Businesses are always looking for ways to jazz up their store fronts, whether it’s for the holidays or for a special promotion. Attracting more people to their store fronts means more people may come in to spend money. Who needs plastic mannequins when you can have live people and pets drawing attention to your store?

The 1987 movie “Mannequin” centered on a man who created amazing displays in the store windows, drawing attention to the once-floundering, now-flourishing department store. The main character had the help of a ‘magical’ mannequin who came to life and helped him create the amazing displays. Your rescue has something even better than a magical mannequin at your disposal; you have adorable animals available for adoption and lots of lovely volunteers waving to their adoring public!

Talk with the owners of local department stores, boutiques, florists, hair salons, pet groomers, cafes, and any business that has a front display window in your area. Ask if your group could spend an afternoon sitting in the window attracting attention both to the store and to your cause. This would work best in a mall, in a shopping concourse area on a major shopping avenue, or along another well traveled part of town.

Ask your volunteers to highlight some special adoptable animals in the windows to introduce them to the public. Your group can also ask local celebrities and prominent figures to hang out in store fronts, either with an adoptable pet or with their own pets, for an hour to attract attention and donations. These public figures and volunteers can also be dressed in sample clothing from the stores, or otherwise promoting the business. This creates a win-win situation for both the business and the nonprofit group.

Set up a collection table in front of the window, with lots of signs detailing the event. If you are doing this campaign along a major roadway, be sure to post signs further down the street to inform passersby of your campaign. You could also have your mannequins collect money directly from people if there will be easy access to the window. If not, a ‘runner’ may be used to bring the donated money inside the store to the window area. Keep a running tally of the amount raised and encourage more people to give generously.

Your group could also elect to combine this promotion with a cutout campaign where you sell a construction paper bone or heart shape for $1 to $5 and post the cutouts around the windows. And, another add-on would be to host a donation drive for supplies needed by your nonprofit group. A Cram the Van donation drive would be a great way to bring in some extra items, especially if these items are sold at the store location.

The store may also elect to host a special promotion or sale during this time. A percentage of the sales for that day could be donated to the charity. Or, you could use a coupon program where passersby can be given a coupon by a volunteer, and your group will receive a portion of those sales where a coupon was used.

If you are collecting monetary donations, ask the business to match whatever you earn up to a certain amount. Many larger businesses have foundations or charitable programs where the parent company will help match any amount raised. You could also ask some of your top donors to create a matching challenge where they will also match the amount raised during this campaign.

Another clever way to bring in more funds during this mini-campaign is to create a contest or a challenge where people will live in the store front for a set amount of time to highlight adoptions, chained animals, pet shops or another animal related cause. A handful of volunteers could pledge to live on display in the storefront and collect pledges for each hour.

This publicity-based fundraiser could also be used as a device to comment on the adorable animals available for adoption, or to encourage people to choose adoption over purchasing companion animals at pet stores. However you use this concept, be sure to drum up lots of publicity by bringing in the television reporters to spend some time in the window front, and ask the local radio stations to host a live remote at your location.