Events - Promotions - Contests
Dramatically Increase Income at Events including Churches, Schools, Fairs, Conventions, and Parties
This page contains a variety of ideas and strategies for events using your Spiral Wishing Well as a focal point that motivates people to donate large amounts of money beyond just coins from their pockets or purses.
Some of the ideas below can also be used for "attended" placements that depend on coins from people walking by at a store or restaurant or other retail-type of setting. Some of the sections will overlap with others, but that is because we are trying to toss out a variety of ideas that allow you to adapt the best option, or combination of promotions to your particular situation. If you are conducting an event and don't pre-promote the Well, you probably won't generate any more money than a passive location where income is based on 1) Getting people to stop, and 2) They need to have coins in their pockets or purses. The benefits of a retail location such as a store or restaurant is that it generates a relatively small amount day after day after day. But an event is only a few hours or a weekend, which allows you to promote the Well. A pre-promoted Well-strategy ensures people come with coins they have gathered from home, and that they will purposefully seek out the Well. |
How to Maximize Event Income With a little planning and some effective strategy, you can dramatically increase the total income at your event. The following suggestions include the most effective techniques gathered from many successful events over the years.
Priming: Have someone available to “prime” the Well by dropping in quarters whenever there is a lull in the action. Demonstrating quarters will promote quarters. But don’t make the mistake of handing coins to the kids. Let their parents do that! Matching Pledges: Line up one or more people who will match however much is raised during the event. This is often done in the form of an amount "up to a maximum limit". At the church that raised over $40,000 in one day, there were two members who matched up to $10,000 each! This is often easier than it sounds. If there are any donors who are planning to donate a large amount to your project, ask them to do it in the form of a matching amount of money raised with the Wishing Wells. Then you can use that matching amount to get another one or two people to do matching amounts....and to get everyone else to bring all their change from home with something like, "We have someone who will match however much we raise with the Spiral Wishing Well...so be sure to bring all the change you have been collecting at home all these years so we can double it with the matching pledge!" Or "triple it" if you have two matching pledges...etc. Try to Break the Record: Promote the event as an effort to break the income record for Spiral Wishing Wells. The current one-day record is $40,979 at a church (click here to see how they did it). You might not break that record, but if you try, it will create excitement and yield better results. For purposes of the "record" we define it as, "the total amount of coins, bills, checks, pledges, matching amounts, Mini-Well toy revenue (see "Free Mini-Wells" below), and all other amounts collected over the period of your event." In other words, it isn't just the amount of coins that are spun around the coin funnel. It is EVERYTHING you generate using the Wishing Well as a focal point to get people to donate more than they would otherwise bring with them.
Skill: Encourage the “Test Your Skill” game of tossing in coins without using the ramps. A “demonstrator” person can show people how to do it, and then they will experiment with their own coins.
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Advance Notice: Send out advance notice encouraging people to bring all the coins from home…including the coins collecting in jars, on dressers, in laundry rooms, and under cushions (children love the adventure of hunting for coins). The average American home has over $50 worth of coins, and most of that is usually on Dad's dresser! Men don't like to carry coins, so we toss them in a jar or other container where they add up to a lot of value over time. Many homes have much more than $50. All they need is a little encouragement to donate it! 
This placement in a SEARS store in a shopping mall in Abilene Texas uses some great strategies for increasing income, attracting sponsors, and getting great media publicity. Click here or on the picture to see more images and read about how they have gotten the most out of their Well for many years.
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Adding a change machine close by is one of the best ways to dramatically increase Wishing Well income. Men don't like to carry loose change, and women quickly empty their purses. But they will continue to put dollar bills into a change machine to provide coins for their children or grandchildren to toss into the Well. $350 to $1,000 Per Week!!! |
Dollar Bills Tape a dollar or a color copy of one inside the sign frame with the words, "Thank you for dollars too!" such as the one shown here. It is amazing how that simple visual stimuli will increase your income. |
The following paragraphs expand on the above suggestions, and offer some larger contest ideas, and suggestions for store placements. Make change with a lot of coins As your cashiers hand people their change, have them cheerfully suggest, "Be sure to have some fun with the Spiral Wishing Well on your way out..." as they point to it. Some stores are even more aggressive than that. When they give people change, they do it with a lot of coins, accompanied with that same suggestion to have fun at the Well. In other words, if someone is getting $1.50 back, they don't hand them a dollar bill and two quarters, they hand them 4 quarters, 3 dimes, and 4 nickels, or something like that.
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Hoody Secton, a 7-11 franchise owner, did that very thing with his customers...many of whom are daily repeat customers. In a sense, he "trained" them to toss in all the loose change he and his cashier's handed them. He sent in this report: "For the last eleven years, out of 8,000 Seven-Eleven Stores, I have been in the top five raising money for the Jerry Lewis Telethon. My Spiral Wishing Well is my number one fund raiser . . . at over $16 per day, almost $500 per month. We average about 2,000 customers a day and most of them come in regularly. Interestingly, those same people toss coins in day after day---even if it's only a few cents change from a cup of coffee, sometimes right down the middle of the funnel and they don't even watch it spiral. They just do it out of habit." How to set the Single Event One Day Record
We would love to publish your organization with a new one-day record. This section will explain how to do it. But even if you can't break the record, attempting to do so will result in the largest possible amounts. So it becomes a very productive goal around which to motivate your event attendees.
We have several categories for records...schools, churches, stadiums, and other events.
The current overall record is $40,979 at a church in Loma Linda California. Click here to read about their exciting success.
Canyonville Academy in Oregon raised $7,352 on an alumni day when they were raising money for a grand piano. They came right out and said, "Let's try to set the one day record for the Spiral Wishing Well by passing all the coins, bills, checks, and pledges through the Well."
Records are not set at retail locations from walk-by traffic. Even if you placed a Seven-Footer in a 50,000 seat coliseum, it would be difficult to set a record from walk by traffic who might not even see it. However, if someone at a microphone said, "Be sure to stop by the Spiral Wishing Well at the entrance and empty your pockets..." then you could easily set a record with a large crowd. Applying as many of the suggestions in the green box above as possible will generate a lot of revenue.
The most likely setting for record income will be at an event where you are raising money for a cause or project and you encourage people to pass their bills and checks through the Well too. And if you get one or more companies and individuals to "match" the amount raised, you can double and triple the amount!
Records are set when Wells are used as a "focal point" for the event. It is amazing how people will step up and make some very large donations when a unique challenge is the focus, especially when it is positioned as an attempt to set a new record.
To maximize your kick-off income, be sure and do as many of the promotional ideas on this page as possible.
We would love to publish your event results. Just let us know! Good luck. |
Remember, ALL THE MONEY AND PLEDGES THAT ARE PASSED THROUGH THE WELL COUNT! So if someone has pledged $20, or $50, or $2,000 or $10,000 or a $50,000 donation to your event, don't just accept it. Use it as a matching grant at an event with your Well. Use it to get a lot of other people to donate $5, $10, $100 or more. Promote your event as an assault on the record. Encourage people to search for and bring all the coins from their home. Give away the toy mini-Wells Free Goodies
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Offer something in exchange for a quarter or dollar tossed into the Well. For instance, the American Heart Association placed a Well in a shopping mall for a weekend, right next to a cookie store. They arranged with the cookie store to give away a small cookie in the shape of a heart to anyone who tossed in a quarter. The charity raised $1400 worth of coins over the weekend and the cookie store had record sales because "nobody can eat just one!" This same concept has been done many times with other giveaways such as small ice cream cones, a Pepsi or Coke.
You can also line up some prizes such as bicycles, cameras, televisions, or other popular items that are provided by local stores. Then run a promotion such as, "Toss in a quarter (or dollar) and enter a contest to win a free television." Have everyone fill out a little entry blank and toss it into the Well or into a box. Then have a drawing for the winner at the end of the event.
Additional revenue can be generated by getting a company to sponsor the contest. They will get their name on the entry blanks along with a tear-off coupon or something similar. Depending on the size of your event, that sponsorship alone can generate another $1,000 or more.
Some of the most successful events have been promoted on local radio (sometimes with a remote on-site broadcast) that encourage people to gather up all the coins in their house and go have some fun and win a prize at the same time.
BIG BIRTHDAY PARTY IDEA Consider getting a large floor model Well, use it for your birthday event, and then donate it to your school, church, library, YMCA, Humane Society, or any local charity you choose! Your son or daughter can then have a sense of participation in the ongoing income and charity for many years to come. You could even put a brass-like engraved plate on the rim that says, "This Well is sponsored by [your son or daughter's name, or your family name]." This could become the focus of a project throughout their youth and into adulthood. See the example in the picture to the right-middle. A family in Ohio did exactly that. Rather than have a birthday with traditional wrapped gifts, they invited everyone to "bring all your loose change from home" and during the party, they took it to a local Kroger Grocery Store where they had placed a Well for the local Food Bank (pictured below right). They also divided into teams with the goal of purchasing as close to $50 worth of groceries as possible. One team got it right to the penny! The result was as follows:
Click here to read more about their "Amazing Birthday Charity Rally." Birthday Facts: Every week in the USA there are:
Source: Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza, Dayton Daily News
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Churches and Schools
We have developed a dedicated section for church programs. There are some things a church can do to raise large amounts of money and get fantastic community exposure that no other organization can do.
Click here to review that program.
School Programs
Spiral Wishing Wells can raise a lot of money when placed in schools, especially if you use our event strategies.
School Funnels can also be placed in area stores and restaurants where the owners and managers like to support the school which is a good customer-demographic for them.
Click here to read more about school programs.
How to raise $10 million and critical awareness at the same time
A little known organization in Lincoln Nebraska by the name of "Christian Record Services" started with three Wells and kept reinvesting the income in more and more Wells until they had over 300 Wells in Lincoln and in stores up and down the Mid-West raising money to send blind children to summer camp. They branded their campaign, "Wells of Hope." They raised over $10 million in 6 years and nearly EVERYONE in that region learned who they were. While the $10 million was fantastic, the exposure and long-term impact has also been a great benefit and has made a huge difference in their direct fund raising.
Christian Record Services became one of the best-known, most active organizations in their region because they placed enough Wells that almost everyone in the entire area saw their signs above the Wells several times a week. The media featured stories about them a number of times, and people have learned about their service to the blind which has attracted other donors and volunteers. If you want that kind of exposure for your organization or project, it can start with just a couple of Wells.
HINT: Come up with a Campagin Name
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Share Your Ideas
If you come up with a promotional or event idea that works, please share it with us along with pictures, and we will gladly add it to these best-practices page!