Carrie Green found Funds2Orgs during an online search for fundraising ideas, then held off on starting the first Happy Birthday Cha Cha Cha shoe drive fundraiser. A goal of 2,500 pairs of shoes “seemed unattainable,” she wrote.
She went ahead anyway. “I am so glad I went for it,” she added in a February 2026 note. By then, she had signed the nonprofit up “again and again.” Funds2Orgs records list 12 fundraising payments to Happy Birthday Cha Cha Cha from 2018 through 2025, adding up to more than $18,000.
That money helped pay for birthdays for children living in poverty. If you lead a small nonprofit and wonder whether shoe drive fundraisers for nonprofits can work at your size, Carrie’s experience offers a useful answer.
Birthday bags for children living in poverty
Happy Birthday Cha Cha Cha partners with schools where at least 90% of students live below the poverty line, and a classroom adoption fills birthday bags for 20 to 30 children, its website said in October 2026. Its GuideStar profile said in October 2026 that it adopts kindergarten-through-second-grade classrooms.
Its website also said it served 129 children in its first year and, by October 2026, thousands of students each year in Buffalo, Rochester, Rome, and Utica, New York.
“The funds we’ve been able to raise have enabled hundreds of kids living in poverty to be able to receive fun treats, new socks, underwear, hygiene items and groceries on their birthdays,” Carrie wrote.
When you ask supporters to donate gently worn, used and new shoes, name what the money will buy, the way Carrie named socks, groceries, and treats.
A shoe drive fundraiser goal that looked too big
What held Carrie back was the number. Our shoe drive fundraiser FAQ asks groups to pack 25 pairs in each bag, so 2,500 pairs works out to 100 bags.
Looking back, Carrie wrote that what stood out most was “how much easier it has been to collect shoes vs. my initial fears.”
The first fundraising payment that built confidence
Asked for one moment from the partnership that stayed with her, Carrie named the first time she received a fundraising payment, which she called “incredibly special.” Happy Birthday Cha Cha Cha was young and small at the time. She wrote that the payment gave her the confidence and the funds to expand.
Happy Birthday Cha Cha Cha shoe drive fundraiser payments, 2018 to 2025
In February 2026, Carrie wrote that she had lost track of her drives but estimated more than ten. The 12 listed payments include two in each of 2018, 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
The listed payments from 2020 through 2025 covered 1,549 bags, and the two listed for 2025 covered 317 bags and totaled $3,916.95.
Birthdays come all year, so a birthday program needs year-round funding. Repeating the shoe drive fundraiser gave Happy Birthday Cha Cha Cha a source of funds it could return to.
Where the money goes and where the shoes go
For Happy Birthday Cha Cha Cha, the money from its shoe drive fundraisers helped pay for children’s birthdays. The shoes took a different route.
Funds2Orgs pays by the pound after the shoes reach our warehouse and we weigh them. The shoes enter a resale network in the reuse economy where micro-entrepreneurs buy and resell them in their communities to earn a living. Our social enterprise explanation describes how that process works.
This helps you explain it to your supporters: their shoes raise money for your cause, and then they become inventory that small businesses in developing nations can resell.
Planning a shoe drive fundraiser for a small nonprofit
Carrie’s experience points to one lesson for a small nonprofit: don’t let the size of the goal stop you from starting.
If you’re comparing options first, our list of fundraising ideas for nonprofits has 40+ ideas, starting with a shoe drive fundraiser. You can also explore how Funds2Orgs shoe drive fundraisers work before you set a date.
If your organization is ready to test its own goal, start your shoe drive fundraiser and plan it with a Funds2Orgs fundraising coach.
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