RAISING MONEY FOR CHARITY

Two natural disasters rocked Asia recently - a cyclone in Myanmar, and an earthquake in China, which brings me to the topic of raising money for charity.

Raising money for charity is essentially about earning money for a cause you believe in. And you're never too young to start helping out with various causes. But how do you go about it?

First, find a cause that you personally find worthy, and can get excited about.

Then, contact organisation or organisations that work within that area. Find out whether they have existing fundraiser projects that you can join. That is a good way to start -- to join others who are already experienced in fund-raising.

Read up on how to organise fundraisers and how others have successfully done so.

Once you gain some experience, try coming up with creative projects for raising money. You are likely to raise more if your fundraiser moves people in some way, or creates a dramatic impression. For example, if you're working on a charity for pets, you might want to organise a pet competition so that you can get pet-lovers together, and tell them about all the good your chosen charity is doing.

Submit your proposal to your charity, and gain approval. People are more likely to donate if they know you are officially affiliated to the charity.

And don't forget to advertise your event. Get your friends and family to pass out flyers. Ask if your local community newspapers will put your event in their listings. etc. etc.

Make sure you plan and organise your event so that it runs smooothly. You'll have to calculate how many people you need to take care of booths, games, competitions, etc, and source for volunteers. You'll also have to remember to train your volunteers. Also, since your main objective is to raise funds, make sure you have persuasive people in charge of talking about the charity and collecting donations. You may also want to approach local businesses to sponsor prizes, etc. in return for acknowledgements in flyers or billboards at your event. Approach your local media to see if they're interested in covering your event -- that could give valuable publicity to your charity.

Lastly, at the end of the event, keep a careful account of how much has been collected and arrange for it to be delivered to your charity.

Are you thinking now that raising money for charity is really not much different from starting a business? You're right. When you raise money for charity, you're learning all the different skills that you'll need to succeed in the business world.

MONEY-EARNING IDEAS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

I thought I'd talk about earning money this week, following on from my article on Compound Interest which highlights the fact that the earlier you start accumulating money, the more you stand to gain from your savings.

To add to your savings, you can do more than rely on on your allowance. Some common ways of earning money for young people:

1. Baby-sitting.
People would be relieved to have someone help out and take care of their young kids once in a while so that they can take a break, or run out to do some errands.

2. Doing chores for family and neighbours.
Look around for a need and ask if you can fill it. For example, if a neighbour has an overgrown lawn, ask if they'd like you to take care of it.

3. Tutoring those younger than you.
This is a great way to earn money, and learn something yourself. Tutoring helps reinforce what you yourself learnt, and you'll be honing your communication skills at the same time! Even better, you'll be helping someone else do better in school.

4. Starting a small business using your skills.
If you're especially talented at making something, you may want to look into selling what you make.

5. Part-time job
A great way to get a steady income. Check out jobs around your neighbourhood. You can usually find jobs helping to stock stores, or cashiering duties, sales assistant jobs, etc.

Have you found other great ways of earning money? Do share with us here.



Gentle reminders:

* Make sure that your studies don't suffer as a result of all these other chores/jobs/schemes. After all, as we've discussed before, education is one of the surest ways of earning a higher income in adulthood.
* Also, don't be tempted to make money by illegal means.
* Get-rich schemes are usually too good to be true. So don't be taken in by those.

EARTH DAY: CONSERVE RESOURCES, SAVE MONEY

We often thoughtlessly throw away things which are still fairly new just because we want something newer and trendier. And we send a lot of packing and packaging materials to the trash, from plastic bags, to boxes, containers, cans and bottles. So what can we do to minimise this waste of earth's resources, and earn or save money at the same time? Here are a few ideas:

1. Getting bored with your t-shirt, sneakers or bags? You may like to experiment with dye and fabric paint to make them seem all new again. You will probably impress your friends with your one-of-a-kind creations. Or do your bit to help the less fortunate by donating items you no longer need or want to charity.

2. Reuse containers to store and organise your things. Or decorate boxes, bottles, cans and other containers to use as desk accessories.

3. Instead of buying garbage bags for your wastepaper basket, use the plastic bags you get from stores instead.

4. Scour garage sales and flea markets for secondhand items.

5. Try to resell items you no longer need. For example, if you look after your textbooks, you can probably sell them at the beginning of the next year to other students.


Any other ideas? Share them with us here.