Your Questions About Fast Money Making Fundraisers

Mark asks…

Help! I need a fundraiser idea!!?

I am looking at going on a Girl Scout trip and need to raise about $4000 fast. What are some real big money making ideas?

Nagesh answers:

I don’t know if you would like the idea but I sponser fundraisers for many different organizations. I would be happy to specialize a fundraiser for you as well. What I do and have found it to be very successful is Mary Kay Satin Hands Set. The organization receives $11.35 of every item sold. To break it down if there are 100 kids selling the item and each one sells ONLY 2 the profit for the organization would be $2,270! Two sets per person is a very achievable goal as there is mom and grandma that usually buy at least one. Plus with the time of the year this set makes an excellent gift for Christmas. Mary Kay is a very well known product and it really sells itself. If you would like me to get you going with this exciting fundraiser let me know. You can contact me at shawndalyn_clark@yahoo.com.

George asks…

Ideas for a Swim Team Fundraiser?

Our swim team recently lost our facility. We are renting out three different pools to accomodate our 150 or so swimmers; but it is extremely expensive. We only have so much money since the pool we were at before had taken all of the team dues. Any ideas on how to raise much-needed money and fast? We need atleast $10,000 to make it to the beginning of March. We already did a swim-a-thon at the beginning of the season. Any other ideas? We can not let this team die.

Nagesh answers:

Have you contacted the local newspaper and had them publish a story about the situation the team is in? That might help you find donors, because concessions and T-shirt sales are just not going to raise $10,000 for you in February.

How did the other pool end up keeping your team dues? Do you have any lawyers in the parent group? Seems unfair that they would keep all the dues (of course, that is difficult to say without knowing all of the situation.

Would parents be willing to pay a special assessment fee? If you have 150 swimmers and assess $100 per swimmer, you would have the cost of February and then some.

What are your plans past February? It will be easier to raise funds if you have a viable plan for the long-term.

Betty asks…

can someone pls prrofread my paper fast..but be a good writer/prrofreader plz….topc:must show merit and need

Although I am only a freshman, my goal after high school is to attend medical school and graduate with a degree in either Optometry or Pediatrics. By achieving this goal, I believe that my chosen profession will enable me to fulfill my desire of making my parents proud while making my own dream come true; I wish to help others, and make a difference in the world. I want to make the world a brighter place full of happiness, and the first step is making my parents happy by doing what they weren’t able to do. Throughout my life I have participated in many extracurricular activities including valuable volunteer experiences. I have striven for academic excellence, always trying to make the most of my education.
Education has always been an important aspect of my life. Throughout middle school I worked hard and took as many honors classes as were available. Despite the fact that I was involved in many after school activities, I was able to maintain an excellent GPA of 4.0 and graduate with honors. Currently, in school, I take the hardest possible courses including every AP course offered at the high school, and have started preparing myself to sign up for AP classes to take in my tenth grade year. I have always chosen challenging courses and have a very good academic record.
Although education plays a significant role in my life, I am involved in many other activities. I am an active member of various clubs and athletics. I have also been very successful as a Sunday school teacher. By helping elementary school students formulate principles and morals, I make a difference in their lives every week. The values that I hope to lodge in them will last their entire lives. I find teaching and lecturing fourth grade students about religious components to be extremely rewarding. In the past year I have directed and participated in being treasurer and president in many fund raisers and charity drives for orphans around the world. For example, during our last fundraiser I helped direct and we brought in about $2,600; we were fortunate enough to help four orphans around the world.
God willing, after I graduate, I will work to have financial stability. I know that money is not everything in this world; however, without money I cannot do much to improve things. Money is a means to help orphans and people struggling with poverty. People need money to buy clothes, food, and other necessities of daily life, and with a secure financial situation I will have the ability to help and provide them with necessities they need. Furthermore, I will extend help out to people in other countries; I know there are many nations such as Vietnam, Mexico and countries in Africa that are greatly in need of financial support so they can build shelters and provide food. Doing this I will be able to show how thankful I am to be living in America where so much is available. At one time, my own parents were in need of money and clothes. It was a time when they both were suffering to live, but today they are fortunate to have come to this country and earn self respect and free will. So, by going into the medical field I will be able to help people around the world with the many diseases they face, and I can bring delight to people around by donating my money to charity and helping to give others better lives.
I want to share my joy with the world and light up the lives of those people who are suffering. I want to give to others, what my mother, father, and my family and I have got today: a normal and blissful life.

Nagesh answers:

Too many I’s in your paper

Helen asks…

I’m 45 and I want to start saving and investing “I know I should of already started”?

Like I said I’m 45 and want to start saving and investing. I need someone that can give me some educated real advice, someone thats financially set, that knows how to explain it in the most simple terms “not that I’m stupid” its just there are so many ways that I’m so confused about the right way. I need to know how from start to finish like a plan spelled out for me. Do I need to start with a financial planner, what firm do I need to hire, Charles Shwab, fidelity, my heads spinning.
One of the reasons I know nothing in this area I had a mom and dad that tought me nothing in the area and was to scared to take any chances. Than in my early adult life had a great job that paid pretty good but I was to busy spending money helping out friends and girl friends doing nothing good with my money except blow it. Well now to the current and a little of the past I’m going to explain a little of what I’m trying to do. My wife and I are in a little of a bind but we are trying to get out of it by ourselves. We had a child 8 years ago that was born with a rare life threatening disease and we raise money do fundraisers for experiamental research or anything we can find that we think will help our little girl. Well, while doing all that for our little girl we have to come up with a fast financial plan thats going to secure our future and make sure our little gill as well as ourselves are set and I’m 45 wife 39 and we need the right advice to move forward fast “its now or never” in order for us to make sure we can take car of our baby when we get even older. Please help any way you can our daughters web site is www.mckenziecarey.com you can leave a message there as well I need a plan that is fast simple and most of all effective thanks

Nagesh answers:

Standard investment advice is that you should invest in a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and money market funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stocks, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. However, some young people will go all stocks, and some very conservative people will go all money markets. The links below have on-line questionnaires which will give you an idea of how to do “Asset Allocation,” determining how much to put in each type of investment.

You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks as individual stocks are too risky. Highly knowledgeable people can buy a properly balanced portfolio, but most folks have a difficult time balancing things on their own. They will misbalance their portfolio by buying all small stocks or all growth stocks, or some other misbalanced assortment of stocks. Back in 2000, Some people bought all Internet stocks; they got burnt when they all crashed together. You have to diversify across industries. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to buy mutual funds that will diversify for you. Buy no-load, low cost funds. Mutual funds should have expense ratios of less than 0.5%.

If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea.

I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. And ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. The Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund is good for a bond fund. The Vanguard Target Retirement funds can be good all-in-one stock and bond funds for an IRA. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.

Buying a house instead of renting will save you a lot of money in the long run. You don’t have to pay rent and you build equity in your house instead.

If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.

I will warn you that there is a tremendous amount of stock investing books and websites that teach stock investing strategies that don’t work. Particularly bad are people that teach “technical analysis” systems that sound impressive, but don’t work.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

Ken asks…

How can a 14 year old make money fast from home?

I’m trying to go to New York City in March of 2013 with my theatre department. I really want to try and raise the money myself. But the company we are going through doesn’t offer any fundraisers. And I cant really get a job doing what a normal 14 year old does. I cant mow lawns because im neighbors with a man who owns a lawn service. No kids to babysit in my neighborhood, and I have to watch my little sister all summer, and my parents definitely wont pay me to watch my sibling
So i need a legit way to make money from home over the summer and it has to be good money because I need $1800 to pay for the trip and insurance. My first deposit along with my insurance is due by June 1st, so that’s $360. The deposit needs to be paid before preferably so i can reserve my spot because they aren’t taking more than 30 students, and there are already 8 students going. Again I need to make money fast and from home!

Nagesh answers:

There is no “make money fast from home” opportunities for people without any in demand skills.

Money Making Schemes