Creative School Fundraisers That Help Others Around the World

At the end of this post, I’m happy to offer a fun giveaway.

When my daughter was a young girl, she used to come home with the fundraising envelope. If you’re a parent, you probably know what I’m talking about. Most parents who have kids in school, a sports team or club are asked to help raise money. It usually involves selling candy, cookie dough, wrapping paper or candles to your family, friends and work colleagues.

Any good parent will do what they have to do for their kids. But after a few years selling calories and things people don’t need, you begin to not look forward to the fundraising envelope. Eventually, what I did was write a check for a couple of hundred dollars, collected boxes in return and then gave them away.

During the years my daughter was growing up, I was a senior executive at a couple of footwear companies. The first time I sold a pair of shoes, I was 15 years old. I found my calling. Shoes became a big part of my life.

In 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami occurred. I watched as events unfolded on television. I remember a single shoe that washed ashore. I was particularly affected by this image. Over the coming days, I could not get out of my mind the life of the person who may have once been the owner of that shoe. I wondered if this person had lived or died. I knew I had to make a difference.

As the president of a global shoe manufacturing company, I knew I could make things happen. I led efforts to ship hundreds of thousands of shoes to the countries and people affected by the tsunami. In subsequent disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti, I did the same thing. In all, I transferred more than 17 million shoes to people and places affected by natural disasters.

Eventually, I decided to become a social entrepreneur and turn my passion for shoes into a business. I established Funds2Orgs, which became the leading shoe drive fundraising social enterprise in North America. You don’t have to take my word for it. Our commitment to service earned us an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

What I developed was a way for schools, groups and others to raise thousands of dollars by simply collecting gently worn, used and new shoes. There’s no need to sell anything. There’s no need to ask anyone for money. We issue you a check for the shoes you collect based on the total weight of the shoes gathered. The more shoes you collect the more money you make. Essentially, I created a social enterprise that helped today’s schools, athletic teams and groups raise money by collecting shoes.

When you partner with us, we give you what you need for success without any out-of-pocket costs because we’re committed to providing service.

We give you a team of fundraising coaches to work with you.
We give you the collection material for the shoes, including bags and rubber bands for your first 100 bags.
We provide the marketing and promotion material you need, and since it’s digital you can customize it.
We pick up the shoes from the location where they’re stored in one of our trucks.
We issue a Funds2Orgs check within 2 business days of the shoes being received at our warehouse.

I’ve always been a learner. The experiences I had as a father, a footwear executive and in developing countries helped me develop a proven system that has helped thousands of shoe drive partners.

Shoe drive partners raise thousands with easy creative fundraising ideas.
The shoes are eventually consolidated and shipped to micro-entrepreneurs in developing nations who need them for inventory to sell in their small businesses.
The shoes given to a shoe drive fundraiser don’t go to landfills where they harm the environment and health.