Penny Experiment - I need your help

[reallyprettyhappy]

I have a few ideas to add...

I think you do need a creative, memorable name for the project. I kind of suck at that, so I'm sure others here or elsewhere can help with that. All I can come up with off the top of my head right now is 'the powerful penny project'

Also, you definitely need a website. Sounds like that is already in the works. Make sure you include the story about how the whole thing started. I think people will really respond to that. Especially savers/frugal people.

I think you could really make this happen if you got some partners on your side. Someone mentioned figuring out where the most cost-effective place to shop is. I'm thinking probably Wal-mart. Especially because I believe they take any store's coupons and they double/triple still...you'll have to verify this with the serious couponers though. So maybe if you approached Walmart and told them what you are doing, you could get them to help. I mean, it is great free advertising for them. Plus, they are always looking for good-will PR...you could tell them that you want to get $10,000 in monetary and coupon donations and turn that into 1 million meals. They might even arrange the press to help you raise the money. To keep with the theme you could ask for all donations to be in the form of change and people could drop it off at their stores. This might make people more comfortable than donating to some private citizen (I know I at least would be more than happy to drop off our house change and a pile of clipped coupons at walmart then next time I go, but I would not just send you $20, sorry

Anyway, I think you need to raise the money first, and then buy the food with the money and the coupons. I also think you should define how you want to quantify "1 million meals". I would say converting it to 'pounds' would work. Say, 1 pound of food = 2 meals. So you really need 500,000 lbs of food to donate. Maybe you could also allow canned/boxed food donations to help with the goal.

Lastly, I think having a deadline would be good. It would help define the project. Like maybe by Thanksgiving day 2010. I think it might take that long to coordinate everything.

Good luck and I hope you achieve your goal!

[disneysteve]

I was able to find someone to purchase the original penny for $10.00 after creating a list of reasons why the penny was worth more. I am going to take the $10 and turn it into 1000 pennies. I am then going to find ways to give those pennies more value. The first is to try and find artists that are willing to help create pieces that incorporate one of the pennies. Any other ideas on how I could add value to some of the other pennies?

I think ebay lets you run charity auctions. Perhaps you could auction some of the pennies, explaining how 100% of the proceeds will be going to support this charity drive.

[jeffrey]

I also think you should define how you want to quantify "1 million meals". I would say converting it to 'pounds' would work. Say, 1 pound of food = 2 meals. So you really need 500,000 lbs of food to donate. Maybe you could also allow canned/boxed food donations to help with the goal.

I realized that defining "meal" was going to be a problem so I made a change to the project to make the goal to raise $1 million worth of food. This should make it much easier to keep track how the project is progressing.

[jeffrey]

I think eBay lets you run charity auctions. Perhaps you could auction some of the pennies, explaining how 100% of the proceeds will be going to support this charity drive.

From my understanding, you need to be a qualified non profit to list charity auctions which this project currently is not. I'm sure there are probably other ways that I can still utilize eBay to generate income for the project. I just need to think through the best way to do this.

[disneysteve]

From my understanding, you need to be a qualified non profit to list charity auctions which this project currently is not. I'm sure there are probably other ways that I can still utilize eBay to generate income for the project. I just need to think through the best way to do this.

Perhaps you could link up with a local charity, like the food bank, and piggyback under their non-profit status. I assume that all the money/food you collect is going to go to some non-profit in the end. Get them involved now and it might give your project more credibility to have their name attached.

[LuxLiving]

Good thinking disneysteve.

Otherwise wouldn't you be having a income tax problem to deal with, Jeffrey?

[jeffrey]

Good thinking disneysteve.

Otherwise wouldn't you be having a income tax problem to deal with, Jeffrey?

There shouldn't be an income tax problem since I will ultimately be giving any money earned to couponers to use and give to their local food banks. This will mean that it will be a cost of running the blog for the content that they provide (they will document the food they purchase and give) and will cancel each other out on the tax return.

[jeffrey]

For those that want to help out, one thing that I will need is an abundance of coupons. The coupons will be used to reduce the cost of the food purchased and to pass along to the couponers who volunteer to help out in the project to get the most they can for the money they spend. Any coupons that aren't ultimately used in this experiment will be sent to military bases overseas to help those families save money.

If you have extra coupons and want to help out, here is information on how to send them to me. Also feel free to pass the request onto anyone else that you think may be interested in helping out.

I have just over 1/3 of the numbers for the artists claimed and the first of them should be arriving this coming week. Very excited about that. I've been collecting coupons like a madman in hopes that I can get somewhere between $5 - $10 for every dollar spent once the first piece sells.

[jeffrey]

There has been some confusion on how Penny Experiment will work, so I put this explanation together. Does it make sense? If not, what areas are you still confused about so I can address them. Thank you.

[ceejay74]

Jeffrey, I just read this and it's a wonderful, ambitious idea. If I see any really good coupons I'll send them your way. As to someone saying you can't get money back, I'm pretty sure there are some CVS connoisseurs on the SA blogs who do sometimes get money back for their purchases--I think sometimes for food, though of course CVS is mainly toiletries and drugs. If you did a search for "CVS" in the blogs you might get some good ideas.

[disneysteve]

That sounds great, Jeffrey. I think it is very clear. I love the art project concept. Let us know when the items are listed.

[PrincessPerky]

I sent the art link to a friend, she wants to know if child art work is ok or just adult (her mother is an artist-would be a neat cross generational project)

[jeffrey]

@PrincessPerky Apologies - missed your question. It was all adult artwork, but I think it would be a great cross generational project for the Found Money art if she is still interested: Call For Artists - Penny Experiment

[jeffrey]

Anyone an expert (or at least a fairly committed hobbyist) gardener? I've been getting couponers to help with this project and I want to know that if I gave gardeners a specific amount of money (say $25) how much food they would be able to grow to give to food banks.Would this also be a line that would be worth pursuing?

[cashqueen]

I'm going to forward this link to my sister who is just finishing up art school. Also, my sil is an an artist, maybe she'll be inspired.