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On November 18th, 2014, Cheryl Peterson, BMO Harris Bank presented Jake Hess, CAMDEN Treasurer and Sherry Kuelz, CAMDEN President, with a check for $5,000. THANK YOU BMO HARRIS BANK, for such a generous donation!
In other news, Janesville Community Fund has pledged $10,000. towards the rebuild of CAMDEN Playground, a big THANK YOU to the Janesville Community Fund. These two donations put CAMDEN Foundation over the $30,000 mark to receive $70,000 from the City of Janesville towards the rebuild and close to 1/3 of the way to our final goal of $360,000.
And on December 17th, just in time for Christmas, we received a $500. check from National Mutual Benefit. This is a big boost for the playground and we thank you.
Please remember, if everyone in Janesville donated $1, we would have $63,000 more, so please, help us rebuild Janesville's most popular playground, CAMDEN Accessible Playground, and keep the dream alive for future generations!
Fundraising is a large part of what needs to be done prior to building an accessible playground. During the time of the planning of Camden Playground it was discovered that the equipment which was accessible was more expensive. This is mainly due to the extra work to build them, and the extra materials needed, but once completed, its worth the extra expense.
There are many ways in which to raise money for projects such as this, actual fundraisers, grants, donations, and if you dig deep enough, you will find that there are many people who will give to accessible playgrounds. People are generous as long as you ask and recognize
their generosity.
CURRENT FUNDRAISERS TO HELP REBUILD CAMDEN PLAYGROUND
After 22 years, we've found that this wonderful playground is in desperate need of a rebuild to keep it around for generations to come. Below is listed a place where you can donate (cash, check, credit card) to the playground rebuild, and current fundraisers we have going on. please contact us at camdenplay@hotmail.com and we'll get right back to you.
<<<---- Currently, CAMDEN Foundation has several fundraisers going on:
JAN 31, 2016: Meat Raffle, Willowdale Tavern, Hwy. 11 West, 1 pm. Join us for some great fun including Basket Raffles, and 50/50's! Take Rockport Road out to Hwy 11, and Willowdale is on your left when you're at the stop sign. OR Court Street turns into Hwy. 11 West of the city, follow that out and Willowdale is just past Rockport Road, on the left.
DEC 21, 2015: And the winner is...... Travis Bartz, Janesville. Travis won the Quilt, and a huge congratulations to Travis.
After leaving a message on his phone, Travis stopped by. He'd said he'd listened to his messages as he drove in the driveway after work. It was such a pleasure to meet Travis, we're very happy for him! Merry Christmas, Travis.
Also, thank you, Deb Duncan for selling the winning ticket!
The Quilt Raffle brought approximately $675.00 to the playground rebuild and we'd like to thank EVERYONE who purchased tickets. THANK YOU ALL!!
Quilt with tickets sold
Look at all those tickets.
Heath Pieper, McDonald's Gen Mgr, drawing the winning ticket Dorothy Knutson, CAMDEN Member holds the box.
The winning ticket.
Winner, Travis Bartz with the quilt and stand
Heath Pieper, McDonalds Gen. Mgr;
Travis Bartz, winner,
Sherry Kuelz, CAMDEN Pres.
LITTLE KNOWN FACT: Since 1990 the South Central Wisconsin Harley Owners Group has supported CAMDEN Playground with a fundraiser every year; and a while back the Ladies of Harley started a Silent Auction on the same day. This fundraiser brings between $3,000-$5,000 a year for the CAMDEN Accessible Playground, and is our ONLY fundraiser every year until this year when we started raising money for the rebuild of the playground.. This is also SCWHOG's longest running fundraiser; 25 years in 2015.
This is one of the first check presentation by officers and members of the SCWHOG to CAMDEN Foundation:
<<<--- Please send donations to JANESVILLE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SO WI, 26 S. JACKSON ST, JANESVILLE, WI 53548 WITH CHECKS WRITTEN OUT TO "GENERATIONS FUND CAMDEN. ANY DONATIONS SENT THERE WILL RECEIVE A MATCHING DONATION OF $2.
You can also send them to any JOHNSON BANK in Wisconsin, but make sure your address includes the name c/o Jake Hess. . To donate, please send any donations to any Johnson Bank, along with a note that it is to be put into the CAMDEN Playground fundraiser account. REMEMBER any donations are tax deductible.
FUNDRAISING
Fundraisers come in many shapes and forms. The many which we tried included a bowl-a-thon, a snowball tournament, cowpie bingo, a beach party, craft sales, bake sales, candlelight ski, run-walk-roll race, and auctions. I will go through each fundraiser and tell which was the most successful for us.
BOWL-A-THON: Talk to local bowling alleys, they will sometimes donate the use of lanes for this fundraiser. The bowlers will then get people to sponsor them, either per pin, or a flat fee. HINT: We have tried both ways, and the flat fee is much easier to keep track of because you dont have to keep track of pins knocked down. Have the bowlers bring the money in, that are flat fees, the day of the event. Get small prizes donated for things like each "turkey" bowled (3 strikes in a row), splits gotten, or strikes. Small things like free food at a local fast food restaurant. Raffles of different items can go on during the event, things like dinners or other items. Then at the end, put each bowlers name in for a drawing and let each person draw a number which will correspond to a prize. Having a large raffle prize is great too, and sell tickets for that. We used a small color tv, donated by a local store. This type of fundraiser takes little effort if you get a committee together to help.
SNOWBALL TOURNAMENT: This is a lot of fun, and its something that can be done in the winter. It involves asking local law enforcement agencies and fire departments for participation. A snowball tournament is simply a softball tournament done in the snow. If you are in the north, this is easy to do, just paint a softball neon orange, and "have a ball". Eight or nine person teams with a fee per team, trophys as prizes, makes this a very good fundraiser. You can sell coffee and hot chocolate, food during the games, and its a lot of fun, not only to play, but watch. For those where there is no snow, you can have a softball tournament, you will raise money that way also.
BARNYARD BINGO A twist on the old bingo, this one was done during our beach party, and CANNOT be rigged. A cow is released into a fenced in area which is marked with 20 squares with numbers on each. The people buy a square for $5.00 each and whatever number the cow "leaves its pie" on wins. If there are two numbers, then the money is split. Farmers are many times willing to lend the cows for the day. We were able to hold 3 such contests throughout the beach party, and people loved watching and waiting. You give back whatever amount of money you wish, I believe we did a fourth of what we earned during each game.
BEACH PARTY Get bands to donate playing time, sell food, tickets to get in, and hold contests with inexpensive prizes and hold a raffle, this fundraiser is GUARANTEED fun and will make you money. Having a small entry fee for the contest helps, but is not always necessary. We have a couple that were a quarter a contest, but was lots of fun to watch. These included a dance contest in which we crowned a king/queen-prince/princess of the party, a childrens fishing pond, an "anything that floats" raft race, a sand sculpture building contest, a sand volleyball contest, and a greased watermelon race. Fun was had by all, but remember to have a rain date set up. Again, get donations of prizes from local businesses to help out.
CRAFT OR BAKE SALES This is something which the entire organization can help with. During christmas or easter are good times to find a mall or store and set up a table to sell baked goods or craft goods. The bake sales we held were very successful.
CANDLELIGHT SKI This is another fundraiser that will work with or without snow, as I'll explain later. A cross country ski done at night along a trail of candles...its beautiful, and easy to do. If you lack snow, then do a candlelight walk instead. At the end, donations are taken at the door plus food and drinks were sold. To increase the beauty, plan it during a full moon.
RUN-WALK-AND ROLL RACE This was a race for runners, walkers, and those in wheelchairs. Many people turned out for this event which had a $10.00 entry fee. Prizes were given for first, second, and third place winners in each category. A trophy was presented to the first place winners and all entrants received a packet with food certificates donated from local restaurants, and ribbons just for entering. Make sure you alert the police department, and news media, and put people in places where the entrants will have to cross roads. Put up plenty of signs warning motorists and check with the city or police for the safest race route.
AUCTION This is a lot of fun and was one of our largest fundraisers. The playground raised over $6,000.00 after expenses from this event. We had collectors items such as autographed baseballs, footballs, basketballs donated from teams around the US, we also had original paintings and signed prints donated from local artists, items from actors and actresses autographed, and many items from local merchants. We sold food and drink during this time and added to the money raised. Its a lot of work, but well worth it.
Another hint, when doing ANY fundraiser, ALWAYS and i stress this, ALWAYS make sure you write a personal letter to each person who donates prizes, gifts, etc. This is so much more important then many people realize and our treasurer spent many hours doing this, but its well worth it. Also place thank you's in the "letter to the editor" in local newspapers, on radio, wherever you can, it really helps. Also, think about giving plaques or certificates to those businesses or organizations that donate. To do a raffle, remember, you must have a raffle license. This is available for a small fee, from the Department of Raffles and Licensing or Gaming Commission in your state. Contact them for more information.
Your project can raise money by sending out proposals to local trusts or foundations. Contact your local government about community block grants which may be available or go to the local library and look at the many state and federal foundation directories. These books are very helpful and will tell you the type of projects they give to, how much, who to contact, when the deadline is and a lot more valuable information. Check local banks and credit unions for "undesignated" trust funds and how to apply for them. Ask local businesses if they have foundations. Hit all the news media to get exposure. There is so much you can do to raise money, just go for it, and never give up.
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