• Get Your Company Involved!
  A district manager of a national retail chain encouraged her company to participate. The employees of each store challenged one another to form at least one team per store and raise money for Down syndrome. They had fun, raised money and increased morale all once! Another way to have your company raise money is to have one (or more) ?dress down days? with the money collected going towards the Buddy Walk™. See below for more information.
• Get Your Child's School Involved!
  (Start by reminding the school that October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month.) A teacher at a private school instituted a ?dress down day? for the entire student body & faculty. For a $5 donation, a student or teacher could dress in jeans or other casual clothes for a day, instead of the uniform. If students already have a casual dress policy, let them wear a hat, shorts or other attire that is normally not allowed (If the principal won?t agree to involve the whole school, how about a ?special project? for just your child?s class?)
• Get Your Religious Organization Involved!
  Ask to put a poster on the bulletin board. See if an announcement can be made during a service. Leave a donation envelope in the coffee room or in the lobby.
• A High School Student in Milwaukee, WI Thought of This Idea:
  He wanted to support his coach who was raising money for another cause. He got all his buddies to donate the money they would have used to rent a tuxedo for the prom to support their coach?s cause. Although the Buddy Walk™ is past prom season, this idea can be tweaked to support the Buddy Walk™.
• How about Suggesting a Letter Writing Assignment?
  Students can compete to see who receives a donation from the longest distance away. Ask them to write letters to people who live out of state or out of the country. The student who brings in a check from the farthest away point wins.
• Contact Your Child's Girl/Boy Scout Troop.
  Scouts could be eligible to earn a variety of badges by participating in a Buddy Walk™.
• Other Ways To Raise Money for the Buddy Walk™:
  Car washes, a dog wash, garage sales, bake sales, Dress Down For Down Syndrome, ?Dimes for Down Syndrome Day? at work or at your child?s school. Encourage walkers to get pledges from family, friends, colleagues, doctors, dentists, dry cleaners, hairdressers, and places where they are frequent patrons.
• ~

	How To Raise $500 In One Week

	Start a Letter Writing Campaign

Writing letters to your friends and family is a wonderful - and easy way to raise money for your local Buddy Walk™.  By sending out letters (or e-mails) to the people you know, you are able to quickly spread the word of your involvement in the Buddy Walk™ and ask individuals to either walk with you or to sponsor you.

Click here for sample letters that you can download and edit for your own letter writing campaign.  We would like to thank the Kansas City Buddy Walk™ for donating most of these templates.

	More Fundraising Ideas

• Try to get small prizes to give away as pledge awards. For example, if you raise $50 you will earn a baseball hat, if you raise $100 you will earn a tote bag, etc.
• On your tee shirt, write the names of everyone who has given youa pledge on the shirt or write their names on a piece of fabric and sew it on the shirt.
• Sell raffle tickets and hold a drawing (or drawings) for items that were donated by local organizations.
• Make and sell Buddy Walk™ ribbons (in the blue and yellow Buddy Walk™ colors) and sell them for $.50 or $1.00 to increase awareness of your Buddy Walk™ and to raise a little extra money at the same time.