens, Tiffaney must be there to make us all delicious meals, lets fundraise and send them for free!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 That is one option we're thinking of. And it makes sense and a lot of organizations do this. If someone offers to, or is willing to "work" during the Vegan Vacation, they will get a discount on costs. We all plan on chipping in, but some people may want to take on a large task and we'll reward them for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odidnetne Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Whatever happens, Tiffaney must be there to make us all delicious meals, lets fundraise and send them for free!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, when Tiffany cooks, screw raw foodism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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