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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Fundraising Incentive - New Charm Necklaces for Fall 2010 School Fundraisers

I took a look at our new daily incentive offer for fall 2010 school fundraising today and it's amazing!

Schools use complimentary 'Charm' necklaces to promote their fundraiser while the fundraiser is underway. It's a great way to add excitement surrounding the fundraiser and reward students for promoting the sale.

This program is free and is very easy to use! These things are amazing so I can't wait for you to see them in person!

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!!

School Fundraisers that SELL - 3 Helpful Hints!

I am a computer geek and as such, I scour the web for interesting information.

I know that every fundraising company has an agenda and for that matter I do too. As the Vice President of a national fundraising company, I naturally want people to use my elementary school fundraisers wherever possible.

The thing is, I have a mission... I want to share any information I can that will allow schools and groups to have fundraising success!

I hope this post increases your sale regardless of what types of fundraisers you host and what fundraising companies you work with.

This post relates to how fundraising companies market to you in order for you to pick them. Naturally, every fundraiser has sales bullet points but some fundraisers fall flat while others are wildly successful. How can you recognize one from another?

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1) New and unique is not always better.

There is a difference among fundraisers. Since I am a computer geek at heart, I do see just about every offer online. They are marketed largely the same and every one claims to be profitable. But can they ALL really be equally profitable?

First off, You have new fundraising ideas and you have traditional proven favorites. Any new fundraiser may come with new ways of fundraising. The consideration here is that new is not always better. It's likely revenue will drop until students, parents and the community know how to effectively participate in the fundraiser. If you're trying a new fundraiser that has not been tested, make sure your goal reflects that.

Online malls, affiliate programs and coupon programs are examples of new fundraisers.

On the flip side, Traditional fundraising still leads the way in top-dollar fundraising. It tends to work better simply because the community knows what to expect and they know how to do their part.

Frozen cookie dough, gift and wrap catalogs and magazine sales are examples of traditional fundraisers.

2) Choosing the right program for your school.

Let's face it. There are different types of fundraisers and there are different types of schools. Finding the right match for your group can be difficult. Make sure to look back on the history of fundraisers at your school. If you don't have good records, make sure to keep track from here on out so you have good numbers. Some schools can sell chocolate bars, some catalog and some succeed at large fundraising events. So, your insight from the school perspective is critical.

We offer basically 2 fundraisers at Believe Kids, a fall fundraising gift catalog and a frozen cookie dough fundraiser.

These fundraisers have consistently been proven to increase sales over similar fundraisers. So, yeah! We have an amazing catalog but is it right for everyone? No. '
There are times where keeping it fresh or offering a product-in-hand fundraiser is a better option.

Your insight on what is right for your group can really make a difference. The last thing you want to do is have to try every single fundraiser out there in order to figure this out.

Just be careful in allowing fundraising company marketing to decide for you what is right for your group.

3) Putting down others

If a company markets by way of belittling the traditional heavy-hitting fundraisers, they may not be the right company for you.

Traditional fundraiser i.e. magazine sales, frozen cookie dough, large events such as auctions and walk-a-thons and fall gift catalogs have a proven track record for raising significant dollars. If a fundraising company has an ad that says that these things don't work, they are misinformed.

80% of elementary schools rely on these traditional fundraisers every year as do countless middle schools, high schools and other groups. There is no basis in fact to advertising claims that 'nobody wants wrapping paper or cookie dough anymore'.

The truth is, nobody wants what the companies that market this way offer and that's the best they can come up with. If a company is using a marketing tactic that suggests that traditional fundraising is not working, proceed with caution.

There you have it!

3 down and dirty hints to increasing your fundraising success with us or any other company. Remember to get professional advice online but also via phone. Reach out with a phone call to companies you believe offer value and significant profits. Talk over your situation with honesty. You'd be surprised at how helpful fundraising companies can be!

In your phone calls to school fundraising representatives, you can ask them specifically what participation they expect out of your group and what average sale per student you should receive. If they are up-front with you, you will have good numbers on what should be most profitable for your school. Use these tips and whatever else you can find online and over the phone. Use whomever is the best fit for your group and remember...

We just want you to succeed!
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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids, a nationwide elementary school fundraising company. If you find the information here valuable, please share the link to my blog - believejay.blogspot.com with friends.

Please comment here below the post and thanks for looking!

Fundraising Prize Program for Fall 2010 School Fundraising Announced...

I won't go into detail on here just yet but believe me when I say you have to make a call on this one. We've just announced the very best student prize program out there for fall 2010 school fundraising!

We will be offering 11 prize levels and although I really want to announce what they are here, I will wait just a few days. If you get a chance to and are interested in knowing more, call toll-free 1-877-723-5438 and get the low-down!

Elementary and middle school fundraising is going to look a lot better this fall!

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.