Beneficiary Events

Chain of Hearts. Sell paper hearts to your employees and/or customers. Write their name on the heart and put them on a wall or display board. Great idea for creating public awareness about KIDS Center!

Counting on You. Fill a large container with candy, marbles, or corks, etc. Employees and/or customers pay to guess how many are in the container. The winner gets a great prize.

Donation Per Transaction. Make a donation for every transaction (haircut, home sale, etc.) during a set time period.

Donate All or a Percent of Proceeds. Donate on a designated day or week.

Dress Down or Dress Up Day. Employees pay to wear jeans, a crazy costume, or formal wear.

Guess the Baby. Ask employees to bring a baby photo, then pin them up in your office and charge a fee for employees to guess each baby’s name. The person with the most guesses wins a prize or gets a paid day off.

Light Up A Child’s Life. Set up a holiday tree with 1,000 lights but leave the bulbs slightly unscrewed. When a customer or employee donates, they turn on a bulb.

Promise Auction. Ask everyone in your office to write down a promise of what they could do for someone else…bake a cake, help put up shelves, do their filing, teach how to do something, etc. Auction them off during lunch.

Team Competition. Departments compete against each other, or build teams by mixing staff so employees get to know each other. It’s great for office morale. The event can take place on one day or over a week or month. Create a fun competition (like remote-control races in your office). Employees pay to participate. The winner gets a prize or a trophy. Do this weekly and the trophy is passed along to the new winner.

Organize a jog-a-thon, bowl-a-thon, dance-a-thon, read-a-thon…you get the idea!

Ask your neighbors to donate. It’s a great way to build public awareness for KIDS Center.

Host a bingo night.

Organize a book sale or swap.

Host a dinner party (costumed and/or themed).

Dollars for Dares. Set up an online fundraising page, and announce the dare that you will complete if you raise a set amount of funds. The dare could be diving into the river in winter, dying your hair, shaving your beard, or performing a song in person.

Donations in lieu of birthday, graduation, shower, or wedding gifts.

Host a game night and provide deserts.

Give It Up. Encourage your family and friends to give up a regular treat (their latte, tea, soda, happy hour) and donate the money instead. This could be for just a day or a week.

Golf Outing

Happy Hour

Letter writing. Write letters to everyone on your Christmas list and ask them to donate.

Murder mystery night

Potluck Party with costumes or a theme.

Scavenger hunt

Singing telegrams

Talent show

Trivia Night

Wine-themed dinner or potluck. Challenge each guest to donate 1 or 2 bottles of wine valued at $40+ to KIDS Center for our Cork & Barrel fundraiser.

Yard sale

Bake sale. This can even be done online!

Bike/trike-a-thon

Board game tournament

Car wash

Collect donations for doing chores

Collect loose change

A fundraising activity held by an individual, group, organization, or business with proceeds to benefit KIDS Center, and where KIDS Center has no fiduciary responsibilities and little or no staff involvement. As much as we would like to help, we have limited resources.

Be sure to review all of our Guidelines for Beneficiary Events and then complete our BENEFICIARY EVENT REQUEST FORM. Once your request is approved, you can start promoting your event. Contact Joni Gullixson at 541-306-6063 if you have any questions.

There are lots of fun ideas for beneficiary events (see our list of suggestions!). The only restriction: your activity should not conflict with the cause and mission of KIDS Center.

It’s important that you follow these guidelines when marketing your beneficiary event.

Do give us a chance to review before you promote. Accurate use of our name and logo is required. KIDS Center must approve all materials including, but not limited to, advertising, letters, brochures, flyers, posters, and press releases prior to production or distribution.

Do clearly list us as the beneficiary. Promotions for the event should reflect KIDS Center as a beneficiary and state the percentage of the proceeds that will be given. (For example, “50% of the proceeds from this event will benefit KIDS Center.”)

Don’t create a false impression. Any promotion of the event must avoid making any statement or creating any appearance of KIDS Center endorsing any product, firm, organization, individual or service.

Do show us your list of targeted sponsors and donors beforehand. KIDS Center has established many strong donor relationships with businesses and individuals in our community. Out of respect for these relationships—and to avoid donor fatigue—KIDS Center requests to see a list of targeted sponsors and in-kind donors for your event prior to the ask. This will help eliminate overlap of existing KIDS Center events and fundraising campaigns.

Send direct messages to your Facebook friends, post on Twitter, and email family and friends….send several messages!

Take a quick video with your smartphone and post to social media. Be sure to tag KIDS Center via: @KIDSCenterBend

Reach out to local businesses you patronize, along with neighbors, your church community, and local media.

Share why you help KIDS Center.

Set up a personal fundraising page online and share the link via Facebook, etc.

You and other event organizers are responsible for obtaining any necessary permits, especially those for raffles, required by local and state government and complying with all applicable laws.

Event organizers must obtain appropriate insurance if needed.

KC cannot be held liable for details associated directly or indirectly with the event, including, but not limited to: expenses, purchases, insurance, or liability coverage.

Submit funds, payable to KIDS Center, no later than 60 days following your event. Contact our Development Team if you have any questions.

At your request, KIDS Center can provide the following prior to your event:

—KIDS Center logo to use for promotional materials.

—Social media post(s) promoting your event.

—Email announcement of your event to KIDS Center staff, Board, and closest friends.

—E-blast to all local supporters–if our communications schedule allows and your event expects revenue of at least $2,000.

—Calendar event listing on KIDS Center website–if your event expects revenue of at least $2,000.

—Tour of KIDS Center for your organizers (tours are 4 to 12 guests). (Contact us regarding availability, as in-person tours may be paused due to Covid-19.)

During your event, KIDS Center can provide:

—Tri-fold presentation board with information about KIDS Center.

—Sign-up sheet for your guests who want to take a training, tour, or are interested in volunteering.

—A speaker (if your event expects revenue of at least $2,000).

—Volunteer(s), board member or staff attendance (if your event expects revenue of $2,000).

After your event, KIDS Center can provide:

—Tax receipts/thank you letters for checks made payable to KIDS Center.

—A check presentation at KIDS Center with pictures.

—Tour of KIDS Center for your event participants (for 4 to 12 guests).

—Social media post thanking you for your beneficiary event.

KIDS Center is not able to provide the following in support of your event:

Support staff to assist in organizing your event or recruiting sponsors, donations or guests.

Use of the KIDS Center Federal tax ID number. Beneficiary events are considered a third-party event.

Insurance or liability coverage.

Funding or reimbursement of your expenses.

Access to donor lists or contacts.

Any legal or financial liability associated with your event, nor will we indemnify you or any party involved in your event for any damage, expense, or costs.