Donation Bags
Plastic or paper bags can be given to participants. Participants take the bag home and return it full of food to designated containers around the office, church, etc. Include our "Super Six" most needed items list in the bags or place them in mailboxes as a reminder of the items needed. By using donation bags, the National Association of Letter Carriers collected over 80,000 pounds in a single day!
Dress Down Day
Why not let your staff wear jeans if they meet their food drive goal? Or,host competitions between departments to see who collects the most food-winners get to wear jeans or casual clothes for the day. Sell "Jeans Passes" to employees and allow them to purchase the privilege of dressing down, with all of the proceeds going to the Racine County Food Bank.
Company Matches
Encourage you company to match your food or money donation to the Racine County Food Bank. Generally one pound of food is equal to $1.00. speak to your company management or HR Department about a financial match program.
Visible Goals
Have your group create a "thermometer" or chart to visually track the progress of your drive.
Hunger Fast
Encourage your group to skip one meal giving what money they would have spent on the skipped meal to the Racine County Food Bank. You can also invite someone from our staff to do some educational programming and share the positive impact your fast has upon hunger in Racine County.
Fundraisers
Ideas include bake sales, car washers, breakfasts or lunches, or concerts. Use your imagination!
Preferred Food Items
Utilize our "Super Six" list and designate "items of the day" for people to donate each day.
Raffles or Auctions
Solicit local businesses, your company or staff for prizes to raffle or auction. examples of prizes might include movie tickets, hotel packages, airline tickets or donated artwork. One prize in a Milwaukee organization's raffle for the Hunger Task Force was a lawn mowing by a departmental Manager. You better believe that team members pulled together to make sure that their Manager mowed the biggest lawn of the team, while they all watched and enjoyed a cook-out!
Incentive Programs
Work with organizations in your community to establish food drive incentive programs. For example, if a person donates four cans from our "Super Six" list to your food drive, they might then receive a "buy one get one free" movie coupon or a discounted purchase at a local business.
Pie in the Face
Who wouldn't want to see their boss/principal/supervisor hit with a pie in the face? How about seeing your favorite male teachers dressed like women? These are some of the zany things that people will do if their group meets their food donation goal.
Special Events
You can partner your food drive with a special event, using four or more cans of food as a ticket for full or reduced admission.
Offering
Encourage your church to do a food or money offering, with all donations going to the Racine County Food Bank.
Cookbooks
Create a cookbook full of donated recipes, and sell the books with proceeds going to the Racine County Food Bank.
Penny Wars
Find large glass jars, place in rooms, and have a race to see who can fill up their jars with pennies. Adding bills to an opposing team's jar requires them to subtract $"X" from their amount (so, if you put in a $5.00 bill, the have to take $5.00 off of their total.