Chapter 1 - Preparation:  Picking dates and times, rain dates, finding volunteers, pre-sale tickets, wash-a-thons, organizing (person in charge, publicity coordinator, location & site locator, supplies person, ticket sales captain, shift scheduler, post car wash person and environmental coordinator), agendas for meetings, picking a location, insurance requirements, ticket graphics, and hours for the wash.

Chapter 2 - Environmental: History, storm water discharge, what's in the water, choosing car wash products, water conservation, and using a pressure washer versus a garden hose. This was written for California residents so you may need to make some adjustments.

Chapter 3 - Presale/Donations: Motivation/pep talks, incentives, parent's help, teams, divide and conquer, overlap problems, other sales locations, and profits/goals.

Chapter 4 - Publicity: Public service announcements, local newspapers, cable stations, newsletters, faxing, and flyers.

Chapter 5 - Day of Event: Set up, layout, supplies, supervision, organizing washers, signage, public address system, donation cans, hot dogs, bake sale, pancake breakfast, traffic flow, flyers, cash, media, counting cars, and vacuuming.

Chapter 6 - Post Car Wash: Clean up, towels, announce your earnings, thank you letters, certificates, property owners, city hall, fixed site car wash owners, letter to the editor, collecting pledges, evaluation, and setting a date for next years car wash.

Because this is a 46-page document (884K - PDF format), try to get someone who has a cable modem, T-1 line, or ISDN to download it. Otherwise, it will tie up your phone line for quite a while using a dial-up modem. Download Here

Contributed by Lance Winslow III of the Car Wash Guys

We have included a number of do-it-yourself fundraising ideas in this section such as a Car Wash that offer a break from traditional product sales.  They were developed by groups just like yours in an attempt have a little fun with their fundraiser. Some of them are tried and true while others show a lot of creativity ... and even wackiness in some cases.  All of them are obviously not appropriate for every group, but sometimes, with only a little modification, your might find some fund raising ideas that are perfect for your group. If you have an idea for a do-it-yourself fund raiser you are willing to share with others, please send it to us via email at . Include anything and everything you would want to know if you were hearing the idea for the first time.