Car Wash Fundraiser

Beep beep, toot toot – Wave those signs - and bring us your dirty cars! A car wash fundraiser is a quick, easy and fun way to earn money for your school or club. Your critical ingredients are willing and energetic volunteers, a great location with lots of traffic passing by and some flashy signs (and potentially good dancers holding those signs to get attention!).

Here are some key things to remember:

• A location with good visibility and access from the main road
• Adequate water access
• Your tools of the trade: buckets, hoses, towels (to wash with and to dry with), squeegees
• Signs that draw attention: high contrast colors – your school or group’s name
• Volunteers – you will need teams (promotion – sign wavers); sales, wash, dry, extras (tire dressing, vacuum, inside windows, etc.)

Try to get advance publicity if possible (fliers around local businesses, school newsletter, announcement, etc.)

Tips for Car Washing Efficiency

Once clients arrive into lot (after seeing wonderful signs and seeing how worthy your cause is) they should be greeted by sales team who explains the price (or perhaps you just ask for a donation which sometimes gets more money for your group). A salesman can also explain additional items (tire dressing, vacuum, clean inside windows, etc.) and he or she also might offer an additional item for sale (Entertainment Book, Scratcher, 2 for 1 card, etc.). Also offer coffee, doughnuts, hot chocolate for your guests (for a donation or price!) to maximize your fundraising success.

There should be a Wash Team whose job it is to wash and rinse each car. Then a Dry Team dries the car, vacuums, cleans both inside and outside windows. Tip: Have two lines so that you can wash multiple cars at the same time.

These events generally work best on Saturdays and usually run from about 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Depending on the weather (hope for sun) you can hope to wash between 10-12 cars per hour which could raise between $700 – 1,000 in just one day.

If you can, promote the event in advance. Another idea is to put signs along the road where you will hold the car wash a few days ahead of time.

Make the atmosphere fun and festive and play upbeat music (not overly heavy rap or rock to make your older clients uncomfortable.)

And…no water fights when clients are around…save that for the end of the day!

In Summary

Car Washes are just one of the many fundraiser ideas that can generate fast and fun profits for your club or group. Just make sure to plan them when sun is shining!