I have mixed emotions about fundraisers. On one hand, I hate asking for money and I hate how much overhead is involved with fundraising. So much money is lost on supplies or products. On the other hand, fundraisers are necessary to help support important programs and when done right can teach kids priceless lessons.

So last year when we were planning a Girl’s Camp Fundraiser, I came up with a great and easy way to raise money through a recycling drive. You would not believe how quickly the money adds up. Recently my friend used a recycling drive to raise money for an Eagle Scout project and was able to raise almost $500 with just her son working on it. The best part is that she didn’t have to ask anybody for money and her son was able to do a lot of the work himself.

The recycling drive is not only environmentally friendly but it also:

• Reduces overhead costs to almost nothing and you don’t have to worry about buying supplies or clearing out leftover inventory.
• Means that you don’t have to resell items for a part of the profit. The problem with reselling things like cookie dough is that so much of the money goes to somebody else. It is already hard asking people for money, it is even worse when so much of it goes somewhere else.
• Means that you don’t have to be apologetic about the outcome of the service. Anybody who has ever done a service project with the youth knows what I am talking about. It can be hard to get everybody to show up and to get a consistent result.
• Rewards those who work the hardest.

Tips on How to Run a Girl’s Camp Fundraiser Recycling Drive

1. Getting the families involved
Start out by getting the parents and young women on board and explaining to them how the process works. To do this we handed out the below letter to the families. It is also a good idea to remind them that the young women should be involved in this process as much as possible.

SAMPLE LETTER

To raise money for Girl’s Camp this year we will be holding a recycling drive. Every little bit adds up. We believe that by recycling aluminum cans and plastic water bottles throughout the year we can raise a significant amount for camp. It is also a great way to raise money without putting a burden on ward members’ resources. But a lot will depend on how excited we can get people about bringing in cans.

What we need from you:
It is really easy, just try to bring in as many cans and bottles as you can! We will be collecting them before church every Sunday in the parking lot. Young Women and their families can help encourage neighbors, friends, and family to contribute their cans and bottles. We will also be providing fliers and signs that ward members can use to help them collect more cans.

Here are some ideas for collecting cans:

• Save the cans and bottles you use at home.
• Pass out fliers to your neighbors asking them to help contribute cans.
• Set up a trash can to collect cans where you work.
• Ask friends and family to save their cans for you.

How to earn MORE money:
Every week we will need a young women’s family to take the cans from church on Sunday and have them recycled. Those families who sign up will earn 75% of the money earned from that week to go into their daughter(s) personal camp fundraising account. We will be passing out a sign up sheet. Only sign up once until everybody else has had a chance to do it.

It is super easy. Here is what you would need to do:
1. On Sunday there will be a plastic bin in the parking lot over by the church’s trash bins where people can dump their cans. That way we don’t have cans stacking up in front of the church door.
2. At the end of church, gather up the cans and take them to be recycled later in the week at your convenience. You can either feed your cans into the machine one by one (you can usually get more money that way) or have the person there weigh it. You will have to sort the cans and bottles into separate tubs.
3. Give the money and the receipt to ________________ the following Sunday. So easy!

Smart Tip: If you sign up for a week, you may want to do an extra big push on that week to get as many cans and bottles as you can as you will be getting a portion of the money earned! And if you collect cans on your own, you will receive 100% of the money earned.

If you have any questions, contact _____________________________.

2. Have families sign up to pick up the cans
You will want to make sure that there is somebody signed up for each week. We used the below sign up sheet to do this. You can also put some of the older young women in charge of making sure people are signed up.

SAMPLE SIGN UP SHEET

Girl’s Camp Recycling Drive Sign Up

How to earn MORE money:
Every week we will need a family to take the cans from church on Sunday and have them recycled. Those families who sign up will earn 75% of the money earned from that week to go into their daughter(s) personal camp fundraising account. This will be the first round, we will have additional opportunities to sign up on the second round. Only sign up once until everybody else has had a chance to do it.

It is super easy. Here is what you would need to do:
1. On Sunday there will be a plastic bin in the parking lot over by the church’s trash bins where people can dump their cans. That way we don’t have cans stacking up in front of the church door.
2. At the end of church, gather up the cans and take them to be recycled later in the week at your convenience. You can either feed your cans into the machine one by one (you can usually get more money that way) or have the person there weigh it. You will have to sort the cans and bottles into separate tubs.
3. Give the money and the receipt to ________________ the following Sunday. So easy!

Smart Tip: If you sign up for a week, you may want to do an extra big push on that week to get as many cans and bottles as you can as you will be getting a portion of the money earned!

If you have any questions, contact ______________________________________.

Date : ___________________________________________

Date : ___________________________________________

Date : ___________________________________________

Date : ___________________________________________

Date : ___________________________________________

Date : ___________________________________________

3. Get the ward involved
We announced the fundraiser before a fifth Sunday third-hour meeting so that we could get as many people as possible. We started by providing an incentive to collect cans – a free photo shoot – but found that it was too hard to keep track of how many cans the families were bringing in. Plus, the incentive didn’t seem to make that much of a difference.

Here is the flier we printed and handed out: Recycle Drive Flier (PDF)

We soon learned that our most valuable resource was working ward members. Many were willing to take a recycle bin with them to work and brought in hundreds and hundreds of cans. This was easily our biggest source of funds.

Here is the sign we made for them to use when collecting cans: Download Recycle Bin Sign (PDF)

4. Keeping it running
The program requires very little work, but you do have to be consistent. It is a good idea to provide periodic reminders to ward members and occasionally hand out the fliers again as a reminder. You will also want to make sure you have somebody signed up to collect the cans each week. We found that we could easily keep the program running with about 30 minutes of work by a leader a week – much less time than it takes to organize bigger fundraisers – and the time commitment was spread out over several months.

5. Going the extra mile
We didn’t have a chance to do this, but it would make for a good young women’s activity. Plan a night where the young women visit different neighborhoods to hand out door fliers explaining the recycle drive. The next week, go back to pick up the cans. You can make it a contest to see which group gets the most cans and then have a prize for the winner. Here is a door flier you could use: Download Door Flier (PDF)