Give your friends, family, co-workers and others a meaningful and fun way to show their support of the troops and their families through an event. At the same time, you are raising awareness of the work the USO of Hampton Roads and Central Virginia carries out to benefit our men and women in uniform.
A fundraiser can be as easy as hosting a Jeans for GIs day at your work or charging a late fee when someone is late for a meeting/class or setting up spare change collection jars.
We greatly appreciate the successful events that kids, teens and adults have hosted across the country. Need some ideas for events that would appeal to the people you know? Keep reading below!
Once you have your idea and event planned, don’t forget to let us know so we can support your event if needed!
Still not quite sure? Contact our office for additional guidance and advice!
For schools and kids
- Host a school dance with the door money going to the USO.
- Candy sale. Buy candy from Costco, BJs or Sam’s Club and sell at retail prices with profits going to the USO.
- Take a collection at the football, basketball or baseball game right after the national anthem or during the 7th inning stretch.
- Set a week and to collect change each day—pennies on Mondays, nickels on Tuesdays, dimes on Wednesdays, quarters on Thursdays and dollars on Fridays. The class that raises the most money that week receives an ice cream social (or something special for the class.)
- Flower sale. Get flowers donated or at wholesale cost from a local flower shop and sell them as gifts to others.
- Fatigues Day. No, not, I’m too tired to go to school day, but for a fee, students can wear their favorite fatigues/camo to school.
- Ask a WWII or Vietnam Vet from the local American Legion or VFW to come and tell their story—and their experience with the USO—and then kick off a spare change collection campaign.
- During March madness, students can wear their favorite team’s colors/logos for a fee.
- Fountain coin collection. Go to your local mall and ask them if they will donate the coins collected for a specific month to the USO. The students will need to wrap the coins for the bank.
- Swear jars.
- Car washes.
- Coin Collection on corners.
- Lemonade stands
- Set up a local fashion show with proceeds going to the USO.
- Pick something at the school store where a percentage of the proceeds will go to the USO.
- Ask your local favorite hangout to give a portion of the proceeds to the USO.
- Ask your local nail salon to come up with a cute red white and blue toe decoration and donate the proceeds to the USO.
- Ask your cafeteria to set up a certain entrée and the Military Mash (or whatever) and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of that entrée goes to the USO.
- Charge a late fee: Every time a student is late or is turning something in late, they can pay a “late fee” rather than detention and the “late fee” goes to the USO.
For your club, church, or organization
- Host a spaghetti dinner or a pancake breakfast and invite the community to join you.
- Host a car wash and ask the location to match what you raise.
- Ask for a second collection at your place of worship—to support the troops and their families.
- Partner with a flower wholesaler and sell flowers at Mother’s Day, Valentines Day, etc.
- Ask if you can work at your local sport team’s concession stand with a percentage of the proceeds going to the USO.
- Ask your local bar to guest bartend and give you part of the door fee on a slow night and you promote it to your members and their friends.
- Host a Bowl-a-thon and recognize the top fundraisers as well as the top bowlers, teams, etc.
- Host a Cook Off—whether it’s chili, pies, etc. Invite the public to pay an entry fee to be in the contest and charge admission and/or tasting fees to those who want to come to the event.
- Challenge your members to come up with ways they can raise money through their businesses and business connections—and recognize the top fundraising member.
- Hold a book sale. Have members bring in their old novels and set up a day to sell them. Whatever is left can be donated to a local library.
For your Friends, Neighbors and Extended Family get your club or organization involved
- Host a spaghetti dinner or a pancake breakfast and invite the community to join you.
- Host a car wash and ask the location to match what you raise.
- Ask for a second collection at your place of worship—to support the troops and their families.
- Partner with a flower wholesaler and sell flowers at Mother’s Day, Valentines Day, etc.
- Ask if you can work at your local sport team’s concession stand with a percentage of the proceeds going to the USO.
- Ask your local bar to guest bartend and give you part of the door fee on a slow night and you promote it to your members and their friends.
- Host a Bowl-a-thon and recognize the top fundraisers as well as the top bowlers, teams, etc.
- Host a Cook Off—whether it’s chili, pies, etc. Invite the public to pay an entry fee to be in the contest and charge admission and/or tasting fees to those who want to come to the event.
- Challenge your members to come up with ways they can raise money through their businesses and business connections—and recognize the top fundraising member.
- Hold a book sale. Have members bring in their old novels and set up a day to sell them. Whatever is left can be donated to a local library.
For Employees, Departments and Offices: water cooler
- Jeans for GIs each Friday for a month. Ask your colleagues to pay for the privilege to wear jeans on Fridays (or whatever day) for a $5 donation to the USO. You can download stickers to show your pride.
- Penny Wars/Jar Wars. Pick a specific week and ask your co-workers from each department to contribute their spare change into their department’s coin jar. At the end of the week, the department that raises the most money wins a prize.
- Host a work luncheon. Ask the local pizza or sandwich shop to donate lunch and charge a $5 fee.
- Host an ice cream social with the CEO and other executives serving the ice cream! Employees make a donation to the USO in exchange for a hot fudge sundae served by their boss!
- Ask your vendors to participate. Ask them to donate items for a raffle or auction. Or ask them to match what your office is raising! Or better yet, challenge them to a fundraising duel!
- Put together baskets of treats to raffle or auction off. They can be sold at any major holiday. You can also sell them at local shopping centers.
- Guess the number/weight. Put a quantity of items in a jar and ask people to pay to guess how many there are, or how much it weighs. You can put a bunch of wine corks into a big jar and ask colleagues to guess the number. The one closest to the number receives a bottle of wine donated from your local wine store.
- Host a 50-50 raffle or a Bag of 20s. The winner receives half of the money collected. The other half is donated to the USO.