Sunday, May 29, 2011

Impressive Elementary School Fundraising Ideas

 

Elementary School Fundraising: Selling Book Scents Bookmarks

            In choosing a great product for your elementary school fundraising you have to decide if you want a consumable or non-consumable one. Consumable fundraising products include candies, chocolates, beef jerky, cookie dough and fresh fruits. While non-consumable ones consist of scented pencils, discount cards and book scents.

            Your elementary school fundraising events rely on the effectiveness of your products in order to consider them a success. Your whole fundraising plan depends on how profitable your products are. Together with a competent volunteer team, you can easily sell your products to your customers. The advantage of non-consumable products from consumable ones is its ability for easy storage. You don’t need to refrigerate these products since they can last for months without compromising their quality. You also don’t need to distribute them immediately to your customers since they can last for a long time. One of the best non-consumable fundraising products out there is book scents bookmarks. These one of a kind bookmarks are very saleable especially to students since they can easily use them in school. Not only are they effective in keeping important pages in their books, they also have good scents that makes them very appealing to your customers. Their scents can last for about 6 to 9 months apiece and you only need to rub them lightly in order to renew their strong aromas again. Most fundraising companies nowadays offer these unique and interesting products so you don’t need to look further when purchasing your supplies. You can also lessen your shipping expenses since they are already available locally. Companies offer them in cases which contain 50 pieces of 8 different scents, with a grand total of 400 book scents each package. The scents include watermelon, jelly bean, root beer, cinnamon, peppermint, orange, bubblegum and strawberry fragrances. These packages are normally priced at about $160 per case and you can sell each book mark for about $1.00 each. You can easily make $240 profit for each case or about 60% total profit margin. This is very good since you can make more out of your funds. If you’re lucky, you can even get them in discounted prices especially if you order in bulk. The packages are usually offered with free shipping and handling fees making it more ideal for fundraisers since you are minimizing the cost of expenses in your project.

            Another good aspect of ordering them in fundraising companies is that most of them offer online services. This makes the ordering process more easy and simple, with just a few clicks your products will be sent to you directly in your doorstep. You don’t need to go directly to their company in order to purchase your supplies; they will deliver them directly to you together with some sales brochures to help you start your fundraising events. They can even assist you in organizing your events since most of the people behind these companies are expert fundraising organizers. Not only will you get awesome products, but professional assistance as well. 

 



Saturday, May 28, 2011

Easy Fundraising for School

School Fundraiser: The Productivity Of Your Fundraiser

            To continue the activities of non-profit organizations such as sports teams, charities and school clubs, they need funds. The funds that these groups need are based according to how big their activities are; the bigger the organization the bigger the needed funds. There are numerous ways for them to get the funds they need. One of the most effective ways to raise funds is to organize a school fundraiser.

            Through a school fundraiser you can effectively get the funds you need as soon as possible especially when the school’s administration really needs it. You might be searching for the best fundraiser idea around but some of them are not suitable for your goals and objectives. It’s not also necessary to follow every step of any previous successful fundraiser in order to be successful. There are certain factors that are needed to be considered first since not all fundraisers work the same. There are two things that you need to take into account so you can fully understand how a fundraising campaign works. The first thing to consider is to be familiar with the sales percentage of your chosen fundraiser idea. You must estimate the expected overall expenses of the fundraising campaign and also its returns so that you can easily decide if it is worth the effort or not. Ensure that your income is much higher than the overall expenses if you want high profitability for your fundraiser; 2 times higher is highly recommended. It is also recommended that you have experience in financial management or knows someone in your team that does. Otherwise, you can hire a person that has this experience so they will be responsible for all the financial aspects of your fundraiser. If you’re having trouble finding a person with such experience, you can hire a fundraising company since they already know how to do these kinds of tasks. But your fundraising company should know all parts of your fundraising plan so that they can help you even further. The company you hired will also be your supplier for your fundraising needs, most especially your products since most fundraising companies nowadays now offer fundraising products. Be like a businessman that sets all financial aspects a top priority since your main goal is to make money for your cause.

            Ensuring that every product you sell for your fundraiser is worth the amount for your customers to buy is another aspect to consider. Most people don’t buy items that are worthless, so sell items that are worth every penny. Always consider the quality of your products. Check if they are of high quality. To avoid low quality products, purchase from a trusted supplier that offers high quality products so you can easily sell them to your customers as well as a chance to have numerous repeat sales. Having repeat sales are vital for the success of the fundraiser since this is an indication that your customers are satisfied of the products and services you offered to them. To retain repeat sales, you must not only keep the quality your products to maximum but you also need to price them properly.



Friday, May 27, 2011

New Fundraising|Unique Fundraising

Unique Fundraiser: Learning How to Ask Properly

            When managing a unique fundraiser, the least stressful part of it is to ask any person you meet to join a specific event, give donation for a cause or support your church, school or any non-profit organization. It can also be an entertaining experience since you’ll meet other people whom you don’t know. But before asking them for a donation, you have to consider some important notes in requesting something.

            A good relationship between your supporters is a must in every unique fundraiser you organize. This increases the amount of donations you receive, supporters and volunteers you’ll need and more time for your team to help you. But before you get these benefits, you have to work for it. Never rush your request about your fundraiser to your supporters. Just like what I said before, you’ll have to work for it; hard work always pays out. The best strategy that you can use to invite them to your event is asking them to volunteer for your fundraiser or convince them to sign up for your newsletter. When for the funds you need or volunteerism or any other aspects you need for your fundraiser, you have to be ready. You must choose who you’ll be asking or what company or organization will you be asking for help. If it’s a company, the best person to ask would be the president of such organization. You can also ask your friends, acquaintances and relatives, your choice. Then decide on what you’ll be asking to them. You may ask for extra money or donations but don’t forget the specific amount. You can also ask them to volunteer to your event or just invite them to your event. Never forget the time and venue of your fundraising event. Expect the unexpected, so you have to expect “no” for an answer. It’s already acceptable to receive this answer, even to the most experienced fundraiser organizers. But it doesn’t mean you have to give up already. You must have a positive approach when asking requests to your supporters. Never forget your fundraising goals and objectives. Always expect a “yes” but be ready to accept “no” and go on. Lastly, show your supporters how they can make a difference in your fundraiser to achieve its goals for a good cause. Knowing that their contribution to your fundraiser is for a good cause, people will most likely to give support to your cause through good donations. But you have to consider the minimum amount they’ll give to you.

            Process is the next aspect to consider. Make sure you go direct to the transition if possible to gain connection to your supporters. Touch their hearts by explaining why you’re doing this fundraiser and why you need to gain this specific amount of funds for your fundraiser. After that, this is the time you’ll ask the request. Make sure you do it successfully. This may take some time to master but with enough practice and experience, you can use these strategies to make every fundraiser you organize a success. 



Trying Unique Fundraising Ideas

Unique Fundraising Ideas: Writing Fundraising Letters

Have you ever experienced a failed fundraising event despite great unique fundraising ideas that you used? Maybe your customers and supporters didn’t quietly understand what you are conveying to them. Fundraising letters are important in making your message understandable and clear to the people that you are encouraging to participate.

But how can you utilize the help of fundraising letters in your unique fundraising ideas? First of all, you need to clearly describe the reason and cause of why you are raising funds in the first place. This may sound pretty easy but this is where most organizers fail. Make sure that you use the most effective words in your letters. In this way, you can leave a strong impact to your potential customers, sponsors, donors and supporters. Always remember that if your letters are uninteresting to read in the first sentences, chances are the rest of your letter will be disregarded. With this in mind, always put yourself on your customer’s position. What would make you read the letter and encourage you to join the fundraising event? You don’t need to make the whole letter long, you just need to include the most important facts and make it short and simple as possible. After showing your customers the problem, answer how the issue can be solved by the person that will be reading your letter. Use suggestion techniques in your letters so you can easily dictate the mindset of your supporters. Not only will you explain the solution for the problem, you should also tackle about the consequences that may happen if you will fail in your fundraising events. In this way, you can induce support and sympathy from the readers which is good for your fundraiser. Construct your letters very carefully; this will be the part of the letter where you are going to change the mind and inspire close-minded people that you might encounter.  In your letter, emphasize specifically how the reader will be able to help your fundraising event. If it involves money, specify that you need money and make sure the letter emphasizes that part. If there are other ways to help out, include them also. In this way, people who are interested to participate but short on financial aspects can still give their support for your fundraising event. After you have included your cause, the problem and the solutions; you can now indicate the timeline of the whole fundraising event. This will be for your readers and supporters which can offer help but can’t do so as of the moment. Maybe they are busy with something else and can’t help right away. Open the opportunity for supporters to help your fundraising event at all times.

In writing your fundraising letter, put your heart and mind into it. You must be sincere on your reason to help for a good cause. When people can feel that your efforts are for the better, they will gladly lend a helping hand for your fundraising events. 



School Fundraiser Ideas

School Fundraiser Ideas: Hiring A Fundraising Advisor

 

            There are some scenarios when you don’t know what to do if you want to start your own fundraiser using your chosen school fundraiser ideas. This is unavoidable to most fundraisers especially when you have previously made several fundraising events. You can ask help from a professional or any experienced fundraising organizer to start the ball rolling again.

            If you have experienced some difficulty in coming up with fresh and new school fundraiser ideas, you may want to hire a professional such as a fundraising advisor. They can help you with your campaign by giving you important details and tips for fundraising. Most organizers even the most experienced ones will come to a point where they can’t come up of a new idea anymore. Don’t be too hard on yourself when you run out of ideas since this is normal. For most people, the first thing that they do is to seek help from people they know in order to have some ideas. You need to relearn all the basic things in organizing a fundraiser since this will help you improve your experience in fundraising. You have to start from the beginning in order to refresh your mind from all the things that worry you. When you have done this, this is where the fundraising advisor comes in. They will serve as your mentor to help you in your fundraising efforts. They will also serve as your teacher about different things in fundraising that you still don’t know; things that will surely improve your skills and strategies in fundraising. One of the things that they’ll teach you first is how to manage your team properly. This will all depend on how big your events are. Your team must consist of the following people; volunteers, staff members and board of directors. Each of these members is vital to the success of your fundraising events since it’s not only you that runs the fundraiser and its events. You can re-arrange your team, if you have any, according to their current position so that every member can improve as well. This will help your team and its members to become flexible in doing different tasks and responsibilities. Don’t let them do the same tasks in every fundraising event you make. This will bore them and might resign if you still give them the same job over and over again. Improving your relationship between your team is another thing that your advisor will teach you. Having a good relationship will be vital to the success of your fundraiser. Building this relationship is very important since this creates an atmosphere wherein your team can work more effectively. Through this, your team and its members can improve their performance in doing their tasks which is an advantage for your fundraiser. It’s not necessary to recruit new people every time you start your fundraising events; you just need to improve the relationship between you and your current team to enhance their performance.

            Incorporating a fundraising advisor is a good investment for your fundraiser especially in organizing big events. They will not only guide you through-out the event but will also teach you different things about fundraising. Make sure to hire the best fundraising advisor if possible. 

 

 



Thursday, May 26, 2011

Easy Fundraising Ideas

Fundraising Ideas: Safety Measures To Consider

            Since most fundraising ideas nowadays involve door-to-door sales, there are numerous ways in which you can ensure a safe environment for your volunteer teams; especially if the fundraising events that you are organizing involves the participation of children. You must always ensure that the kids are safe and requires a high level of supervision by the parents, the school and your team.

            When making your fundraising ideas successful and profitable, you also have to consider the safety of your group, supporters and sponsors. Children are very susceptible to harm since they are still innocent in these kinds of events. When you are involving kids in your fundraising events you first have to ask permission to the school administration before bringing them over for your fundraising events. You should also obtain the permission and consent of their respective parents so that you won’t have any problem regarding the safety of the kids. Always let them know what will be your fundraising project is all about so that their parents will not worry about the wellbeing of their kids. For their safety, it’s strictly recommended not to assign them to door-to-door sales. It’s not a safe task for them to do. But their parents can do such task since they are older and more responsible than children. There are many that they can help your fundraiser such as soliciting their neighbors for money, services and more to think of. Limit the contact of known associates, friends and family if possible. They will need to follow every step when soliciting but never let any children get involved in any fundraising solicitation. They must have direct supervision from their parents if ever they get involved in your fundraiser. 

      When it comes to handling money, it’s alright to assign it to a trusted volunteer but not to children. Unless supervised by an adult, you should not let children handle the money. The money collected must be transacted to the school administrator or one of your team leaders as soon as possible. The money should also be kept in a safe and secure location after each fundraising day. If possible, you and your trusted volunteer must be the only one who knows the location of the money. It’s recommended to use checks as a form of payment for safety purposes. And lastly, good communication between the fundraising manager and the volunteers of the fundraiser is important. You should have contacts to every volunteers you have since you are responsible for their safety. You must orient them the rules and guidelines of your fundraiser. The guidelines must be clear and understandable especially to the parents. Letters, e-mails, phone calls and any other form of communication helps in reminding every safety regulations of the fundraiser to your team. They should be contacted directly and do not rely on any other people especially students to contact them for the latest information. Following these steps will surely make your fundraiser not just profitable but also safe for people at any age to join.



Fresh and Unique Fundraising Ideas

Middle School Fundraising: Preparing Your Prospect List

Like many great sales companies, middle school fundraising projects need consistent supply of prospects such as customers, volunteers and business partners. Creating and building a good list of prospects is one of the key tasks that you should do in order to make your fundraising efforts profitable.

In organizing a middle school fundraising event, you should always secure first your list of prospects. This list will act as your guide on who will you ask for support as well as a basis for future fundraising references. Right them down on your notes; people tend to keep their prospect list in their minds. This would lead to people forgetting potential people that could help them on their cause.  Put them on paper, in a spreadsheet or you can even make a prospect database in which your members can also take part in suggesting promising people that could take part in your events. This system is much easier, and will grow at a faster rate. After you have written down your own prospect list, ask your board members individually to suggest people whom they think can help you in your goals and objectives. Your board likely has a great network of people in which your fundraising project could use. The next step is asking your donors, supporters and sponsors for their own prospect list and help you expand your team. You can either meet them in person or ask them to mail to you, your choice. When you are asking them for assistance, this would make them feel important in your fundraising events and in return they would do their best to supply you with a great list of prospects. This could also lead to a good relationship between you and your supporters which could be advantageous in the future. When you have found potential prospects, don’t just go and ask them immediately since this could be intimidating to them. You should hold non-formal meetings where you can invite your contacts to bring their prospects for a dinner or lunch and have them hear about you, your organization and what it does. Keep in mind never to reveal them that they are your prospects or ask them to join right away. Build the foundation for a good relationship first and then you can ask them to take part in your efforts if they are interested. Do you know a certain group, club or organization in which its members share the same affinity? This includes car clubs, business organizations or professional associations. This can be a great way to get new prospects especially if you can get their leaders. There is a high chance that when leaders of these groups join a certain event, he/she will likely invite his/her members to take part also. You can get the support of the entire group by just encouraging their leaders to join. It’s like hitting two birds with one stone strategy.

Always make sure to keep your prospect list updated at all times. This can be your life saver especially if you are low on your human resources. 



Top School Fundraising Ideas

3 Things To Consider First Before Starting Your Schools Fundraisers

            Every fundraiser organizer wants their schools fundraisers to be easy. You don’t want to complicate things and ruin your efforts by choosing a difficult fundraising idea. The only problem is that how can you organize them to be simple and at the same time obtain good results. Since you will be raising funds for your beneficiaries, you have to make sure that you will succeed in your fundraising efforts.

            There are three things to consider in order for your schools fundraisers to be successful. This includes the effort and help that is involved, the needed resources and of course the duration of the entire fundraising event. You need to ensure that you have these factors covered before starting your fundraiser since this will assist you in making sure that you reach fundraising success. These factors are some of the most basic fundamentals that the majority of fundraisers follow. In organizing a fundraiser, you need to exert some effort in order to make your fundraising events a reality. The level of effort that you and your volunteers need to exert is also equals to the size of your events as well as the amount of income that you need. Even though you are just organizing a simple and easy fundraiser, you need to exert effort on it otherwise you can’t obtain the expected outcome of your events. If you want, you can even train your volunteers before your events so that they will be prepared of the different things that will happen in a fundraiser. Teach them everything they need to know since doing so would make them more flexible to different tasks and responsibilities that they need to do.

            The main problem with organizing a fundraiser nowadays is that most of the organizers don’t have enough funds to start the ball rolling. Fundraisers are for non-profit purposes but how can you start one if you don’t have enough resources to start with. If you will be choosing a sales fundraiser where you are going to retail fundraising products in order to gain income, you need to invest a capital first before you can start selling. You can do this by soliciting donations first before starting your campaign. You can do this to your acquaintances such as your family, relatives, friends and co-workers. Your volunteer team should also do the same so that you can increase the maximum funds that you can obtain to start your events. Prepare your fundraising events carefully and compute each financial aspect of your fundraiser so that you can be sure that they are profitable. Be wary of all the expenses that you might incur during your events as well as the potential overall income of your project. Conserve your initial funds as much as possible so that you can use them in emergency situations.

             Another aspect that you need to consider in your fundraiser is the duration of your events. The whole duration of your fundraising events depends on how big it is. You can’t sell the same fundraising product over and over again for the whole year. Small fundraisers usually run for about 3 weeks in order to obtain their much-needed funds.



Plan A Cookie Dough Fundraiser

 

Cookie Dough Fundraisers: One Of The Best Fundraising Ideas

In essence, cookie dough fundraisers are one of the most profitable and easiest fundraising projects that first-time organizers can start. They are very saleable to your customers since everybody loves sweet treats. You can also organize this kind of fundraiser along with other treats such as candies, chocolates, pizzas, beef jerky and the likes. Consider this amazing product since you can easily get your fundraising success utilizing this kind of treats.

The popularity of cookie dough fundraisers is undeniably very visible especially to school fundraising activities since you can easily involve the students in it. Almost all fundraising companies nowadays offer this one-of-a-kind product in their programs because of their profitability. There are also different varieties of cookie dough that organizers can choose from depending on your preferences. There are pre-packed cookie dough varieties that you can easily sell while others prefer to order in bulk packages because of their discount prices and easiness. The versatility of cookie dough based product is endless since there are numerous other products that you make using cookie dough. One of the most profitable packages that you can purchase is the place-and-bake type. This type dough usually comes in 48 pre-formed cookies. This would make it easier for your customers to bake the dough since they can instantly prepare them with ease. They also come in different flavors which makes it very versatile since your customers will have a wide of variety of tastes to choose from. Another type of dough that you can choose to sell is cookie dough tubs. These tubs usually costs at about $10 and weighs 3 pounds each. You can bake a lot of cookies or anything you want with these dough tubs. Cookie dough is undeniably one of the best products that you can use in making your fundraiser a success and profitable.

In order to fully realize the success of your own cookie dough fundraising events, you need to look for a good fundraising company to get your supplies with. The first thing that you need to consider is the quality of their products. Look for a very reputable fundraising company that will help you in your events. Also consider the prices of their products since your selling price will always depend on the cost of obtaining your dough. Look out for discounted prices especially when you are ordering on bulk. Another thing to take into account with regards to expenses is the shipping fee of your products. Look for a company that offers free shipping or discounted fee if you will order more of their products. The company must also have a website in which you can easily scrutinize their products and services. They must also offer the easiness of ordering online and paying through the use of electronic money transfers since this will make each transaction simple and effortless. Always be careful in transferring money online and make sure that your fundraising company is legitimate before closing in any transactions. 

 



Sunday, May 22, 2011

Plan A Cookie Dough Fundraiser

 

 


How To Manage A Cookie Dough Fundraiser

            Are you looking for tips and strategies in improving your cookie dough fundraiser events? You’re in luck since I will be discussing some ways to further maximize your fundraiser to easily double the results. Take note about these factors since they are very important and you can use them to almost any fundraiser.

            The first thing that you need to do when starting your very own cookie dough fundraiser is choosing the right product. There are numerous cookie dough brands out there that you can sell. You should choose a high quality fundraising product that doesn’t cost too much for your customers. Your products are what would define your fundraiser so always ensure that you only offer the best for your customers and supporters. It must have the right appeal to people, a high price point and a good profit margin. Don’t sell the same product over and over again since this will take away the interest of your customers. Be open to changes and offer different alternatives to maintain your customer’s support in your fundraising events. Your products should also have a good price point so that you can easily encourage people to purchase them. If you’re offering a low-price fundraising product, you can choose to offer them in packages so that you can maximize your profit for each customer. This is a good marketing strategy that will make your events more productive and profitable. The profitability points of your products must also be considered. You should always ensure 50% net profit for each product sold so that you can easily reach your target funds. You can even set a profit margin of about 80% if your products are popular to the people. If you are having problems with the profitability of your products, you can do a buy one take one deal so that even though you can get much profit, your fundraiser will not end up in failure.

            Since you will be doing a sales fundraiser, it is essential that you train your volunteers on how to deliver an effective sales script. Never send your team unprepared, always ensure that they know what they are doing. This would also be a chance for your volunteers to develop their communication skills which they can use in their respective fields. Prepare what they have to say in front of your customers so that they can easily convey your fundraising message. Your volunteers are not just selling your products; they are also selling themselves so make sure that they are always presentable when dealing with customers. Teach them to make eye contact, introduce themselves and always smile. The first sentence of your sales pitch should discuss on why you are raising money, the second would be asking for their help and third is stating how they can help. You should always make your sales script encouraging and heart-touching so that you can easily persuade them to participate in your fundraiser. After that, give them brochures and sales catalogues of your products so that they can choose which of your offer is appealing to their taste. After they have made the order, deliver the goods right away to maintain the freshness of the products. 

 

 



Impressive Elementary School Fundraising Ideas

 

Elementary School Fundraising: Fundraising Consultation

When organizing elementary school fundraising projects for your school, there would come a time where you will not know what to do anymore. This kind of fundraising plateau is inevitable especially when you have organized numerous fundraising campaigns in the past. Since you will need fresh and new ideas for your fundraiser, you can ask professional help in making your campaign a successful and profitable one.

When you have come to a point where you have already run out of ideas, you can choose to hire an elementary school fundraising consultant to help you out with your projects. Don’t blame yourself for running out of creative ideas since this always happens to people who repeatedly do the same thing over and over again. The most obvious thing to do is of course asking other people’s help in order to once again ignite the flame of creativity. Always remember to go back to basics. Like most things, relearning the basics will help you in improving your fundraising knowledge and experience. Since you will be starting all over again, you can make use of a fundraising consultant which can act as your mentor that will help you in making the right decisions. He/she can also teach you numerous things that even you don’t know about thus further improving the level of your organizational skills. The first thing that you will probably get from your fundraising consultant is how to properly organize your core team depending on the size of your events. This team would consist of board of directors, staff members and volunteers. These people are an integral part of any fundraising project since they will be the ones that will be running the whole thing aside from you. If you already have your core group, you can re-arrange them so that each and every one of them will have the chance to improve as well. This would further help your team to improve their skills and capabilities in handling various fundraising responsibilities. Never make them do the same things over and over again since this would bore them out and eventually they would leave your team if this goes on. The second thing that your consultant would help you out would be improving your relationship with your team. A good relationship with your group is very important since this would make them comfortable with you. Building a good foundation with your team’s relationship is very important since you will be able to make a great working atmosphere for your volunteer teams. With this, your volunteers will further improve their working performance thus making your fundraiser gain more income. Keep in mind; you don’t need new people every time you organize a fundraiser, just make sure to improve your relationship with your current team.

Hiring a fundraising consultant is a very good investment for your fundraiser especially when you are organizing large scale events. Not only will someone guide you along the way, but you will learn many important things from them. Make sure that you can get the most out of every time your consultant is teaching you to reach another fundraising success.

 



Friday, May 20, 2011

School Fundraiser Ideas

School Fundraiser Ideas: Basic Fundraising Strategies

            Organizing and managing a fundraising campaign is hard work for most of us unless you are prepared and eager to do so. Preparation is just part of organizing a fundraising campaign for your school fundraiser ideas. Here in this article, I will show you the ways in coordinating a successful fundraiser without much effort or delays.

            The first one on the list is planning your fundraiser. Every campaign always starts with planning a fundraiser while choosing great school fundraiser ideas. This is very important and must be done first since you will base your next move from what you have planned beforehand. It also serves as your guide through-out the campaign. You can do this by having a set of goals and objectives that must be done in your campaign. You must also put a timeline in your goals in which you must achieve them within the time limit. But make sure you’ll complete them within the given time, otherwise you’ll fail.

            Next is the preparation for your fundraiser, start your preparations immediately after planning in order to start your fundraiser on time. Recruit your first team of volunteers. They will help you in advertising and sales which will save you time and effort if you’ll do it alone. Next is to advertise your fundraiser. This must be done in order to get the customers you want for your campaign. The use of marketing materials attracts more customers and other people in your community when advertising. Make use of your volunteers to help you in advertising your fundraiser. Contact your merchants whom you can trust in advertising your campaign, free of charge. If you don’t have one, look for one. Do this by making a deal with your chosen merchants to advertise your program in exchange for financial support. The more the merchants you can close the deal with, the better. Lastly, finalize any documents necessary for running your fundraiser campaign. This makes sure that your fundraiser is legitimate in terms of laws.

            After the preparation, you can proceed to execution of your fundraiser. Prepare a team of volunteers and assign them to do sales. You will hand out some marketing materials such as brochures, catalogs, order forms and sample product if necessary to your sales team. They will travel in a specific route or neighborhood not only to sell your products but also advertise your fundraiser. You’ll also give them a good sales script since it helps them persuade and attract their customers.           

Next will be the delivery of sales. After your volunteer team has collected enough order forms for the day, purchase the right away so that your customers can get them as soon as possible. You can buy the supplies from a fundraising company. The company must have high-quality goods in order to guarantee the satisfaction of your customers by the time they receive their orders. Make sure you order them in bulk to get discounted prices. Make sure to deliver the pre-ordered products to your customers on time.

Following these steps usually takes about five to six weeks all in all depending on what you have planned. But this will ensure the success of your fundraiser. And never forget to thank your supporters for their hard work after the successful campaign.



Thursday, May 19, 2011

Houston Elementary School Fundraising Ideas

 


Elementary School Fundraising Ideas: Sell Chocolate Candies

            One example of elementary school fundraising ideas that suits best for your fundraiser campaign is to sell candies. Selling candies like chocolate candies is a very good advantage to your sales campaign since most people especially children loves chocolates. In this article, I will show you the tips and tricks on how to manage and organize a sales campaign properly through selling these delicacies.

You have to always remember that no matter how good your elementary school fundraising ideas are, there are still chances of failure unless they are managed and organized properly. First tip is to check the quality of the chocolate candies from your fundraising company before selling them to your customers. Quality is what your customers want for their purchased products. You don’t want your chocolates to taste awful and break the reputation of your fundraiser campaign so make sure there are of good quality. Consider buying your supplies from well-known fundraising companies since you’ll be assured that their products are high quality. Besides the quality, prices are also considered. Low priced high quality products must be prioritized since this will make your sales campaign a lot easier. You can ask your fundraising company about discount prices on bulk orders; this can minimize the expenses and maximizing profit of your sales campaign.

            Next is to search for a good location to sell your products. You can’t just pick a random spot and sell your products. Choose a location with the highest possible traffic where most people usually go or stay. Choosing these kinds of locations are vital to your sales campaign since more people will notice your products and your fundraiser. These places can be drug stores, convenient stores, parks and malls. When setting-up your stall, you must have a big signboard that has the name of the product you’re selling and the cause why you’re raising funds for your campaign. This will help in effectively promoting your fundraiser to the public. Organize a team of sales volunteers, they will help you in further promoting your fundraiser and at the same time sell your products to your customers.

            Before sending your sales volunteers to sell your products, you have to teach them a good sales script to promote your products and your fundraiser properly. You can teach them by role playing. Through this, you can show them the right moves on how to persuade and convince their customers to be part of the cause through purchasing your product. In order to make sure that they are working hard, you have to motivate them through rewards or celebrations. Whenever your sales are good, celebrate for it with your team so they will strive to reach the main goal.

Rather than selling chocolate candies, you can also look for alternative products to sell just in case you customers don’t like your first offer. One good example for an alternative is discount cards. You can get these products from your local fast food chain or any restaurant available. This is a great deal for your customers since it offers different discounts like buy-one-take-one.