In this issue... Front & Center Jerry Thacker Yellow Pages Advertising for the Novice Marjori Masitto Krause The Perilous Pursuits of Stem Cell Research Mark B. Blocher Responding to NARAL's Attacks Thomas A. Glessner Learning to Love Debra O'Leary Nickel-and-Diming It for Life Dinah Monahan The Joys of Fundraising M. Thomas Lothamer, with Michele D. Shoun Choices! Laura Baker Marketing 101 Jerry Thacker PHOTO BY TERRY WILD STUDIOS By Dinah Monahan I am convinced that crisis pregnancy centers achieve the greatest impact for the least amount of dollars of any helping ministry in the country. Walks for Life, banquets, silent auctions, and golf tournaments are all staples in the pro-life pantry of fundraising. While these can be very productive, they require a tremendous amount of work and time. There is a new fundraiser, however, that is proving to be very fruitful with minimal effort: The Baby Bottle Fundraiser. Our clinic in the small, rural town of Show Low, Arizona, recently finished our baby bottle fundraiser which we called "Change for Life." At local churches, the baby bottles were given out one Sunday morning, and the congregations were requested to take them home, fill them, and return them to church six weeks later. When the bottles came in and the change was counted, we were amazed by the results. We raised $13,000! This fundraiser is ideal for both large and small centers in metropolitan or rural settings. This is how we did it. Laying a foundation We sent out letters to all the Christian churches in the area and established church liaisons in each. Each liaison received a letter, clearly detailing what she should do in this fundraiser: Coordinate the six-week fundraiser in her church Put up posters and get our flyer into her church bulletin Give a short presentation to her church on the appointed Sunday Arrange for the bottles to be distributed Each week remind her congregation to fill their baby bottles and to return them on the last Sunday Collect the baby bottles and bring them to us in a container labeled with her church's name Getting prepared One of the challenges was figuring out how many baby bottles we would need. After getting the church commitments, we added up their total membership. We then deducted 25% from the total. The membership of the 25 committed churches totaled approximately 2,600, so we needed 2,000 baby bottles. Finding supplies We called baby bottle manufacturers and were told we could purchase bottles at wholesale in lots of 20,000. After looking around, we ended up where we usually do—at Wal-Mart! They agreed to give us a 10% discount. (Your local Wal-Mart might not agree to a discount.) Gerber bottles, which come in a three-pack in pastel colors, cost us $1.69 a pack or 56 cents each. As it turned out, this was comparable to the wholesale cost. We special-ordered 2,000 bottles and wondered what we had gotten ourselves into! We taped a label onto each bottle to remind people of the return date. We scanned a photo of one of our babies and wrote the following next to the photo: "CHANGE FOR LIFE. Your spare change can make a difference in the lives of so many mothers and children. Please fill me up and return me to church by Feb. 25th. Women's Choice Pregnancy Clinic and Hope House Maternity Home." Giving the presentation At each church, the liaison gave a short presentation about our ministry. Our brochure was in that week's bulletin. The speaker then outlined the Change for Life fundraiser. At some churches, baskets of bottles were passed around for people to take. Other churches handed out the bottles at the back of the sanctuary as people left. Members of each family were encouraged to participate individually. Every Sunday, the liaison encouraged people to fill their baby bottles. Some churches had contests. One youth group challenged the adults to match or exceed their 100 filled bottles. If the adults succeeded, the youth would treat the congregation to doughnuts after the service. The youth won by one bottle! Some churches had Sunday school contests or contests that pitted the men against the women. Competition definitely sparked enthusiasm and increased the return. Wrapping it up The real challenge of this fundraiser is counting the money. Of the 2,000 bottles that were distributed, about 1,500 were returned. (They are still straggling in.) We were careful to keep each church's bottles separate because they wanted to know how much money they raised. We took the change to the bank and put it through their counter. (Not all banks will do this.) Another possible solution is to find a friendly company that deals in change (such as a vending machine company) and use their machine for sorting and counting. Conclusion As a veteran of fundraising for more than twenty years, I am impressed by the success of this fundraiser. This project seems to generate enthusiasm on its own. Maybe it's the baby bottle itself that evokes warm fuzzies in all of us, or maybe it's the fact that people don't have to go anywhere or do anything. Nonetheless, everyone loved this fundraiser. Participants took the bottles to work, to their women's groups, to family members' homes, to their hairdressers' shops, door to door, etc. Some churches asked if they could have their bottles back as an ongoing project. Other churches couldn't do the project in January but insisted on rescheduling. Our investment next year will be minimal because we already have most of the bottles. We still do the Walk for Life and the yearly banquet. But hour for hour, dollar for dollar, our Change for Life Fundraiser yields the most for the least amount of time and effort invested. It certainly gives a whole new meaning to "nickel-and-diming it!" ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dinah Monahan is the founder and Executive Director of Women's Choice Pregnancy Clinic and Hope House Maternity Home. She and her husband own Heritage House '76. She can be reached at dinah@cybertrails.com or by writing to The Heritage House '76, 919 South Main Street, Snowflake, AZ 85937.