The Return of Activity

We know, it's been a few months since this blog was updated. But we are back on the job and will keep you posted on who's been raising funds for what.

Just in the last couple weeks there events for St. Vincent de Paul, Children's Village and the EXCEL Foundation to name a few.

Communities are build by the citizens who stand up and participate to make it a better place. North Idaho is blessed with many people involved in many organizations that help a great many people in a great number of ways. Great!

Stay tuned. We'll keep you up to date.

If you are a member of an organization that has a fundraiser planned, please drop us a line so we can help get the word out.

calendar@nifamily.com

Going to the Dogs

There were 150 two-legged participants accompanied by 170 four-legged friends for the annual AJ Tails and Trails 5k event on the Prairie Trail in Coeur d'Alene. $12,000 was raised for the Kootenai Humane Society and veterinary costs for homeless, abandoned and abused dogs and cats.

Champagne, Chocolate, Cheesecake and Cabernet!

Soroptomists and Women's Center, Inc. join forces to provide for women and children in need.

An estimated crowd of over 300 attended the annual 4C's event held at the Riverstone retail location Saturday May 16. Raffle tickets for wine trees and a spin in a red Ferrari (donated by PhonesPlus and won by Dr. Don Schmitt) along with live and silent auction items were part of the festivities. The casual atmosphere was enhanced by the beach party theme as well as the fun and creative themed auction packages. A patio scene complete with furniture, rugs, candles, plants and serving dishes and a child's tea party including table and chairs, dishes, dolls, toys and linens were among them.

(top Sue Welch places a bid; below Soroptomist Peggy Miller explains live auction process to Corey Violette and Bea Conley.)

Spring Community Food Drive

The Post Falls Community Spring Food Drive ran April 1 to May 2 and the numbers were record-breaking!
"Prairie Pig" Spirit Week - 4,407 lbs
School Challenge - 15,509 lbs
Hayden Academy - 1,246 lbs
Friday Super One site - 1,768 lbs
Saturday - Trading Co site - 18,860 lbs
Corporate Challenge - 2,338 lbs
Sysco Food Show - 13,000 lbs
The total was 57,128 pounds of food and $2961.37 in financial donations for the Post Falls Food Bank!

Wine, Stein & Dine

It was the lucky 13th year for the Post Falls Education Foundation's signature fundraising event on March 7. Dozens of local restaurants, wineries and brewers donate their products to make for a unique evening of wining and dining for several hundred people at the Greyhound Park Event Center on the first Saturday of every March. A high quality silent auction raises additional funds. The beneficiaries of the event are the classrooms of School District 273, which in the past 12 years have directly received over $275,000 in grants. We give the PFEA an A+! *This fundraising event appeared on the North Idaho Community Charitable Events Calendar!

Feeling the Luv

Coeur d’Alene’s two Dutch Bros. Coffee drive-thru locations collected 1,861 lbs. of food for the Community Action Partnership Food Bank during its Feb. 13 and 14, “Dutch Luv Days” Cans for Coffee drive. Customers received a free drink of their choice with a donation of three canned goods or nonperishable food items, which are now being distributed throughout the community through the food bank’s various outreach programs.
*This fundraising event appeared on the North Idaho Community Charitable Events Calendar!

Art for little library users

The Coeur d'Alene Library is fundraising to complete the Beaver Lodge and Enchanted Forest Mural in the children's section of the library. Artists are Allen and Mary Dee Dodge.

Your gift of just $100 will go directly toward sponsorship of this original and unique piece of functional art which will be used and enjoyed by generations of children and families.
Please make your check out to: CdA Public Library Foundation and mail to: Ruth Pratt, 702 E. Front Avenue, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814.

Comment FAQs

We've had questions from people new to blogging on how to leave a comment under a post.
No registration is required. When you click on comments you'll be asked Comment as? Where it reads select profile in a drop down menu, the simplest way is to choose Name/URL. Type in your name and your personal/business/organization website url in its entirety. Sample: http://www.nifamily.com
Then write your comment and publish. When your name appears on the comment it will also be a live link to your website.
You can also select anonymous, just be sure to type your name in the same box as your comment. Feel free to practice on this post.
Let's hear from you out there!

Y.E.S.

Youth Equipped for Success, a Spirit Lake youth center, held an open house/breakfast on Valentine's Day which was a success ... especially their bake sale of decorated cookies made by the kids, which raised $265. In the fundraising arena, where thousands of dollars are raised during gala events, it's good to remember that there are many smaller organizations providing valuable services in our rural communities. After-school tutoring and a safe, positive place for young people to connect, Y.E.S. gets a big thumbs up!

Chocolate & Champagne

The Windermere Foundation held a Chocolate and Champagne evening on Friday night after work at their Northwest Blvd. office. Well over 100 attendees paid $5 for all the chocolate and champagne/wine they could consume. There were raffle tickets sold for a number of great prizes and a silent auction of about a dozen baskets, trips and misc. items.The event benefits the Winderemere Foundation's annual Boots and Socks drive which provides shoes and socks to local children. Pictured are Midge Smock, Nancy Johnson, Vicky Houle and Loretta Reed, who organized the fun-filled affair. *This fundraising event appeared on the North Idaho Community Charitable Events Calendar!

Growing by leaps and bounds!

Thanks to all of you who've already submitted events to the new charitable events calendar, we're posting them as soon as they're received.
Tips to remember: include the event name and date, benefitting organization/s, location and contact phone number/email and website. If you include a web address it becomes a live link from the calendar notice.
Take a minute and check through the listed events on the calendar and let us know of any scheduled dates that aren't on there yet. The more comprehensive the listings, the more benefit everyone will have in their planning.

Submit events to: calendar@nifamily.com

THANK YOU!

We're glad you were able to join us for the Fundraising Forum and would appreciate hearing from you. Let us know when your event/s are scheduled in 2009 and tell us what would be beneficial to you and your organization to include in the Fall Fundraising Forum for 2010.

For events, please list event name, date / times / location, sponsoring organization and contact number, email and/or website for inclusion on the North Idaho Community Calendar.

The comment section is directly below this post.

Kiki

kiki@fyinorthidaho.com

Kerri

kerri@fyinorthidaho.com

Ideas? We have ideas!

Here's a sampling of fundraising ideas ... for more details contact kiki@fyinorthidaho.com

Contractor's Garage Sale
In conjunction with a home/show event. Major hardware supply store sponsor participation encourages contractors to sell unused remodel project items to a current audience of home improvement seekers. Non profit org supplies database management, cash handling and coordination of stock/supplies.

Date night... that's the ticket
Restaurant/diner participation with purchased ticket via off season dining campaign organized by receiving non-profit.

Friday Night Live - Gala Auctions
Monthly charity auctions with roving auctioneer group. Has franchise feel, quality presentations, consistent agenda and cash and carry process. A "comedy" feel with a one-time commitment from nonprofit org for minimal qty of sellable items. Runs concurrently with regular community events/shows.

C.A.* Degree program 

Administered by the "emeritis board" of the KACF, comprised of former community award winners, requires funding of keeping a database for voting and communciation purposes paid for by % of the fundraising effort, degrees can be "bought" but have to have qualifiers for levels. Requires nomination or application, and has an annual Alumni Banquet.

Community Hatitude - Pass the hat with flair
Includes a large collective group of non-profit orgs & volunteers with a common deadline to physically pass a hat throughout the business community. Gala dinner live auction includes auctioning off "hats" decorated and may include prizes, certificates, gifts worn by their creator (a local notable individual or group representative)

Dash for Cash
A 50/50 fun run/walk, targeted at younger adult audience. Registration fees for walk, run, crawl, effort. Will be split between winning participants' charity (i.e. school club, Fraternity, favorite cause) and the non-profit organizing group.

The Piece of the Dream Raffle
Benefiting 6 - 10 regional non-profit organizations. Specific number of tickets sold. Drawing date on ticket. Winner will own a piece of land in beautiful North Idaho. Targeted ticket sales to tourists and event attendees for a one year period.

*C.A.
Community Activist , Chamber Addict , Child Advocate, Commerce Agitator, Crazy Adult, Can-do Attitude, Care Abundantly