Fundraising Ideas
This grand list encompasses all past, present, and future ideas related to fundraising so we (hopefully) stop forgetting good ideas and repeating bad ones.
| Idea | Outcome | Worthwhile | Status | Est. Returns | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bake Sale | Success | Yes | Present | $50-100/mo | Bread is the most cost-effective by far. Needs more marketing to be more effective. |
| Restaurant Fundraising | Present | Yes | Present | 15% of every meal | For SP19 we used Niko Sushi through GroupRaise |
| Podcast | - | - | Future | $0-100/mo | There appeared interest in doing one and it appears reasonable |
| GoFundMe | Failure | No | Past | $15 | We tried this as another way donors could fund us for DEF CON, however we didn’t really use it |
| Patreon | Pending | - | Present | $1-20/mo | Still in the process of setting it up |
| Merch Runs | Success | No | Past | $5-20 | We did this for T-shirts and mugs but had a low margin and didn’t sell many |
| Merch Store | Pending | - | Present | $1-100/mo | Just set-up, no real data yet. Using spreadshirt.com so no investment just pure profit. |
| LES (Athletics Security) | Success | No | Past | $7/hr | Not a big enough effort/reward opportunity |
| Safe-Ride | Success | No | Past | $20?/night | We made basically nothing for our work |
| You Fund | - | - | Future | ??? | Haven’t tried it yet. Assumed it would work like GoFundMe |
| Badges | - | - | Future | $10-1000 | Was some interest a while ago but none lately. The consensus was that we should focus on big badges (like the DEF CON badges). |
| Membership Dues | - | - | Future | $5-100/yr | Has been proposed many times and strongly rejected many times |
| Lockpicks | - | - | Future | $1-100/yr | Many conflicting ideas about liability and legality and where we would find a long-term market. |
| Silent Auction | Failure | No | Past | -$??? | We did an auction hosted by a fraternity and gave several computers worth several hundred dollars and returned with like $20 |
| DATDA IT | Success | Probably? | Present | $5/mo | Although recently not very popular we generally make a bit of money on this in the long-term |
| Big Donors | Success | Yes | Present | $?,???? | UWEFE/GreenHouse Data/ASUW/CEDAR/COSC/Handel IT/Trihydro/UL Labs/Made Safe in Wyoming/ISSA? |