Are Chocolate Bar fundraising Sales still Working?

There's been a lot of changes in the chocolate bar fundraising business. Concerns over junk foods in school and childhood obesity has changed the industry. There are big players who offered candy bar fundraising who no longer offer candy bars to interested fundraising groups.

What really stands out though is the effectiveness of the chocolate bar fundraising sales.

It's really not the children selling the candy at school or eating it themselves that made the sales successful. It's that the dollar price is an easy sell to parents and the community. Apparently, candy bar sales are still wildly successful in most areas.

Adults are the target audience of the candy bars and it's quite easy to see why. One adult can bring a box into work and by lunchtime, they'll be gone and replaced by money.

The customers are happy and they buy!

Despite the aversion to sweets in school, the candy bar fundraiser still works as well as ever in most areas because administrators, parents and the community understand that the chocolate bar fundraising sales are not directed at the youth at the school - nor are they intended to be sold at school.

A chocolate bar fundraising sale will likely not replace a good fall gift catalog, frozen cookie dough fundraiser or a large school-wide event in terms of profit, but it's a great way for most schools to switch it up! If keeping your school fundraising fresh and new is important, you may want to take a look at chocolate bar fundraising.

Just don't unleash the kids on the chocolate :)

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Jay Moneta is the Vice president of Believe Kids fundraising and encourages comments below. Believe Kids Fundraising does not presently offer chocolate bar fundraising but there are a number of companies offering chocolate bar fundraising that can be found on the web. Give us a call anytime if you would like a personal recommendation.

School Fundraising is a Team Sport!

It's nice to have individual missions, but when it comes to school fundraising, teamwork is your best option.

Why teams are better

Teams have the ability to get more done and influence more people. They can create efficiencies and distribute workloads amongst people with varying talents. There really are a lot of ways a team functions better than an individual.

When it comes to fundraising, you want to create a team that can better promote your fundraiser and then more effectively see it through to completion.

Fundraising Teams

Your fundraising team should involve anyone and everyone on the PTA/PTO but in order for your team to be truly successful, you should consider some other folks as part of your team as well.

Who can be a part of your fundraising team:

• PTA, PTO, PTSA, PTSO Members
• School Principal
• School Receptionist
• Teachers

The reasons to extend your fundraiser beyond yourself are extensive and yet, few parent groups truly consider the principal, receptionist or teachers a part of that group.

Consider for a moment that the principal can get the word out on the fundraiser more than anyone else in the school. The receptionist will handle your incoming calls about the fundraiser and teachers can either support or go against your fundraising efforts.

When planning your next school fundraiser, consider expanding your fundraising group!

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Jay Moneta is the Vice President of Believe Kids Fundraising. The company offers school fundraisers nationwide to elementary and middle schools and other large groups. If you enjoy the content here, please leave a message here or on twitter/believekids

Elementary School Fundraising - Keeping Things Simple for Schools & PTA's

Reminder to schools and parent groups to keep things simple and have a plan. Above all, ask questions!

School fundraising, while critical to schools and groups everywhere, is very often left in the hands of hard-working volunteers working for a PTA or PTO group. These volunteers come with a wide variety of backgrounds and in many cases juggle work, family life and volunteerism and are generally very busy.

It's sometimes hard to remember to that a volunteer organization will be instrumental in raising tens of thousands of dollars in just two weeks using our fall fundraiser. What's more is that parent group volunteers are not necessarily business people.

We work with so many amazing people, we could easily overlook the reality of the situation and treat everyone as-if they need to be experts in business and school fundraising. But, we don't.

Parent groups deserve the simplest, most effective fundraisers we have to offer and that's just what we deliver. This isn't as much about us as it is about understanding that delivering ease-of-use to a PTA or PTO group will have a lasting and positive effect.

Having said that, there are still a number of questions that come up no matter how simple and effective things are.

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Case in point: I was reminded the other day when questions arose about if our fundraising packets should be left in teachers boxes on a Friday afternoon. When the question arose, it was very obvious we had an answer. If the packets go into a teachers box on the afternoon of the first day of the fundraiser and teachers didn't pick up their stuff by the end of the day, an entire class would miss the first weekend of the fundraiser. We simply suggested that every teacher grab their class packets on the way out of the Kick-Off assembly and everyone received a packet.
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If you are one of the hard working volunteers assisting with a fundraiser, plan ahead as much as possible. Keep things simple and above all, ask for advice for items both big and small!

There's no reason in this day and age, not to reach out to an expert in a time of need. Just ask us anything you can think of - anytime!

On our end, just know that we will give you as much complimentary assistance you would ever want - even if it's just a matter of the small stuff and we'll always cover all the big stuff and we'll have great answers to any of the small stuff as well!

Here's to a successful, easy and smooth fundraiser! Thanks!!