A CDI toolkit for fundraisers
Everything you need to raise money for children – from start to finish.
About Child Development Institute
Why is raising money for CDI important?
Choosing your event
Organizing your event
Finances and receipting – some things you need to know
A word on sponsorships, publicity and restrictions
Privacy for donors
Forms (coming soon)
Other helpful resources
About Child Development Institute
CDI is the leading children’s mental health and healthy child development agency in Toronto.
- We offer a range of services to more than 4,000 families with children from birth to age 16.
- We provide programs that address behavior issues, serious aggression, criminal behavior, child abuse, family violence, substance abuse, speech and language delays and school problems.
- Our professional staff members provide individual, group and family counseling, parenting and social skills training, family support and early learning activities.
Without support from our donors for our annual fundraising initiatives, some of the innovative programs that our community relies on would not be possible.
To find out more about our programs, click here.
To hear the inspiring stories of those who have been helped by CDI, click here.
Why is raising money for CDI important?
One in five children has a mental health disorder. For many, these show up in their behavior – angry outbursts, impulsive and destructive behaviour, excessive shyness or withdrawal. Less than 20% of these kids will get the help they need. That’s why our work – and your support through third-party events – is so important.
By fundraising for CDI, you’ll be directly helping the over 4,000 children and families who benefit from our services every year.
Families like Maria’s, who left an abusive home, but still needed support and help. Or kids like Jon who couldn’t stay at home because of his violent behaviour. Read also about Suzy and Rita – two girls who were helped by people just like you.
Choosing an event
Your fundraising idea will depend on your own specific interests and goals and on the group you work with. For example, you may prefer something small that involves family or close friends. Or you may take on a bigger project with a large team of co-workers or fellow students.
Here are just a few ideas:
- Host a special dinner at your home and ask friends and family to make a donation in lieu of a host/ess gift. Make the dinner a themed party – a mystery dinner or costume party.
- Organize a charity sporting event in your community. It could be a baseball or football game, a golf tournament or even a pool/billiards event!
- Challenge yourself and your team to an “a-thon” activity, and request donations from family and friends for your participation. You could opt for a traditional walk, run or skip a-thon. Or one suited to your particular interests – what about a knit a-thon? Or a read-a-thon for your book group?
- Organize a neighbourhood garage sale or bake sale.
- Plan a silent auction, where friends or co-workers auction off babysitting services, a special office lunch, or use of a summer cottage.
- Arrange a “hat day” or “jeans day” in your office, and ask for donations from those who participate.
- Host a movie night and sell tickets and popcorn to friends and family (overpriced tickets and popcorn, so the experience seems realistic!).
- Plan a student talent show at your school. Donate all ticket proceeds to Child Development Institute.
- Organize a Scavenger hunt and ask people who enter to make a donation to CDI.
- Make your next birthday or holiday celebration extra special -- ask loved ones to make a donation to CDI instead of gifts.
Organizing your event
Your event can be as simple as making a home-cooked meal and inviting your friends over. Or it can be a weeklong event at your workplace – it’s up to you. If you’re considering something large – particularly something that involves a number of volunteers or activities- organizing your event is the first step to success. Here are some basic steps to get you started:
- Form a team with a leader, and assign specific roles for team members.
- Set your targets – know what you’d like to raise before you start.
- Brainstorm ideas, events and/or campaigns. Choose methods and timing to suit your team.
- Tell Child Development Institute about your event, so we can help you with planning and ideas.
- Schedule your event date or campaign time.
- Promote and publicize your campaign/event at your workplace or in your community.
- If planning a workplace event, check to see if your organization has a matching gift program. Sometimes employers will match donations from employees.
- Have fun!
- Remember to thank participants, sponsors, supervisors and donors.
- Celebrate your success!
Finances and receipting – some things you need to know
- To maintain our charitable status, it is important that CDI (and all third party fundraisers) is in compliance with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) regulations. The following is a list of important financial information to remember when planning your event.
- All financial donations made to CDI are eligible for an income tax receipt issued by CDI in the calendar year they are received. CDI will need a list of donors with complete address information and total dollar amount paid by each donor. (For gifts to be eligible for income tax receipting in any given calendar year, CDI must receive the gift by the last business day of December, or a donation must be postmarked prior to December 31.)
- CDI can issue tax receipts only to individuals or organizations that make a donation without receiving any product or tangible item in return. Purchases of raffle tickets, event admission tickets, auction items are NOT eligible for tax receipts.
- Sponsorships are not tax deductible if the sponsor received any advertising, marketing or promotional value.
- Gift-in-kind receipts will only be issued to individuals and companies for material goods. The goods must be new and a receipt or invoice from the purchase must accompany the request for a receipt. Tax receipts cannot be issued for the costs of a donated service.
- If the Fair Market Value (FVM) for a gift-in-kind is over $1,000, the donor must provide a professional third-party appraisal. (The FMV is the most probable price at which a good/service will exchange, expressed in cash, in a free market.)
- CDI cannot provide funding or reimbursement for event expenses.
- Because of the processing involved, cheque and cash are generally accepted for third party events. However, if participants wish to pay by credit card, please have them fill out the donation coupon on the back of the CDI brochure and they can submit these directly to CDI for processing. If you anticipate a number of credit card transactions (for example, if you are organizing a gala event), please let us know in advance and we will provide the forms needed.
A word about sponsorship, publicity and some important restrictions
Sponsorship
A sponsor might be someone who supports you in a walk-a-thon. It could also be a local company who wishes to sponsor your community event with a larger donation. To accept corporate sponsors, please contact our office in advance to ensure that the corporate sponsorship guidelines are met.
Publicity
Local newspapers may be interested in covering your event – particularly if it’s for a good cause! Consider sending out a press-release using the 5Ws (who, where, when, what and why). Tell your friends about the event and post flyers at work, your school and community centre. We’d also be happy to publicize your fundraising activity on our website. Take pictures and we’ll post them after the event as well!
Use of CDI name and logo
The names and logos for CDI are registered trademarks. Please check with CDI before using our logo on any materials. We will work with you to ensure that all standards for use are met.
Restrictions for some activities
Check with your municipal office for any necessary permissions, licensing, trading standards and health and safety issues. For example, gaming and lotteries often require permits. Raffles must be registered with your local municipality. Planning an event in a public area also may require a special police permit.
You are responsible for ensuring that any event you organize on our behalf complies with the law.
Our privacy policy for donors
The federal privacy law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) covers personal information that may be collected by a charity and then used for commercial purposes.
Under this legislation, the key points to remember are:
- The privacy of donor lists must be protected. Any names or lists of people collected must expressly state the purpose of collecting the names and how the names will be used.
- Donors must be given the option of indicating that they do not want their names used for purposes other than what they gave permission for.
CDI agency brochure
A great resource to distribute at your event or leave with people who may want to make a donation at a later time. We are happy to send copies of our printed brochure for you to use at your event.
CDI Fact sheet
A quick and concise reference about why and how we work to help families. It’s the information you need - right at your fingertips.
Article: “Why children’s mental health?” We work to make children’s health a priority. Read why.
To find out more about CDI, our programs and how your event will benefit families, please visit other areas of our website. You will find interesting photos, video clips, agency newsletters and newspaper articles as well as a number of stories about our clients and how support from individuals and corporations, like you, changed their lives.
We’re a resource too! Remember, we can provide information to assist you with your event:
- Event planning advice
- Send, where appropriate and available, a CDI representative
- Issue tax receipts
- Provide marketing materials
- Post an event listing on our online calendar
- Allow use of the CDI name and logo (pending approval – please contact our office and we will work with you to ensure that all standards are upheld).
- Provide a letter of support that validates the authenticity of the event
Please note that we cannot provide funding or reimbursement for event expenses or provide access to donor lists.