Fundraising together as a department has proven to be an easy and successful way to raise funds to support the mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The information below will provide you with the basic steps involved in setting up a department fundraising event in your community, and will give you details on how the funds raised can then be split among your different department members so that each person may qualify for individual fundraising incentives.

Getting Started
To begin, set a department fundraising goal you hope to achieve & develop an idea for a local community event that you can get everyone involved in as a group. Remember that the more people you recruit from your fire department to be involved, the easier it will be to meet your fundraising goal.

Event Suggestions Include:

• Community Car Wash: Organize a car wash & collect donations to support your fundraising efforts.
• Stair Stepper Fundraiser: Organize a stair stepper machine to be located outside the main entrance at a key community location i.e. - local grocery store. Organize your department into shifts so that each individual much work out in full gear on the stair stepper for a 30 min. shift. Other members of your department can "work the crowd" collecting donations, and educating people about the event and the mission of LLS.
• Fundraising Rally: Arrange for a local business to offer you their venue for the night. Provide drinks, appetizers and have the members of your department organize a keynote speaker or provide a video of their training efforts for the stairclimb. You can charge a ticket entrance fee or ask for donations in the room.
• Special Event: Create your own local event where all ticket sales/proceeds benefit your department fundraising. Included below is a list of ideas that have been used by departments in the past:
  • Wine & Cheese Reception
  • Spaghetti Dinner @ the Firehouse
  • Silent Auction
  • Firefighter Auction
• Percentage of Proceeds: Arrange to have a percentage of proceeds donated to the department's fundraising efforts from a local business such as a bar or restaurant. Encourage folks to attend to support your efforts!
• Team T-shirt Promotion: Create and print your own department t-shirt for the competition. Sell them at a profit to friends, family and the local community.
• Prizes: Have a company, outside group or business donate prizes that can be raffled off to raise additional funds.
• Fundraising Competitions: Separate out the members of your department who plan to participate in the stairclimb into two different fundraising groups. Foster some friendly competition --- add a prize for the top fundraising group or a penalty/dare for the 2nd place fundraising group.

The ideas included above are merely suggestions... Be creative and develop an idea or fundraising event that works best for you individual department! Encourage your family & friends to get involved. The more help the better!

Set Up a Team Fundraising Page
Online fundraising is a great way to boost your average contributions, simplify the collection process, and to reach large groups of people at once. If you are a Team Captain and you would like to set-up an online Department Team Fundraising Page, please contact Kris Howard at kristen.howard@lls.org for more details

Money Collection & Disbursement:
Elect 1-2 people to be in charge of collecting and counting the money earned at your department fundraising event. When the money has been totaled and is ready to be turned into the LLS office - just arrange to turn it in with the form included here. This way the LLS Office will know how to properly divide the money out to each firefighter in your department, so that the funds can be credited towards their individual fundraising totals for incentive prize purposes.

Example One:
Department X raises $3,400 at a community car wash. There are 10 members within the department who helped with the car wash. Divide the $3,400 among the 10 members and so that each person is credited a total of $340. Fill out the sheet mentioned above and turn in the funds.

Example Two:
Department X raises $4,000 at a wine & cheese event. There are 12 members within the department who helped overall, but 3 of those individuals did the majority of the work. Assign a set amount of funds to be credited to the 9 people who participated - maybe $250 for each person. Split the rest of the funds between the 3 individuals who did the lion's share of the work giving them a total of $583 each in pledges. Fill out the sheet mentioned above and turn in the funds. The breakdown will be subjective to the department submitting the money.

Team Fundraising Materials Form
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has a number of free materials available to help you advertise and increase the marketing power of your department fundraising event. Please review the list below, and send an email to Kris Howard at kristen.howard@lls.org to arrange to have your choice of any of the specific items below shipped to you directly to assist in your fundraising event.

Please allow 1-2 weeks for shipment and be sure to include the address where you would prefer to have the materials shipped. Lastly, please specify specific quantities for each item.

Free Items:

• LLS Collection Boxes: A 6 x 4 x 4 inch white cardboard box with Society logo and slot on top for collecting donations.
• Scott Firefighter Stairclimb Posters: An 8 x 13 inch poster that is a small replica of the event brochure cover design & highlights the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb event details.
• General LLS Materials: A packet of information concerning the mission & services of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
• Scott Firefighter Stairclimb Temporary Tattoos: A 1.5 x 2.5 inch temporary tattoo featuring the event logo.
• Scott Firefighter Stairclimb Vinyl Banner: A 2' x 10' foot vinyl color banner. The banner features the event name, LLS logo, and event logo. Only 6 vinyl banners were created, thus this item will need to be returned to the LLS office after your fundraising event for use by other departments.

Team Fundraising Disbursement Form