How to Raise Money with a Cow Patty Drop Fundraiser

A quick way to raise money for a good cause is to hold a cow patty drop fundraiser. It's a great fund raising activity popular in the Midwest. There is very little cost involved and the initial set up is relatively easy.

There are many variations of this infamous fundraiser. This article will teach you the basics; feel free to create your own version.

Things You'll Need

• a cow
• a football field
• wet/dry chalk liner
• master grid with numbered squares
• free advertising with local newspapers and on Craigslist

Instructions

1. People raise money with a Cow Patty Drop Fundraiser for just about any worthy cause. Once you've settled on a fundraising goal, you can begin your plans for the Cow Patty Drop.

   First, select a committe chairperson and committee members. Then set the date. Pick a Saturday at least a month away, so the fundraising committee will have ample time to complete all the details for the Cow Patty Drop. Brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm!

2. At your initial meeting, assign or elect persons to be in charge of advertising, borrowing a cow (including cow's transportation to and from the Cow Patty Drop), drawing the initial master paper grid of the football field with numbered squares, selling the squares to the community, etc.

   It's also important to recruit people who are good at procurement, because the ideal fundraiser will have only donations of materials and manpower. To raise money, the idea is to acquire all donated materials; labor should be on a voluntary basis only. Create a master checklist with timeline indicating assigned duties and contact numbers of all participants.

3. Raise money by selling refreshments at the Cow Patty Drop. A fun choice would be to sell easy no-bake cow patty drop cookies with a pint of milk on the side.

   Designate persons to be in charge of collecting donated ingredients for the fundraiser from grocers in the area. Ask for volunteers to mix up the cookie batches and you will need other volunteers to sell the cookies.

4. The day before the Cow Patty Drop, divide the football field into marked squares with the chalk liner. A school custodian or groundskeeper familiar with the operation of this machine is the best choice for this job.

   If you have 4800 square feet to grid, you could divide this equally into 200 or 400 squares. To raise money for the fundraiser, each individual square will be sold.

   Allow the customer to choose their square. Mark their name clearly in ink on the master grid and give the customer a receipt with the number (or numbers) of their square (or squares) written on the receipt.

5. Raise money for the fundraiser by selecting 4 candidates willing to vie for the title of Cow Patty Queen. During the month prior to the Cow Patty Drop, have them collect pennies in decorated coffee cans.

   Each penny equals one vote. All pennies should be turned in the day before and counted. The candidate with the most money collected wins. Hold the crowning ceremony of the Cow Patty Queen just prior to the start of the Cow Patty Drop.

6. Pick 3 unbiased persons to act as judges for the Cow Patty Drop. They will settle any disputes or questions that may arise once the patty has dropped.

7. Squares are sold to raise money. If you sold 400 squares at $5 each, you've raised $2000. If you sold these same squares for $25 each, you've raised $10,000.

   Let the cow loose on the field and be patient. Whichever square is honored with the first patty (or the largest patty portion) wins. How much the winner receives, of course, will be decided and advertised as such from the beginning of the contest.

   Just think, you could possibly raise $10,000 in the time it takes a cow to poop! :)

Tips & Warnings

• Often the winner of the cow patty drop will donate all or a portion of the winnings to be lumped with all the monies collected.

• There is an urban legend about the impatient idiot that decided to give the designated cow a laxative before the big event. Don't do that! The big event will turn into a bunch of little events all over the football field and will create much controversy amongst the participants and judges.

Resources

• Cow Patty Cookie Recipe
• Cow Patty Song on YouTube