Need S’more reasons to fundraise? Boy Scouts earn $2,200 for camping adventure.

Boy Scout Troop 1 in Greenville, RI are no strangers to fundraising. They raise funds throughout the year for the ongoing support of their troop, but when the opportunity came up for this group to participate in an 11-day hike through the mountains at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, NM, they knew they needed to step up their fundraising efforts to ensure all 20 of them were able to go.

Hannah Caisse, a scout mom and fundraising organizer, had heard of FUNDrive® through a friend. The fact that the troop could earn funds just by having their community clean out their closets appealed to her, so she hit the “trails” running.

The first thing Hannah did was get the word out about the FUNDrive®. She used social media to post the event on her own page, then she posted in a Facebook group for their area as well as on the local Buy Nothing page. In addition, she also printed flyers for each boy to distribute in their own neighborhood to help get the word out.

Once the community was aware of the event, Hannah started to strategize how to collect all the donations. She looked at a local area map and plotted days she could pick up in each neighborhood. She then posted on Facebook and on the flyers that people could leave donations in their driveway on their designated days. Hannah also gave people the option to drop off their donations at the troop meetings. She did this for over two months, so there were as many opportunities as possible for people to get in their donations.

Finally, when it was time for their drop off, Hannah recruited help from other troop parents to not only load and unload, but to supply transportation. One parent worked for a clean-up company and had a 20-foot truck he could use to haul donations. Along with another 10-foot truck rental, they were able to take all the bags they collected in one trip.

At the end of all that hard work, the troop had collected over 800 bags of donations from their community and raised over $2,200 for their trip. This group of 12-18 year-old boys is well on their way to funding their hiking adventures in New Mexico – way to go. Don’t forget the S’mores!