WAVES for Development - Surf and Volunteer in Peru

WAVES encourages all volunteers to organize fundraising activities to cover their project contribution. It is a great way to share with your family, friends, and colleagues what you will be doing while also spreading the word about WAVES. Our volunteers often end up raising more than the required $400 project contribution and are able to help the youth WAVES works with even more!

Of course, traditional fundraisers can be easy and very effective. However, often times a little creativity can make your efforts even more successful. Here are some ideas from past volunteers to get you started:

Email Campaign: A simple way to raise money is to send an email to all your friends and family asking them to support your volunteer trip to Peru to help youth living in coastal communities. Remember to send them a thank you email later with photos from your adventure.

Collect Pledges: A great way to collect money is by asking people to pledge money for you to complete a challenge. You can ask people to pledge a donation per mile that you run or walk, laps that you swim, or waves that you surf. Be creative, you can make anything a challenge!

Throw a Party: You can organize a party at a local bar, restaurant, or your home. Attendees buy a ticket to attend or for their meal. Get the restaurant to donate a percentage of all drinks sold. Some ideas for other ways to make money at your party:

Raffle: Selling raffle tickets is a great way to make money, especially at a party. First, ask businesses to donate prizes, you local surf shop is a smart place to start. Then, sell tickets before and during your event.

Auction:You can auction off donated items from local businesses or even a date or dance with one of your friends.

Photos:Some of our volunteers from Holland painted a large picture frame for their party. Then, they took attendees photos and sold them the pictures.

Dance Competition: Invite a few guests to participate in a dance competition. Place a hat in front of each contestant and tell guests they can vote for their favorite dancer by placing a donation in their hat.

Start a Contest: Organize a group of friends or coworkers to start a contest such as who can lose the most weight, quit smoking, or grow the best mustache. Everyone except the winner agrees to make a donation to your trip.

Hair Shaving: Everyone loves to watch people get their heads shaved. Organize a group of teachers or coworkers that are willing to shave their heads for WAVES and sell votes to determine who has to shave their head. Then let people do the shaving by paying for the opportunity to shave an inch.

Local Civic Organizations: Contact your local civic organization and offer to give a presentation on WAVES and the trip you are planning. Rotary, Kiwanis, and other volunteer clubs sometimes offer grants or help with fundraising.

Social Networking Campaign: Many social networking sites allow you to create a cause and collect donations from your friends and contacts.

Gift Matching: Many companies will match, sometimes even double what employees give to charities. Find out if your employer will contribute to your fundraising effort.

Fundraising Ideas