Turning Spare Coins into Donations

Change Makes Change began as an effort to get people to take something most people view as a nuisance, spare change and turn it into a powerful way to raise money for non profits. Consider this – the average US household has $30 of coins lying around unused in drawers, coffee cups etc. Given there are over 75 million households in the US, this means that over $2.25 BILLION is going unused, benefiting NO ONE…until now!

We’ve outlined a couple of ways for you to put those lint covered pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters to good use.

“Change Hunt”

This is a great way to involve children or to do some “winter cleaning” of drawers etc.  Give each person a small plastic bag and tell them to hunt for coins and see who finds the most money!  In addition to drawers great places to look include – in-between the cushions of sofas, the laundry room, all over your cars and the floors of closets.

After the initial collection of change choose a container (coffee cup, jar, old milk bottle) to hold the found coins.  The adults in the house agree to drop loose change into that container every day.  Children can contribute by continuing to hunt the house for change that falls out of pockets etc. during the course of the year.

CONSERVATIVE Collection:   $30
AGGRESSIVE Collection:        $200

“Penny Wars”

Penny Wars is a game to be competed between schools or grade levels/home
rooms. The object is to get as many points as possible during the "war."
The money raised during the penny war can be donated your Walk to Defeat ALS Walk team, to a Community of Hope page or directly to your local chapter.

The project is usually run for any FIVE CONSECUTIVE SCHOOL DAYS.

Each home room or class will need a large, enclosed container.  A large water cooler bottle or a sealed, one gallon plastic milk container, with a slit large enough to insert coins and bills, works quite well.

Each container is labeled with the name of the class teacher, a room number, or any appropriate identification of your choosing.

The containers should all be placed in a central locations where there is some level of supervision. The school library or a location in clear view of the office staff are good choices.

Students from each class put their pennies in their class' container.  One point is received for every penny in the container.

Classes may put other coins and paper currency into the containers of OTHER
classes.  Each silver coin or bill reduces the number of points from that container by the amount of the coin. (e.g. a nickel reduces the points by five, a dime by ten, a dollar by 100, etc...).  This is where strategy counts. Have fun with it!

Containers are usually emptied and counted daily.  The total monetary amount of silver coins and paper currency is deducted from the total number of pennies for the day.

If possible post the totals for all classes daily to encourage friendly competition.  The totals can be posted as tallies.  A chart, blackboard or whiteboard in a central location works well for these postings.

A rotating pennant or cup, given to the leading class each day, adds to the excitement of the project.  The pennant or cup can be retained by the home room or class with the most overall points at the end of the penny wars.

Try asking a friendly local bank to help count the coins or contact your local ALS Association Chapter for help.