Cardboard for Cash Fund Raiser
by TJ
(Ft. Myers, FL USA)
My civic organization ran a fundraising campaign several years ago and found that we could convert cardboard into cash. Nearly every business generates scrap cardboard and typically will throw it out with the trash. Companies that deal with tons of cardboard will recycle theirs for a certain price per pound. But small firms don't generate enough to make it worth their time. One small firm may not discard much cardboard, but many small ones do.
Our organization wanted to raise money to sponsor a Little League baseball team. The approach we took was to visit dozens of small companies and ask for their used cardboard. We got great responses, particularly by mentioning the company as a supporter in our newsletters that went to all of our members as well as the local newspaper.
The firms we worked with set aside their scrap cardboard in a corner of their office/warehouse/shipping dock each day. Our volunteers stopped by once or twice a week for three months to collect their cardboard. We arranged for the scrap collector to park an empty trailer at our Little League field parking lot. We took the cardboard we collected there and placed it in their trailer.
Using more ingenuity than time, we collected enough cardboard and cash to meet our fundraising goal.