8 out of 10 Public Elementary Schools Use Product Fundraisers

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I just realized something.

8 out of 10 public elementary schools use a traditional product sale of some sort in their fundraising efforts.

I'm not really sure what constitutes a product fundraiser in the study that produced the statistic but that means that most of those have to be gift & wrap fundraisers and frozen cookie dough. There just aren't many other school-wide product sales that I know of besides magazines and those are usually the middle schools.

So, stop and think about that number for a minute. 80% use product fundraisers!

The fact is, product sales are heavy-hitting fundraisers - that work!

I have noticed a bit of a groundswell recently on messageboards and comments on my blog from companies that want to build their businesses out. The thing is, they are so quick to say that nobody wants to buy gift wrap or magazines or chocolate or cookie dough.

And that's their marketing strategy!

I mean, seriously? I think what they really mean is, they want to spread the rumour that nobody wants to buy that stuff so they get some traction on their fundraisers.

The truth is, it's just NOT TRUE!

They don't market that they have a more profitable or effective fundraiser, just that they have a better option if you truly believe nobody will buy cookie dough.

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Fundraising Incentives for your School!

One thing is clear! Incentives work.

In planning your next fundraiser, make sure you are providing a good reason for folks to get involved.

Everyone loves encouragement

Regardless of what you use to encourage participation in the fundraiser, the more you can do to get people excited and interested in helping, they more effective your fundraising efforts will be. Here is a list of groups that could use encouragement:

• Students
• Teachers
• Administrators
• Faculty
• Principals
• Parents
• Relatives
• Community

So, it certainly seems impossible to provide incentives to all these groups but it's really not all that challenging.

Here's why:

Parents, Relatives & The Community

The reality is that parents, relatives and the community at large receive the gift of charitable giving, helping children and improving education. Having said that, they still need some encouragement to purchase. That's where running a quality fundraiser comes in. A good gift catalog or a cookie dough offer should be enough to earn their support.

Faculty, Administrators & Principals

When it comes to the school, it's not always easy to garner the support of teachers, principals and administrators. With everything going on today in schools with budget cuts and lower fundraising returns due to a bad economy, many schools are getting more involved on their own.

Our best advice is to ASK!

Ask the principal to send out an email, ask the receptionist for help if needed and ask teachers to encourage their classes to participate. Yes, perhaps a bit different asking for help but it will produce results. Keep in mind that not all incentives require money - freebies and delivering cups of coffee go a long way.

Students

Students should be incentivised in a few different ways if possible. A good fundraising company will provide daily incentives to remind them to work on the fundraiser daily as well as a quality prize program. There are a number of other ideas that will help so consult with your fundraising rep. Most likely they work for a company that will supply other ideas as well such as a top-seller prize.

This is one case where your fundraising company can really be of assistance. If a school does little to promote a fundraiser, the results will likely reflect that. On the other hand, if a school and fundraising company work together to really promote the fundraiser, it will be a huge success!

In the end, here's your success challenge: get everyone you can involved and reward everyone you can!

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising and blogs here regularly. If you would like more information visit www.BelieveKids.com If you enjoy the information here, please share links or leave comments, questions or feedback for me. I can also be reached on twitter - twitter.com/BelieveKids Thanks for looking!!

Your School Can Have Consistent, Successful Fundraising Efforts - Despite the Economy!

It's easy to forget that traditional fundraisers and large events make up the vast majority of school-wide fundraising income. A fall gift & wrap catalog, frozen cookie dough and large events such as a-thons, auctions or carnivals are still the way to go when it comes to raising the big bucks.

With the economy being what it is, every type of fundraising is being challenged... It's not just selling fundraisers. An article I just read reported less attendance at spirit nights, less attendance at their fundraising events and less overall volunteerism. Everything is down across the board.

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Read Schools suffering as PTOs feel pain from the recession

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Despite the economy, any school can have consistent, successful fundraising efforts - and even raise more than ever. It takes a good simple plan, consistency and a bit of stern communication.

So, I have been following this post on the ptotoday.com messageboard. It has a number of replies for fundraisers that do not raise much money.

These fundraisers, as pointed out on the messagboard, creates fundraising 'noise'. This overabundance detracts from the success a school will have with their efforts.

I am not saying that these smaller fundraisers aren't valuable in the right circumstances, It's just that today's school-wide fundraising has some challenges. In particular, parents are more willing than ever to not participate in school activities and 'fundraising fatigue' is common.

Today, for a fundraiser to truly succeed, it needs to stand out and take center stage so to speak - it needs to be remarkable.

Here's why:

If parents get the impression that another fundraiser is coming right around the bend, they will pass on the current fundraiser. If parents believe a fundraiser will not have any positive effect, they will not participate.

If the parents do not participate in the fundraiser with the highest average sold per student and the overall participation rate, fundraising revenue for the school will drop significantly.

By offering a high number of small fundraisers, mediocre events and spirit nights, schools make it easier for parents to pass on the fundraiser they really should be participating in. Some schools exacerbate the issue by allowing teams, groups and charity drives to fundraise freely without due consideration.

By limiting fundraising efforts, parents will want to be involved with their kide education and will support it. The trick here is to offer the fundraisers that produce results. After all, a fall gift catalog, cookie dough sale or well organized events have a dramatically improved average over these other types of fundraisers.

Do what works and don't worry too much! You don't have to dismantle your entire fundraising scheme necessarily to succeed. Just start by thinking critically if there is anything you can do to focus efforts on the fundraisers that work best for you and minimize promotion of the ones that just don't.

(to be continued after some shameless self-promotion...)

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Shameless self-promotion:

Knowing what is a large traditional fundraiser and what is a smaller niche sale can be difficult. My company, Believe Kids, offers a spring and fall catalog as well as frozen cookie dough programs. We consider our offerings to be the most profitable product fundraisers in existence today for elementary schools.

Please visit www.BelieveKids.com to take a look at what we offer.
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(End shameless self-promotion)

Here is a screenshot from a school website I recently ran across. It is an example of how bolding and highlighting can send the wrong message. In this case, the school is hosting an upcoming fundraising event, however, based on this screenshot, parents need to be focused on box tops. The lesson here is to focus efforts on what works and reconsider promotion of things that are not making a huge impact.

This same school just wrapped up an event where they raised $700 but offered a limo ride which I can only imagine was $400. How is it worth their time and effort to promote this fundraiser when they could concentrate efforts on something that would raise many more times that amount. The $300 they raised could be made up by just a few students participating in a catalog or cookie dough sale. It's cleary a case of effort spent on things that don't produce results.

Concentrate on less frequent, more focused, heavy-hitting fundraisers.

By way of example, our largest cookie dough sale this year was $97,000 and 50% of that went back to the elementary school. There would have been no way for this school to achieve such a success if they hadn't done some things very right.

There are wildly successful event fundraisers as well. I recently heard about a private catholic high school that raised an astounding $750,000 in their fundraising efforts. Although for most schools something like this is unrealistic, we can still learn some valuable lessons from them.

Here are some quick thoughts on what is contributing to fundraising success today:

1) Choose the right company and fundraiser type for your group.
2) Limit the total number of fundraisers throughout the year.
3) Vigorously express the importance of participation to parents.
5) Incentivise students, parents and faculty in every way possible.
5) Involve principals, faculty, staff and volunteers in a cohesive effort.
5) Use every tool at your disposal to market the sale.
6) Extend the sale beyond just school attendees parents.
7) Make it remarkable!

Regardless of what type of fundraising you do, make it special and make it important. Remember that less is more!

If there is one thing that you take away from this article, please just remember that if you roll from one fundraiser to another, it will become very easy for parents to dis-engage and lower participation will surely follow. On the flip side, if you keep it simple and focus your efforts, you will work less and profit more!

Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts and I hope the information is of help to you and your school!

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Jay Moneta is the vice president of Believe Kids Fundraising. If you enjoyed the information on this site, please consider forwarding on the link or following my blog. I also encourage feedback, comments and suggestions here on my blog or on twitter.com/BelieveKids Thanks for looking!

Simplify Your School Fundraisers and Avoid Fundraising Fatigue.

I just posted a comment on the highly acclaimed greatschools.org website about how some fundraisers should be reconsidered. It's a 'less is more' comment as I will explain in this post. Since their article was originally written, smaller and less productive fundraisers have gained popularity because folks are looking for new and unique fundraising ideas but they do not have the same profitability in most cases as larger traditional fundraisers. Here is my take on why focusing on what works and keeping it simple when it comes to school fundraising.

It's about time school fundraising got a bit simpler. Let's return to the days where fundraisers were sent home and parents happily contributed and encouraged the community to get involved. It's harder and harder to get parents involved and the reason is becoming clear:

There are just too many fundraisers.

When parents realize another fundraiser is coming around the bend in a week or two, they have an excuse to not participate in the current school fundraiser. Doesn't sound like much of a problem does it? They will contribute on the next one, right?

Here's what happens. Schools are generally used to a huge fall fundraiser such as a gift catalog (shameless plug - Believe Kids has the best fall gift catalog!). This one is the important one that the school counts on. Let's just say there was a bake sale and a book fair and a promotion for donating box tops in the weeks previous to the fall catalog. The pool of folks willing to participate in the next one is very likely to dwindle. There is some money to show for those efforts no doubt but it's very likely to have consequences.

The more fundraisers, the more money raised... right? Not necessarily. The problem in a nutshell is called 'fundraising fatigue' and it's completely avoidable. Fundraising fatigue is a simple concept, it's a backlash from parents when they feel they are the target of too many fundraising events throughout the year. Parents will complain and in general stop participating in events, fundraisers and perhaps even classroom related activities as well. Over time, this can result in schools that complain they have no parent involvement.

A very big factor is that the other fundraisers don't have the dollar averages a fall catalog sale will generate. So, for every parent that doesn't participate in the big fundraiser, more money is lost than was gained by the batteries or box tops or whatever stole the gift catalog 'thunder'.

Focus your efforts on what works.

Take into consideration the ease of use, reputation with parents and the community and profitability so that when you know you have a fundraiser that will make the community happy while raising the big bucks, you can put ALL your efforts into it and minimize the other fundraising 'noise'.

Just in case this appears to be a negative take on single product fundraisers, box tops, book fairs, it's not. There is a time and a place for these fundraisers but if they are interfering with the turnout at your main fundraising event, frozen food or gift catalog fundraiser.

Promote the fundraisers you want people to participate in. Make it a huge thing. Involve the principal and faculty. Create hype! Then, minimize the hosting and promotion of smaller less valuable fundraisers. Pass on anything that you believe could lower your average sale or anything that will interfere enough to have less students participating. Then put all your efforts into the fundraisers that put the most funds back into the school.

Simplify.

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising and blogs here at fundraising-advice.com Please comment if you would here or join me on twitter - twitter.com/BelieveKids Thanks for looking!

Tips for a smooth frozen food and gift catalog fundraising delivery

KEEP IT SIMPLE...

I just posted some quick tips for a smooth frozen food and gift catalog delivery. They are super-quick. Here's the link: http://hotpockets.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-just-witnessed-combination-frozen.html

Basically, the idea is to have a very smooth delivery with as few items undelivered as possible. I was just able to witness a delivery of frozen food and gift catalog at the same time to an elementary school. I will be posting more about this soon but in the meantime, let me give just a quick rundown on what makes this process work well.

• Staying calm - The group stayed calm and formulated a simple plan on setup and execution. It just wouldn't have been much fun if there were a lot of stressful excitement. Do not worry!

• Get help & take your time - Doing a catalog fundraiser and a frozen cookie dough sale can add up to super-huge profits. But, don't make the mistake of thinking that there is no work to do on delivery day. Although, it's all easy and manageable, it's not likely one person can do everything in 30 minutes. Get help and give yourself plenty of time!

• Create a good flow in the room - When the pickup is going to happen, students and parents will have to enter the room, give their name and move on to checkout. If this is the setup you are after, block the entry and exit with tables in some way as to create a flow of people through the space. You want to leave enough room before the checkout stand so that some folks can line up during your busy rush. Otherwise, you'll have a backup situation on your hands. It's best not to let any parents find their own stuff as this will cause shortages and confusion.

In general, think ahead and keep it simple! Hope this helps!

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising - a nationwide elementary school fundraising company. Please take a moment to leave a comment or suggestion here or find me on twitter - twitter.com/BelieveKids

Sally Foster School Fundraiser - Fundraising Program Test Subjects...

Speculation abounds. I am so curious I can hardly stand it. I already know that this post is making me nervous and uncomfortable because it shakes things up a bit. Fortunately for me, fundraising blogs are not in the same boat as say writing for the New York Times so here ya go.

Sally Foster is changing the way they do business and they will most likely ask every school to be a test subject. I posted recently about how the change from a famous catalog to a gift card would be a test of technology and... it certainly will.

In my previous post, I mention that taking a risk on switching from a traditional fundraiser to an online gift card sale has some issues. What's strange is it seems like schools who like their Sally Foster fundraising rep will be on board to test this new fundraiser out.

It's not a rational decision to work with Sally Foster this fall. It's actually pretty risky. The safety of being able to estimate your profits will be compromised. The predictability that the parents and community will be happy is gone. If a group relies on a certain amount of money this fall, it's an even bigger risk because the profits may not be there in the end.

A recent PTOToday.com message board post outlined some concerns. They expressed concern that there are still limitations to computer access in their rural area, but more importantly, the older folks won't know how to navigate the fundraiser. Basically, this means that the community needs to be educated on how to take part in a new fundraiser.

The post goes on to say that they will likely still do the fundraiser with Sally Foster but will lower their profit estimate in case it is a bust.

I just think that is strange and it points to the fact that Sally Foster must have some great fundraising reps in the field. They obviously have some big fans out there.

So, what can be done?

Ultimately, groups will arrive at their own decisions. I believe most will sign up to try the new fundaiser out. Today, schools are in the process of discovering the specifics of the program and deciding for themselves if it works for them.

I think my only real hope in writing this post is that ONE group that can't take a risk on even losing a few thousand dollars, finds a better fundraiser that can earn them an extra few thousand on top of what they earned last year.

Let the PTA's and PTO's that are willing to absorb the risk on their own accord, test out the new Sally Foster program this fall. On the other hand... If a school is counting on every single penny from their fall fundraiser and can't take a risk - they should look to a company with a consistent and more predictable earning history.

I'm still very excited to see how this all turns out for Sally Foster and the schools that work with them this fall. This is one of the most interesting developments in school fundraising in quite some time.
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Author Note - Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising. I do have a personal interest in earning schools fundraising business, but in this case, I feel an obligation to point out that any new fundraising program is a risky one.

I have confidence that Sally Foster will be testing technological fundraising out full-force this fall. I do think that there are some schools that may just find, it's a bit more than they should take on. For the sake of groups that are really hurting, I hope my feedback helps.

This is probably about as controversial as my blog has ever been but in many ways I am still a fledgeling blogger. If you enjoyed or didn't enjoy what I've said, please let me know by commenting on this blog. I can be reached at twitter.com/BelieveKids as well.

Thanks for looking!

Is Sally Foster Cost-Cutting or Revolutionizing Fundraising in Schools?

Sally Foster is a school fundraising company. As far as school fundraising goes, it's a big name owned by an even bigger name - Entertainment Publications, LLC who produces promotional products worldwide including the Entertainment Book.

For years, schools across the nation have received fall fundraising catalogs and students have sold the famous 'thick' wrapping paper. Without a clear history on the thickness of wrapping paper over time, it is clear that Sally Foster is credited with raising awareness of the benefits of the thicker premium wrap and holiday wrappers thank her for it to the tune of $7-$10 per roll. Anyone in the know considers it well spent cash.

Clearly as a company that reportedly touts $100 million in annual sales is very substantial in the fundraising world. What's more is that they are owned by a company that does over $6.5 billion in revenue annually - plenty of money to make things happen.

So, when news surfaces that Sally Foster is changing the way they do business this fall, ears perk up. There are lots of small fundraising reps and companies that naturally would like to expand into new schools and areas. On the flip side, they may just be onto something.

So, what are their motives? Is it a cost-cutting measure? A response to the economy? A change in business plan? A great new idea who's time has come? I can only speculate but what is clear is that this will be a different way of fundraising.

As the electronic age continues to expand, the need for paper products will lessen. Books will be replaced by electronic devices (Kindle, iPad) and so on. What is clear is the fundraising will evolve with technology in some way.

Sally's Plan (yes, Sally is real but is not involved in the company)

In fall 2010, Sally Foster will be putting an emphasis on gift cards for online shopping. I understand that the following things will happen based on a post on the PTO today site:

40% profit will be offered across the board for a gift card sale. Folks will purchase a $20 gift care and get it activated so it will be good for purchases on their shopping site. It would appear that all sales will be for home delivery which would be subject to shipping and tax where applicable. I did hear that there may be a very limited catalog that get's folks excited to shop online but I have not confirmed this.

So, if you are a big fan of Sally Foster, it's time to give your Sally Foster fundraising rep a call and ask about the changes. Without personal clarification on the matter, it would appear that the company is betting on internet shoppers as the future of the industry.

Red Flag #1 As with anything new comes the need for explanation. Students will have to be educated on the new game plan and then teach potential customers how the program works. Parents faculty and customers will have to re-learn the fundraiser.

Red Flag #2 There is no proven history. As with any new endeavor, there are some unknowns. Will the students explain the program correctly? will the parents buy? A lot of unknowns. A group that needs to hit a certain budget is taking a large risk being the first group to sign up.

There have been so many changes in the industry that it's not a surprise that Sally Foster will make changes to their programs. The current economy has nearly every company internalizing to look at the effectiveness of their operations. I sincerely hope that for the sake of the industry that consumer confidence is not affected. Because of this sentiment, I offer the following personal thought:

This may be cool. I really can't wait to find out more about the program and I hope it has possibility for reasons I will outline below. As a fan of progress and technology I have high hopes that fundraising can move further into the digital age successfully.

In closing, a move that smaller companies can't make but a bigger company can. For whatever there motives, they will be testing the boundaries of electronic fundraising in schools all across the nation and it will be telling. They either believe in the change or are cutting cost.

As much as Sally Foster is a direct competitor and a much larger one at that, I look forward to seeing if their efforts this year will prove that fundraising is ready to take a leap forward.

If their motives are to cut cost, they may find that they also cut success. If they motives are to prove that digital fundraising is a reality today and succeed, then just like the thickness of the wrap changing the industry, they may just change the industry again.

Only time will tell.

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising and can be reached via twitter - twitter.com/BelieveKids

With this or any of my posts, if you find the information valuable, please subscribe to the blog, link to this post, leave comments or reach me directly. I appreciate feedback, comments and suggestions of all types.