Emergency Fundraising Ideas, Anyone?

[Chris in VA]

If you had to raise 200 dollars in the next 3 days, what would you do?

What about 3100 dollars in the next 7 days? Selling a house or car (or small child) not an option. Getting a loan, not an option.

Give me your best ideas.

[Kate in Arabia]

I don't know how quickly you could put it together, but when dh and I were trying to pay off some credit card debt in a hurry we needed a lump sum of, like, over $10,000 :( We knew someone who organized what she called a "bc club" (Don't know what the "bc" stands for). In essence you get ten people to commit to putting a set amount in the kitty each month, then you alternate who gets the money. For example, in our case it was $1000 per month. There were 10 people who all agreed to pay $1000 per month. So $10,000 in the "kitty" each month. She made a schedule, and each person in the group took a different month, so each month someone would take the kitty. Like if you were setting aside money in the bank each month, but this way you were helping out someone else who might need a lump sum sooner, kwim? If you knew you had to make a big car or tuition payment in three months, say, you could choose to have a later month.

 

Since you need $3000, you could get fewer people involved, or make it for a shorter time, lesser amt per month, whatever. It takes some organizing, and you need reliable people, but it worked for us. We did it three years in a row. The first two years, we took the last month in the first year and the first month in the next, so within the space of a couple of months we had a lump sum of $20,000 (of course, we still made our monthly $1000 pmts afterwards).. the third year the lady just needed someone to fill an empty spot, so we participated and took whatever month she had empty.

 

I hope this made sense. If you can get a group of people together you can trust, it really does work. I don't know if you can do it in the space of a week, though.

[*anj*]

For the $200:

Sell some jewelry.

Sell a tv set.

Sell your china or crystal.

Look around your house for things that are valuable, yet nonessential. Try to sell these things.

Last year we sold a bunch of old coins that we had, and dh sold some baseball cards. It helped.

 

The $3100 is harder.

Again, the only thing I can think of is to sell off some of your belongings (not including house, car, or kiddo!)

If it's important enough, you might want to consider selling your engagement ring/wedding band. You can replace them with fakes and then when you're back on your feet get real ones again.

 

Do you have a retirement fund that you could borrow from? I know you said you don't want a loan, but this is a little different.

Also, even though you said you don't want to sell your car, could you sell it anyway? Could you get rid of it and then buy something older and cheaper? (I can understand why you might not want to do that, but I'm just throwing out ideas.)

 

Do they still have places that buy blood plasma? Back in college that was always a good fallback.

[Mrs Mungo]

From your title it sounded as if you meant "fundraising" as in raising money for a cause. However, your post sounds like maybe it's for household purposes? In the latter case I would see what items I could possibly sell.

[Claire]

For the $200 in 3 days, I'm thinking a pawn shop (but only if I thought I'd have the money to redeem the items later). I've never actually used a pawn shop, but I know they take quite a variety of things -- sewing machines, musical instruments, jewelry, that could be lived without for awhile.

 

For the $3100 in 7 days, I'd probably borrow from siblings. If that weren't an option, I'd check any retirement savings plans to see if I could borrow against them, cash in a 401k, that type of thing. Without that, not sure what I'd do.......

[Aubrey]

What an interesting challenge. The one time that I needed money like that, though, I didn't have anything to sell, like some of the others have suggested. Dh & I looked at our bookshelves, thinking 1/2 Price books, & quickly came to the conclusion that we didn't have *that* many books, lol. (Although I wonder if we do now!)

 

So, for $200 in 3 days...sure I'd sell stuff if I could, but I don't think I'd use a pawn shop. I've never tried that, but...it seems...like one of those things that just wouldn't work out, kwim? I'd try a garage sale/Craig's list. We had a lot of luck selling big items on Craig's list over the summer. In fact, I've got a couple of pieces of furniture that in real desperation could together probably get that much...in 3 days? Maybe.

 

Assuming there's nothing to sell or that's already been done, I'd look for temp work. On dh's sch website, there are lists of odd jobs that people need done--one time babysitting, housesitting, yard work, etc. I'd start there. I bet Craig's list has something like this, too.

 

Now, $3100 in 7 days, I can't fathom, but let's see... that's just under $450/day. Could that be done, apart from the above? Hm.

 

I have an idea. What if you repost your question as a challenge? I'd be willing to try the $200 in 3 days for sure. $3100 in 7? Wow. I'd have to use my BIG imagination, which I'm afraid takes longer than this post. But then people could either a) use the $ for current major life crises, or b) address their lists on the wwyd w/ $1000 thread.

 

Sounds fun. And challenging. And like I wish I'd thought of it. I mean, all those little jobs that I see? I know that none of them solves long-term problems. They're complicated w/ 3 dc, 1 car, hs'ing, dh's work schedule, & being pg. But for something short-term? They make a great deal of sense! And if they work for short-term, why not long-term? (Other than that it's a really hard way to actually live, lol!)

 

Who's in?

[Chris in VA]

THanks, all.

 

Sigh. I have curriculum to sell first. Then, I don't know.