Three Fun Fundraising Ideas for the Arts When Funs are Low and Spirits Need Lifting

1. A 3-inch "button" with eye-catching design and clever slogan that can be printed for $1 and sold for $5 if manufactured by local print shop in quantities of 50 buttons or more. (Good return on investment!) Similar to the buttons that they used to sell (still do?) at Folklife Festival at the Seattle Center, Memorial Day Weekend. I think maybe I have at least one or two of these Folklife Festival buttons hiding somewhere in the house, dated pre-year 2000.

2. An old-fashioned sing-a-long and ice-cream social, preferably with folks songs like the kind you learned in grade school back when no one worried about children being left behind. In my elementary school, the teacher or teacher-in-training would get out the auto-harp, and we'd sing things like "Roll On Columbia Roll On," "My Darling Clementine," (with or without pantomime) and "Hacienda Casa Linda." Or was it "Rancho Grande?" I went to grades 2 through 4 in Santa Monica California in the 1950's and the songs were often in Spanish. For the ice-cream social I recommend root-beer floats and vanilla scoops with various toppings and/or mix-ins.

3. An Art Show by and for Children Artists. An adult would need to supervise in some non-intrusive way, but the children would create the artwork and vote on which artworks they liked the best. Awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, with stickers for all art show participants. I think this could be accomplished with minimum muss and fuss. I'd volunteer to help out, certainly. Admission: suggested donation for adults $5 and free to children of all ages.