Clean Run - June 2014 - 53

Moneymakers for Your Club
Dog wash: Do it in conjunction with a vet clinic or animal
shelter open house. This way you'll be assured of good traffic and you'll be helping the host facility draw even more.
Yard sale: Ask a popular business to let you set up in its
high-visibility, high-traffic parking lot on a Saturday.
Dog cookie bake sale: Come up with three safe, standard
recipes (for quality control and variety) and have club
members bake them at home. When packaged, label each
bag with the ingredients to protect the club against liability if a food-sensitive dog is given the wrong cookies.
Home-made doggy crafts sale: Rent a booth at a craft fair
and sell member-made items like fleece tug toys, ropes,
collars, cookies, poop bag carriers, pottery dog dishes, dog
coats, and bandannas. Members may donate their labor,
but be sure they're reimbursed for material expenses.
Home sales parties (Pampered Chef, Scentsy, Tupperware, etc.): Many companies will allow you to host a party
and donate profits to a charity. It's easy to get participants
when the proceeds go to a popular cause.
Long-term raffles: Find one terrific item that anyone
would want-a spa weekend, a home-made log dog bed,
six cases of wine, or a hand-made quilt-and sell tickets

out to customers. You'll also want to
distribute cards to vet clinics and pet
stores so people become more aware
of the club. That will boost membership and class registrations, which will
both create exponential growth.
Of course you can ask merchants and
members to donate supplies to get you
going. A pet store might donate shampoo for the dog wash. A club member
might have copy machine privileges
where she works. Be careful, however,
not to ask for too much too soon. Lots
of clubs "wear out" their welcome by
asking businesses and members for too
many in-kind donations. Remember
you're running your club as a business.
There's nothing wrong with spending
club money to make club money, as
long as you operate within your means.
Even with just one or two small events,
like a dog wash, car wash, or yard sale,
you'll greatly increase your savings,
perhaps enough to purchase a couple
good pieces of equipment to add to

over the course of several months. Find a business owner
or craftsman who will donate his or her item in return for
publicity over the course of your raffle. Require that every
club member sells at least 20 tickets, and offer an attractive incentive for the one who sells the most. This raffle
can be one of your biggest moneymakers of the year.
Agility-focused raffles: Sell a limited number of raffle
tickets to be drawn for $100 worth of paid trial entry fees,
redeemable at any trial. Peddle tickets at trials you attend,
and let your friends know their odds of winning are pretty
good. Don't forget to tell them exactly how the club plans
to use the money raised. When people give money to
organizations, they appreciate knowing specifically how it
will be used.
Grants: Every community has fraternal organizations,
utility companies, and public interest groups eager to donate money to good community causes, especially if they
involve youth and education. Ask teachers, counselors,
and sports officials in your area for good leads. Approach
business clubs and community advocate groups and ask
about their grant program. You might just get your local
Elks Lodge to donate money to buy a new aluminum Aframe, especially if there are lodge members who belong
to your club.

what you already have. Since fundraising will continue indefinitely, you'll
next want to establish an equipment
fund as a budget line item. The fund
will be treasury money earmarked for
equipment purchases only. Next year
you might use some of it to purchase
used jumps. When you replace what
you have spent, you might have almost
enough the following year to buy a new
A-frame or dogwalk. You don't need to
purchase a full set of top-of-the-line
regulation equipment all at once, and
you certainly shouldn't if your club
doesn't have the cash. An equipment
fund will act as a "brake" to keep you
from overextending. That's important if
you're going to live within your means.
Whenever a club purchase needs to be
made, get the consent of all the board
members prior to spending money.
Full disclosure and approval beforehand will prevent resentment on everyone's behalf and clear up any confusion about who is paying for what, and

whether or not they should be reimbursed. If a member wants to purchase
something for the club out of her own
pocket, that's fine, as long as she understands the club is under no obligation
to remunerate her.

Growing the Budget
Your agility club is a nonprofit group,
whether or not you've registered for
IRS tax exempt status. You make money solely so you can spend it to benefit
your membership and meet your mission statement. Still, remember that
the more money you make, the more
you can spend! If, after several years of
fund-raising and wise investment, you
find your club has all the equipment it
needs and is financing itself primarily
through membership dues and class
fees, it just may be time to establish a
building fund for that million-dollar
climate-controlled training facility.
Dream big! D

Jan Manning helped charter the SunDogs Agility Club in Yakima, Washington and the Sanders County Dog Training Club in northwestern Montana. She runs two rescue
American Staffordshire Terriers in agility, one of whom was the AKC's top AmStaff (Preferred) in 2013.
June 14

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Clean Run - June 2014

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