If you have some great fundraising ideas that you would like to share with fellow owners, please email your suggestions to
info@koaowners.org.
Submitted by Cardinal KOA
Our Campers Are the Best!
We are very, very fortunate to have a family campground where there are lots of generous parents and relatives who have all been touched by cancer in some way. Here are some of our successful events that we do to raise funds for Care Camps:
First there is of course the Ice cream socials held every Saturday and sometimes Sunday's on long weekends.
Then we have found that a BBQ is enjoyed by all so every year tickets are sold for a BBQ prize which we draw for at the end of the season. This year a Coleman travel BBQ (propane) with utensils is being raffled. Previous years we have raffled full sized executive BBQs. Our choice this year seems to be more popular. We got it with our Amex points. In previous years Home Depot has given us a large discount to assist us.
We have a 50/50 lady who sells tickets every weekend- she walks the campground from 2:00pm to 8:00pm every Saturday meeting the campers (on long weekends she does Saturday and Sunday) and tells them about care camps- 50% of the sales go to care camps and the other 50 to the winner - a lot of the winners then donate more money back to the cause.
Care Camps is advertised on our activity schedules. Bingo is very popular and a portion of our bingo proceeds goes to care camps and often those who win donate back (Dan talks it up when he is calling the numbers!) There are campers who love to donate gift baskets for which we sell tickets to the other campers for a chance to win.
The change bucket that sits on the counter encourages our staff to put all the small change left from selling stuff in the store into it.
We have a chip wagon and the tips that are left go to care camps- a sign on the chip wagon encourages people to donate their change. Of course there are our food sales (eg: hamburgers/hotdogs) with the proceeds going to care camps.
Each year we set a goal for the amount we want to raise for care camps and then we track where we are with our campers by posting the YTD numbers every weekend. They get very excited as the amount goes up, especially in late summer when we are starting to reach the goal. When we reach the goal we have a celebration and thank our campers for their generosity.
Our campers are always coming up with great ideas to raise $ and it is truly a group effort. We did not do this on our own; our campers are the ones that have made it possible. So thank you to all of our wonderful campers!
Dan & Karen Parent
Cardinal KOA Ottawa Canada
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Newburgh/NYC N KOA
Raising Money For KOA Care Camps
by: Karen Miller, Manager 845-564-2836 X 204
We were able to generate the funds by not only a one time generous donation of $2,000.00 but we also did have a local contributor Big Lots who donated seasonal merchandise in which we raised $152.50 on our Sidewalk Sale.
The rest of the donations came from Ice Cream Social, Care Camp Auction(it raised the most), Horse Races, Bingo, Poker Run, which was a 50/50 and the winner of the highest hand donated the $125.00 winnings back to Care Kamps, which was by the Maldenado Family.
Carolyn Wright heads up our Care Kamp Weekend and is very passionate about raising money for the kids for Care Kamps. She collects “goodies” all year long to auction off. As you can see what we do here is a big hit and our campers came with very generous hearts.
It all adds up to not only a good time for but for a good cause! Raised 4,267.50!!!!!
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FROM BOONE NC KOA
Our staffers here at the Boone, NC KOA were not satisfied with the fundraising effort during the Come Kamp & Care With Us Weekend, so we came up with an idea to supplement what we had already raised. The event was collaboration between all of us, but the original idea was put forth by Garry Horton (6th year KOA staffer). We decided to host a Hotdog Cookout for KOA Care Camps during the live music portion of our Memorial Day weekend Sunday night entertainment.
Our owner, Joan Harmon (pronounced Jo-Ann), jumped on board immediately, while Lindsay Carter (me) and Russell Paugh (2nd year KOA staffer) helped get things organized and made sure the campers knew about the event. Our seasonal campers, Bryce and Christine Winnett, helped out too. They actually used to manage the KOA.
As soon as word got out about our cause, some of our seasonal and daily campers decided to pitch in and help. Some made homemade chili and coleslaw, while others brought southern sweet tea, things that no hot dog cookout should go without! Tom and Donna Wogan (2nd year Work Kampers) made pounds of free popcorn and helped with the organization as well.
Leftover Bluegrass, a local band and favorite at the Boone KOA, played an outdoor concert while the KOA staff and volunteer campers served the hot dogs, chili, slaw, and all the “fixins”, accepting only donations for KOA Care Camps. We also handed out free popcorn to those listening to the music, and two of our familiar campers, Hannah and Sarah, even volunteered to put on a last-minute clogging routine!
Our turnout was incredible. We are a small campground, but we were able to raise around $500, which averages to $5 per site! Many campers spoke to us personally about their experiences with children with cancer and how much it meant to them that we were trying extra hard to raise money for the program. The event was a huge success, and will probably be made into an annual tradition!
Thanks for wanting to hear more about our story. We are proud of ourselves and felt like sharing this event with KOAs everywhere!
Sincerely,
Lindsay
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Biscuit And Bagel Breakfast Bonanza
Getting Started
This is a fun way to start your morning and raise money for KOA Cancer Camps. People love to eat and a good breakfast will kick the day off just right.
What To Prepare
Keep it simple. Choose some simple biscuit and bagel breakfast sandwiches to offer your buyers.
Work up a Menu that will offer:
- Bagel, Egg & Cheese
- Bagel, Ham, Egg & Cheese
- Bagel, Bacon, Egg & Cheese
- Bagel, Sausage, Egg & Cheese
- Biscuit, Egg & Cheese
- Biscuit, Ham, Egg & Cheese
- Biscuit, Bacon, Egg & Cheese
- Biscuit, Sausage, Egg & Cheese
Add an extra $1.00 for juice, coffee or milk. You may obtain the juice and milk from a wholesale club store or from a local dairy where you can get discounted individual servings. The wholesale club stores will also have individual packets of sugar and cream for the coffee. A winning request is to ask local restaurants like Burger King, Wendy's and McDonalds for donations of these items.
Keep the pricing reasonable. See McDonalds for comparable prices and then add 25 to 50 cents to the price if you will be delivering them.
Ask your local bakery or grocery store for donations or price breaks on the items you need. Contact food service and wholesale clubs for donations as well since they are often overlooked as a source for donated foods. Many times you may be able to purchase bagels and biscuits for pennies from local bakeries especially when you let them know what the fundraiser is benefitting.
Come up with a catchy name like Biscuits And Bagels Breakfast Bonanza. Call the radio stations and television stations with the news of your fundraising breakfast.
