New & Unique School Fundraising Ideas

New and Unique School Fundraising Ideas are dangerous ground. But before anyone gets worked up, let me explain:

There have been traditional fundraisers for many years. They are tried and tested. They are largely successful. Over 80% of elementary schools will host a traditional fundraiser this year and that's a lot of schools. I know from our end that nearly every school that switches to Believe Kids will have increased profits over their previous fundraiser.

Subsequently, along come some new fundraisers such as cookie dough voucher programs, online only fundraisers, gift card fundraising, custom printed products, Coke Rewards Fundraising, Tupperware fundraisers, Avon fundraisers, online malls, affiliate programs, recycling programs, gold party fundraisers and others.

So, what's the big deal?

The big deal is that if you ask a PTA or PTO president what they are looking for in a fundraiser, they will respond that they want something new and unique. Many of these new fundraisers fit the bill.

But do they really?

Probably not. In reality it's not in our nature to really want the newest thing. We don't necessarily want the dentist just out of college or to hire a 7 year old baby-sitter.

I get it though, there's something truthful in there. Maybe the desire to have confidence in offering something different to the community. To prove to parents that there is something unique out there that will make them want to support education more.

Usually though, the wish for the unique backfires.

Many of the newer fundraisers out there are either ahead of their time or fall short because they are marketed as something they are not. Some online only programs have not found their market yet and others may work for small groups only but they market as if they solve the needs of larger groups alike.

I believe every fundraiser is inherently good. Meaning that, if the right group hosts the right fundraiser at the right time, they should be successful. Of course, the definition of a successful fundraiser is not the same across the board.

Herein lies the truth.

If a school wants to take on something new and unique it only needs to be aware that that newness will likely translate in a loss of income. Schools should pay close attention to picking an appropriate fundraiser. A gold party fundraiser is very likely not going to be the main school-wide elementary fundraiser one would expect.

One final consideration is that some fundraisers generate so little income that they can interfere with the main fundraisers at the school. Consider putting a bit more leg work and marketing into a main fundraiser and you can skip out on some of the little ones. Less is more when it comes to school fundraising.

In closing, traditional is good, new and unique adds risk and the wrong fit equals potential disaster. Make sure to pick an appropriate fundraiser for your group size and make sure the community you represent will understand how to participate in the fundraiser.

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I'm a fan of any fundraiser that does what it says it will do so I am not picking on any fundraiser in particular. Yes, I like traditional fundraisers but new and unique fundraisers are good as long as everyone is aware of the risks associated with them.

I encourage agreement as well as disagreement in comments placed below. If you have a thought, please share it and thanks for looking!

A school fundraising lesson courtesy of a major brand - Walmart.

Doing what's expected.

If your school is searching out a new and unique fundraising idea for fall 2010, consider this lesson from a major retailer. It reminds us why getting rid of things that people want is a risky proposition - even if it's not the most popular!

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Walmart returns items to shelves after lost sales
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To summarize, Walmart, in an effort to replace items with lower sales with new items, pulled a number of items from stores. It turns out that by removing something the community counted on, they lost the sale.

In the case of Walmart, they realized that instead of customers selecting another item in it's place, they choose to go elsewhere in many cases and do their entire shopping where they could get the specific item they were originally looking for.

When it comes to elementary school fundraising, if you can create a consistent set of fundraisers, whatever they are, you win! The Walmart story reminds us first-hand that if you remove something the customer is willing to support, they may not be willing to support it's replacement.

Concrete Examples

If you do a gift and wrap catalog sale in fall you are already doing the biggest and most profitable fundraiser of the year that we know about.

If you do a well-promoted event such as a thon or an auction and it has popularity and support within the community you are building a repeatable success as well.

If, on the other hand, you were to replace these with the newest and most unique school fundraisers, they must be more popular and more exciting than ever! As Walmart reminds us, you will lose customers just by switching to a new fundraiser the community doesn't understand or expect. Sometimes, new and unique fundraising ideas are not all they appear.

Plus, anything new and unique to fundraising doesn't sell anyway (whoops, did I say that out loud?). What seems perhaps a better way to close is to say that the world progresses by introducing new and unique things - we just need time to get used to them :)
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Author Note: I believe that there are some risky fundraisers out there for this fall. They include gift card sales for online shopping, home cookie dough delivery vouchers or any fundraiser that does not have a proper student prize program. Until there is a proven track record with these items, you may consider something else if you really have to meet a fundraising budget.
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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising and I blog nearly daily here at fundraising-advice.com

If you enjoy my posts, please follow my blog and write comments and send it to your friends and even criticize or send feedback to me here or on twitter - twitter.com/BelieveKids

My company homepage can be found here: http://www.BelieveKids.com

Thanks for looking!

Elementary School Fundraising - New and Unique Fundraising Ideas

So, you are a PTA, PTO, PTSA, PTCO member at your elementary school. You hear from a parent that they are tired of the same old fundraisers. It sparks the need for the school to look for something totally new and unique and then donations drop. Your left holding the bag on a loser fundraiser and wondering what happened. Sound familiar?

For many groups across the nation, this scenario plays out.

Take for example a school in Michigan. They posted to a PTO blog that they just tried a home delivery of cookie dough through a school fundraising company they couldn't remember the name of (yikes, bad sign). This was their main fall fundraiser. Customers purchased a coupon that they redeemed online for frozen cookie dough to be delivered to shipped to their home. They reported that they maybe made $400 on their main fall fundraiser. Now they have to make up that money at their spring carnival somehow. The program sounds simple enough. so, what happened?

The fact is that normal works.

People want what's expected and frankly, new and unique just doesn't fit in with what is normal and expected. That's not to say that traditional fundraising is boring. It's just that a traditional sale has confidence with the public. The consumer is comfortable and used to it. The customer base at this Michigan school wasn't comfortable so they didn't buy.

Here are a few thoughts on what works and what doesn't:

Fall gift fundraising catalogs, traditional cookie dough fundraisers and well-promoted event fundraisers remain the top performing fundraisers - by a long shot. There is some comfort in purchasing from something with a history. Surprisingly, chocolate bar fundraisers hold their ground as a good alternative to these offerings if a school needs to keep things fresh.

Thoughts on the unique and fundraising

It's not hard to imagine that the juicy orange at the supermarket is a good purchase. But how about that Tangelo? Yes, it's a kind of hybrid between a tangerine and a grapefruit. They are amazing tasting because they have hardly any pulp and a lot of juice but oranges are many times more popular. If it's got more juice then why doesn't it sell as well? Yep. It's unique.

As much as people like to think they want new and unique, they don't. Avante Garde music is not popular because it brakes convention and is characterized as ahead of it's time. It's so unique in fact, that your typical listener can't stand it - not even for a few minutes.

As for things that are new, let someone else pay for the newest best technology. It's OK to be second - let the price come down and the bugs get worked out. You'll find that that's exactly when everyone else wants it too!

When it comes to school fundraising sometimes it's best not to be the hybrid, the avante garde or the first to market with something new.