One of the largest challenges that paranormal groups today face, is the constant battle to obtain the funds needed to:

• Visit places that charge (from a per person to a set rate for the night, from $50-$1000)
• Acquire new and promising equipment to use (from $20+)
• Travel (gas, meals, etc)
• Acquire shirts and other propaganda (websites, cards, flyers, printer ink, etc).

Either it comes down to a few members in the group funding the expeditions, everyone tries to split the costs evenly, or is there even a third option?  With start-up groups, there is often a dream of ‘sponsorships’, and one can only imagine how many times Ghost Stop and other online stores have been hit up for partnerships.

I recently saw a post, asking for anyone who knew about a shirt company that would be willing to advertise on a sleeve, and print their logo on the shirts for free.  I am sure if that was a possibility, nobody would pay for shirts, and everyone would have “The Perfect Stitch” written pleasantly on their arm.  Truth be told, sponsorships require one of several things – you know the right rich people who are willing to throw money at your hobby, or you have something to give back to make a contribution worthwhile.

Having approached many people for sponsorships, I came upon this realization – nobody wants to give something for nothing. Your family, friends, or Facebook acquaintances all want the best for you, but why donate to a fund and get nothing out of it?  Thats when I decided that people want something for their money.  And that’s when my group started on the direction to becoming self sufficient.

If you have a legitimate group, you have several parts of an investigation happening: in-depth research (and I don’t just mean an internet search) including in-person interviews, library visits, and public records checks, the investigation with a method to the madness, and the review process (of EVERYTHING you collected).  One thing that I wanted to do from the start, was make videos documenting our groups touch on everything from the beginning to the end.

So, we had these videos, and they were being put on YouTube.  TIP #1 Monetize your account.  If you can continue to make videos, and get followers, and build a social following, you can easily make your website hosting fee with this.  It puts an ad on your videos, and you get paid for the clicks.  But, we didn’t stop there.  YouTube takes time.  So, for investigations that we pay for, we TIP #2 Sell homemade DVDs of our investigation.

I have found this to be a great small source of income.  It is much easier to create a link to a Paypal account, and tell people that for a $10 donation you will send them a DVD of your latest investigation.  They enjoy helping you out, and you give them a reason to do so!  You can mail them to your family and friends who live states away, and its really not that expensive.  Plus, it creates awareness.

TIP #3 Shop around and find the best deals that you can on things.  I have looked over Craigslist for the entire state of Florida for pieces of equipment that I can use during investigations.  A radiation detector, while unconventional, has been one of my favorite pieces of equipment.  I also found an Ovilus for a fraction of the price I would have paid at a store.  If you are getting shirts made, contact local shops and ask them how much to embroider your logo on your own shirt – it only cost my group $7 a shirt.  Business cards can be purchased for free on Vistaprint (you just have to pay for shipping).

TIP #4 Learn to do things yourself.  One of my growing interests, has been in creating equipment from scratch.  You can really save  a lot of money on equipment, by first learning what they do.  For example, I saw this awesome video on how a simple arrow compass directs you to sources of EMF disturbances!  You can actually make a ‘ghost detector’ for under $1.  Making my own equipment has given me such a better understanding of what they are and how they work.

Still, the largest issue that comes with all of this is time.  You have to make a DVD to sell, and videos to post on Youtube.  Even with education, editing takes a huge amount of time.  Distribute responsibilities amongst your group, and if people want to succeed, they will make things happen.  Shopping around takes time.  Learning how to build your own equipment takes time and patience.

Take things as they come, and if there is anything I can help you with, feel free to reach out to me – terry@theagencyforeternaljustice.com.