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I am curious about what other guilds do for their fund raisers.

How do you get everyone to participate?

If making a quilt to sell or raffle how do you deal with different skill levels and still make sure you have a worthy quilt when it,s finished?

Any tips or advice?

What does your group generally raise money for? Trips? Charities? Prizes?

I would like to hear any comments you may have on the subject.

Thanks.

We've alternated things year to year so it doesn't get boring. One year was a "flea market" and an auction. This year its raffle quilts (but only among our members). Our workshops sometimes make some money, depends on who's teaching. If its someone in the guild, they normally donate the fees to the guild. But all workshops must pay for themselves.

Frankly, we try to be reasonable with fundraising, and not have our lives consumed by it. Sometimes that means we have to be creative with programs or speakers, but we'd rather that than always and forever be chasing money.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Florida Farm Girl,

Our local guild makes an Opportunity Quilt once or twice a year & takes them to local quilt shows & festivals. Instead of everyone making a block, one or two individuals make the quilt. They are given a budget to work with.
Their best fundraiser is an American Girl doll. Everyone who wants to makes clothes all year. Husbands work on a clothes rack & bed. They draw tickets right before Christmas, so the winner gets the doll, all the clothes, accessories, furniture & everything. Some really get carried away making outfits - rain slickers, bridal gowns, Halloween costumes, poodle skirts...
They use the money raised for scholarships & rent/overhead.

My guild raises money different ways -

Monthly birthday table - every month, those with bdays bring items to raffle for 25 cents a ticket (FQs, tools, books, kits, etc.) $20-$25/month.

Every other month lotto blocks - kits with block instructions and a common fabric piece are sold for $1-$2 and a chance to win all the blocks. $50-$100

Annual Chr***mas quilt top drawings - block instructions and a common fabric are sold for $2.50 with a chance to win one of 6-8 completed tops at the holiday party. Instructions are sold beginning with the July meeting; blocks returned in Aug get 3 chances, Sep 2 chances, Oct 1 chance. Extra chances are earned for participating in top construction days. $500-$750

Annual auction - donated fabric, tools, books, patterns are collected thru the year and the committee assembles baskets and kits to be auctioned at Oct meeting. $1000-$2000

A quilt top made by the board members is raffled yearly. $100-$200

Fine for not wearing your fiber name tag to meetings is 25 cents. $10-$15/year

Money raised is used to defray the cost of national teachers, and donation to the ch**ch where we meet.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ekbuckeye,

We do an annual raffle quilt, too. Someone (one - two - more) from guild designs it & oversees the construction. Sometimes they ask for volunteers with particular skills if the quilt calls for a certain technique (hand applique, for instance). If pieces can be "straight seamed," they often hand out pre-cut fabric packs & construction instructions for those willing to help. With a very large guild, that's an easy way to get a quilt made without any one member having to do too much of the sewing herself. The pre-cut fabrics and detailed instructions also help those who may not have a lot of quilting experience. We have numerous LA quilters in the guild, so someone always volunteers that service. Everything to do with the raffle quilt is on a volunteer basis, and enough volunteers always seem to step forward. Getting people to participate isn't a problem. We have some energetic leaders, too, who are always able to "rope in" more volunteers if needed!

we hold a minature quilt bingo once a year, profits range from 5,000-6,000. We have been doing this for 6 years now. Also have a raffle quilt every year, participation is open to everyone

Our guild can only do raffles within the guild among our members since we are not a registered Non-Profit in Michigan...The fines are substantial and tax consequences. We do 50/50 raffles all within and do a flea market,each member has a booth to sell quilting stuff and a certain percentage of sales are donated back to the guild.

Thanks for the info and good ideas ladies.
I have been in this guild about 2 years and it's the only one I've ever belonged to. Now I find myself with a "title" but not much experience to draw on.
You all have been very helpful!