Raising Money for DCCK

[DonRocks]

Since I'm well-known for late-night posts, let me go ahead and issue one:

How can this website best raise money to support DCCK?

Thoughts and ideas welcome from members, restaurateurs, and DCCK employees.

[DanielK]

$5 in the jar for late night drunk posts?

[Ferhat Yalcin]

having a `bake sale` is an idea.

[DanielK]

What about some kind of silent/live auction at the next picnic? Get some members here to donate some goods/services, including our members "in the biz".

[sireatsalot]

Gather up all the food in the pantry that you are not using or need and deliver it and help work at the Kitchen on any given day. I use Free Cycle a lot and the past weekend I put out a offer for a box of food and within minutes I had well over 45 responses. While I felt good about the donation I was sadended by all the responses. I dug a little deeper and went out and bought enough for others and extended the offer and was able to help three homes directly. There is a lot of everyday people in need out there.

[goldenticket]

I learned about a new way to help on an individual basis as a result of my volunteer assignment at the DC Central Kitchen Capital Food Fight last night.

Celebrated Chefs is a program that gives you a way to convert some of your dining dollars into a donation to DCCK (or a variety of other charities). It's free to enroll your credit card(s) and there are currently 54 (very good) restaurants in the DC area participating in the program. Whenever you use your enrolled credit card at one of the restaurants, 5% of your purchase is donated (by the restaurant) back to your chosen charity.

Sorry if this sounds like a commercial - it's not. I don't work for Celebrated Chefs or any of the restaurants. I just think it's a totally painless and FREE way to give a little bit back to a great organization (I am a regular volunteer at DCCK). I imagine if a decent number of DR folks signed up, there would be a pretty nice donation going to the Kitchen, as I know many of the restaurants are frequented by folks on the board. Additionally, there are participating restaurants in Seattle, San Francisco, and Chicago, so if you dine at one of those establishments while you're traveling, DCCK will also get a donation as a result of your purchase.

[synaesthesia]

I find that most charity events in this town are targeted at the well-funded. There are a lot of charities trying to raise money via big ticket events. (I almost never see press releases for fundraisers that cost less than $100/tix.) The way I see it these expensive events miss out on a very large audience of people who cannot or will not pay over $100 for an event. If you could host an event or extended promotion that was less than $50 for people who would like to donate, it would capture a new audience that may not be in the system. Those events may not raise the $500K that Cap Food Fight did, but additional tiers of opportunity can add to that tremendous base and build long-term donating relationships that could increase in value.

[monavano]

I find that most charity events in this town are targeted at the well-funded. There are a lot of charities trying to raise money via big ticket events. (I almost never see press releases for fundraisers that cost less than $100/tix.) The way I see it these expensive events miss out on a very large audience of people who cannot or will not pay over $100 for an event. If you could host an event or extended promotion that was less than $50 for people who would like to donate, it would capture a new audience that may not be in the system. Those events may not raise the $500K that Cap Food Fight did, but additional tiers of opportunity can add to that tremendous base and build long-term donating relationships that could increase in value.

Thank you! I totally agree. If events were about what I'd pay for dinner, I'd happily donate. I think there's a huge untapped resource for people like me, who do not buy $100+ tickets. For instance, there was a charity-benefitted event at the new garden at Mt. Vernon. Totally up my ally, but I chose not to spend the $250 for Mr. MV and I, since that's what I'd spend in a heavy MONTH of farmers markets.

I think donating for a chance to win something would work. For example, dinner for 2 at a restaurant, or a piece of kitchen equipment that perhaps would be a splurge for those home cooks.

[weezy]

I think donating for a chance to win something would work. For example, dinner for 2 at a restaurant, or a piece of kitchen equipment that perhaps would be a splurge for those home cooks.

I bet an online raffle could be set up so you could pay for your tix via PayPal, restaurants, wine stores and cookware suppliers could offer gift cards (easily & inexpensively mailed to the raffle winners).