How to Hold a Garden Fundraiser

If you are looking for a way to raise funds for a school, church, or organization, then a garden fundraiser could be for you. The great thing about garden fundraisers is that they have little overhead and create a lot of profits without a lot of effort and expense.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 
    

   *Sell Garden Plants
   
   One tried-and-true method of fundraising is to hold a plant sale. Plant sales can be as formal or as informal as you want them to be. Here's how to do it:
   
   a) Ask for a volunteer with a great garden to host the event in his or her backyard; otherwise, you can host the event at a church, school, or organization--be sure there is plenty of parking and try to host the event outside.
   
   b) Ask for volunteers in your group to donate plants for sale. Create a handout with specific instructions for where, when, and how to donate plants. Specify whether you want roots wrapped in wet paper towels, foil, or baggies. Another possibility is to ask a local nursery about plant pot recycling. Some cities or nurseries have plant pot recycling collection centers--you could ask if you could have collected containers as a donation to your organization's fundraising event.
   
   c) When specifying how to donate plants, be sure to emphasize the inclusion of hardy perennials. Tell donors that what you're mostly doing is asking them to break up their existing plants and donate part of them to the fundraiser. In other words, you want them to divide hostas, daylilies, groundcover, and other plants and bring a few of the divisions to you for the fundraiser.
   
   d) Gather cardboard boxes or bags for people to take home purchased plants from the fundraiser
   
   e) Set up a table to collect money; be sure to get a lot of change, a secure cash box and volunteers to man stations
   
   f) Be sure to have knowledgeable volunteers who can tell shoppers how to plant their items. If you wish, have a fact or planting sheet for each variety that you can send home with fundraiser shoppers.
   
   g) A few other items to add to increase sales at your fundraiser: purchase garden soil in bulk; purchase cheaply and break into smaller bags to sell, ask for donated garden items like patio furniture, lawn mowers, tools, and wheelbarrows to sell during the fundraising event; produce a book of collected garden tips by local experts and members of your organization--spiral bind the book yourself or at a copy store and sell at your fundraiser

2. 
    

   *Host Garden Tours
   
   Another way an organization can raise money using gardens is to create a garden tour. Enlist people with beautiful gardens to volunteer their properties. Create a map of sites (should be close together in the same general area) and sell tickets. At each location, provide iced tea and lemonade as well as cookies on a treat station. Sell tickets ahead of time; also have a ticket booth at the starting location to sell additional tickets. You can have a walking tour or a driving tour, but you'll need to decide how to handle tickets on a driving tour (tickets sold by carload or per person)

3. *Advertise your Garden Fundraiser
   
   Whether you hold a plant sale, a garden tour or a combination of both (plant sale at the final location), you can ask local nurseries, gardens, and farms to post fliers for you. Rather than do a mass mailing, visit each location to post fliers. It doesn't hurt to ask for donations while you're there--perhaps the nursery has an item to contribute. Also, post in school or church bulletins and newsletters, realtor-type signs with balloons, and posted signs in grocery stores.