With HuskyTHON coming up in just a few days (March 4th), it is so important to make that last push for fundraising so you can see the final number on Night-Of and feel like you did everything in your power to make that happen.
For those who don’t know, HuskyTHON is a student-led organization here at UConn that raises money for Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC). This year-long fundraising effort all leads up to an 18-hour dance marathon where “miracle children” from Connecticut Children’s are invited to dance with and engage with UConn participants for the day. At the end of the day, a grand total is revealed, showing the amount of money that was raised for CCMC. This money goes into building facilities, paying medical bills, funding research, and so much more. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we all try to fundraise as much as we can to raise this money for the kids! Here are a few tips I have for fundraising:
- Facebook fundraiser
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A great way to put the word out there that you’re raising money is to create a Facebook fundraiser. Personally, a lot of my family is on Facebook, so this was beneficial in reaching this group of people. Besides posting your Donor Drive on your Facebook, you can also have your parents share it on their Facebook accounts to reach all of their friends who want to support the cause as well.
- CAnning
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Canning is another helpful tip I would give to anyone who is having a tough time raising money. The HuskyTHON team puts out an Excel sheet at 9:00 am on the first of every month with a list of places and times you can go canning locally. However, you don’t have to stick to this sheet! Feel free to call up restaurants, grocery stores, and shops to see if they’d allow you to go canning outside their store.
- instagram challenges
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This is probably my favorite way to entice my friends into sending me money for HuskyTHON. This is because you can make your Instagram challenge anything you want — the sillier the better! For example, I’ve posted a “send me a donation and I’ll post what fictional character you remind me of.” If you’re feeling really adventurous, you can do a challenge like “send me a donation and I’ll pie myself in the face.”
- Raffle off items
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Something I’ve seen a few people do this year is raffle off HuskyTHON merch or gift cards to Dunkin or Starbucks. This can be done on any form of social media, and the more the better to reach more people! At the end of the day, you can put everyone who donated into a random person generator which will decide who wins whatever you raffled off! This is a great way to get people who you don’t even know to donate to you because there is potentially something in it for them.
- Reach out to anyone and everyone
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This one seems obvious, but it doesn’t hurt to reach out to distant relatives, neighbors, or old teachers. You would be surprised at the number of people who want to support you and the great cause you’re supporting. Even if you don’t get a donation from them, at least you tried and you can move on to the next person.
If you try even one of these tips, I assure you that money will start to roll in fast! Night-Of is on Saturday, March 4th, so I encourage you all to get out there and do everything you can to fundraise as much as possible for the kids at Connecticut Children’s. They’re counting on us to help advocate and fight for them because we have the power to do so. So get out there and fundraise!