Lots of students earn the funding for their trips - you can too! Here are a few things other groups have tried. Don't forget, ACIS also sponsors a scholarship contest in art, photography and creative writing with prizes of $1,000 and $500 in each category.
Fundraising Ideas
Create a Recipe Book
Raffle Something Cool
Traditional Bake Sale
Car Wash
Bottle & Can Drive
Breakfast in Bed
Bake Pizzas
Hold a Marathon
Create A Recipe Book
Collect 50-100 favorite recipes for snacks, salads, dinner, desserts, or holiday food. Ask for neatly written or typed submissions on regular 8.5x11 paper, and encourage creativity with artwork on the pages. Be sure to make a nice cover page and a Table of Contents when all the submissions are in. Make 5 copies of each page to produce 5 demonstration books to show people and take orders. (Make as many copies as you need to fill the orders later.)
Binding the pages: Stack pages for each book and use a 3-hole punch on the left side of the stack (you may only be able to do a few pages at a time, but try to make sure all the holes are in the same place for each book). Tie colored string through each hole to bind pages together, or use 3-ring binders to hold the pages. Make a few extra books to sell at school or at local fairs and events. Be sure to charge enough for each book to cover your costs for supplies as well as make a profit.
Raffle Something Cool
Ask the creative people in your family if they would donate something homemade (paintings, artwork, quilts, knitted items, pottery, woodwork, fancy cakes or pastries) or offer your services (rake leaves, paint, mow lawns, do housework, wash cars, babysit). Display the item and make a poster to advertise the raffle; list your raffle item or service, ticket price, date of the drawing, and ACIS travel plans. Make up tickets on your computer or draw them on a sheet of paper to Xerox. Be sure to ask for name, address, and phone number so you can contact the winner afterwards. Sell as many tickets as you can at school or at local fairs and events - if you keep the price of tickets fairly low, people will tend to buy more. Note: Some schools or events may require you to get a raffle permit first. Be sure to ask around.
Traditional Bake Sale
Ask the other members of your travel group to participate by baking or cooking yummy homemade foods: cookies, brownies, fudge, candy apples, chocolates, cheesecake, pies, breads, fancy cakes and pastries. Ask your local grocer, craft fair coordinator, or sports coach if you can set up a bake sale table at their store or event. Artfully display the baked goods and make a poster to advertise your sale; be sure to mention your ACIS travel plans. You may also want to provide napkins or paper plates and sell drinks if it is a sporting event - coffee, hot chocolate, lemonade, and soda transport easily and go well with sweets. Make sure to bring plenty of change and one-dollar bills!
Car Wash
Ask the other members of your travel group to participate by spending a sunny weekend morning or afternoon washing cars with you. Choose a bustling section of town and ask a church leader, school principal, or store owner beforehand if you can use a small section of their parking lot and a water faucet for a fundraising car wash (offer to wash his/her car for free). Make some colorful posters to advertise the car wash - be sure to include the price. Bring a hose, some buckets, car soap, soft sponges, scrubbing pads, a squeegee, and drying towels. When you open for business, ask some of the group members to hold the posters up near the road and wave people in. Designate people to rinse, wash, rinse again, dry, and collect the money. Don't forget to set a rain date, just in case.
Bottle & Can Drive
Collect empty soda bottles and cans from people in your neighborhood and around town; most folks have bags of them sitting in their garage. Print a flyer about the drive a few days ahead of time and leave them in the mailboxes or front steps of the houses you plan to collect from. This will give people time to get their bottles and cans together. Make sure you let them know when you will be collecting and what your ACIS travel plans are - you could also ask them to leave the bottles and cans outside if they won't be home that day. Return the cans to your local grocery store. Many stores have automated machines for recycling, and will give you the deposit money back instantly.
Breakfast in Bed
Try this for Mother's Day or Father's Day. Make up baskets of bagels with cream cheese, a banana or orange, mug with a coffee and tea bag inside, and a danish or muffin. You could also include a magazine or a rose. Take orders in the weeks beforehand. Arrange for pickups that morning or charge more for delivery.
Bake Pizzas
Everyone likes pizza! Companies like Joe Corbi's Pizza can deliver freshly-baked pizza dough and pizza-making kits to your school—all the ingredients are included and the pizzas take under 10 minutes to bake. Take orders beforehand and have a blast as you and your friends try your hand at being Italian pizza chefs and raise money for your trip at the same time.
Hold a Marathon
Walk around a track, play soccer or chess, sing, dance, jump on a trampoline - any activity you can think of! You can do this by yourself or get the other members of your group to join in. Pledges are usually made by hours or miles.
There are so many ways you can raise money for your trip. If none of these sound appealing, have your Group Leader speak with your ACIS Tour Consultant about more ideas.
So... what are you waiting for? Get started now so you and your friends can experience the world.
