Beyond Bake Sales: Getting More Out of Your Fundraiser
Despite facing impending budget cuts, many schools are valiantly struggling to keep extracurricular programs thriving for their students. To do so, many schools are relying on a variety of fundraising activities.
What Didn’t Work for Me
We all remember our junior high years when we were pressured every year to go door-to-door around the neighborhood (supervised by parents, of course) selling magazine subscriptions. It was a pretty futile endeavor. The process usually started with a pep rally where some excited teacher or salesmen showed us all the great prizes we could win if we sold a certain number of subscriptions. It ended with us feeling dejected about our inability to sell anything and a few relatives buying a handful of subscriptions they didn’t need. Candy sales and car washes tended to yield the same result.
T-shirts and Custom Apparel as an Alternate Fundraising Activity
What sets T-shirt fundraising apart from all other forms of fundraising is that the recipient of the T-shirt has something that can be worn again and again. You can only eat a candy bar once and you can only flip through a magazine a couple times before it becomes repetitive. A T-shirt, on the other hand, can be worn again and again.
T shirts that are printed with a specific cause or group in mind tend to sell very well. Selling T-shirts for high school sporting events not only helps the team out financially with the sales, but the fans also feel a sense of togetherness if they are all wearing the same shirt and will often cheer louder and longer for your team.
T-shirt fundraising brings everyone together, and if done properly, can bring in more funds than almost any other fundraiser out there. People love to have items and apparel that they can wear to an event such as a basketball game, band competition, etc. because it makes them feel like part of the group.
When deciding on a direction to take for your next fundraising event, consider selling custom printed T-shirts. Find a company that can give you a group discount since you will be selling a lot of shirts. Also, find a company that does quality work, and can meet your demands when it comes to the style of shirt, what is printed, and what colors you want. If you do it the right way, selling T-shirts as a fundraiser can be one of the most profitable events of the year!
Cheerleader Fundraising
Cheerleading fundraisers are the ultimate in small group fundraising. Cheerleaders possess boundless energy, determination, and loads of contacts (for potential supporters).
Harnessing all this energy and enthusiasm can be a challenge,but having the right cheerleading fundraiser is a great start. You want to leverage their skills by giving them an exciting fundraising product to sell.
So, what cheerleading fundraising ideas will generate excitement?
In this article, we’ll consider three types of cheer fundraisers. Each involves doing something a little different, each of them are easy to do, and each fundraiser packs a profit punch.
Cheer Fundraiser #1
One unique approach for a cheerleading fundraiser is offering custom posters of school sports teams or of the cheerleaders themselves.
For instance, feature the team photo of the football team, or use a series of action photos. Each can be turned into a wall-sized poster or a fundraising calendar.
Add some allure to these cheerleading fundraisers by including your game schedule or team slogan printed on it in a contrasting color.
You could also design one to celebrate your championship teams, commemorate your previous titles, intensify a cross-town rivalry, recognize all of your school’s sports teams on a spirit poster, or feature the cheerleading squad in action.
Any of these items is sure to be popular with a wide range of students. Local businesses will often buy one to put in their front window. Players will want a souvenir copy suitable for end-of-season autographs. Proud parents and grandparents will want their own keepsake copy.
The posters can be sold easily at pep rallies, sporting events, through the school store, and by the cheerleaders themselves via a merchant table at a high-traffic location on a weekend.
Think of creative ways to design and market your own unique set of cheerleading posters. Consider adding merchant sponsor logos to reduce the cost. You could also cross-promote with another school on a rivalry poster and double the overall market.
Cheer Fundraiser #2
Another idea for cheerleading fundraising is selling customized Holiday Greetings CD’s. This is a brochure or order-taker sale of a personalized selection of holiday music favorites.
One of the nice things about this product is that a purchaser selects their ten favorite holiday songs by checking off boxes on a list of thirty classics.
Included in the choices are favorites such as Let It Snow, White Christmas, Jingle Bells, and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.
These are licensed copies of the original recordings by the original artists, assembled on a personalized CD that costs your group a mere $4 each.
A retail price of $10 coupled with the ability for the customer to order a personalized message on each copy, make these a great cheerleading fundraiser.
The CD’s are available in six basic designs – Singing Snow Men, Rudolph, Christmas Tree, Peace On Earth, Kwanzaa, and Happy Hanukkah.
There is room for a holiday greeting of up to thirty characters on each design. For example, the Christmas Tree version has the phrase “Merry Christmas” in green and red, with space below it for a “From the XYZ Family” greeting.
Shipments are sorted by salesperson and customer, making your delivery a very simple task indeed.
Cheer Fundraiser #3
A third type of cheerleading fundraiser that creates an air of excitement is selling flowering “airplants.”
Airplants, or more properly, Tillandsias, are unique, soil-free plants that absorb nutrients and water through their leaves. All they need is air, water, and light.
Tillandsias are attractive and fascinating members of the pineapple family (Bromeliaceae). Their native habitat is the southern United States, Mexico, and Central and South America.
Bromeliads – Tillandsias – can be placed in anything: rocks, shells, pottery, driftwood, around water fountains, fish tanks, etc. They like bright, indirect lighting, and a heavy spraying or soaking two or three times a week.
They have a growth cycle starting with one plant growing to maturity, then blooming. One to two months after the blooming has finished, new plants form around the base of the “mother” plant. Each will continue growing and reproducing if given the proper care.
A cheerleading fundraiser Airplant package consists of a beautiful example of the Bromeliad family, comfortably ensconced in a natural seashell holder.
Your group pays $3 per Airplant, including the seashell holder, shipping and handling. Each Tillandsia retails for $6, so your cheerleading fundraiser is ensured a good profit margin.
You can organize your sale as a special event or as an add-on to a regular gathering. Set up a table with your sales display and place a colorful Tillandsia poster on the wall behind to let your prospective customers see how beautiful these Airplants are in full bloom.
You can also conduct your cheerleading fundraiser as an order- taker from a sales brochure. Each brochure contains colorful pictures of these exotic, but easy to care for, plants.
Simple text explanations are included describing the simple steps involved in nourishing these fabulous specimens.
Summary
All three of these fundraising products will add some excitement to your next cheerleading fundraiser.
When all the participants are enthusiastic about offering something new and unique, it packs a powerful profit punch.
Heres to making your next cheer fundraiser a resounding success.
Now Listen Carefully! -
Take 5 minutes to read the next page and you’ll discover everything you need to know about fund raising.
I strongly urge you to read everything on the next page – Easy Fund Raising
Guidelines for a Successful Fundraiser for your Church Youth Group
You may have done it before. Lined up all your volunteers and youth group kids and set out ready for your best fundraiser ever. Then flop. Your fundraiser does little more than get your church youth group parents and a few grandparents to show up. What went wrong? Most likely it was a few common and easy to make mistakes that kept your fundraiser from being a huge success. With the following guidelines in mind your youth group will be able to fundraise, have fun and show community involvement.
Your essential guidelines for youth group fundraising success;
1- Advertise. It is not enough to stay with in your congregation or youth group families when you are publicizing a fundraiser. In order for your fundraiser to be a true success you will need to expand your horizons and look beyond your own back door. Often time’s local Christian radio stations will have free advertising space or may offer discounted advertising for your youth group fundraiser. You can also contact your local newspaper. With a little fines you may be able to negotiate a great price on advertising for your fundraiser. Finally do not forget the ever important flyers and posters. If your budget is low, set your youth group to making flyers and posters for your fundraiser. This will both save you money and show great participation by your youth group.
2- Gather Volunteers. Your volunteers are crucial to the success of your fundraiser. It is the rare youth group that can pull off a fundraiser with out any assistance. Start with the parents and grandparents of your youth group members, and ask them to help with your fundraiser. Then spread out to other members of your congregation. If you have clear cut goals for your fundraiser members are far more likely to participate. You will also want to have a designated and organized leader for your fundraiser. All your fundraising volunteers need to know who to go to for help and they need to feel that your fundraiser is on track and doing great.
3- Location, Location, Location. If you are having a simple cookie dough fundraiser then selling in your church’s fellowship hall will probably suffice. However if you are holding a community wide fundraiser where you are opening yourselves up to all the community to attend you will need to pick a well know location. Ideas for locations are large parks, highshcool or junior high football fields or community college concert halls. With proper planning you will be able to accommodate a large number of community members and pull off a successful fundraiser.
Follow these guidelines and your youth group will take fundraising from a lack luster event to your most amazing fun and profitable fundraiser ever.
College Fundraising – Need Ideas That Actually Work?
Organizing a college fundraiser can be rewarding and taxing or often easy and demanding. The contradictions may seem a little too much for a simple fundraising event. However, once you understand the market of these activities, it will become clear why these endeavors require proper preparation and a surefire idea in order to succeed.
College fundraising activities are different from other fundraising endeavors because they are trying to reach a different level of maturity: college students. Faculty members as well as other adults in the university are also part of the potential donors of college fundraising endeavors, but it is best to concentrate on students since they by far outnumber the other people on the campus.
These young adults are mature enough to make their own decisions, so it will be easy to appeal to their charitable side. However, college students are also hard to connect with. After all, they are usually preoccupied with their studies, their social lives, and their extracurricular activities. A good university fundraising plan must be sufficient enough to collect funds for these worthy causes. At the same time, they must be creative and exciting enough to catch the attention of the intended audience.
Show Them It Is Necessary
Among the popular university fundraisers are those that appeal to the need of the students and the faculty members. An example of this type of fundraisers is the “clean For A Buck” fundraiser. Here, the fundraisers go door to door to ask other students for a dollar in exchange for vacuuming their dorm rooms. This activity works, obviously, if the school has huge dorm halls.
Another similar activity is the labor auction or sale for members of the faculty. For a few dollars, a professor or any member of the faculty can have a student work for them. This works just like the usual celebrity fundraisers, where one can spend a day with popular personalities through winning the auction.
Everyone Likes Food
Of course, another basic human need is food, and what better way to collect funds than to use this need. College fundraisers can collaborate with various local food establishments such as restaurants, cafes, bars, and ice cream shops. This college fundraiser can work in various ways.
The establishments can opt to give a percent of their earnings for every customer the fundraisers bring in, or they can give a percent for every purchase of a particular item in their menu. Either way, both fundraisers work because they require minimal cash-outs.
For the “clean for a Buck,” the fundraisers will only need vacuum cleaners, which they can easily borrow from various individuals, while the fundraisers merely have to collaborate with the local establishments. With no capital invested, any amount of money garnered from the college fundraiser is sure to become revenue for the event.
The university fund raisers can also use other common ideas such as pizza fundraisers and discount card fundraisers, although they have make to sure the ideas can still appeal to the more mature market. But regardless of the difficulties, the university fundraisers are indeed fulfilling tasks to accomplish.
Nonprofit Fundraising ? Unique Fundraising Product Ideas
Nonprofit organizations need fund. Apart from sponsorship, donations and governmental aid nonprofit fundraising is the other way to increase organizational fund. A lot of nonprofit groups, communities and organizations appoint fundraising coordinator. The job of a fundraising coordinator is to help the group increase and raise fund.
Fundraising coordinators keep looking for fundraising ideas and products all the day, even when they are spending time in leisure. The job is certainly difficult and stressful but not impossible to achieve.
If you search the web, you will find a lot of fundraising products but you cannot use just any product for your group. Points that you need to concentrate on while choosing nonprofit fundraising product are:
• The product must go with the culture of your group
• It should be unique so that everybody likes it
• It should have the potential to become popular
• The product must fetch good amount of money
• It should not take much time to sell
With that said, let’s learn how to select nonprofit fundraising campaigns that brings you ultimate benefit.
The product should go with the theme of your group:
The product should go with the theme and culture of your community. That’s a good point definitely. Rest assured that most fundraising ideas and products are quite sober and nice. However, if you are nearing to any social occasion or event, you can choose a suitable fundraiser accordingly. Christmas cards, New Year cards, scented candles or Halloween masks are some of the seasonal fundraising products that may sell well.
Unique fundraising ideas, products or events:
Unique products become popular easily and it becomes easy for your volunteers to sell these products. To get unique fundraising ideas, you may consider talking to fundraising professionals and experts. Unique fundraisers not only help you raise fund fast but let you create a brand as well.
Popularity quotient of the fundraiser:
When you select a nonprofit fundraising product, make sure it has the potential to become popular. If you decide to sell Christmas cards in the month of February, chances are you will get a poor response! So be realistic while selecting fundraising product.
Try to address the issues that we all face everyday; for example, we all need to clean the sides of fridge at home. Why not sell a fridge frame! It will keep the fridge clean and allow the buyer to display family photographs as well.
Fundraising product should fetch good money:
Make sure you do not need to invest a lot on the fundraiser. Calculate the profit margin before finalizing your nonprofit fundraiser. Know the cost of the fundraiser and per unit price at which you would sell it. Then calculate the return over investment. You should always look for 50% to 55% profit.
Time factor:
Make sure the fundraising idea can fetch you good money in short time. If you need fund before a specific event, you need to raise fund fast.
Just keep these points in mind while choosing a fundraiser for your community or group. Consult nonprofit fundraising professionals for more help.
Fundraising – Professional Help or on Your Own?
There are times when you cannot organize the fundraising event by yourself. This can be due to a number of reasons – you do not have the funds, you do not have the resources, you do not have the skills to organize such big scale event, your do not have good fundraising events ideas for the event, among other reasons. Fortunately, you can hire a professional fundraiser to help you organize your fundraising event. But is it really wise to hire a professional fundraiser? Or should you do it on your own?
What Is a Professional Fundraiser?
A professional fundraiser can be a company or an individual which or who you will hire to do some of the organizing for your fundraiser events. Their services and their rates vary, as well as the terms for payment. The usual term for paying a professional fundraiser is by paying a pre-set amount. The professional fundraiser will then provide with the tools and materials, or the items that will be used for your fundraising events.
Besides the fact that the professional fundraiser does most of the handiwork for the fundraising event, one of the main advantages of this service is that it can used by organizations and individuals who do not have funds for the endeavor. This is possible for a number of reasons. First, you can use a pre-order type of fundraising event – people order and pay for items, then you give them items after a few days. The professional fundraiser will give you catalogs, which will be used so the people can choose which item to buy. Both you and the professional fundraiser will get a cut from the revenue. Another method is through paying the professional fundraiser a certain percentage of the fundraising event’s revenue. The percentage can be discussed with the professional. This delayed form of payment works best especially for those who need to hold the fundraising events but do not have the cash.
Why Would I Not Want to Hire a Professional?
Of course, hiring a professional fundraiser can have a number of setbacks. For one, the delayed payment can cut a significant amount of revenue from your endeavor. This means you really have to make the effort to make the fundraising event a success-and earn a huge sum of money. Otherwise, you will be left with only a few dollars for your efforts.
Control can also be an issue here. After all, the service of professional fundraisers is limited to a certain extent. While their services for fundraising events are effective if done properly, they may not be what you have in mind. Hence, you will have to settle with what they have to offer.
The Decision is Yours
So with these advantages and disadvantages, you should now be able to decide if you will hire a professional fundraiser for your fundraising events. Of course, it cannot be denied their services are convenient-a great alternative if you are running out of fundraising events ideas.
7 Steps to your Fundraising Success
Fundraising has become an essential element to schools, scouts, sports and cheerleading teams, youth sports leagues, and other community groups in both small towns and major urban areas. The need for fundraising has become of greater importance than ever before for a variety of needs ranging from playground equipment, uniforms, and trips, to primary funding to support and maintain many types of programs and curriculum.
Robinn Lange of Custom Fundraising Programs has enjoyed fundraising success for over twenty five years and says he has noticed the changes in the fundraising landscape. “Fundraising used to be a means to offer or support for supplemental programs or activities, but in today’s world fundraising is being depended on more and more for the survival and primary support for more and more groups, activities, events and programs.
This importance of fundraising in today’s marketplace has created the need for stronger and more successful fundraising programs than can generate impact and results. Fundraising is no longer just a fun activity, but rather an entrepreneurial enterprise – a business.
Parents, students and community members are bombarded and approached with more fundraising solicitations than ever before. Lange says “the one crucial element is to make sure your fundraising efforts do not get lost in the shuffle. You must make sure your fundraising campaigns are properly executed to position yourself to achieve the best results possible.”
The good news is Lange offers seven important steps you can implement to help to insure your fundraising success.
1. Create A Good Fundraising Team
This is one of the first and often most overlooked aspects of a successful fundraising program. Your team is the heart and soul of your fundraiser. Even though it is often difficult to get volunteers and quality people to be part of your fundraising team, one of the biggest mistakes that can be made is just accepting anyone onto your team. Seek people that are driven, motivated, and share your fundraising vision. Those who can attain their given goals. Confident, self-starters who can take direction, yet be able to function and operate on their own.
It is better to have a smaller team of like-minded and motivated members than to have a larger team with some weak links.
Take the time to find the right people for your team. Talk to them, learn their interests, discover their strengths and weaknesses, and then put the best qualified person in their most appropriate position.
Do your homework and make the effort and you will find that this is time well spent as you are creating the strongest foundation possible for your fundraising abilities.
2. Selecting The Right Fundraiser
Equally as important as assembling the best fundraising team as possible, is selecting the right and proper fundraiser itself. Factors such as the length of your campaign, the season or timeframe of your campaign, the size of your committee or team, the amount expected to be raised, and your target market and demographics are just some of the key elements that
should be considered to assist you to select the right fundraising program.
Let your fundraiser stand out from the pack. The market is saturated with many of the same typical fundraisers such as candy, candles, wrapping paper, cookie dough, discount cards and so on. While some of these may have the potential to offer decent results, you may find your efforts are greatly improved and better accepted by your target audience by offering a different type of fundraiser. Custom fundraising products, live event and family entertainment fundraisers, and other unique fundraising ideas can assist you in offering that “something different or special” element than can allow your campaign to stand out and be better accepted and a welcomed relief from the typical standards.
Explore your options and ideas. What programs really excite your team and can create excitement in your market? Take the time and effort to carefully examine these factors to select a winning fundraiser.
3. Plan Your Fundraising Success
Many times the lack of proper planning is the reason behind a lack of expected results. Chart out your fundraiser from your first step through completion. By creating a plan to execute your fundraiser you and your entire team will be able to see the big picture.
Plan out all facets of your fundraiser including staffing, dates, times, promotion, product distribution, ticket sales, accounting, meetings, and any other pertinent details than may be included in your overall plan.
4. Set Your Goals
Along with the proper planning of your fundraiser is the creation and execution of your goals. Creating a written set of goals allows you to see your starting point, where you are each step of the way, and where your final goals are at all times.
Having these written goals also helps keep your team invested and aware of their expectations, while also being a fantastic way to measure and track their results and progress. Your team will enjoy a great feeling of pride and accomplishment as each goal is reached during your campaign. There is no better feeling than to meet your expected goals and even surpassing them to achieve greater success. This also promotes team spirit and overall motivation of all of your team or committee members.
5. Manage Your Fundraising Team
Once you team is in place, your plans and goals have been determined, it is crucial to properly manage your fundraising team. Make your your leaders and team members are clear on their role and duties. Make sure they have the tools and materials to succeed. Identify any strengths and weaknesses that may exist. Tend to the weaknesses and play to your strengths. Who are your teams “superstars”? Who needs special attention and reinforcement and perhaps personal motivation? What combinations of team members work well together and produce the best results?
Managing your team while assisting and supporting your team leaders will put you on the fast track to your desired expectations.
6. Promote And Spread The Word
After all of the team, goals and organizational efforts are in place, the priority is the continual promotion of your fundraising campaign. Your main objective is to make sure as much of your target audience as possible becomes aware of your fundraising program.
Spread the word in anyway you can including as many methods and resources as
possible. Although you must have a combination of promotional methods and techniques, the most beneficial is still word of mouth promotion. Let everyone you encounter be made aware of your fundraiser and the important cause or benefactor to your efforts. Promote the reason for your fundraiser and remind your target or potential customers that they are
helping your cause and objective. People want to feel that they can help to make a difference.
You will soon find the amount of promotion directly affects your final results, so promote, promote and promote even more.
7. Motivate Your Fundraising Team
The importance of maintaining the proper focus and motivation is also very important to your fundraising success. Different people get bored or lose motivation at different levels. Stay on top of your team members and offer support and motivation to each member as needed. Acknowledge their successes and accomplishments, remind them of your goals, and reinforce their importance to your team’s overall success.
Avoid “fundraising fatigue” or burnout. Offer incentives and rewards to your team members for achievements.
Maintain the spirit, attitude and enthusiasm of your team members. The right positive attitude is infectious. Being aware of these factors should help you to keep everyone focused and on track to attain your desired results.
By following these seven steps your fundraising campaign will be managed properly and positioned for optimum success. “While these steps may appear to be a more business¬like approach, this is how fundraisers must operate to attain your goals, succeed in today’s potentially saturated market, and prevail even in difficult times.” Lange states that these
steps work well with all styles of fundraisers and offer immediate and residual benefits.