Top School Fundraisers - Fundraising Options for Elementary Schools

If you're considering a fundraiser for fall 2010, you've got one good shot at hosting a wildly successful fundraiser! You can do this despite anything stacked against you.

Here are the most successful fundraisers for elementary schools:

• Fall Gift & Wrap Catalog
• Frozen Cookie Dough
• Large Well-organized Events

This fall is very important. As a matter of simplicity let me just suggest that if you have a successful fundraiser such as an auction or fall catalog sale, stick with it. Make improvements to what you currently offer - make it more important, make it more obvious that you need the support of students and parents.

If you are being hit up by a wide variety of companies offering various fundraisers, get the facts. It only takes a few minutes to ask some of the tough questions. The factual questions that will allow you to minimize your risk. Concentrate on some of these items before moving on to the ones that feel more comfortable to you:

• What is the average sale dollar amount per student
• What is the average number of items sold per student
• What is the average overall participation rate
• What is your profit margin given these numbers at your student count

These numbers will allow you to calculate the potential sale with that vendor. If you are considering an event run through these same numbers estimating your attendance and average sales.

Do this for every vendor before you decide on some of the other factors such as:

• Volunteer time needed
• Student participation programs
• Drawing prizes & incentives
• How order processing works
• How product distribution works
• Quality of products / service
• Commitment to customer service
• How damaged / missing items are handled
• Commitment to offering value
• Number of backordered items last year

There are just some fundraisers floating around out there that will not be in the same league as the fall gift catalog, cookie dough or large event.

Affiliate programs, single product fundraisers such as trash bags or coffee, donation drives, box tops, scratch cards, discount cards, seasonal items, cell phone / toner recycling, clothing drives, hair cut nights, spirit nights or pizza fundraisers are not created equally. These programs often earn only a small percentage of the heavy-hitting traditional fundraisers.

Do your research, then put all of your marketing efforts behind your largest and most profitable fundraiser you can. You can increase your fundraising profits for the year by removing efforts that do not work and by concentrating more on the fundraiser that creates the highest sales average and participation percentage!

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising and blogs regularly about elementary school fundraising. If you would like to discuss this or any of my posts, please comment here or on twitter - twitter.com/BelieveKids

Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts and if I can put my company to the test with any competing fundraisers for the benefit of your school, just let me know.

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