So, your group has decided to set up a car wash fundraiser right? Well you have picked out a date, but what hours will you run your fundraiser? Here are some thoughts and ideas, which will help you determine the best hours of operation.

We recommend that you keep the hours of the fundraiser to a minimum. Pick a Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. If you have twenty or more volunteers who will be washing cars, split them into a morning shift and an afternoon shift, ten in each shift. It might be better to have twelve people in the morning and eight in the afternoon. Usually mornings have higher traffic count because people are on their way to somewhere. They will usually be on their way back after 3:00 pm. Don’t start your car wash fundraiser before 8:00 am unless you expect your temperature that day to be over 105 °F in the middle of the day because no one will be out at that time.

If you are doing a wash-a-thon type of fundraiser and you want to wash as many cars as possible, break your twenty people into four groups. Four people from 8:00 am to 10:00 am, six people from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, five people from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm and five people from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Make sure to wash every last car even if it comes through at 5:15 pm. As long as there are cars, keep washing. Don’t stop. You’ve already got the pledge.

If it’s not a wash-a-thon keep the 10:00 am to 2:00 pm operation hours. Even if you have only ten people and you need them for the whole event, four hours isn’t all that bad. The average person can handle it. If you are really busy and someone looks like they are struggling, reassign them to a less strenuous job such as:

Picking up trash

Filling up buckets

Hanging up towels to dry

Collecting donations

Holding signs

Directing traffic

You don’t want to burn out your volunteers. Make it easy and fun. People from the group will leave with a positive experience. This makes it easy for recruiting volunteers next year. If done correctly your annual car wash fundraiser will get easier and easier. Each year it will generate more and more money for your worthy organization. Keep it up. Be fair to your team. Think on this.