To help YCL-LJC clubs with their fundraising goals leading up to the 25^th Central Convention, the Central Executive asked the treasurer of YCL-BC Committee to present a special submission on fundraising. We hope it is useful to comrades in their work, continuing after the convention as well.

Here’s some of our ideas:

1. UBrew Beer & Wine

For the beer, this ended up costing about $1 a beer, and we got 138 beers out of the batch. We intend to sell them at a fundraiser soon for about $2 a beer.

2. Social Fundraiser

We’re throwing a dinner/social night this weekend. Tickets are $10 – $15 sliding scale. We’re making a big chilli dinner, desserts, and we’ve got about 5 performers for the evening.

3. 50/50 Draws

Ask the Communist Party if they have some big events coming up where you would be able to have a 50/50 raffle. It’s easy, and most people will throw in a couple of bucks. We plan on having a 50/50 at the event.

4. Silent Auction

There will be people in the club who have some sort of artistic talent, or who have some memorabilia kicking around. As well, friendly organizations are usually more than happy to donate a few items here and there. We have done silent auctions in the past with some cross stitching, old soviet posters, statues, books, cds, etc. Even if someone doesn’t want to buy something, they’ll usually throw in a few dollars.

5. Merch Table

Almost the same as silent auction, but not as forthright. We plan on having one of these at the event as well. We have a lot of stuff from the last WFDY festival – t shirts, books, cds, etc. As well, one of our comrades just donated some books, some of which are really neat, so we’re going to have stuff like that too.

6. Booksales

If you guys have a surplus of books like we did, booksales are always good fundraising ideas.

7. Book Auctions

On top of booksales, we also started a mildly successful store on Abe books for awhile so that we could reach out to people farther away. It has since been taken down, as we don’t have the time to keep up with it right now. We have kept a record of all the books we have that are worth $10 or more on ABe books or Ebay, and intend to list them on EBay soon.

8. Dinner & A Movie

Dinner and movie nights are easy, and usually pretty successful. Make up a big batch of chilli, or soup, or pasta – something that’s easy to make, but still well liked.

9. “Sponsor a YCLer”

Basically, find out what the costs for things that a YCLer might incur while at Convention. – meals for a day, bus/gas money, flights, etc. Make up a sheet, and ask Party members if they’d like to “sponsor” a YCLer – ie. cover the cost for their meals for one day, etc. If people see the actual costs, they’ll be more likely to put in a bit more.

10. Bottle Drives

This is an idea from the Trail Club. Just like in scouts. hah! The Trail club has actually gone around door to door to collect bottles. We’re doing things slightly differently in Vancouver. Some members have A VERY LARGE accumulation of bottles and cans. We plan on taking them in and donating the money to the YCL. As well, ask family members, friends, and Party members.

11. Buttons

We have access to a button maker in our office, and button making supplies are actually quite cheap. We’ve made up a few hundred buttons – some campaign specific, like Anti-Olympics, NO HST, and more generic ones, like Che, “Women’s Sewing Circle”, etc. We sell them for around $2 at events, protests, rallies, etc. As well, the People’s Co Op Bookstore has agreed to let us sell them in the store.