Animal-loving kids can provide the energy and ideas to supplement your fundraising events to help homeless pets. If you don’t have a kids’ board of directors, organize one. Work with them on their ideas for the best ways to involve kids in your community. Here are a few ideas for kids plus links to more kid-related articles.
Kids and local businesses can partner to help animals. Local businesses often have a public relations/community project they work on throughout the year, typically for a nonprofit organization. They could act as a sponsor for kids’ events in terms of dollar donations or even a parking lot for a flea market run by kids, etc.
Raise money through kids’ classes, sports activities, or church groups. Students at Vernon Valley Karate Academy in New Jersey raised over $2000 for their local shelter with a Kick-a-thon called “a Kick for a Homeless Pet.” Over 20 karate students chose to push themselves and kick 100 hundred times each. Soccer teams, dance classes, or music schools could be champions for homeless pets.
Set up a Facebook page for homeless pets. Kids can compete on who gets the most fans or friends. They can find sponsors in your community to donate $1 for each fan of their Facebook pages.
Plan a dog run or walk. See How to Make a Dog Walk Successful which outlines what the annual Furry Scurry in Denver does to make their walks so lucrative. Older teenagers can plan these events and do much of the work under the direction of the local shelter.
Organize a kids’ camp that includes humane education, art, and outdoor activities with homeless pets. The Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society is sponsoring Critter Camp this summer. Kids ages 9 to 13 can attend five days of camp to help homeless pets. For a $225 fee, they learn to train dogs, complete art projects, participate in scavenger hunts, kitty classes, and more.
Raise money through school projects to help local shelters. Students are often required to complete a community-related project to complete graduation requirements. Fundraising for homeless pets could be one of these projects. See What Kids Can Do For Animals and Ways Shelters Can Involve Kids for ideas kids can use to help pets. Fundraising throughout the year that includes contests between classes would involve kids who might not otherwise get involved.
Set up fundraising pages through services like firstgiving.com. Kids can do this on their own or as a part of a group fundraising project. Firstgiving deducts a fee of 7.5% for this service and transmits payments electronically to your group weekly. Read the “help” page to learn how this service works. You can get an online fundraising page for any US nonprofit if it’s registered with GuideStar, the nonprofit database service. This service provides many social networking tools, including email to a friend and Facebook applications.