Archive for May, 2010
Youth Groups are almost always in need of funds. Holding fundraisers to finance important trips like tournaments, museums, and musical events are just some of the needs that have to be met through fundraising. Others include the need for uniforms, sports equipment, art supplies, musical instruments, and more.
There are a lot of different ways your youth group can raise the funds they need. In this article, I will explore some of those with you and try to help you avoid some of the pitfalls. I will let you benefit from my experience and I will help you avoid some of my mistakes.
Let’s start right off with candy. I have tried to use candy as a fundraising tool on more than one occasion for more than one youth group.
Pros and Cons of using candy as a youth group fundraiser.
Pros: Candy is cheap and can be sold for a great profit for your youth group. Everyone likes candy, so it’s a fairly easy sale, especially if you go with name brand candy. The candy is cheap enough that most people have enough money in their pocket to purchase it.
Cons: Candy melts. Trust me on this. Candy melts and when it does, your profits melt with it as you try to clean whatever it melted all over. The members of your youth group eat Candy and when the parents have to pay for all the candy YOU let their child eat, you get phone calls. Trust me on this. You get a lot of phone calls. Candy smells. Trust me on this. Wherever you store the candy will smell like candy forever. Bigger children steal candy from smaller children and again parents end up paying for the candy and you get the phone calls.
Coupon Books are another commonly used Youth Group Fundraiser.
Pros: Some coupon books are filled with free stuff and everyone loves free stuff! Your youth group can raise as much as $10 per coupon book so they need to make less sales to reach their goals.
Cons: Everyone still has last year’s coupon book. None of the coupons have been used. They never have it with them whenever they go somewhere they might have been able to use it for. I have been to a door to sell coupon books and had a guy hand me 7 unused coupon books as his donation. He said if I resold those, I would be able to raise more money than if he just bought one again this year. Coupons expire. They usually have a cost of about $10 to $15 per book, but of course the children in YOUR youth group will never lose any of them and their parents won’t be calling YOU, like with the candy.
Basically, every fundraiser your youth group takes on will come with responsibility and they all have their pros and cons. However, if you look for a product that has the following features, I believe you will have a more successful fundraising opportunity for your youth group.
1. Choose products that do not melt, expire, rot, or otherwise perish.
2. Choose products that do not have a large cost per unit, no matter what the profit.
3. Choose products that everyone uses and will get a lot of uses from. Something they will remember being very useful will get them to continue supporting your youth group.
4. Choose products that do not require a lot of storage space.
5. Choose products that are popular like things with the donor’s favorite major league baseball or football team logo on them.
If you follow those simple rules, your youth group fundraiser will be easy to manage, you won’t end up stuck with a lot of leftover product to store, your storage area won’t smell, you won’t need to clean up messes, and best of all, the parents of your youth group participants won’t be calling you.
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The golden key to effective fundraising is an organizations ability to manage relationships. While some may consider this an oversimplified explanation of a complex non-profit business model, our experience has shown us that this is one of the most overlooked, yet lucrative, elements of our fundraising efforts.
The backbone of any fundraising campaign is the appeal to donors for contributions. The problem many organizations run into during this phase of their fundraising efforts is that they have neglected to keep their donors engaged with their organization since their previous appeal for support. The donor no longer feels engaged by, or attached to, your organization in any meaning way. What distinguishes your organization or non-profit from the next?
We advise all of our clients to develop strong relationships with their donors and supporters. In the non-profit sector, these relationships play a significant role in the success of any given campaign forex trading. In some cases, these relationships can make or break an organization. Keep in mind that appeals for support are not always of the monetary type. Organizations of every type need support staff, and your donor list is an ideal place to search for new recruits.
One of the most important elements of fundraising is strategic planning, and your donor list can provide you with a lot of useful information. For instance, a well organized donor list can provide you with information about the types of causes a certain individual tends to support. By studying the types of initiatives an individual supports, you can make relatively educated guesses about their receptiveness to your current efforts. By organizing and tracking this data, you can save your organization valuable time and resources that could be used more effectively in another area.
A number of organizations purchase their donor lists from a third party. While this may be the most convenient solution, it is certainly not the most effective. It is imperative for any organization that is serious about fundraising to develop a proprietary donor list. This is a significant point that is often overlooked. By building your own donor list, you become engaged with the people in your community. These are the people that will support your organization over the long term, and the ones most likely to get involved.
School budgets are short. Cities even need help. On top of that, there are all sorts of organizations that are looking to make some extra money to help fund them. Fundraising is the perfect thing to do just that. If you are looking for some remarkable method of fundraising to turn your school or organization around, there are plenty to choose from, but they may not all be remarkable. In fact, sometimes the simplest of plans works the best.
In fundraising, you need to consider two things. First, you need to understand what the percentage of sales you will receive through the fundraiser. This information should be in writing and put right in front of you before you start with the company. Simply, how much are you going to make off of each sale that is made?
Secondly, you’ll need to insure that the products that are being sold as a fundraising tool are worth it. Perhaps they are marked up some to help you get your profits, but they still have to be some type of product that people need if you want them to purchase it. For example, you may want to have a fundraiser that provides Christmas purchases at that time of year. Or, in the middle of winter, a fundraiser could be hot chocolate, candies and candles. When the product is something that the individuals will want, they will be more than likely to make a purchase.
How you present the information is important as well. Make sure to tell your prospective customers that you are raising money for the Boy Scouts or you are helping to afford the school a new computer. When they know what the money is going towards, people are more generous as well.
By taking the time to plan well for your fundraiser, it can be more successful than you realize. If you plan to do fundraising, do it with your best foot forward every time.
Looking for a good fundraising idea? Candle sales are easy and profitable. What, exactly, is a candle fundraiser?
Candle fundraisers are your basic order taker fundraiser. You need to do more than just show pictures of candles. Showing fragrant samples will dramatically boost your candle fundraiser’s results.
The basic concept is the same as all order taker fundraisers. You equip your sellers with a brochure, an order form, and a basic sales script.
The brochure describes the various candle selections and provides details on color, aroma, size, shape, weight, and container type. Price points are usually on the order form itself.
Unlike candy or cookie dough, it’s easy for your sellers to carry samples. Their non-perishable nature makes them a great fit for weeklong sales efforts.
One of the great things about candle fundraisers is how the aroma of your samples makes the selling process so much easier. Most buyers will sniff several samples and imagine how the candles will fill their homes with their pleasant smells.
Perennial favorites are french vanilla, bayberry, apple, pumpkin spice, apple cinnamon, holiday pine, melon burst, and citrus breeze.
Candle sizes range from small two-ounce votive candles all the way up to giant three-pound ball or bell-shaped versions with multiple wicks.
Several fundraising companies have candles in decorative shapes like various fruits, animals, wizards, trees, and figurines. In addition, large rectangles, cylinders, half-rounds, and tapers are always readily available.
Some companies also offer container-based candles which burn more slowly and safely. They also avoid messy cleanup problems. Popular styles are Mason jars, jars with handles, jars with screw tops, and square glass containers.
Profitability
Most fundraising companies offer their candles at a 50% discount. Some suppliers also offer a larger discount for higher volume sales.
The average seller makes five to seven sales. Many of these sales are multi-unit buys, so they average about $80 in revenue. That translates to roughly $40 in profit per seller, which is quite good.
Factors affecting your candle fundraisers profitability include freight charges, quantity discounts, quality of the brochure, number of available candle choices, the motivation level of your sellers, and the duration of your fundraising activities. And of course, the most important factor is having fragrant samples in the hands of your sellers.
This product works well for both elementary school and high school fundraising.
Larger groups can easily earn a quantity discount above 50%. As always, do an RFQ fax quote to the candle supplier list and lock-in your best possible discount up front.
A front desk job description includes working at the front desk of companies and is being responsible for interacting with customers, greeting them and guiding them to the required areas within the office
To get the most out of any fundraiser, every participant needs to give their all from start to finish. This includes your team members, parents, coaches, and other volunteers.
To keep everyone’s interest from waning, make sure that you include fun in your fundraiser each step of the way.
Ten ways to put fun in your fundraising:
1- Do fun things
2- Use fun incentives
3- Take pictures
4- Show appreciation
5- Give out fun merchant prizes
6- Build in fun goals
7- Blend fun, food and fundraising
8- Create fun completion activities
9- Say thank you
10- Have a cast party
Do fun things
Don’t make it drudgery to be a volunteer or a participant. Remember that they’re giving up their free time to help.
Plan fun things to do during each stage of the process that will reward everyone. Not only will it be a more rewarding experience for everyone involved, but you will keep your participants and volunteers eager for the next fundraiser.
And we all know there will be another one sooner rather than later!
Make sure they remember the fun, not just the hard work.
Use fun incentives
Offer a Cream Pie Attack party to all sellers or participants reaching a certain level. Have a fun day where key organizational figures do funny things for meeting goals.
Extreme examples include shaving their heads or dyeing their hair blue.
Some safer, less long-lasting examples could be wearing a funny wig, dressing like a clown, risk the dunking booth, and so on.
Be creative and use an idea that is appropriate to your group.
Kids and adults love these types of incentives and they don’t cut into your hard earned cash.
Take fun pictures
Everybody loves to see themselves in a picture. Take plenty of candid shots. Have everybody pose and ham it up for a group photo.
Be sure to post them where everyone can enjoy them. You could even reward your picture posers with prizes for the best smile, the goofiest pose, or the worst dressed.
Ask volunteers to take pictures throughout the fundraising process so there will be a variety of photos and you can be sure that everyone will be included.
If possible, have a “movie” made of your group during each phase of the fundraising process and show the movie at a wrap up event.
Show appreciation
Show your appreciation to all levels of your organization and supporter base. Be sure to do fun things that aren’t fundraisers.
For example, line up discounts on tickets to athletic events, go on group outings, provide goodies for volunteers during working sessions.
Give out fun merchant prizes
Work with local merchants for great prizes that mean the most to
your group.
Work deals for movie passes, merchandise discounts, gift certificates, miniature golf, or IMAX theater trips for your top performing participants.
As always, make sure there is something in it for the merchant, otherwise you are just another stranger begging for their money or services.
Build in fun goals
Do an event based solely on having fun. Have key organization members commit to doing crazy things once certain revenue goals are reached, in whatever increments are most appropriate for your group and goals.
Let things build to the climactic moment where the head cheese does the ultimate “fun thing” as a way to reward the group for all their support.
A fond memory in the making is for the coaching staff to stand on their heads and sing “Row, row, row your boat” in rounds.
Blend fun, food and fundraising
Remember that you can blend fun into even the most traditional fundraising events.
Everybody knows what a bake sale is, right? Use a cake walk to sell a large portion of your donated sweets.
Kids love it and you’ll get more for the desserts than if you sold them outright. Consider having awards for the various submissions and then auctioning off the best dessert.
Create fun completion activities
These will motivate your sellers and volunteers as much or more as winning actual prizes.
Think about low cost fun events that you could tie to completing certain tasks, for example:
Top sales group gets a water balloon fight, all volunteers play in a Powder Puff touch football game, or an ultimate Frisbee match.
Say thank you
You can’t say thank you often enough to your supporters and your participants. Show your appreciation with heartfelt words and deeds.
Have a cast party
Have one for all volunteers at conclusion. Get together at someone’s home or in the fellowship hall with everyone bringing potluck.
It’s a nice way to build goodwill and reinforce a sense of community for future recruiting.
Conclusion
In remembering the fun in fundraising, be sure that each activity, prize or reward is age and group appropriate.
Also, remember the other volunteers… the parents and other adult volunteers that make it all happen. Be sure they are rewarded directly, even if it is a simple remark of recognition and thanks.
Print simple awards on the computer and present them at your wrap up event. Individualize each one: “The Go-To Guy Award”, “The Worker Bee Award”, “The Daddy War Bucks Award”, and so on.
Remember: Make it fun and everyone will come back for more!