In our troupe we have one classic go-to fundraiser we call The Egg Sale. The idea is to go door to door, ready to talk about the department. You tell them you will take a donation, or an egg. If they give an egg, then at the next house, you try to sell the egg. Nobody ever buys the egg, but it's a fun gimic that often opens up some wallets or at least provokes a laugh. A great way to spread info on the department, coming productions, and other developments in the thespian community.
The one our troupe stole from Danielle Feinstein and her fellow MO STO was a spin off the ol' money in a bucket technique, this one called Minute to Give It. This version is done in front of an audience at some sort of event. Here's how we adapted it for our small stage at school: At intermission or whatnot, two reps (we used actors) walk out on stage with buckets, before we dismiss the audience. They explain the rules, and what the money goes for. We split the room into two teams, and the reps were given a minute to dash from row to row in their half of the room. In that minute, the audience members are given the opportunity to donate whatever they wanted to their team's bucket. During intermission the buckets are counted, and then the winners are announced before the second act picks up. We're cheap, and didn't give any prizes, but just thanked them tons. Both buckets obviously end up in the same fund, but who doesn't love a little competition? This works best with a comedy or something fun where the audience is in a good mood at intermission. We gave it a shot, and in just two nights of this (two minutes total) we made nearly $300. And that's in a house of only 117! It's insane what people with give/ how much the little donations stack up.
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Duncan Kinzie
Region II Rep
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