How it Works:
Step 1: Download a Cariño for ProNiño toolkit for information, guides and templates. Decide if you want to organize an event or activity or just join a team. (See our list of fundraising ideas)
Step 2: Set up your fundraising website to collect donations online and track how much you’ve raised (http://www.firstgiving.com/pronino). Use personal stories or photos to make it yours.
Step 3: Send invitations (if you’re hosting an event) or your request for support via e-mail and/or postcard. Send a letter (including the Check Donations Form) to people who ‘don’t do the email thing’.
Step 4: Publicize your effort however you can (newspaper, announcements, word of mouth, etc)
Step 5: Send reminders. Recruit volunteers to help if you’re having an event.
Step 6: Have fun raising awareness, support, and money for ProNiño USA!
Step 7: Send a personal Thank-you e-mail or follow-up communications (Formal Thank you Letters and Receipts will automatically be sent to donors- you won’t need to do any of this)
List of fundraising ideas:
Sell tickets for a Raffle prize (i.e. donations from a local business/artist or gift certificates for a night out: restaurant, movie, or tickets to the game)
Host a Dinner party at your house or favorite restaurant
Have a Car-wash
Put on a Team-member Yard Sale (everyone donates items and the procedes go to ProNiño USA )
Bake Sale (everyone loves brownies, cookies, coffee cake) or Pancake Breakfast (all-you can eat cakes for $10!)
Partner with a local business or restaurant to donate part of one day’s profits to ProNiño USA
Thank you for becoming a ProNiño USA Team Captain!
- Go to http://www.firstgiving.com/pronino and click where it says “Join a Team.” You need to register to create your personal fundraising page. It’s simple and quick. Pick a team name and follow the onscreen instructions to add your team!
- Personalize your page with the reasons why you care, why this is important, and a personal request for people to support you. Use the sample templates in this toolkit if you want. Set a fundraising target. It can be any amount you think you can raise, our suggestion is $1,500 for all team captains.
- Build your team. Take ten minutes and write down all the networks you are part of, e.g. school, work, church, friends, family, old jobs, hobbies, clubs, sports. Identify 8-10 people from this list you can ask to help you reach your goal by committing to raise $300 as a member of your crew. Contact them to explain what you are doing and why you need their help. (“I have committed to raising $1,500 to support the boys of ProNiño. But I need people to be on my team to help me reach my goal. Will you consider being one of them? There are prizes for different levels of funds raised, and they make it simple with a toolkit.” Give them the ‘How It Works’ page provided.)
- Get commitments from at least four of these people, e-mail them the link to your one-page website and tell them to click ‘Join this Team.’ Let them know about the incentives for the different levels of giving.
- Each team-member can follow the on-screen instructions to create their own one-page site with a target of $300, and recommend listing all their networks, as you did in Step 3 above. If you want, please use the information about ProNiño USA provided in this toolkit on your team pages.
- You and your team members can e-mail the people on your lists (sample e-mails provided), asking them to donate towards your target. Use any of the fundraising ideas in the toolkit (host a party, a silent auction, raffle, etc). ProNiño USA will automatically thank and receipt anyone who donates online.
- Send reminder e-mails (we recommend one every couple of weeks). This is necessary. Even the people who want to support you receive e-mails at times when they may be busy and forget to go back to them. Statistically, people need to receive your request an average of three times before they respond.
- Watch your ‘funds-o-meter’ rise on your team’s site! At the end of the campaign, fill out the redemption certificates for your prizes.
THE ASKS (Donation Requests Templates)
Personalize your e-mails, letters and Team-page as much as possible.
The people you ask to support ProNiño may do so because of the boys and the cause, but mostly they’ll do it because of you. Tell them why you care. If you’ve been to El Progreso, tell them your story, your experience.
Don’t feel bad e-mailing multiple times. We receive many e-mails and Facebook messages every day, and some get lost, or we forget to come back to messages that we do care about.
Here is a sample first e-mail/donation request letter:
Send the initial e-mail asking for donations to your target on June 1st, our Kick-Off
Subject: Help us support ProNiño USA
Dear XXX
You may know that for ______ years, I’ve been involved with an organization called ProNiño USA . Our mission is to create brighter futures for Latin American children.
We need to raise $40,000 between today and October 10, 2010 to support the programs to rehabilitate street children, but I can’t do it alone. I am hoping that you will consider helping us get there.
$50 (or even $20) or whatever you can afford would mean so much to me and to the boys. You can donate any amount, and help me raise more by telling others. You can find out more and support me by visiting my personal (secure) fundraising site at: www.XXXX.com
Children, as young as four years old, end up in the street for many reasons- poverty, abuse, neglect, and being orphaned are chief culprits. ProNiño gives the boys the food, shelter, healthcare, education, and the love and guidance from caring adults that are essential for a child’s healthy development.
ProNiño teams just like mine all over the world are raising small sums to help these boys. I have come to care about them very much and hope that you will too. Please help me succeed for them.
Thank you for considering helping me towards my goal. For more on ProNiño USA, visit www.pronino.org
Sincerely, XXX
Sample Reminder e-mail template:
Subject: We’re gaining!
Hello again XXX,
Just a quick note to thank you for supporting my team effort to raise funds to help street kids in Honduras.
It has only been a couple of weeks, but already I am xx% towards my goal. If you’ve been considering helping me, but haven’t had the chance to visit my team page yet (www.XXXX.com), I hope that you’ll take a minute to do it now, and support me if you can.
Keep in mind that as little as $30 a month can pay for the food, shelter, clothes, healthcare and staff support for one boy for a full year! So, please give what you can to my site today!
Thank you so much for the time and attention. It means a lot. I will keep you posted on our progress. Sincerely, XXX
Sample Event Postcard:
Check Donations Form
To donate by check, please fill out this form and include it with your check, made payable to ProNiño USA .
Name: __________________________________________________________ Address:_________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ City:___________________________________ State:_______ Zip:_________
Team Captain’s Name (or Team Name):______________________________ Phone:___________________________________________________________ Email:____________________________________________________________
__ Check here if you would like to receive email updates and the newsletter about ProNiño USA and the children they support.
Check Amount/Notes:_______________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________
Thank you for your support!
ProNiño USA 603 Fords Road Manakin-Sabot, VA 23103
About ProNiño USA
A registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization, ProNiño USA is dedicated to providing brighter futures for Latin American Street Children. For over a decade ProNiño USA has partnered with Fundación Proniño in El Progreso, Yoro, Honduras, operating two twenty-four hour live in centers which offer comprehensive care and support to approximately 80 boys and young men. Grounded in the Bosconia model, the program is structured in progressive phases, providing rehabilitation services to street children based on the child's willingness to improve and level of development.
Who are these street children?
Many children turn to the streets to escape extreme poverty, neglect, or an abusive home life. Others reside in the streets as a result of abandonment or the loss of one or both parents. There they fall victim to hunger, physical and sexual abuse, drug addicition, and gang violence. Most street kids huff cheap and readily available toluene-based glue as it provides an escape from this harsh reality and eases their hunger while causing extensive neurological damage.
A typical day for a street child consists of awaking on a cardboard box, stealing or begging for a single meal, huffing glue, and hoping to survive another night. With no education, few marketable skills, and poor health they face a very difficult future.
How do they enter the ProNiño program?
Due to the lack of social services ProNiño provides a last resort for these children. Some arrive at the direction of the police or local juvenile court, most come of their own volition through street-level outreach.
How does ProNiño help the boys?
The program provides comprehensive support beginning with three nutritious meals a day, a safe place to live, and the love and guidance from caring adults essential for a child’s healthy development. From there, through four phases ProNiño assists the child through his rehabilitation process.
At Nueva Vida (New Life) the children learn to play, work, and interact constructively, and to adhere to discipline and structure…new concepts for a child straight from the street. Also at Nueva Vida the children receive detoxification treatment in the form of sauna therapy and dietary supplements.
Then at Los Vencedores the boys learn to replace negative patterns with positive activities. ProNiño provides counseling to help the boys deal with a myriad of problems resulting from street-life. Receiving individual attention, the boys are prepared to be integrated into schools and with other children their own age.
At Amor y Paz (Love and Peace), boys attend local schools, receive educational support and further their progress.
Finally, at Grandes Heroes the now young men receive vocational training in addition to classroom education. ProNiño supports their transition to independent living through help in job placement and finding housing.