Photographs with Santa Claws: Dog Fundraising with Bite
As the spelling of the name suggests, photographs with Santa Claws is a dog fundraising idea well-suited to animal rescue groups, but could be adopted by any fundraising group with a penchant for puppies. This event usually takes place on a weekend in December and can be at the rescue headquarters, at a pet store, or even in a shopping mall if permission can be obtained.
An animal rescue group can usually provide a volunteer to be dressed as Santa Claws, with the group renting a costume if necessary, and they will arrange for a professional or semiprofessional photographer to be present. With this dog fundraiser, most profit is achieved if a volunteer or volunteer’s spouse is a photographer or has photography as a hobby.
Preparation beforehand is limited to providing publicity to attract members of the public with their pets to attend, and preparing sign-in forms for the expected crowd.
On the day of the event, Santa Claws and the photographer should arrive early, and set up a suitable backdrop, together with a chair for Santa and some brightly colored boxes to surround the chair to look like presents.
As members of the public arrive with their pets, they will fill out their name and address so that the finished pictures may be sent to them. With the addition of a check box on the form, this can also be a good way to add potential contributors to the group’s mailing list, but note that this should only be done with their permission. Santa will pose with each pet in turn while the photographer takes several shots, to ensure that there should be a good selection of pictures to choose from. There may be a couple of set priced packages of photographs to choose from.
A variation on this procedure would be to use a digital camera and print the photos while the customer is waiting.
Looking for another way to raise money with your pooch? Consider a dog wash fundraiser.
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