Eat, Play, Give: How to do your own fundraiser

Recently, a friend’s five year old asked what’s going on in Kerala (referring to the unprecedented floods of 2018 in that Indian state). We (a bunch of 5-7 year olds and their moms) thought it was a good cue to explain how, sometimes, we all need to go out of our way to help those who are in distress.
Quickly, a plan was in place. Everyone chipped in with skills they had - one was a good baker, two were great cooks and had awesome ‘contacts’; one had a big house and was a great organiser; one was an Art & Craft teacher; and one was me - a content creator for Choose To Thinq where we have a knack for turning everything into a fun, learning experience. 
Each of us decided to invite six people each, just enough of a crowd for the children to handle without getting overwhelmed. We called the event ‘Eat, Play, Give’ - where people could come and have tea, eat good snacks, play a few games and donate whatever they wanted. The kids were taught to run each stall, and the cute quotient was enough for people to chip in with small amounts for the cause. We even wrote a small poem using words the kids could understand, recorded their voices and made a video-invite.
In 90 minutes, we raised Rs 87,000.
While it taught children the importance of working together and doing something for someone else, it got people who, normally may not have had the time or resources to donate, to chip in their contribution into a box. The small drops pooled into an amount that surprised us all. 
In case you want to use our experiences, we'd like to share with you the template we used to make this a success. Use it for conducting a small fundraiser in your own society, group or locality. ​

---

Kerala is an amazing state with so much to discover about its people, culture, and interests. To carry out the Kerala Quiz, we organised the questions according to 10 topics (Films, Sport, Music etc) and asked people to pick the topic of their choice. We then chose a bookmark from that topic and read out the question. (A child can read out the question with adult help as well). We gave plenty of hints. When they answered it correctly, we handed them the bookmark to take away home. 

Additional free giveaways: You can make cards, earrings, rakhis, friendship bands, gift tags, frames, bags. Or you can give away books, unopened gifts, games etc. Once people played our quiz, we asked winners to take a free gift of their choice.
At the 'GIVE' stall, people paid in cash or cheque. At the end of the day, we counted the amount and made an electronic transfer of an equivalent amount to the CM’s Relief Fund.
After the event, we sent out a message thanking everyone, informing them of the amount they helped collect, and also attached the e-receipt for the donation we made to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
So we hope this helps you in organising your own fundraiser in your locality. If you do, please tell us what you did and how it worked for you. Leave a comment below or send us an email!
(Written on behalf of the 'mum' organisers behind this event: Renu, Manisha, Harshada, Ruzbeh, Smita, Sanasi) 

Get the Kerala Bookmark Quiz template. Just submit the form below.
(Receive a pdf with all the bookmarks - each with a quiz question on it. To make a good bookmark, just print on a thick sheet of paper and cut. You can add a bit of fancy by adding a ribbon on top.)
​

---