& Children’s Miracle Network Contestant Fundraising Idea Guide

Help Making Miracles Happen: Saving Lives and Helping Kids Get Better!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Indiana’s Named as 2009, Will Serve as Goodwill Ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network

SALT LAKE CITY (Jan. 24, 2009)—Children’s Miracle Network, an international non-profit that raises funds for 170 children’s hospitals, congratulates Katie Stam, , on being named Miss America. Children’s Miracle Network is the official national platform for the Miss America Organization. Each year the new Miss America will serve as a goodwill ambassador for the charity, raising funds and awareness for the nation’s premier children’s hospitals, which are a part of Children's Miracle Network.

“Children's Miracle Network has the pleasure of working closely with Miss America each year as we work to raise money for children’s hospitals around the country,” said Scott Burt, president and CEO, Children's Miracle Network. “We look forward to getting to know Katie as she joins us in promoting our events, visiting patients in our hospitals, and helping us in our mission of saving and improving the lives of children.”

Children’s Miracle Network has a nearly 20-year history working with the Miss America Organization, but has been the official national platform since 2007. In working with the previous two Miss America’s — (2008) and (2007) — the partnership has raised more than $2.3 million, benefiting children’s hospitals across the nation.

The partnership also extends to the women competing at the local, state and national levels of the pageant, asking each contestant who participates to be responsible for raising funds on behalf of Children’s Miracle Network and the Miss America Scholarship fund.

### About Children's Miracle Network Children's Miracle Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children’s hospitals. Each year the 170 Children's Miracle Network hospitals provide the finest medical care, life-saving research and preventative education to help millions of kids overcome diseases and injuries of every kind. To learn more go to www.childrensmiraclenetwork.org.

Press Contact: Aubrey Cichelli [email protected] 801/278-8900

Miss Maryland and Children’s Miracle Network Fundraising: General Activities and Incentives

Pennies From Heaven: Hang umbrellas upside down from the ceiling, a wire, a tent or wherever possible. Hang “Pennies From Heaven” signs with and explanation such as, “Throw your coins in the umbrella to help kids at our Children's Miracle Network hospital.”

Quarters by the Mile: Collect quarters by attaching pieces of paper end to end throughout your location. The paper trail can be laid up throughout the lobby or along the countertop. Circles the size of quarters are copied onto paper so members can help local kids by attaching quarters to the paper. Make tape or glue available to members and post signs explaining the campaign. To keep the momentum strong, keep track of how “far” the quarters stretch and the dollar amount that distance equals. Set a goal in both distance and dollar amount.

Counting on You: Fill a large container with jellybeans, paper clips, marbles, coins, M&Ms, or other small items. Announce the grand prize beforehand and have staff guess ($1 to $5 donation per guess) how many are in the container.

Miracle Movie Night: Rent or get space donated by a local theatre to show a holiday themed or other popular movie. Serve appetizers and drinks; charge a flat fee.

Night of Miracles: Choose a theme for an evening. Hold a dinner, dance, and auction in the ballroom of one of your properties within your community. Have a raffle. Ask for donations for the auction. Everyone loves night stays, restaurant gift certificates, and trips to places.

Treasure hunt: Sell daily clues to a mystery location where a treasure is hidden. The first person to guess the location wins the treasure.

Flower/plant sale: Sell a rose, mum or green plant. Individuals could purchase the flower/plant and pay an additional $10 to have that flower delivered to someone with a personalized note. The person receiving the flower would not know who sent it unless they pay a $1 to find out the identity of the person sending the flower.

Collect cans for kids: Collect aluminum cans donating deposit to Children’s Miracle Network.

Food Related: Wine and Cheese Tasting, BBQ or Fish Fry, Chili Cook Off, Bake Sale, Celebrity Cook‐Off.

Sports Related: Basketball/Baseball/Softball/Bowling/Golf Tournament , Mud Volleyball, Race for the Triple Crown Event, 5K Fun Run/Walk, Intramural Team Show‐down.

Other Activities: Las Vegas Night, Kiss A Pig Contest, Car Wash, Fashion Show, Garage Sale, Benefit Concert, White Elephant Sale, Arts and Crafts Show, Dance‐A‐Thon. Miss Maryland and Children’s Miracle Network Fundraising: Activities for Groups and Employees

Good to the Last Drop: If you have an employee coffee service area, commit one month of coffee fees to Children’s Miracle Network or place a Children’s Miracle Network fund raising canister next to the service area and encourage fellow employees to drop in their spare change.

Miracle Meals: Create a combination of items from the snack bar, that when purchased together, will contribute $1.00 to Children’s Miracle Network.

Crazy Hat Contest: Let employees design wild hats to wear to work on a specified day. For a specific donation, each participant will be entered into prize categories. Winners can be determined by vote, by committee or by an elected manager.

Dress down for kids day: Have employees pay to dress more casually than on an ordinary workday. Choose one or two days per month or one day per week to "Dress Down for Kids". Have employees wear pins that say, "We're dressed down for kids!" to promote the fact that your organization cares about kids.

Potluck Meal: Employees prepare and bring potluck dishes for a breakfast or lunch event before or during work, and all participants donate a specified amount to eat. This could be set up as a one‐day event or on a weekly basis over an extended period.

Shaved Head Challenge: A manager challenges employees to raise a predetermined amount for Children's Miracle Network. If employees raise the funds in the allotted time, a male manager could promise to shave his head or a female manager could promise to cut or dye her hair. When the challenge is met, have employees nearby to help shave, dye or cut. Take lots of pictures!

Talent Show: Let club members/employees share their hidden talents! Choose a location, organize an agenda of acts and select a panel of judges. Charge an entrance fee for each act and separate fee for spectators. Miss Maryland and Children’s Miracle Network Fundraising: Seasonal Activities

Kiss­a­gram: Great fundraising idea for Valentine's Day. Sell Hershey's Kisses for $1. Let individuals sending the kiss attach a personalized note. Sponsoring groups deliver the kisses and recipient must pay $1 to find out who sent the kiss‐a‐gram.

Valentine Heart Sales: Your Children's Miracle Network hospital has access to paper hearts that sell for $1 each at no cost to you. Similar to a Miracle Balloon campaign, these paper hearts sell during mid January through Valentine’s Day and add a holiday flare.

Carnations for Kids: This is an ideal promotion for Sweetest Day or Valentine’s Day. Each carnation is sold for $1.00 or more, with a message attached, either pre‐written or created by purchaser. Volunteers will then deliver the flowers to recipients. The sender can remain anonymous for an additional charge.

Breakfast and Photos with Santa/Easter Bunny: Sponsor a seasonal community breakfast and photo session where children can spend time with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, etc. Charge either an entrance fee or dining/photo fee to cover expenses.

Egg Hunt/Cake Walk: Have local children enter an Easter egg hunt or cake walk during the Easter holiday season. Design a creative way to gather donations with the event.

Holiday Flower Sale: A holiday flower sale is a great opportunity to team with a local florist to help hospitalized kids in your community. Sell poinsettias during the Christmas/Chanukah season, roses for Valentine’s Day, and spring bouquets for Mother’s Day, etc. Providing a flower delivery service along with the promotion could develop additional funds as well.

Christmas Tree Festival: Have community groups or other local businesses donate decorated Christmas trees, wreaths and other holiday decorations to sell. Display the trees in a public hall on specified days and support the event with holiday music, food booths and other vendor items to create a festive boutique atmosphere. Make sure to check with your Children's Miracle Network hospital to inquire about their own Festival of Trees promotion during the holiday season.

Holiday Gift Wrapping Drive: Buy wrapping paper in bulk or contact a distributor that specializes in gift‐wrap sales for nonprofit groups. Involve volunteers wrapping gifts for a small fee donated to your member’s Children's Miracle Network hospital.

Miss Maryland and Children’s Miracle Network Fundraising:

Sample Activity Plan: Prepare for a Successful Event!

Million Pennies Drive

Event Description:

This event is also quite easy. The only planning it takes is reserving a spot somewhere on your campus/community with a lot of traffic, such as a student center, athletic event or shopping mall. The goal, as the title states, is to raise one million pennies, which happens to equal $10,000. If people don’t have pennies, they can donate whatever they have.

Steps in process:

7-8 weeks out

1. Fill out the pre-event review sheet located at www.thetgi.net.

2. After filling out pre-event sheet, take into consideration all of the categories

on the sheet. Secure the location, secure volunteers, etc.

3. Next, contact the supervisor of the location you wish to sit to make sure it is

okay that you can be there. See if they have a table and chairs for you or if you

will have to bring you own. Don’t forget about something to collect the

pennies when you are there.

3-6 weeks out

4. Plan what events you could do to attract people to your table, such as

Children’s Miracle network videos, games, penny drops, etc.

2 weeks out 5. Next, make sure your campus or community knows about the event. Look

into printing flyers, sending out e-mails or whatever means you have available.

Try to be as creative as possible. Have t-shirts made as advertisements to wear

before and the day of the event or use sidewalk chalk to advertise the event.

Remember that you want to keep your costs at or below 30 percent of the

amount you are aiming to raise.

1 week out 6. Make a list of times available for signup. The first and last spot on the list

should be responsible for bringing any of the necessary items for the day. The

last time slot should be responsible for taking everything home. Make sure

there is a spot for both the name and phone number on the sheet. volunteer's

Day Before Event

Call the venue where you will be located and make sure everything is still in order for the following

day. Make sure you have signs and other things ready to put on your table so you are recognizable. If

you are going to a shopping mall, you might consider setting up multiple tables at the various

entrances.

Million Pennies Drive cont’d.

Day of Event

Make sure everything is ready to go for those who will be taking everything to the site. Make sure the first group at the site has the list of everyone’s name and number who is supposed to be there and the time they are supposed to be there.

Seed the coin canister with a few dollars and silver coins. This will encourage people to give more.

Make sure you keep a goal chart at each location. Goal charts are proven to raise more money, as people can identify how much they need to give to reach the goal.

Choose several locations on campus, or set up coin jars at different places on campus next to a register, such as at a bookstore, cafeteria or computer lab.

When the event has culminated and your day is over, make sure the last group has instructions on where to put the tables and chairs if they are from the venue. It is very important to be extremely helpful and build good working relationships with everyone you encounter at the place of the event.

Day After Event

Send thank you cards to everyone who was involved in making this event possible. Fill out the money-handling form and submit it to the Children’s Miracle Network.

Other Tips:

• Have interactive activities going on at the time of collection. A couple people sitting at a desk with a coin jar isn’t going to compel people to give. Show the Children’s Miracle Network videos, have games going on or participate in animated activities to attract attention.

Lock-Up Celebrity

Event Descri ption: This event has the potential to raise a lot of money if you are located in the right spot. Shopping centers, grocery stores or anywhere in public where kids with their parents will see you is what is going to make or break this event. All this takes is a costume (sometimes you can get them rented for free when you tell the shop it’s for a charity event) and some sort of makeshift jail to lock up you character. Another creative idea would be to take pictures of the kids with the character. For example, make a minimum five-dollar donation to have you picture taken with the character. If you are going to take pictures, you must make sure you have a digital camera and portable photo printer available.

Steps in Process:

7-8 weeks out

1. Fill out the pre-event review sheet located at www.thetgi.net.

2. After filling out pre-event sheet, take into consideration all of the

categories on the sheet, such as volunteers, donation goal, one-time

donation or monthly donation.

3. Find a location that will let you set this up. Once again, a mall or grocery

store would be ideal. Or, if you attend a school where people enjoy the

mascot, you could do it at an athletic event and lock up the mascot.

4. Next, contact the supervisor of the location to see if there are tables, chairs

and electrical outlets nearby. If you are going to print pictures, you’ll need

somewhere to set up the printer and plug it in.

3-6 weeks out

5. You will have to find some way to get the materials to make the jail.

Always remember to ask for donations from community stores before you

go buy something. It’s important to keep cost’s down. Tell the store you

will provide free advertising for them at your event. If you need an actual

place or tools to construct the jail, contact local alumni and see if they’d

be willing to help.

2 weeks out

6. Next, make sure your community knows about the event. Make posters, t-

shirts or whatever you can afford. The more publicity the event has, the

better you’ll do.

1 week out

7. Make a list of times available to sign up for. The first spot on the list

should be responsible for bringing any of the necessary items for the day.

The last time slot should be responsible for taking everything home. Make sure there is a spot for both name and phone number on the sheet.

Lock-Up Celebrity cont’d.

8. Make sure you have some way to get the jail structure to and from each location.

Day Before Event

Call the venue where you will be setting up and make sure everything is still in order for the following day. Make sure you have signs and other things ready to put on your table so you are recognizable. You’ll also need to make sure you have extra cash on hand so you can give change to people.

Day of Event

Make sure everything is ready to go for those who will be taking everything to the site. The volunteers sitting at the table should have contact information for the venue’s manager as well your number.

Make sure the last group has instructions on where to put the tables and chairs if they are from the venue. It is very important to be extremely helpful and build good working relationships with everyone you encounter at the place of the event.

Day After Event

Send thank-you cards to everyone who was involved in making this event possible.

Fill out the money-handling form and submit it to the Children’s Miracle Network.

Other Tips:

Find a willing coach or athlete to lock up before a big game on campus. This event would also • get good press, and the media can encourage people to stop by campus and bail out that

person so he or she can get to the game.