Well, if we are going to move grex, you can guess what the problem is.  MONEY!
as always.  What we need to do is set up somoe fund raising so we can get the
move done with out dropping too many benifits.  What I was thinking about
doing would be a car wash.  It's fairly easy to do.  all we have to get is
a time and a place we could do it.  Does anyone have ideas about a possible
location?  If this is sucessful enough and we get enough money it goes right
back into more benifits for grex people.  It's something to think about.  This
is a matter of urgency.  DON'T LET GREX DIE!!!!! Come out and help us!  Also
if anyone has any other ideas about other fund raisers we could do.  By all
means share your ideas.  I can't designate a time now because we have to
figure out first where we can get space to do it and what time we can use it.
LEet's have some ideas

40 responses total.

You may want to try the Great Lakes Bancorp at Plymouth Mall.  They have
hosted car washes in the past.  IMHO, bank branches, shopping centers, etc.,
have all been used at one time or another for fundraising car washes.

I can help if it's on a Sunday, I can't help if it's on
a Saturday.  Generally people do these things on Saturdays.  >8(

I've been trying hard to clear my Saturday mornings for the grex walk and also
I'm trying not to work late on Friday nights so I won't sleep through the
walk.  So yeah, a Saturday morning would be good for me.

howbout during the week or do you people have to work?

   i can take wednesdays and thursdays off at the moment. i could also be
available on saturdays.

It would likely be a Saturday, just for all the staffers who work regular
hours.  I can borrow a truck for the move, but I can only do the move
weekends.

<robh is the only staffer who doesn't work "normal" hours,
as far as robh knows>

so saturday sounds good?

I might be around on a Saturday in the afternnon.  I also might be able to
harbour some equipment if there comes a time when our current lease is up and
the new one has not started.  Not to run grex, mind you.  Just to store the
equipment for a bit.

any ideas for fund-raising during the art fair?  that seems to be an ideal
time to have exposure to half a million people.

i hope grex can move without needing storage during location hunting.  I have
1200sq' of basement space which would be available for temporary use provided
there are folks who can schlep the stuff down and back up the stairs.  I can
also arrange to make it available almost any time with a little prior notice
since my entrance is not common with anyone else.

Thanks, Rick.  I don't think we have a storage problem these days, since
Grex's largest object is a desk, but we appreciate the offer.  

alright so next saturday saturday afternoon sounds good.  Now for the place,
someone said great lakes does these things, can you check that out for us.
Does anyone have any other possible locations?
>

Oh, we don't have a location yet.  Just moving isn't a big deal.  
We still need to find a place we can *install* Grex in, run in lots of
phone lines, etc.

Oh, poo!  I'd like to help with a fund-raiser or whatever, but next weekend
is already packed!

I sense some confusiong here.  Kain entered this item talking about a time
and place for a car wash, and we seem to have some people talking about a time
to move Grex.  These are seperate issues, and should have seperate items.

Ooops, I lost track of that.  Sorry.  

thank you scg!  I'm talking about possible locations for the car wash.  I
don't know much about these things and am not very good at finding places.
Last year though, we did a carwash in the parking lot of community high
school.  I suppose we could do it there.  I didn't do the planing for that
though and,  I don't know how much trafic will be around that way.  Does
anyone know if we did do it there if we'd need special permision or something

Next saturday puts you squarely into the four-day holiday weekend.  My
experience tells me anybody with a car, and _anyplace_ to go, will be out of
AA that weekend.  Are you sure this is the best time?

This item is for fund-raising...not just car wash.  Any other ideas for fund
raising (raffle, discount memberships, road ralley, "bake sale", etc, etc)?

very true but no-ne brought anything else up! A bake sale would probably work.
Have we even tried advertising anywhere?  A bake sale would probably work.
The question is when and where.  Are there any major public activites going
on any time soon so we could set one up where there are going to be lots of
hungry people?

I'll get back to you on that.

What about a book sale?

Have you been reading my mind, kami?

re #19 & #21:
        Very soon there will be half a million people in town for the
        Art Fair.  What must one do to obtain a permit to sell baked goods?
        Or to sell books?  Or to raffle off web-page design services?
        Or to sell off stuff otherwise sold at the JCC sale?

        (Ice cold lemonade is a pretty good item to sell during those
         usually blistering hot Art Fair days.)

Probably get a form filled out two months ago.  >8(

I suspect it can be much faster than that.

how does one go about geting a permit from the city to sell stuff at the art
fair? We could use colored frostiing and call our cookies art?

Check with the City Clerks office for a vendors permit, solicitor permit or
other such registrations.  I have a copy of the city statute from them at my
office which I use to confront unwelcomed solicitors who claim they have a
permit but don't want to produce it.

I _think_ it's as easy as going in, applying and paying for the permit and
they give it to you right there.  There are likely some regs they follow as
to the # of certain types of peddlers and geographic distribution of them (so
there won't be 5 hot-dog vendors on the same corner).

That would be the right way to go about it.  Of course, there are many folks
who just show up on the street corner, or diag, and spread out their wares
for cash sale.  That is always an option for a couple of individuals, but I'd
think Grex as an organization could/should be able to make a more substantial
presence and attract more generous donations/sales.  (Might blow-up a couple
of the snooze articles to poster size and put them on posterboard...then sell
stuff to pay for the move in order to preserve the system from gov't regs.
That should elicit some reactionary response from an Art Fair crowd, eh?)

about how much would this cost do you think.  Aruba: could we take money out
of the treasury for this?  And I think a baked goods sale and possibly
lemondae would be the best idea, we could do it at the art fair and probably
make a good amount of money.

For the Art Fair, the idea of selling cold drinks should go over big.  

Having a used book sale should generate quite a bit of money if you ask
everyone to pitch in a few old books.  With some inexpensive advertising, such
as flyers and maybe a notice in the "bulletin board" section of the Snooze
you should get a good turn-out in this area.  And anything you make is profit,
since the goods have been donated.

The K-Mart on Washtenaw lets worthy groups do car washes there.

and at whatever sale we have it'd also be a possibility to have someone out
there with info on grex like a table and maybe selling 2 month memberships
if possible.  Nice way to do publicity as well.  So howbout we do this.  Some
of us go over to the city clerks office and get a permit and we sell baked
goods and ice cold lemonade at the art fair.  Some people set up a table with
info on grex and answer questions that anyone might have about our bbs.  Any
volunters?  I'd help but I'm going to be away at camp starting july 15th.

Kroger has a program for fundraising for non-profits.  I'm not sure of the
details, but the Sierra Club was doing this, and it appeared that what they
did was buy some kind of "Kroger Gift Certificate" from Kroger at a discount
below face value.  The Sierra Club would sell these to their members at face
value, and the members could use them to shop at Kroger, spending them at face
value.  Or something like that.  Anyway, there is usually a sign up around
Kroger telling people to ask about their fundraisers for non-profits, and I
presume this is what they are refering to.

That's about right. Individuals (they don't need to be members) buy
them at face value and spend them at face value. They are the same as money
(script, in fact). The inducement is, of course, that the non-profit you
buy them from is getting 5% of the value. Its a painless (i.e.,cheap) way
to help a non-profit. Academic Games at Tappan has been doing this, too.

So, if Grex did this, then anybody who spends $100 at Kroger could, without
any additional cost to themselves except the hassle of dealing with Kroger
funny money, give $5 to Grex.

well it's a start does anybody want to look into it? with this and the
membership gift certificates we should bea ble to make some money at least.

Kroger certificates brought in nearly $4000 to Thurston School PTO this past
year.  i don't know how well it would do for grex, however.  We had over 75
families buying them all year.  That's a lot of food!

It is a little hassle, and whomever is handling the coupons needs to be very
accessible to purchasers and "push" the fund-raising, philanthropic aspect
of them at every opportunity.  A couple of very dedicated and hard working
individuals are needed for this.  And then there's the aspect that Grex has
toi purchase the certificates from Krogers before they can sell them ... so
there is some up-front capital investment.

I think this is a better long-range kind of program that it is a quick fix
fund raiser for moving.  But long-range, it could bring in a steady stream
of some additional $ for offsetting, perhaps, increased rent.

We've probably tried all the possibilities, but I think we really  need to
be thinking about what kind of activities computer types would be more likely
to contribute to.  Let's face it, people at large are more likely to donate
to a children's school than a computer club, which is almost what we are
(except for the free account bit).  

So what fundraisers would be appropriate for a computer system?  Could we be
like the amateur radio buffs to provide emergency communcations during
disasters, such as providing access to people for specific purposes (support
groups, etc0>, or what?

I know Hudson's has grant money for non-profits because the Ypsi Players
received $3000 last year to get our Youth Troupe off the ground.  I also
know there are other companies out there that do the same thing.  We need
to keep our eyes and ears open for these opportunities.

I'm about 99% sure it's WAY too late to get any kind of permit for this
year's art fair.  

I still think a big combined yard sale would be one way to go.  I can't
imagine that everyone doesn't have some junk they could contribute (not
necessarily computer stuff)  All we need is someone with a yard, and 
someone to make up flyers (I would be willing to do that) and some tables.
Maybe an ad in the paper.

That's a very good idea.  I don't accumulate junk so much as other people I
know, but I could feed lots to a yard sale.

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