Ask HN: How can I raise $250, fast? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How can I raise $250, fast?

10 pointsMrMeker15 comments

I am the lead welder, engineer, and machinist for my high school's Kinetic Sculpture Team. We participate in the Kinetic Grand Championship (http://www.kineticgrandchampionship.com) and the race is coming up in about 60 days. We have been working really hard and just got all 4 wheels attached to our sculpture yesterday. What we need now are two steel framed mountain bikes in good condition. We haven't been able to find anything within our budget on Craigslist (really rural area) and I have decided that we should just buy them. There is a local store that has exactly what we need for $100 apiece, but our team just doesn't have the money. We are a sort of under-the-radar club at our school, organized as a community service project. During the race, we raise money for a local homeless charity. Unfortunately, during the offseason, money really dries up. I have taken it upon myself to raise the money and I figure we will need around $250 in total for the two bikes and tax.

I am coming here because I know how good y'all are at fundraising and finding what South Park would call "internet money". If anyone out there could point me to a site that is designed for this type of quick, small fundraising, that would be great. I am also down for any other ideas that might help us.

Here is a picture of us yesterday (I am in the middle) http://imgur.com/9ETOpci

Here is a picture of our team in last year's race as Betty Chinn's Peace Crane http://imgur.com/JfVxieR

Thank you! Mr. Meker

Can you ask local businesses for a donation? Can you put logos on your work? In even the most rural areas you can find 5 businesses willing to part with 50 bucks to have their logo on something.

Here are some donation sites that let you set up donation pages for exactly this type of cause:

https://www.gofundme.com

https://www.fundly.com

https://www.everribbon.com <- Disclosure: I run this one

Good luck!

Thank you! I really like the design of EverRibbon.

I have already started a campaign here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-chariot-of-charity/

do you have a bitcoin wallet?

if not you can make one here: https://blockchain.info/wallet/

and i'll send a donation

1JjeH1HtHqWucZK3wkjUoo4EAHWD4Xgahe

Thank you!

sent!

spread the word on bitcoins :)

Take a pen and paper, go around the neighbourhood to your friends, families, local shops asking for a small cash contribution.

That looks super fun. How do I contact you? (If there is a messaging function on HN, I'm not savvy enough to figure it out.)

Doesn't look like there's a PM system. mr.meker at gmail

If his profile is set up correctly you can click on his name and get his email address.

Were up to $65 and around $11 in bitcoins.

If anyone else has an idea of how to raise money, we still need a bit more!

http://kickstarter.com

We can't really offer rewards and we aren't selling anything. This is more for fundraising than capital. I don't know if this fits Kickstarter's ToC, and Kickstarter campaigns take more time than we have. Hopefully, we can buy these bikes in a week or two and have then attached and working with enough time to create some good art and make it go FAST!

Try http://crowdtilt.com/ then.

Make some trinkets to offer as rewards, and do a 1 or 2 week Kickstarter. You could easily make the money for your bikes, and also promote your group to a whole new audience.

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