Laree 0 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 Hello Members...I am new here and I HOPE I am in the right place. I have trouble navigating this site! Just took an AD position in a wonderful new facility., but our activity budget is HORRIBLE...! $100 per month. And, today I found out that the printing of the monthly calendar (The administrator WANTS it sent out to a printer!!!) takes $57 right off the top of our measley $100!!! Does anyone have any great fundraising ideas? I can't see any way to provide a good program on approximately $40 per month. Thanks for the input! Sheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gina 2 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 Hi Laree, Wow! What a pickle you are in !! lol! $43.00 for a month after your calendar! Have you tried talking to the printer where you get your calendars printed,maybe if you tell them they can advertise for free in your newsletter,they will do it for free,or at least give you a better discount than what they are charging you now. Beg them,tell them your situation,it actually worked for me at my last facility I worked for.I know its so hard when you have no money to work with,been there,done that.Maybe some of the other ladies or gents have some ideas too.... Have fun ! gina :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigchris 1 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 Fund Raising- We have had some success with fundraisers, however, more success has come fro actually asking for the items. Namely Bingo and Birthday Prizes. I have included an article that went into Creative Forecasting in the Articles section, I hope that it helps. Please let me know if I can do anything for ya. bigchris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Diana Report Share Posted June 28, 2004 have you tried Otis Spunkmeyer? It is a cookie company that you can find in the yellow pages that gives you a conventional oven for free as long as you purchase two cases of their cookies a month. Sell the cookies to staff and families - usually 1.00 for three cookies, depending on size. You bake the cookies in the nursing home, which increases your sales because of the baking smell! It is outstanding!!!! You get aroma therapy as an activity, plus a social by giving a free cookie and serving coffee to residents who attend (and believe me, they will search for the smell of cookies!) You definetly make more money than you put in and it all goes towards activities. You know, just email me if you want more details! djcast@ActivityDirector.com It is the best, only if you are within delivery distance of an Otis Spunkmeyer cookie place. And yes, they deliver everything to you! It's the best! Diana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashonda 0 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 Hi Laree, My administrator originally wanted our calendar sent to a printing company as well, but when I explained to her how it was affecting my budget and that I could do the calendars on a computer myself and that it would cost a fraction of the amount (except for the large size paper to photocopy with) she approved. I'm not sure how comfortable you are with the computer, but it worked for me. Although now that is one more thing I have to do at the end of the month. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanda 0 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 You can also put up flyers in the employee breakroom for donations of books or anything that could be used for Bingo prices. We are planning to do that for an activity cart. You can get crossword puzzles and word searches free online. We get the library to come in and deliver books to residents, it is an outreach program and the only work we have to do for that is put tapes on a spindal for residents. We have picked up puzzles at yard sales but, that can also be put on the flyers. Make a list of the things that you would like and go from there. Food things we get from dietary because they can usually get things cheaper than at the grocery. We get frozen cookie dough, etc. I am a frugal shopper and I try to help my coworkers in this area. Although some things are big purchases (like this craft cart that we want) and there is no way to purchase that for $43.00. Is there any way to get your amount increased? Wanda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leese1 0 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Laree, I just signed on as a new member and I seen your dilemma on budgeting. I am in the same situation as you. I work in a 34 bed facility and only get $50.00 a month. Luckly I can run off my calendar on our photo copier. I wanted to post a few fundraisers that were a big hit at my facility. Baskets - I asked each department to donate items into a theme basket: Romantic, Bed& Bath, Garden, Mexican and then sold the tickets in the facility and out into the community. So far we have raised $250 and the drawing is in Aug Santa Gram - alot of the staff have younger children so I thought how much they would love to receive a letter from Santa. So I made 4 generlized letters (because there might be siblings in the house) and had them fill out the blanks to personlize it to there son/daughters/etc. letter. Tag Sale - when I know that there is going to be a big event in town - such as the Fair I put on a tag sale. I send out letters to families and staff to donate items that they no longer need and then sell them at the tag sale. Last but no Least Craft Sale - it went over very, very well. I had the residents make items, staff and individuals from the community. I hope this helps Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawn 0 Report Share Posted July 25, 2004 50/50 is great two people actical benfit the person with the ticket and the activity dept. raffle off a basket with a them such as movie night at home, summer time , sprigh time the ideas are unlimeted. hot dog sale, popcorn sale, cookies are good to do to but can get very expenisieve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest angela Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 what should be the average budget for an active activity department? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawn 0 Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 You really can't go by an average because all companies are different. For example one facility i had worked at $.13 a day per average # of resident # days in a month it was a 120 bed facility and the facility i work in know is $.22. For example if your census is 100. 100# (residents) x 31 days x $.22 that would be buget for the month. I hope this will help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_robin Report Share Posted August 3, 2004 kinkos charges 4.00 for big calendar in hallway(black & white), I use markers to make it more colorful, I color in the clip art, highlight big events like happy hour, bingo, entertainment, etc... It ends up looking GREAT for 4 bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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