GET INVOLVED
Host a fundraiser for Heart of Dinner
GET CREATIVE AND HELP NOURISH ASIAN ELDERS BY HOSTING YOUR OWN FUNDRAISER!
Heart of Dinner’s ability to deliver culturally thoughtful care packages to Elders facing food insecurity and isolation is made possible by the generosity and love of supporters like you. While we are fortunate to receive some support from partnerships and grants, it’s public donations that truly sustain the heart of our work—from sourcing and delivering meals to supporting our dedicated team and building the infrastructure that allows us to care for our beloved Elders, week after week.
When you host your own fundraiser, you become a vital part of this mission, helping us continue to nourish and uplift those who need it most. We are deeply grateful for your commitment to making a lasting impact.
CREATIVE FUNDRAISING IDEAS
Here are just a few examples of how past supporters have successfully raised funds for Heart of Dinner:
• Art Exhibits: Showcase your artwork, donating proceeds to nourish Elders.
• Restaurant Partnerships: Feature a special menu item, with part or all proceeds supporting Heart of Dinner.
• Merchandise: Design and sell products to raise funds.
• Bake Sales: Partner with a bakery or host your own, donating all sales to our mission.
• Comedy Shows: Bring joy and laughter to your community while supporting our Elders.
• Fitness Challenges: Host a charity walk, run, or yoga event and invite friends to donate or sponsor participants.
• Virtual Concerts: Perform a virtual music or talent show and sell tickets or accept donations during the event.
• Workshops and Classes: Teach a virtual or in-person class (e.g., cooking, painting, fitness) and donate the registration fees.
• Holiday Gift Wrapping: Offer gift wrapping services during the holiday season in exchange for donations.
• Garage Sales: Organize a community garage sale and donate proceeds to Heart of Dinner.
• Birthday Fundraisers: Ask friends and family to donate to Heart of Dinner in lieu of gifts for your birthday.
• Auction Events: Host an online or in-person auction where participants can bid on donated items or services, with proceeds supporting our mission.
• Game Nights or Trivia Competitions: Organize a game night or trivia competition, with entry fees going toward Heart of Dinner.
• Culinary Classes or Dinners: Host a cooking class or pop-up dinner event and donate proceeds from ticket sales.
• Craft Sales: Make and sell handmade crafts (like jewelry, candles, or artwork) with profits benefiting Heart of Dinner.
WHY USE OUR FUNDRAISING PLATFORM?
To help keep things transparent, secure, and to make sure all donations directly support Heart of Dinner, we kindly ask that all fundraisers use our official platform. By using our platform (e.g., “Every.org” or “NetworkForGood”), you’re helping us:
• Track donations in real-time
• Safely link funds to our nonprofit’s account
• Share easy-to-use links that amplify your fundraiser’s reach
• Provide your supporters with a simple and seamless giving experience
Using our platform helps make sure that every donation you raise directly supports Heart of Dinner’s mission. It also allows us to keep track of the incredible impact your efforts are making. No matter what wonderful creative ideas you choose to fundraise, your dedication will help us continue nourishing and uplifting our beloved Elders, and we are so grateful for your support.
HOW TO HOST A FUNDRAISER: STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
1. Get Inspired: Decide on a creative fundraiser that excites you! Whether it’s selling a product, hosting an event, or rallying support in your community, your creativity will shine.
2. Set Up Your Fundraiser: Visit our official fundraising page and start your personal peer-to-peer fundraiser.
3. Customize Your Campaign: Use our template links to help with your campaign copywriting, photos, and goal-setting. Share why you care about Heart of Dinner and how your supporters can make a difference.
4. Share and Spread the Word: Amplify your fundraiser by sharing it on social media, email, and within your network.
5. Track and Celebrate: Watch your progress and celebrate every milestone. Your efforts will directly support our beloved Elders and help sustain our mission.
RESOURCES TO HELP YOU GET STARTED
We’ve created easy-to-use templates to make your fundraiser set-up quick and effective:
• Copywriting Template for Your Fundraising Page: Use this template to inspire others to support your fundraiser.
• Social Media Templates: Ready-made captions and visuals to share on Instagram, Facebook, and more.
• Fundraising Goal Setting Guide: Tips on how to set realistic and meaningful fundraising goals.
WE’RE HERE FOR YOU!
If you have any questions or need support at any stage, please don’t hesitate to reach out at hello@heartofdinner.org. We’re here to support you every step of the way!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for sharing your passion, creativity, and generosity with Heart of Dinner. Your efforts will help us continue nourishing and uplifting Asian American Elders with love, care, and dignity.
EXAMPLE FUNDRAISERS
Inspiring campaigns from our community
8 Asian-founded beauty brands: Glow Recipe, Fable and Mane, Hero Cosmetics, JINsoon, Live Tinted, Mount Lai, and Tower 28, came together to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with the AAPI Beauty Box This collaboration features a diverse range of beauty products across skin, body, hair, makeup, and nails, and is a celebration of the incredible contributions of the Asian Pacific American community. Where $10 from every box sold will went towards benefiting the Heart of Dinner community. In addition, the brands donated over 600 beauty boxes to gift our Elders and on the grounds volunteers!
Donated: 600+ Beauty boxes
AAPI Beauty Box
The Here and There Collective (THAT Co.) X Dominique Fung and their collaboration with Artsy hosted The Artists Against Anti-Asian Violence Benefit Auction where 33 artists came together to auction their work for the fundraiser and proceeds from the auction were split and donated to The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and Heart of Dinner 愛心餐, two non-profits active in the fight for safety, equality, and equity.
Raised $100,000
Here & There Collective
As featured in Bon Appetit, Epicurious, The New York Times, and more. These colorful BPA-free cutting boards are made entirely of kitchen plastic scraps and renewable sugarcane. One small step for sustainability, one giant leap for kitchen goods. 50% of ongoing profits from To Pó-Po with Love goes to Heart of Dinner.
Raised: $23,000+
Ongoing Fundraiser: Material Kitchen, "To Pó-Po, with Love" The reBoard & The (mini) reBoard
The team behind Civil Arts and Christie's CSR came together to host an exhibition filled with beautiful pieces from over 30 incredible AAPI artists. Along with the exhibition, EastWest Bank sponsored a 100+page full color cookbook featuring stories, recipes, art, design, and essays with 100% of proceeds from the exhibition and the cookbook/artbook to support and continue Heart of Dinner’s mission
Raised: $100,000
Civil Arts X Christie's x EastWestBank: At The Table Fundraising Exhibition & Cookbook
Since 2020 One of our beloved restaurant partners, Partybus Bakeshop, who in addition to baking hundreds of loaves of milk bread and scallion buns each week for our care packages, has been dedicating 10% proceeds from each scallion bun purchased at their bakery. The proceeds from their buns go right back into providing direct support to the community.
Raised $2500+
Ongoing Fundraiser: Partybus Bakeshop Scallion Buns
Full Bellies, Full Hearts Digital Cookbook featuring 24 family recipes curated with love by the Slant’d team to find comfort and community during an extremely difficult year. Inspired by the community cookbooks of the 1800s, 8% of proceeds are donated to Heart of Dinner.
Upcoming
Slant’d Digital Cookbook
Asian Comedy Fest dedicated portions of proceeds from each of their shows in 2022
Raised $6,500
Asian Comedy Fest 2022
Since 2020, the team behind Busboy has dedicated proceeds from their yearly Lunar New Year tee's to Heart of Dinner, along with a 10k donation from their collaboration with FRAME
$10,000+
Ongoing: Busboy
To spread awareness about the decreased foot traffic in the wake of the pandemic that small businesses in NYC’s Chinatown are having to struggle to stay afloat, and the community—especially immigrant and working class residents—are at risk from accelerating gentrification that displaces both people and businesses, Sublima Jewelry dedicated 100% of their sales within a 2-week period of one of their busiest holiday seasons to five organizations, and we are tremendously grateful to be chosen as one of them.
Raised $6,360
Sublima Jewelry
Natasha Pickowicz’ Never Ending Taste partnered with greenmarket-rich Vietnamese street food focused Has Dac Biet at the Superiority Burger space offering irresistible combo deals of savory and sweet items, donating all proceeds to Heart of Dinner.
Raised $1,500
Never Ending Taste: Natasha Pickowicz x Has Dac Biet
Two Bridges Muay Thai hosted a 25-day challenge featuring 5 coaches who did 5 rounds of pads for 25 days, encouraging their community to sponsor their coaches for a total of 625 rounds to raise funds for Heart of Dinner and raise awareness about our mission to provide meals for the Asian elderly in NYC’s Chinatown.
Raised $4,057
Two Bridges Muay Thai Charity Challenge
Hosted a raffle for her homemade Olive Oil Floral Confetti Cake at $10 a ticket. The layered olive oil cake was filled with lemon & kumquat curd and covered in swiss meringue buttercream confetti.
Raised $2,002
Judy Kim Foodstylist and Recipe Developer
Shared 50% of proceeds from all sales of their Lightscape Candle Light and Vignette Jewelry Collection. These collections and all their products are responsibly made in the US and designed to be seasonless.
Raised $588
Ladies & Gentlemen Studio
Hosted a raffle for two Yokkoyama Hat Market x Golden Diner Hat merch collab for $3 a ticket.
Raised $1,000
Golden Diner
Nancy Pappas dedicated all of the proceeds from her holiday sale of prints offered in sizes ranging from 8x10 to 16x20, on Lustre Paper, Canvas, and Framed were donated directly to benefit Heart of Dinner.
Raised $200
Nancy Pappas Illustrator
April Tsai of Wildewood Fibers created a custom-color as a love letter to the color red in our Chinese culture and history. The beautiful deep crimson red “Loving Chinatown” color was lovingly named after our initiative with all proceeds directed towards our work.
Raised $403
Wildewood Fibers
Steady worked closely with their friends @eighteightsix @canalstreetmarket @myeggloo @kopitiamnyc @madamevonyc @nowon.nyc @veryfreshnoodles @whitenoisecoffeeco @winsonbrooklyn to create a piece that better defines what community means. ‘FIGHT FOR US’ is their rallying call aimed to encourage our communities to protect those in need with all proceeds funding our efforts.
Raised $2,080
Steady Tee: Fight For Us NYC Relief Initiative
Vivian Pang of Vivian Pang Creative dedicated 25% of proceeds from her beautiful #coasterforacause collection to benefit Heart of Dinner.
Raised $88
Vivian Pang Creative
