Raise Big Bucks with Gold Fundraisers

There’s a new and effective way to raise money for your charity or organization. A & M Gold Company, doing business as Gold Fundraising Concepts, is now hosting gold fundraisers in the Woodstock area.

While an organization can earn a few hundred dollars from a more traditional fundraiser like a bake sale or car wash, they’re able to make a few thousand dollars from a gold fundraiser.

“It’s blowing bake sales out of the water,” said gold fundraising representative, Destiny Chevere. 

The owner, Arnie Shapiro, said a relatively small fundraiser will generate about $2,000 for the organization, and they’ve raised as much as $16,000. In Woodstock, they’ve already helped the and raise funds.

This is how it works: the organization simply picks a date for A & M Gold to come in and set up for a few hours. Then, instead of having to reach into their pocket to support the organization, people bring in their old gold to sell. Supporters can even bring jewelry they’re not sure is gold and have it tested.

“So, they sell us their gold. We pay them the gold price of the day in cash, they’re happy,” Shapiro said. “At the end of the fundraiser we total up the recites and give an agreed upon percentage, which right now I’m working on thirty percent, to the organization.”

He is willing to possibly do a bigger percentage for larger crowds, so inquire. Gold is at an all-time high right now. Shapiro said it’s gotten a lot easier to give people a nice chunk of money for their gold. For example, he used to need 20 participants to raise the same amount of money that he can now raise with just 12 or 13 people.  

They strive to keep things as transparent as possible. The individual representing the organization writes the receipts to the gold sellers and keeps a duplicate for the organization. And A & M Gold cuts a check to the organization immediately following the event.

It’s important for the organization to market the fundraiser to potential supporters. Promotions should start at least two and a half to three weeks out.

“We help them with posters, we help them with the fliers, and then they really have to get the word out,” Shapiro explained. “A lot of times they’ll show up and (there’s) not as many people as they expected. They’ll be happy with what they earn but realize the potential that they missed. And then they bring us back a second time.”

Shapiro has been in the gold fundraising business for approximately four years. “My history is that I was a jeweler manufacturer and I manufactured for people like Zales, Helzberg and the Friedman Company, all the largest retailers in the country.”

After he retired and sold his business Shapiro was bored. One day he read an article about how contributions to fundraisers were way down because of the bad economy, and it was right about the time the price of gold was starting to rise, he had an idea.

“I just felt that it was a business that I understood and that if I could find myself a little something to do I would be happy,” he said.

He began drumming up business, and when people realized how much earning potential was there, it took off. They’ve hosted fundraisers all over Georgia and have even traveled to Florida and Mississippi.

“It’s a lot less tedious (then a traditional fundraiser). You raise a lot more money in a shorter period of time doing it this way,” Shapiro said. “We show up, we’re there for the set hours. People get paid and we’re out the door, and we leave the place clean and sparkling.”