Babysitting fundraisers are really great around holidays because a lot of daycares are closed. Parents need some place to take their children while they celebrate, so they have to go in search of babysitters to get the job done. If your organization could provide babysitting services around this time, you may be able to make a killing from watching a few kids for a couple hours. The success of this kind of fundraiser is in the execution. If you set everything up correctly, you should have no trouble raising some money for whatever you need. Here are some tips to help you hold a successful babysitter fundraiser.

Get a Venue

You are going to need a space that is big enough to house however many children you think will come to the fundraiser. This place needs to have enough open area so that one person can look over multiple children at once. Ideally, you may want to use part of a gymnasium if you can block off the stairs and put padding on the ground. If you have a conference room or something like that that you can clear out, you could do that as well. It all depends on what your plans are.

Have Enough Sitters

Make sure that you have enough people from the organization to watch over the kids you expect to come to the event. You may only need one person for every four or five kids, but you may need more if they are really young or really rambunctious. You have to make sure that the parents feel comfortable in the care you are providing for their children. You can do this by having a sufficient number of sitters on hand to watch over the kids.

Plan out Activities

Try to pick some fun activities to do while you’re watching the kids. That way they all stay in one area and they’re easy to watch over. You may have a group painting to do or perhaps a game to play. You need to think about the activities that different age groups will like, just in case you have a range of ages to care for. The toddlers may only like blocks while the big kids like something more stimulating for their minds. You have to make plans according to the kids you will be watching for the night.

Pick a Price

You need to have a flat rate to charge all of the parents when you watch the kids. If you’re going to watch them for several hours, I don’t think $50 per child is a crazy price to ask, especially if you are doing this on a holiday. That is what these people would pay a day care service if it was open, so you might as well get close to that money for working on a holiday. If you let the parents know that their money is going toward a good cause, they should be willing to pay whatever portion of their medical administrative assistant salary it takes to get their children taken care of.

Advertise

The only thing you have left to do now is advertise the event so parents know where to come and how to reserve a spot. You can do this at local elementary schools or day cares, just to get the word out where it matters most. If you can visit a few PTA meetings to discuss the fundraiser, you may be able to generate some donations on the spot. Spread the word enough, and you will have a successful fundraiser in no time.