Ideas to raise money for Japan?

You could make an arrangement with one of those fund-raising companies to seel wrapping paper or chocolates.

*Japanese food night (people volunteer to make the food, then you charge a per plate fee)
*Bingo
*A Walk/Run in your neighborhood
*Donut sale (several of our schools do this…the donut companies will seel them much cheaper to you & will tell you what to resell them for…they may even make up flyers for you with their logo)

@Fyrius, kids want to help do something for others. Is that really ever a bad thing? The Red Cross doesn’t operate on hopes and dreams. Japan may have been a rich country, but that isn’t necessarily true today. Besides, the fishers, and farmers in any country are hardly what I’d call wealthy

@SpatzieLover
Much well-deserved praise to people who want to help out, far be it from me to tell them not to. But misguided effort is wasted effort, and it’s a darned shame how many people put a lot of effort and money into charity but end up doing it in a way that doesn’t actually accomplish much.

GiveWell.org – an organisation that puts systematic effort into figuring out which charities do the most good per dollar – tells me that at the moment, if you want to help people in need, you can do better than giving your money to relief efforts in Japan.

@Fyrius She didn’t say where they were going to donate their money. Even with the link you provided, the Japanese Red Cross is mentioned as an option

@Mod:
“Response moderated (Unhelpful)”
I beg to differ! The question I asked was genuine, relevant and important, and is all too easily forgotten in situations like these.

@SpatzieLover
Indeed. If you insist on helping Japan, then by all means.
I’m not giving anyone flak for wanting to help out, or even for wanting to help out Japan in particular. I’m not questioning if it’s the right thing to do – just if it’s the best thing you can do.

It’s amazing how many people these days see a disaster on TV and immediately reach for their purse. It’s true for Japan today and it was true for New Orleans a while ago; people give so generously that there’s actually a surplus of relief money. That sort of thing restores one’s faith in humanity as a race of good people. Humankind is getting its act together.
The TV directs our attention to suffering, and the relief efforts get funded.

But the TV doesn’t show everything. There are also people suffering who aren’t on TV, because they’ve been suffering for a long time and it’s not news any more. Or it’s too far away and too frequent to report every time.
The charities know about these things, though. And they do what they can to help. But if people only want to give money to the exciting TV problems, and explicitly demand that their money only be used for that, then a lot of people don’t get the help they need, and not because there’s no money for it.

By all means, do your fund raiser, but I suggest you leave it up to the charity how best to use your money. If that’s Japan, let it go to Japan. If someone else needs it more, let it go to them.

You can go to a mall and set up a booth, then send that money to a relief foundation

Buy some Japanese goods, to help get their stock market going again, and so speed the recovery of their economy.

I guess you could sell them on again in some kind of organised thing at school or whatever, which would raise money and awareness, not that either of those things are useful in any way whatsoever to the Japanese right now.

So yeah, munch down on some Pocky.

@The_Idler
I’d buy that.

You have a Godzilla film festival, sell themed snacks, and design a cool t-shirt to sell. (Isn’t that how all Godzilla movies start? Earthquake or nuclear disaster/explosion?) Give the proceeds to the American Red Cross Disaster relief.

Lest my suggestion be construed as flippant, read on

@BarnacleBill I thought it was a great suggestion…I forgot to mention a movie night in my initial post. It’s a terrific idea for this age teen!

Wave pool?

How about printing some t- shirts. Maybe something like someone holding mother nature down as people walk over her and then the following words.
Mother nature can be cruel and together we can survive.
I know, sounds lame. But you get the point. Have a contest for the best tee shirt idea.

You could have a little exhibition, if anyone can paint at all. Everyone loves to have original paintings with a story in their house, I did it when I was in school, sold two paintings. Fyi, paintings look way better in a frame and you can get some really cheap ones in the pound shop/the dollar store/the two euro shop.