Fundraising is, without a doubt, extremely challenging work. For any of you with experience in this line of work, you will understand what I mean. For the rest of you, go out and volunteer your time with a local non-profit organization. After that, I think you will understand. While this can be a challenging profession, it continues to be quite rewarding in many respects. This article was drafted with the new fundraising coordinator in mind. So listen up, kids!
There are four major forms of fundraising. When one mentions fundraising to the average person, the image of a well-meaning person going door-to-door begging for support immediately comes to mind. While most of us have been there at some point or other, there is a lot more to this business than meets the eye. And yes, my friends, this is a business. We are in the business of managing relationships; relationships which, more often than not, are the key determining factor for success.
The first major form of fundraising is dealing with institutional grantors. These organizations are often the most difficult to deal with, due to the inherent bureaucratic nature of these types of organizations. On the other hand, grants and endowments from these organizations can often amount to incredible sums of money. For this reason alone, they should not be dismissed. You may have to invest a lot of time and energy into convincing these institutional organizations into supporting your particular cause, and this where the business of managing relationships comes into play. A single grant from one of these groups could secure the future of your non-profit activities.
The next significant form of fundraising is the promotion of special events and product sales. While this area could potentially include thousands of ideas, there is a central theme between them all. What is the donor getting in exchange for their donation? These types of fundraisers are labor intensive, and require a lot of detailed planning. In the case of event planning, spend the majority of your time on ticket sales. While you may want to obsess over every little event detail, it won't really matter if people do not show up.
Direct marketing is another one of the major fundraising types. This approach includes direct mailings, telemarketing, paid advertising, public service announcements, and door-to-door canvassing. Direct marketing can be extremely effective, as it affords your organization the ability to reach out to a vast number of potential donors. In this area, it is crucially important to have a reliable donor list. There is no point spending resources trying to ask individuals or organizations for donations, if they are not connected with your cause in some way. Be sure that your direct marketing efforts are highly targeted, and you will undoubtedly achieve the desired results.
Last, but not least, we explore the idea of approaching individual donors. This approach is very similar to that of institutional donors, but it is geared towards well-to-do individuals. Individual donors can contribute to your cause in a number of different ways. One area that is common to individual donors is the planned gift. In simple terms, this refers to the choice of an individual to leave a portion of their estate or life insurance policy to your organization. Approaching individual donors should be left to your more experienced team members. As we mentioned before, fundraising is the business of managing relationships. A mentor once told me that "80% of your money should come from 20% of your donors". Wise words, indeed!
Little Souls dolls are valuable and unique treasures created by children who are in need. Sales benefit those very children and part of the sales go to the Children's Hope Foundation.
The concept behind the toys is as sweet and endearing as the faces themselves. Each doll is created by hand, just as you would suspect. The beauty lies in who makes the Little Souls Dolls and who benefits from the sales.
They reminded me of something my great-great grandmother would make by hand for a beloved child. When I read about the history to the Little Souls Dolls, I knew that I had to have one.
Little Souls Dolls look like folk art, each one with a unique and loving face that is sure to warm your heart. Upon looking at the collection of dolls available online, I immediately fell in love with the quaint toys that beckon the onlooker to another time and place.
The children create the dolls while staying in the hospital. Each child is given instructions and materials necessary to create the doll. They also make up a story about the Little Souls Dolls they build. Many of the children who make the dolls are quite ill and they find great joy in attending the doll making class and they find great joy in creating a new friend.
The Little Souls Dolls that you buy are not the same ones created by the children. Those stay with their makers, but the doll company takes photographs of the dolls and they write down the stories that accompany the toys. The photographs and stories are sent to Ardmore, Pennsylvania where they are duplicated by the employees of the Little Souls Doll Company.
Proceeds from each sale benefit the very children who make the precious toys. The concept behind the toys is quite brilliant and moving. It takes quite a bit of time and money for the company to send employees to various hospitals across the United States. The materials for the dolls are donated by the company as well.
The stories, on the other hand are completely free. Perhaps the stories created by the children are of more value than the dolls themselves. I find the Little Souls Dolls to be of great importance. They represent the many lives of children who struggle with illness at such young ages. They are reminders of how very delicate our lives really are.
Looking for low cost political fundraising tips? It's obvious that the campaign fund raising system is badly in need of reform. This article covers a dozen ways political candidates can raise money quickly and easily online.
Getting elected to any type of local, state, or national office is hugely expensive. As a result, most politicians are beholden to special interest groups who contribute heavily to fund their election and reelection campaigns.
There are plenty of ways that political candidates could raise money the right way, but that requires work and quite frankly, a lot of them take the easy way instead.
If they'd only use their brains and build grass roots fundraising organizations, leverage the power of the internet, and avoid wasting money on ineffective advertising, they could get elected without compromising their beliefs.
Remember how Howard Dean shocked everyone in 2003 with his fundraising prowess? Well, that success is a huge arrow pointing at new ways to raise funds online.
12 tips for online political fundraising:
Website name capture Your candidate website should be designed to capture the names and email addresses of as many visitors as possible. Use the technique known as name capture that presents a special page to visitors asking them to be added to your mailing list. That way, you can add as many as 50% of your site visitors to your follow-up autoresponder messages.
Offer RSS feeds RSS (Really Simple Syndication) distributes new website postings to everyone who’ve signed up to receive your info. This is great for getting media coverage, creating a lot of links back to your website, and keeping supporters updated.
Blogging Add a blog to your website explaining your positions on the issues. Blogs are all the rage these days and having one will get you additional exposure within the political community. Be passionate in your postings! Allow visitors to add comments, but set them to be approved.
Podcasts Doing podcasts explaining your positions on important issues is another great way to push information out to the public. Create multimedia presentations for others to view such as speeches, hot topics, requests for donations, etc. You can get setup to podcast for under $100.
Position papers Post detailed position statements on your website on how your views contrast with opponents. This will attract people searching for information on the issues.
Press kits Provide summary info on your website in PDF document format for press kits to increase media coverage.
Collect donations online Howard Dean stunned everyone back in 2003 with his online fundraising capabilities. Do the same in your race. Make it easy to receive campaign donations with one-click donation buttons.
Interactive website Include interactive content on their site such as blog comments, forums, streaming videos of speeches, audio files, photos, "tell a friend" capability, etc.
Sell promo materials Sell tshirts, hats, campaign buttons, bumper stickers, polo shirts, supporter kits, lawn signs, banners, placards, etc. Put the profits into your campaign fund.
Voter Registration Provide detailed voter registration information for your area. Ask people to sign up for registration drives and Election Day turnouts.
Show Passion Tell us exactly how you will MAKE US BETTER!
Start using these online political fundraising tips today.
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.
Selecting the right fundraiser is the most important decision you’ll make. Among the key factors are the timing of your fundraisers each year, the quality of the merchandise, selling considerations, delivery considerations, and ultimately, the net profit to your organization.
Think of yourself as running a small business building a reputation for innovation and quality products. What are your financial goals versus expected unit volume numbers, sales revenue versus profit percentage, quality of goods versus cost, acceptable market price points, etc?
If you think like a business leader, then you’re on the right track.
First choose a type of fundraiser There are different types of “best” fundraisers and you have to select what’s best for your organization at this particular time.
Your fundraising choices are:
1 - Event-based fundraisers 2 - Direct donation fundraiser 3 - Fundraisers with immediate product delivery 4 - Fundraisers with delayed product delivery
The first decisions you have to make are on the fundraiser category, selecting a fundraising company or distributor as your supplier, and then the actual fundraiser itself.
Decision factors How do you make that decision? A professional fundraising consultant can often be a big help. You can also check the web, use your personal contacts, review your group’s past records, etc. Most importantly, take some time to gather the information you need to make the right decision.
You can design a simple survey that you can give to past organizers and other key influencers such as local merchants and organizational leaders. Offer clear choices to ease evaluation of replies. Print it out and get quality feedback from within and without your organization on what’s worked well before and what needs improving.
Then, put together a spreadsheet for evaluating and ranking fundraisers. Break the ranking criteria into categories with sub headings in text boxes across the spreadsheet. Numerical rankings should be assigned to what criteria are most important to your group at this particular time for this fundraiser.
Things to consider when evaluating offerings:
1. Quality of the merchandise items offered 2. Quality of support materials provided such as catalogs 3. References of supplier 4. Availability of free samples or catalogs 5. Service level of supplier such as pre-sorting goods, etc. 6. Hidden costs such as freight, paying for brochures, etc. 7. Hassle factors like replacement goods and refunds policies 8. Special delivery needs such as refrigeration for some foodstuffs 9. Specific needs of organization 10. Previous vs. projected financial performance
Seek wisdom from past experience Results will vary with the amount of fundraisers done previously, number going on at same time (yours and others), time of year, etc. Look at this fundraiser in context of others – done this one before, done it every year, competing group just did it, or our cheerleaders did this one before and it was a big hit.
Successful past fundraising ideas could and should be repeated, but remember that your customer base is often close to eighty percent the same customers from year to year. Spice it up; try something new and different that will increase your revenue.
Fundraising with pizza is a great idea for most any size group. It provides your buyers with something everyone wants, and can be very profitable as a fundraising idea.
There are three different types of pizza fundraisers:
Sales of pizza by the slice Sales of pizza fundraising discount cards Sales of pizza supplies - make your own kits
Each of these fundraisers varies in effort, requirements, and profitability. Let's take a brief look at each one.
Pizza Fundraising By The Slice This is a quick and easy profit source for just about any type of youth sports team. You purchase your pizzas at a quantity discount and have them delivered piping hot to your event.
Papa Johns and Dominos both offer the delivery service from any location. Of course, you'll need to pay cash when the pizzas are delivered.
Sell the individual slices at close to 100% markup so that your team receives $2 for every $1 in cost.
That markup covers any unsold or damaged slices.
Tips: Don't overbuy, reorder instead. Also, sell them fast before they cool off. Plain cheese is the most popular followed by pepperoni.
Pizza Fundraising Discount Cards A pizza fundraiser card is a discount card with an offer tied to a single merchant, usually a national chain. It often provides a two- for-one offer on every order and is tends to be priced at $10 for a card good for a one-year period.
Offers vary with most being tied to either a single location or a small group of outlets for a national chain. Pizza Hut cards are good for eat-in dining while most others are aimed at the take-out or delivery market.
Given how popular pizza is with younger children as well as teenagers, pizza cards are excellent school fundraising ideas.
The cards for Pizza Hut and those for some of the other chains place a limit on the number of times you can use the card, often 21 times. That is a lot of free pizza for $10. Usage is tracked via holes punched in marked spots on the card.
Some of the offers also specify that your initial order must be for a large pizza while your free pizza is a medium size. When you think about it, that works well for most adults because they usually want a different set of toppings than what their children enjoy.
Profit Tip: Pizza cards can be obtained from many suppliers. Most offer the same set of national chains and prices can vary widely, so it pays to shop around.
All in all, pizza cards are among the best easy fundraisers based on profitability and ease of sale.
Fundraising Sales of Frozen Pizza, Supplies, or Kits Little Caesars and several other companies offer a "do it yourself" pizza kit that many schools, youth groups, and sports teams have successfully sold.
The basic concept is the same as a cookie dough fundraiser. Your sellers use an order-taker brochure, collect payment upfront, and deliver the goods after you receive your bulk shipment.
As with all order taker sales efforts, there is slightly more work involved than with immediate sale items. The delivered product must be received, counted, and sorted by customer.
Pricing is generally close to the price the customer would pay at retail. Profit margins are in the 30%-40% range.
Tip: Because the dough is frozen, deliveries need to be timed well. Your customer pickup/delivery needs to take place within 4 to 6 hours after your bulk delivery.
If you are looking for a great fundraising idea for your school, youth group, or sports team, try pizza this year!
How do you maximize your fundraising sales? Here are some fundraising sales tips from my book, Fundraising Success!
1- Emphasize setting a personal challenge goal Have sellers make a commitment to be their group or sub-group's best salesperson. Structure their sales efforts to emphasize achievement, not failure.
2- Have sellers state their solo goal out loud By publicly stating what you'll accomplish to your peer group, you've reinforced the commitment. Who wants to say publicly that they'll fail to achieve?
3- Make a prospect list All sellers should make a list of prospective customers before they start. Review it and make sure they have at least ten targets.
4- Define your best customers Stick to the people you know - friends, relatives, neighbors, etc. Don't forget co-workers and out-of-town contacts for your major fundraisers.
5- Rehearse the sales pitch Have everyone practice your group's sales pitch at home. Fine tune your two-sentence value proposition and make sure that every seller uses it. Be armed and dangerous
6- Be prepared Sellers should carry their order form and sales materials wherever they go. You never know when a good prospect will emerge!
7- Smile and introduce yourself Remind all your sellers to smile and introduce themselves before launching into their two-sentence pitch. Use the power of the word need when stating the group's goal and your first request for help. It's an extremely potent trigger word. We need your help because our band needs new uniforms.
8- Ask for the order Always include a direct request for an order in your sales script after the because statement. Can you help us meet our goal?
9- Personalize by picking favorites Tell each seller to find one or two items that they like and then promote those enthusiastically.These green ones are great.
10- Ask for more business After the initial order is placed, offer supplemental items for more revenue or ask for referrals, etc. Ask these questions: Can I show you another program we're offering because it's a great deal too? Can you think of anyone else I should contact?
11- Make it easy to buy Do everything you can to make buying your offering easier. Offer to fill out the form yourself. Remind the prospect that a certain item makes a good gift or that it's all for a good cause.
Follow these fundraising sales tips and you'll maximize your fundraising sales success.
Like most organizations, schools in the United States are subject to constant budget stress. Important athletic and scholastic programs are subject to budget cuts as demographics change and taxpayers become increasingly budget aware. As a result, schools include fund raising resources in their planning for programs.
Education should rank high on the list of tax payer funding. With exception of defense, it is hard to imagine a governmental effort that is more important to our country than good education. Education and schools focus on our future leaders and it is in the schools where lessons in character are coupled with the development of skills required for success in a modern society.
Fund Raising and Healthy Products
Schools, both public and private, have turned to fund raising to help fund sporting and educational events. Where large number of people have gathered, schools, through sports teams, booster clubs and scholastic societies have raised funds by selling products for a profit at events or by using team members to sell products to friends and family..
Historically a number of products were sold that generated revenue and these were mainly food products like carbonated soft drinks, cookies, pizza and candy. As a group these products were not considered healthy by many. Recently, for example, an agreement was finalized to discontinue the sale of carbonated soft drinks in schools and this is a landmark effort to help reduce obesity and create a healthy lifestyle for students.
Many schools are now exploring fund raising with healthier products. As a result private label water is becoming increasingly popular as a healthy alternative method to raise funds.
Private Label Drinking Water
Private label drinking water is an effective and healthy way to raise funds for a number of reasons:
• If the water is purified, it represents a wholesome addition to a healthy lifestyle.
• Creation of a private label is an effective form of advertising that adds value to the water and the event. This additional value is reflected in a higher price, greater revenue and more profit.
• Private label water is consumable advertising that is often carried from the event and serves as a reminder to participants and others.
• The label design offers flexibility that allows schedules and scores to be listed and updated.
• Private label water is ideal for outdoor events and is very cost effective. The cost decreases as volume increases.
• Private label water can easily establish a brand identity for the school or team.
• The design of one label can be used for many school events.
Two Avenues of Fund Raising
Private label water is a versatile tool for fund raising. It can be sold directly at school events and players and participants can resell private label water to friends and family to raise revenue. Either avenue is an effective fund raising device.
Both avenues are available to schools most of the calendar year and provide consistent fund raising opportunities.
Student Participation
Students are both the beneficiaries and the key assets of fundraising. They can control the quality of their own athletic and scholastic programs by actively participating in the event and friends and family fund raising activities. Gaining a student “buy in” for programs will guarantee success.
What to Look for in a Private Label Water Supplier
There are a number of private label water suppliers but they vary widely in the quality of their product offerings. There are three areas to investigate when choosing a supplier:
Quality of Water
Events with a large number of participants require proper hydration with water of the highest quality. High quality water in terms of health and taste is also critical for the acceptance of the theme and event message. If the water is low quality or tastes bad then the message will fail. The best quality water on the market today is purified using a distillation/ filtration/ oxygenation process that removes all impurities, including all bacteria, and creates a light, refreshing taste.
Quality of Label Design and Production
The label is the message part of the product and poor-quality labels send a poor-quality message. Production of a poor-quality label is a waste of money and adversely affects the message and theme.
It is very important to know that the vast majority (almost all) of the private label opportunities in this country come from water resellers (not bottlers) with desktop-model “thermal” (or “thermal wax”) printing devices with a quality level that cannot compare well to even consumer-grade inkjet printing devices widely available for less than $200 at your local electronics store. These label printers are very cheap in both quality and cost, typically ranging from $10-20k depending on configuration, and are widely used throughout the private label water industry because of their low cost.
In sharp contrast, a quality label, i.e., one that looks like a top-shelf brand that you might find in your local gourmet grocery store, needs to be produced with professional-quality equipment using professional-grade printing equipment. There are three types of printing equipment that can produce a high-quality label.
1. Rotary offset lithography; 2. Flexography; and 3. High-quality digital presses.
For most smaller runs (under about 10,000 units), digital equipment offered by Heidelberg or HP is the most cost effective solution, but instead of $10-20k, the minimum equipment costs for these professional solutions range from $750k to $1.25M per station.
These facts are very important to understand when choosing a private label bottler — because those who sell low-quality labels would have you believe that nothing better is available because of the short runs required by private label customers. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In order to succeed, your label must be professionally designed and produced with high-quality materials using a printing process that renders a high-quality result. Waterproof lamination is also required for long lasting labels. This is easily achieved for an affordable unit cost using the right equipment for the job.
Quality of Customer Service
The design and production of private labeled drinking water is complex and requires intense interaction between the customer and supplier. Communication and a culture of customer service excellence is a prerequisite to the creation of an effective theme message and a successful event. Without a significant commitment to customer service on the part of the supplier, the impact of the theme message will fail.
A supplier with a fully interactive e-commerce site is an ideal way to create a high quality label, modify the label to reflect event changes and to order more water as demand changes.
A supplier that is experienced in fund raising and is willing to commit management resources to support a school fund raising program is a definite asset to individual schools.
Choose a quality supplier to help develop and communicate your message and to create success for the school fundraising event.
Return On Investment (ROI) is a fundamental business concept. Its also something that every fundraiser needs to take into consideration.
A business investment consists of working capital, physical assets, and peoples time.
ROI is the net gain that results from a business spending money and utilizing physical assets, along with the expenditure of employees' time, in an effort to produce tangible profits.
So, the investment in a fundraiser consists of: any up-front expenditures that are required the costs associated with the assets that are utilized the value of people's time spent fundraising
Some key points about ROI in fundraising:
1- Analyze your up-front expenditures vs. your net gain 2- Lowering costs boosts your ROI, but maybe not your net 3- Always consider the hourly value of each volunteers time
Put an ROI value on upfront expenditures The most important point is to analyze all of your up-front spending versus the net gain from each expenditure. Obviously, don't spend money if nothing is actually gained.
One example would be evaluating advertising expenses for a capital campaign. Before you commit to it, run a small series of test ads to determine the response rate.
If you don't get the desired response, either revise your ad campaign or consider not spending any more money on advertising.
Look for areas where the returns are greatly magnified for every dollar spent. This generally includes effective publicity, quality communication, targeted prospect lists, and timely reminder campaigns.
Put an ROI value on cost reduction vs. net profits Lowering costs boosts your ROI measurement, but your net can be impacted by the lack of investment. If there is an area where money spent in the past produced excellent results, then be sure that this year's plan provides additional investment capital for that effort.
A good example involves possibly cutting the funding for your capital campaign mailing. Sure, you can cut your expenses by not mailing to anyone that didn't respond last year.
However, the law of large numbers will catch up to you. Less people contacted means less money contributed.
Remember, it doesn't always take money to make money, but not spending money where it is really needed can seriously impact your results.
Put an ROI value on your fundraising volunteers time Another important ROI point to remember is the value of each volunteer's time. Each volunteer-hour worked to raise money for your fundraiser should at least be equivalent to minimum wage. Otherwise, your group is wasting their time by not working smart.
An example would be spending a total of 1,000 volunteer hours coordinating an auction event that only raised $5,000. Chances are that many groups would be happy with the $5,000 net, but the ROI on everyone's time was marginal.
Put an ROI value on your merchant partners In this instance, you want to maximize the value of everyones time by giving them specific tasks and full instructions. Don't take a scattershot approach by going all the area merchants and asking for donations of merchandise.
Instead, develop rapport with those merchants by providing value for them all year long before you ask them for a large donation.
Ways to improve your fundraising ROI Focus your efforts where you'll get positive responses and avoid wasting your time on unproductive endeavors.
Each person who helps out in a fundraiser is offering their time in exchange for something that benefits everyone.
Give them specific assignments that focus on maximum results. Don't waste people's time or you will discourage future participation.
Why your fundraising ROI is important Watch your ROI. It's a good indicator of the health of your non-profit organization. If the number is too low, your group will be constantly recruiting people to replace those who aren't interested anymore.
Your donors and volunteers won't return because their time wasn't valued, they saw their money being wasted, and they also saw penny-pinching where open purse strings would have been a better solution.
Design your organization to maximize your fundraising ROI and you'll position your group for success for many years to come.
Looking for tips on writing a better fundraising letter? Use these quick tips to craft your next donation request letter. Feel free to modify the sample letter below to fit your specific needs.
-Good news - Always start the letter with a series of good news -Use bullets to build momentum and make entire letter entertaining and informative - Use foreshadowing to tease your reader and keep him or her reading. - Create a widow at the end of the first page (a thought that's finished on page two) - Make your reader turn the page -Describe what you want to do next - Tell what you're going to do. - Why you're going to do it. - How you're going to do it. - What results you expect.
List suggested contribution amounts - Use even numbersin graduated amounts - Offer a monthly auto charge credit card option ($10 a month is $120 a year) - Include a blank line for write-in amounts -Remind readers that their contribution is your budget - Your successes have been possible because of their past contributions - Thank them!
Use P.S.'s for skimmers - May titillate skimmers and get them to read the entire letter. - To create a sense of urgency.
Sample Donation Request Letter
Date
Dear Name of sponsor,
On (date of event), I will join hundreds of others to help end the devastating effects of multiple sclerosis by (riding/walking/skating) in the MS (event name). By making a pledge on my behalf, you are supporting research and local services to those affected with this unpredictable disease.
Give details - Tell your story: I have a personal stake in this particular event. My (dad, aunt, sister) has MS. Not only do I want to help him/her, but also the many others diagnosed with MS. MS is a disease that affects the central nervous system. Some symptoms of MS may include loss of balance, impaired vision and hearing, fatigue, muscle weakness and, in some, paralysis. Even simple everyday living skills become increasingly difficult. Everyone is affected differently by these symptoms.
My goal is to raise at least (specify dollar amount) this year, which represents $1 for every person with MS registered with our local MS Chapter. Please help me reach that goal with your pledge. Your donation is tax deductible. If you wish, you may mail all or part of your payment amount today in the self-addressed stamped envelope enclosed with this letter.
Otherwise, I will collect your pledge after the event. Please make your check payable to the National MS Society. My deadline to get my pledges in is (deadline date). Following the event, I will send out a brief recap of the MS (event name) to all my sponsors.
Thank you in advance for your support. Please call me if you have any questions or comments about the MS (event name). I can be reached at (phone number).
Fundraising with food has been a long time favorite for sports team fundraising. It is effective, provides something most people like and are willing to pay for, and the variety is vast. Whatever type of food fundraiser you choose for your team, there are three things you must do to get the most out of your efforts.
Food Fundraisers: Go For Mass Appeal First, choose a popular product that will appeal to the greatest number of potential customers. Your choice should be appropriate to your target audience, be priced fairly, include a good profit margin, and be seasonally viable. For example, don’t sell sweets while the Girl Scouts annual cookie fundraiser is in progress!
Once you choose a product or group of products, use publicity to get the word out. Use school publications, posters, and all the usual suspects.
Take it to the next level by issuing a press release on local radio and newspapers. Most local publications offer this as a free service for non-profit organizations. This will spread your reach beyond the team, their families, neighbors, and friends.
Prepare and Execute! Secondly, design your plan for execution. Everyone, including your team should know your group goal, your stretch goal, and their individual goal. Create a sales script for the team. Rehearse it at practice in a role playing way.
Would you rather make a purchase from an unprepared athlete who mumbles at his shoes, or from one that is prepared with what to say and looks their potential customer in the eye while conveying the appropriate message?
That message should briefly tell what product they are offering, who they are raising money for, and how the money will be used. (New uniforms, equipment, trip to the play-offs, etc.)
Offer Sales Incentives Offer incentives for top sellers. Rewards should be quality prizes, not junk. Many fundraising suppliers include prize incentives for top sales attainment. If there is an additional charge for incentives, or if the incentives offered are not appropriate for your team, ask local businesses to donate prizes.
Have a recognition party announcing the top sellers. Everyone likes to be recognized for a job well done in the presence of their peers. If you tally your numbers daily, the top selling player has to run five less laps than the rest of the team.
Go Where The Money Is As part of your execution plan, consider boosting your reach by selling your products from a table at a shopping center. These are customers that you may not reach otherwise, and can more than double your sales.
Approach the management of a shopping center for permission first. Then organize your volunteers in teams to cover the sales tables in shifts.
Advertise clearly at each sales table. In large print on posters, tell who is selling, what they are selling, and how the money will be used. Use not only multiple locations, but multiple tables at each location.
Give Extra Options Third and finally, provide several ways the community can help your cause. Offering a variety of products helps ensure there is something that will appeal to everyone.
Or offer an overlay fundraising item. Not every customer will want the food products you have chosen to sell.
Offer a fundraising discount card in addition to your primary offering. Whether it is a two for one discount pizza card, or a fast food discount card, these can add substantial profit to your bottom line.
By offering your primary product and an overlay item, you could double the likelihood that a purchase will be made.
Don’t forget the most obvious overlay: a donation.
If a customer does not want to make a purchase, always ask if they would prefer to make a donation to help your cause.
Fundraisers have changed somewhat from when I was a kid. We sold one thing and one thing only, candy. Candy for the school basketball team, candy for the local baseball league and yes, candy for the football team too. Don’t get me wrong, it was good candy, but we didn’t have the choices today’s organizations do.
Everything imaginable is generating funds for our children’s sports these days. The local or school leagues genuinely need this money too. Many struggling families in today’s economy would be unable to enroll their children in some of the wonderful programs out there. Programs like Pop Warner that emphasize scholastics as well as sports. In many cases these programs would be doomed even though they are adequately priced.
One great fundraising campaign I recently became aware of was the Spirit Cup program offered by BRAX Fundraising. This program distributes Officially Licensed NFL, MLB and Collegiate drinking cups to youth and school fundraisers across the country. These amazing 3D cups have a version for every NFL and MLB team as well as some specialty versions. Their unique design, and BRAX's no upfront cost program, has enabled skyrocketing earnings for youth and school fundraisers across the country.
For over 20 years the principals of the BRAX team have been actively involved in sports marketing on a national scope. Through BRAX's various license affiliations, they have gained a clear understanding of the power of collegiate and professional sports merchandise when aligned with fundraising.
The BRAX partners have coached at the high school and collegiate levels. And their sales associates have backgrounds in youth, high school, college, and even professional sports, as participants and/or coaches.
"We believe strongly that our sales associates will provide the best customer support and care to your organization because we are aware of the many challenges your organization faces," states Pete Hexter, one of BRAX's principals.
"We want to keep our approach simple, and appeal to the passion of the American sports fan by offering these team related products. In turn, the sports fans are happy knowing they are supporting their local youth sports organizations."
The BRAX goal is to always provide the best possible pricing, customer care, and ongoing support to all of their fundraising partners. They do not develop relationships anticipating that this is a one time opportunity rather the beginning of a long term partnership. It is this foundation that has maintained their outstanding reputation as leaders in the sport marketing business.
Come to think of it, that candy wasn’t so good after all…
Everybody wants easy fundraisers. The problem is that you also want good results. So, how do you get the best results from an easy fundraiser?
Three things to consider in evaluating easy fundraisers:
Effort Involved Resources Needed Duration of Fundraiser
EFFORT INVOLVED An easy fundraiser shouldn't take a lot of effort, but let's be honest. It is going to take SOME effort.
The level of effort is often directly proportional to the size of your group's monetary goal, but not always. That's why you are considering an easy fundraiser in the first place - you're looking for less effort, not more.
RESOURCES NEEDED Resources are always a problem in small group fundraising. You can never have too many volunteers and you usually never have enough.
For an easy fundraiser, you want programs that don't require an excessive time commitment from a large number of people.
You want either a single weekend-only activity or a program that takes only a small amount of time each week. It's easier to get people to help with something that doesn't require more than a two-hour commitment from them.
Conserve your resources with an easy fundraiser and you'll have more folks to draw on later when you really need help.
DURATION OF FUNDRAISER Duration is important. An easy fundraiser that lasts more than a single weekend should not require a lot of attention to keep it productive.
Those that only last a single day or weekend shouldn't require a tremendous amount of prep time.
So, which easy fundraisers only take a little effort, few resources, and have the right duration?
Three simple easy fundraisers: Printer cartridge recycling program Onsite or Online Yard Sale Seasonal Specialty Item Sale Recycling Program
A recycling program for collecting used printer cartridges costs nothing to put together. All collection boxes and shipping needs are covered by the supplier. We recommend FundingFactory.
Your effort involves finding businesses to participate in the program, leaving pre-labeled boxes with a site representative, and providing directions on calling UPS to pick up a full box.
A used cartridge is worth between $1 and $20, depending on the popularity of the printer and the cost of a new cartridge. Many businesses encourage recycling efforts. For good prospects, check with the leasing manager of large office buildings that house multiple companies.
Another good location is an electronics store or office supply retailer. Customers often bring in their old cartridge when shopping for a replacement. You are doing the retailer a service by providing them with an environmentally safe way to dispose of these leftovers.
A good recycling program will cover a couple of dozen sites and not require much work after the initial placement. Over time, working this many sites can produce a considerable amount of funds for your group.
One good source for a complete turnkey cartridge recycling setup (at no cost to your group) is the Funding Factory. They recycle inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges, and old cell phones.
Mega Yard Sale
A big yard sale is another easy fundraiser to pull off. It's short in duration, usually just a Saturday sale with some prep time the night before.
Choose a nice high-visibility location like a school or church parking lot. Advertise in the local paper and put up signs for the cagey veterans who troll around on Saturday mornings looking for bargains.
Group your items together by category - kids clothes, tools, toys, books, pictures, music, etc. Place general price signs around items instead of pricing everything individually.
For example, "$5-$10 Tools" or "Books: $1-$3" are signs that allow people to haggle and help you avoid putting price stickers on hundreds of items.
Resources are needed most for helping to sell. Recruit outgoing types who can be enthusiastic about these odds and ends. Make it a fun time with some helium balloons for small children and have coffee and doughnuts available for adults.
By grouping items together from multiple households, you create a bigger draw as well as a bigger workforce.
If you attract enough shoppers along with enough donations, you can raise as much as $500 per participating household.
Online Yard Sale
A variation on the yard sale fundraiser is to sell the items online. The best place to sell large quantities of lower-priced items is on eBay. You'll get more for books, music, and consumer electronics that way.
Keep it in mind as a way to get better results on some items or as an easier fundraiser to do for very small groups.
You'll need to spend some time creating the listings. Having online pictures posted seems to help with higher-priced items. All in all, it's an easy fundraiser that produces results.
Specialty Item Sale
The third type of easy fundraiser is a weekend specialty sale of a seasonal item. Examples would be a Pumpkin Patch sale, a Christmas Tree sale, a Spring Flower Bulb fiesta, and so on.
This involves an effort similar to having a large yard sale. You'll need a high-traffic location and some advance publicity. Your goal is to capture seasonal sales from the general public as well as those from within your group.
Avoid stretching these sales over more than one weekend or you'll run into resource issues. Make it quick and keep it fun. Setup on a Friday, sell hard on Saturday, and wrap it up by Sunday afternoon.
Make arrangements ahead of time with your supplier about how to handle left over items. Source pumpkins from the local Farmer's Market, Christmas trees from grower's associations, and flower bulbs from national suppliers.
Be sure to price everything competitively and offer great customer service. For Christmas trees, have able bodies standing by to tie them down on vehicles.
For pumpkins, help place them in the trunk. The easier you make it for customers, the more you'll net for your group.
Easy Fundraisers - Wrap-up
Putting together an easy fundraiser isn't hard. It does take some effort and it does require resources, but nothing too difficult.
Looking for ideas for fundraisers? You're not the only one. Every group is searching for easy fundraisers that produce big results. Well, selling fundraising discount cards is one of the best fundraisers around.
Discount cards deliver considerable revenue for your group at $10 each. They usually produce average sales of 10 units per seller. Coupled with their 80%-90% profit margins, they also generate considerably more profit than most other fundraising products.
These are simple immediate-sale fundraiser products that your group can offer. Discount cards provide these benefits:
-They are easy to sell -They offer good value -They produce excellent results
Three types of fundraising discount cards:
-Shopping cards -Pizza cards -Fast food cards
Each of these fundraisers has benefits that are easy to explain to your supporters. They have widespread appeal and each can be offered for immediate sale or sold via a simple brochure.
Discount Shopping Card What exactly is a discount shopping card?
It is a wallet-sized card packed with a selection of prearranged discounts at local and national merchants in your area. Most usually contain a dozen special offers that save the bearer either a fixed amount or a percentage discount.
Each card usually retails for $10 and provides for almost unlimited usage of the special offers. The only exception is when you custom design a card to feature a special one-time only discount from a sponsoring merchant.
This type of premium offering is often worth half the $10 purchase price all by itself, such as $5 off from a national oil change company.
Other money saving examples include free drinks with a fast food order, $1 or more off on a submarine sandwich, savings on video rentals, haircut discounts, free ice cream, and other special offers.
Because of their high perceived value (what family doesn't want to save money these days?), these cards are excellent fundraisers.
Discount cards can often produce impressive unit sales per participant. It's not unusual for each seller to make ten or more sales.
Another interesting benefit is the unique customization of the card. Many suppliers can place your schools' name and logo on the front side of each card. This firmly affixes your group's value proposition in their minds for your next fundraiser.
Cards are usually good for a one year period and bear an expiration date on the front. This creates a built-in market for repeat sales.
In my book, Fundraising Success! you can find a supplier cross-reference section where I list 27 suppliers for these types of cards.
The reference section can be found on my website at www.fundraiserhelp.com
As with any type of fund raising product it pays to do more than a little supplier research.
Costs for 1,000 unit batches begin at $5 with many suppliers and drop as low as $1.00 from the best companies.
Among ideas for fundraisers, discount shopping cards are a perennial favorite. They also make a good overlay or add-on item for candy fundraising or a catalog fundraiser.
Pizza Discount Card What is a pizza card and how is it different?
A pizza card is a discount card with an offer tied to a single merchant, usually a national chain. It often provides a two- for-one offer on every order and is tends to be priced at $10 for a card good for a one-year period.
Offers vary with most being tied to either a single location or a small group of outlets for a national chain. Pizza Hut cards are good for eat-in dining while most others are aimed at the take-out or delivery market.
Given how popular pizza is with younger children as well as teenagers, pizza cards are excellent school fundraising ideas.
The cards for Pizza Hut and those for some of the other chains place a limit on the number of times you can use the card, often 21 times. That is a lot of free pizza for $10. Usage is tracked via holes punched in marked spots on the card.
Some of the offers also specify that your initial order must be for a large pizza while your free pizza is a medium size. When you think about it, that works well for most adults because they usually want a different set of toppings than what their children enjoy.
Pizza cards can be obtained from many suppliers. Most offer the same set of national chains and prices can vary widely, so it pays to shop around.
All in all, pizza cards are among the best easy fundraisers based on profitability and ease of sale.
Fast Food Discount Card What do I need to know about fast food discount cards? Well, they are usually specific to just one fast food chain and often are limited to just one or two locations of that particular chain. They retail for $10 and usually cost less than $2, so they're a great moneymaker. Offers vary by company, but they usually provide a matching main item with purchase of the same. For example, at Burger king, you might get a free hamburger. At Subway, you usually get a free soda, chips, or cookie with each sandwich purchase.
The cards are limited in duration and number of uses. Usually, they are good for up to one year and restricted to roughly ten uses. Again, the offers vary by chain, so check the details closely.
Participating national chains are:
McDonalds Burger King Subway Dairy Queen Pizza Hut Dominos Pizza Papa Johns Pizza
Fundraising Discount Cards Recap So, what's the bottom line on discount card sales?
The excellent consumer value of all these cards makes them an easy sale. Their $10 price point makes a cash purchase a simple transaction yet a higher amount than most fundraising items.
Their great value, small size, light weight, and easy handling requirements make selling these cards a breeze.
Most suppliers will provide the discount cards and pizza cards to your group on easy credit terms. That makes them great school fundraisers because you can offer them to your supporters as an immediate sale item, thus simplifying the delivery process tremendously.
Instead of relying on your supporters' discretionary purchasing power in these tough economic times, why not tap into your supporters' everyday spending on fast food meals?
They're not quite necessities, but they are an ingrained spending habit with many families.
Selling fundraising discount cards positions you for a better chance at a larger portion of your supporters' spending. And, because of their high unit volumes, healthy profit margins, and ease of sale, they are excellent school fundraisers because they'll produce exceptional profits.
Since many schools and other organizations today find themselves suffering from a chronic state of under-funding, they are increasingly forced to hold multiple fundraisers through the course of the year. Unfortunately, this can lead to a complete ‘fundraiser burnout’ for many customers as well as for fundraising salespeople.
So the critical question is: how do you maintain real interest on the part of customers so as to keep support for your group strong, and how do you keep your salespeople from flagging, losing energy and interest in raising money for your organization? Although there are many potential solutions, here are just a few examples to get started with.
In order to keep customer interest high, and as a way of maintaining goodwill, sell different products during each fundraiser throughout the year. There’s nothing wrong with repeating a successful fundraiser, but once a year is probably more than enough – even an extremely popular fundraising option can quickly lead to customer burnout if it’s repeated too frequently.
As a matter of maintaining customer goodwill, offer useful products and services in your fundraisers – everyone loves cookies and chocolates, but there comes a point where customers will only be buying them to support the organization; some will just quit buying them at all. If you find a way to provide goods or services that supporters of the organization already want, then they are able to support your organization by buying something that they might have somewhere else anyway – a win-win situation.
As a corollary of this, be sure not to have too many fundraisers – you’re better off with a few wildly successful ones than a dozen mediocre fundraising programs – customers will buy more readily when they’re asked to buy less often, and salespeople can stay excited if they’re not asked to sell constantly.
To keep your salespeople excited, offer creative incentives to encourage them to compete with one another. Depending on your organization, the chance to throw pies at a principal or dunk some other authority figure could go over very well. Also, make the connection obvious – show your salespeople the benefits that the organization will see from fundraising and by extension the benefits that they themselves will see.
There are many other ways to keep fundraising fun and ensure that your customers and salespeople stay interested – just make sure to use common sense and think positively and creatively - your organization is bound to be successful!
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