[Nfb-fundraising] So What's Your Chapter Working On These Days?

Fri May 4 13:06:14 CDT 2007

Michael, it is the Treasure Valley Chapter which is in Boise Idaho.
I think this is our ninth Cycle for Independence.  The first couple were 
pretty small, so it has grown gradually.  We have learned, often by trial 
and error, but it has become a fairly sophisticated project.  We use ham 
radio operators at water stops and in sag wagons, vehicles that cruise the 
routes in case of trouble.  We run three routes: 63-mile of metric century; 
25-mile; and ten-mile.  We serve lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs, etc., 
after the ride.  We will add boca burgers this year for vegetarians.  We 
have a local d.j. do the send off for each route.  We encourage 
preregistration, and about three fourths of the riders did that last year. 
We give all who preregister free bike socks, which are really bright this 
year.  We really work to include blind people on the back of tandems, but 
usually only get about six.  We will be on tv with the local weather man 
next Tuesday, which means getting people and bikes to the start/finish point 
before 5:00 a.m.  We use a local Lions club to do the lunch and another 
Lions club lets us borrow their tent which is 15 by 35 feet.  They put it up 
for us and take it down, but it saves our workers from the sun.  We are also 
using some volunteers from the Delta Gamma sorority for registration and 
some other things.  Of course, our chapter members are involved in 
everything.
We request local businesses to sponsor the event, and generally about 2500 
dollars come in that way.  Most of the money comes from the registration 
fees from the riders.
We provide water, powerade, bananas, and bars of some sort at the water 
stops.
We also give away goody batgs.  This year they will contain a coupon for 
coffee, a coupon for a free loaf of wonderful bread from Great Harvest 
bakery, a pen from a local ophthalmologist, baseball stuff from the Boise 
Hawks, mints, Braille cards, a flier about the NFB, and several fliers. 
Some more things may come in, but I know of these so far.
We give away prizes, winners drawn from the names of riders.  So far we are 
up to fifteen prizes this year, but there will be more.
We will have the Sensory Safari traylor parked at our start/finish point and 
some other activities of that kind.
In other words, it is a big deal.  We involve several riders in planning, as 
well as chapter members.  All this has evolved gradually, and it is a lot of 
work and a lot of fun!
One more thing, the Cycle for Independence is the first of five rides called 
the Treasure Valley Charity Bike Series.  That means we can do some shared 
advertising with the others. Our ride is the fourth largest of these, so we 
get contact with a lot of other riders this way.  At the urging of this 
group,  There is a local weekly publication aimed by the local newspaper at 
young adults.  This year it did a bike issue, and we bought a page of 
advertising for 385 dollars.  This is the first time we have paid for 
advertising, but we decided it was  the right place and the right time.
Ramona
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael K. Freholm" <mfreholm at blindnet.zzn.com>
To: "'NFB Fundraising Mailing List'" <nfb-fundraising at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 8:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-fundraising] So What's Your Chapter Working On These Days?


> Ramona,
> If you don't mind me asking:  What chapter are you in and how long have 
> you
> folks been doing the Cycle for Independence?
> Best,
> Michael K. Freholm
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-fundraising-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:nfb-fundraising-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ramona Walhof
> Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 4:23 PM
> To: NFB Fundraising Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Nfb-fundraising] So What's Your Chapter Working On These 
> Days?
>
> Everybody is working on the March for Independence!  Right?
> Our chapter is also in the final weeks of our Cycle for Independence. 
> Last
> year we had 259 riders, and we would love to have that figure increase. 
> So
> this is stress time.  We grossed more than 10,000 dollars last year, so it
> is a big effort.
> Ramona
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Everett Gavel" <EverettG at SuccessfulAdaptations.com>
> To: "NFB Fundraising Mailing List" <nfb-fundraising at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 12:13 PM
> Subject: [Nfb-fundraising] So What's Your Chapter Working On These Days?
>
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> So where is everyone?  Where's the networking, the
>> information-sharing, the cameraderie here--that helps
>> us all be better?  What are y'all working on this
>> month, this week, for your chapter?  Fundraiser?
>> Friendraiser?  Protest March?  Letter-Writing Campaign?
>> Anything?
>>
>> Our chapter here in Northeast Ohio is working on our
>> Spring Bowl-A-Thon.  It's coming up fast, on April 28.
>> We've got to begin workin on this Fall's Walk-A-Thon
>> right after that, for White Cane Safety Day & Meet the
>> Blind Month in October.  One of our members is also
>> involved with that Tri-state conference in
>> Pennsylvania, the "No Blind Child Left Behind
>> Conference.  Lastly, we've begun the process to hold a
>> Spaghetti Dinner to raise $2500 to send our local
>> center for the blind's Executive Director to the
>> Louisiana Center for the Blind for one week.   That's
>> all I can think of right now.  Anyone else care to chim
>> in with what they're doing these days, in regards to
>> promotion, fundraising, friendraising, etc.?
>>
>>
>> To Your Success!
>> Everett
>> www.everettgavel.com
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
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>>
>
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