Fundraiser Friday - Coin War

This week's Friday Fundraiser is a Coin War or Penny War. A Coin War is a fun and easy fundraising event with minimal costs and is great for an office, school or church - all you’ll need are a handful of buckets or jars to make this a very successful fundraiser! Everyone has change laying around, now they have a way to put it to good use. Bostson AIDS Africa quotes Elizabeth Goldberg, 9. "I like that we get to take extra change and give it to a good cause." Coin Wars also pull on people’s competitive drives by creating friendly competition. Recently a staff person from the NRC Picker office in Lincoln NE raised more than $700 for the American Liver Foundation through a Coin War by creating competition among each floor in the office. Everyone wanted to be part of the winning team, and it showed when the floor totals came in!

Instructions on conducting a coin war:

• Fundraising Ideas and Products Center
• Hope for Humanity’s Penny War

Success Stories:

• Berea Animal Rescue received a check from a school that raised $4,300 through a Coin War
• Farm Bureau & Friends Team raised $965.16 for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure
• Palo Alto High School collected more than 11,000 pennies, 377 nickels, 647 dimes, and 600 quarters with a donation total of $427.21
• BSSD StraightTalk raised $366.05 for their school

According to The UMKULO Zone “One of the most interesting revelations of doing the coin war is how the students react. Most who stop and ask what we’re doing have a very positive reaction...The problem is just getting them to stop and ask.” To combat this issue, be sure to promote the Coin War to everyone around the office before it begins so they will be prepared to participate right from the start. Send emails out to the team, post flyers in the break rooms, set the buckets out upside down the day before to remind people to bring in coins the following day when the competition opens and be sure to send out updates on top teams so each team will continue to stay engaged.