autumnmcdougall

Food Club is definitely one of the best ways to earn NPs with just a small amount. (I used it once, had 3 bets, 2k for each bet and won 104k the next day.) Of course, this also requires a bit of luck, but it's definitely one of the better ways to do so, especially with an old account. Trudy's Surprise is a new event that is pretty lucrative when you do consecutively. (I spun my sixth time today and got 13750 NP. Yeah.) Faerie Employment Agency is another way to do it, but you have to be really quick to snatch the high-paying jobs. Basically: you look for a job (which is to get the required amount of specified items in the allotted time limit) you can do on the page, claim it before anyone else can, then get the items (Shop Wizard is your best friend!) and you can get a bonus if you do it quick enough. I'll be writing a guide on it soon, as I've been doing it for quite a while. Dailies! The small amounts of NP you get will easily pile up. Putting your money in the bank. The maximum amount I tend to carry around is 5k when I'm not doing quests or jobs or lurking the TP, putting most of your NP in the bank affects the amount of NP you receive as interest. This is all I can think of right now, but yeah! This (and occasionally stocks, but it's mostly a waiting game) is what I do at the moment to gain NP, as I'm pretty rubbish at games. :)

Our TDN ALP also alerts of the next aged Darigan Pteri to obtain this avatar. I'm not sure when the next one is though, but that is an option for you. Depending on how much Neopoints you need you each could make at least 700k over 7 days, that's 100k a day and I often earn more than 100k/per day. The paint brush is only 1.3 million so if two of you earn 100k nps each day you'll have enough to get the paint brush for your group. Probably a better way then "begging" for donations. Since both of you are new users here on the forums and may not be known to us on Neopets, a lot of us aren't likely to donate. Even if you do get a few donations, at least one of you will have to front most of the purchase anyways.
 
Also trading a pet for donated neopoints is not advised. Even if the person is just holding onto it until said avatar, what if you don't reach your goal? It will come off looking like the person bought the neopet from you which is against the rules.
 
I wish you luck in completing your goal on time, but I think it would be best if your group funds the project rather then asking for donations from strangers. Just my two bits on the matter. :)