Have a Yard Sale!
Have a Yard Sale!
If you're looking for an easy way to raise some money for a child's adoption grant fund, having a yard/garage sale is a great way to do it! "Yard-salers" are a true culture of their own! These folks are die-hards, and are out as early as the sun is up on Friday and Saturday mornings. TAP INTO THIS RESOURCE OF WILLING SPENDERS!!
A yard sale is a good way to clean your house of items you no longer use, and it raises money for one of our angels at the same time. It's even a fun family time! Involve your older children to help them choose items to sell! Let them help you at the sale too.
It's stuff you already have, so IT DOESN'T COST YOU ANYTHING.
If you advertise in the local newspaper, mark that it is for CHARITY, raising money for children with Down syndrome.
When you put your signs out on the main road and in your neighborhood, write CHARITY YARD SALE.
People will come and buy
something JUST BECAUSE it is for charity...the art of sales and marketing is
reaching your potential buyers psychologically
and touching their individual
sense of human compassion. "Ehh, I'll just get it, it's for charity"....
Put a message in your subdivision newsletter to let folks know about it ahead of time and ask if anyone in your community would like to donate items for sale.
Put a message in your CHURCH newsletter, same as above.
Invite your co-workers to come out for your yard sale! Let them know you'd love to see them and you hope they'll come, but if they can't, you hope they'll consider visiting the website and sponsoring a child themselves!
Whatever you don't sell can be boxed or bagged and given to Goodwill....those folks need help too.
With about 6 weeks of planning ahead, you can make for a really successful yard sale, and it won't cost you anything more than a couple of lines in the newspaper and one Saturday in your life. You could make it even more personal by designating ONE CHILD that all proceeds from your sale will go to. Late summer and early spring are the best times to start your planning. April, May, September, and October are the best months to hold a yard sale. So start NOW!
Put a colorful poster in your front yard that says CHARITY YARD SALE
Include a large, printed, color picture of the child you would like to raise money for
Include the Reece's Rainbow logo and a short few sentences about what we do (I can send you the jpg file for the logo, makes your yard sale seem more legit)
Offer to accept checks for purchases over $50 (make sure you have phone numbers, and have them made out directly to Reece's Rainbow)...so even if folks don't have cash, they can still buy what you've got!
Indicate that anyone who wants a tax deductible receipt for their purchases only needs to fill out a short form with their contact info and the amount they spent with you ( you just send these forms to me and I will send the receipts)
When people read the poster, or ask you about the charity you are raising money for, use that as an opportunity to TELL THEM (briefly). Connect with them by telling them you have your own child/children with Down syndrome, and that Reece's Rainbow raises money for other families like yourselves to be able to afford the cost of adopting children with Down syndrome. But THEN give THEM the opportunity to really connect with YOU by telling you their story about Down syndrome in their lives (if they have one). This helps to build a factor of trust, relationship, connection, and LONG-TERM SPONSORSHIP, not just a one-time donor at your yard sale.
Be sure to hand out as many of our Reece's Rainbow business cards as you can. That way, even if someone only spends $1, they will have a way to reach us for further donations if they so choose.
More questions? Ideas? Suggestions? Past experiences that I can share with the group?