Fundraising Articles
Fair Trade Fundraisers
(category: Fundraising, Word count: 395)
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Organizations everywhere are starting to see the benefits of staging certain types of fundraisers. As you may have discovered through trial-and-error, some fundraisers are simply more successful than others. We all want to raise as much money as we can for our respective organizations, but there are times when we ought to give pause to other considerations.
Coffee fundraisers have been massively successful in the United States and beyond. It should come as no surprise, mind you. Everyone loves coffee, especially really good coffee. It is estimated that over 200 million people in the United States alone drink coffee on a daily basis. At approximately one dollar per cup, you can imagine how staggering the profits can be. Organizations have an excellent opportunity to tap into this market, and to brew up massive revenues for their respective ventures.
The difficult part of doing coffee fundraisers, is convincing people to compromise their morning coffee routines. It may sound absurd, but many people feel very passionately about the coffee they drink. From what I have been told by some of our readers, Canadians are absolutely fanatic about Tim Horton's coffee. The challenge for people involved in fundraising, is to convince people to try something new. We have to appeal to their thoughtful side. It is for charity, after all.
One of our friends has had tremendous success by putting a new twist on the traditional coffee fundraiser. Instead of offering people unimpressive gift boxes of coffee, why not consider selling bags of Fair Trade Coffee? If you are not aware of the Fair Trade movement, you should be. It is essentially an effort to ensure that farmers in developing countries are properly compensated for their labor and their products. The movement also tries to address issues regarding the environmental impact of certain farming practices, as well as local economic sustainability.
There is a significant percentage of the population in America that truly cares about what is happening in the world today. The environmental movement has been going strong for decades now, and people have become both active and aware of the issues that affect citizens in America and beyond. These conditions create a wonderful opportunity for fundraisers, as we can give people an opportunity to support two wonderful causes; the Fair Trade movement and your organization! Let your conscience guide you in your fundraising efforts, and help make trade fair.
Seeking Grant Proposals for your Fundraiser
(category: Fundraising, Word count: 405)
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An essential part of fundraising is writing grant proposals and grant applications. An effectively written grant application can result in large sums of money for your fundraising group. Grant applications can be a long and tiresome journey, but in the end it will be worth it for your group! In the following article, we are going to help you understand grants and what they entail.
Grant Applications Broken Down
Most grant applications will include some or more of the following components:
Letters of Reference - letters from those who can testify to your experience and good character.
Formal Proposal - a detailed explanation of what the grant money will be used for.
A Business Plan - detailing the finer points of your financial needs.
A List of Resources - detail the resources you have, and the resources you need.
Complete list of Group Members - including both workers and volunteers.
Goals and Plans - detail the short and long term goals of your group.
The grant application will list all the material and documents needed for submission. It is vitally important that you follow all the directions exactly as they are stated when filling out the grant application. One mistake could make the difference between getting the grant and getting turned down. Many grant providers reject applications that didn't take the time to follow the directions when submitting their application. Prior to submitting your grant application have someone in the group proof read it and make sure that all the information is correct and in order. After staring at the same document for days on end, it becomes difficult to notice any mistakes.
Your grant application should stress the importance of your cause and the necessity of the grant. How many people are you expecting to be able to help? How will this project benefit them? The more compelling your application is, the more likely you are to receive the grant money. Most importantly, grant providers want to make sure the money is going to be used wisely and appropriately. To help your cause, make sure you describe your goals and focus in clear detail.
Lastly, take time and fill out your application with precision. Don't rush through it, or you are bound to make some mistakes. Give yourself enough time to provide all of the financial documents that are requested, and be sure to have someone proofread it prior to submitting! A well-written application will stand out above the rest!
Fundraising With Entertainment Coupon Book
(category: Fundraising, Word count: 328)
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Entertainment Book is one of the most popular fundraising tools and benefits all types of organizations. During the last year, more than five million books were sold by over 10,000 organizations all over the world.
An entertainment book contains hundreds of valuable offers fro the best restaurants, theaters, attractions and sports events in the area. The organizations who provide these offers introduce new customers as well as supporting community fund raising.
There are number of coupons that provide you with 50% discount or offers such as buy one and get one. Therefore you can find everything you want at the most discounted prices with such discount coupon book. At the same time it helps a family on a budget with $5 off each month at the local grocery store. Because it works both as a consumer and a fundraiser, it is really a worth to have.
Entertainment Book is a great fundraiser because of the following reasons:
1. There is no upfront cost involved that means you pay only for what you sell.
2. You can use these books and can offer them to your out of town family and friends.
3. The local representative shall help you in making the most money with minimum efforts.
4. You can also go from kick off to wrap up in weeks.
5. There are many planning and promotional materials in this book.
6. It also includes free reward programs to motivate the sellers.
7. It provides money saving services to your supporters.
8. You can get these books on consignment and can pay only for the books actually sold.
Most commonly these books are sold as fundraisers in the months between September and January. Most of the times, people already reserve the edition of each year for themselves in advance because there is a huge demand for it when it is published.
Selecting The Right Fundraiser
(category: Fundraising, Word count: 480)
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Selecting the right fundraiser is the most important decision you'll make. Among the key factors are the timing of your fundraisers each year, the quality of the merchandise, selling considerations, delivery considerations, and ultimately, the net profit to your organization.
Think of yourself as running a small business building a reputation for innovation and quality products. What are your financial goals versus expected unit volume numbers, sales revenue versus profit percentage, quality of goods versus cost, acceptable market price points, etc?
If you think like a business leader, then you're on the right track.
First choose a type of fundraiser
There are different types of "best" fundraisers and you have to select what's best for your organization at this particular time.
Your fundraising choices are:
1 - Event-based fundraisers
2 - Direct donation fundraiser
3 - Fundraisers with immediate product delivery
4 - Fundraisers with delayed product delivery
The first decisions you have to make are on the fundraiser category, selecting a fundraising company or distributor as your supplier, and then the actual fundraiser itself.
Decision factors
How do you make that decision? A professional fundraising consultant can often be a big help. You can also check the web, use your personal contacts, review your group's past records, etc. Most importantly, take some time to gather the information you need to make the right decision.
You can design a simple survey that you can give to past organizers and other key influencers such as local merchants and organizational leaders. Offer clear choices to ease evaluation of replies. Print it out and get quality feedback from within and without your organization on what's worked well before and what needs improving.
Then, put together a spreadsheet for evaluating and ranking fundraisers. Break the ranking criteria into categories with sub headings in text boxes across the spreadsheet. Numerical rankings should be assigned to what criteria are most important to your group at this particular time for this fundraiser.
Things to consider when evaluating offerings:
1.Quality of the merchandise items offered
2.Quality of support materials provided such as catalogs
3.References of supplier
4.Availability of free samples or catalogs
5.Service level of supplier such as pre-sorting goods, etc.
6.Hidden costs such as freight, paying for brochures, etc.
7.Hassle factors like replacement goods and refunds policies
8.Special delivery needs such as refrigeration for some foodstuffs
9.Specific needs of organization
10.Previous vs. projected financial performance
Seek wisdom from past experience
Results will vary with the amount of fundraisers done previously, number going on at same time (yours and others), time of year, etc. Look at this fundraiser in context of others - done this one before, done it every year, competing group just did it, or our cheerleaders did this one before and it was a big hit.
Successful past fundraising ideas could and should be repeated, but remember that your customer base is often close to eighty percent the same customers from year to year. Spice it up; try something new and different that will increase your revenue.
Private Label Water and School Fund Raising
(category: Fundraising, Word count: 289)
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Like most organizations, schools in the United States are subject to constant budget stress. Important athletic and scholastic programs are subject to budget cuts as demographics change and taxpayers become increasingly budget aware. As a result, schools include fund raising resources in their planning for programs.
Education should rank high on the list of tax payer funding. With exception of defense, it is hard to imagine a governmental effort that is more important to our country than good education. Education and schools focus on our future leaders and it is in the schools where lessons in character are coupled with the development of skills required for success in a modern society.
Fund Raising and Healthy Products
Schools, both public and private, have turned to fund raising to help fund sporting and educational events. Where large number of people have gathered, schools, through sports teams, booster clubs and scholastic societies have raised funds by selling products for a profit at events or by using team members to sell products to friends and family..
Historically a number of products were sold that generated revenue and these were mainly food products like carbonated soft drinks, cookies, pizza and candy. As a group these products were not considered healthy by many. Recently, for example, an agreement was finalized to discontinue the sale of carbonated soft drinks in schools and this is a landmark effort to help reduce obesity and create a healthy lifestyle for students.
Many schools are now exploring fund raising with healthier products. As a result private label water is becoming increasingly popular as a healthy alternative method to raise funds.
Private Label Drinking Water
Private label drinking water is an effective and healthy way to raise funds for a number of reasons:
Pizza Fundraiser Ideas
(category: Fundraising, Word count: 584)
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Fundraising with pizza is a great idea for most any size group. It provides your buyers with something everyone wants, and can be very profitable as a fundraising idea.
There are three different types of pizza fundraisers:
Sales of pizza by the slice
Sales of pizza fundraising discount cards
Sales of pizza supplies - make your own kits
Each of these fundraisers varies in effort, requirements, and profitability. Let's take a brief look at each one.
Pizza Fundraising By The Slice
This is a quick and easy profit source for just about any type of youth sports team. You purchase your pizzas at a quantity discount and have them delivered piping hot to your event.
Papa Johns and Dominos both offer the delivery service from any location. Of course, you'll need to pay cash when the pizzas are delivered.
Sell the individual slices at close to 100% markup so that your team receives $2 for every $1 in cost.
That markup covers any unsold or damaged slices.
Tips: Don't overbuy, reorder instead. Also, sell them fast before they cool off. Plain cheese is the most popular followed by pepperoni.
Pizza Fundraising Discount Cards
A pizza fundraiser card is a discount card with an offer tied to a single merchant, usually a national chain. It often provides a two- for-one offer on every order and is tends to be priced at $10 for a card good for a one-year period.
Offers vary with most being tied to either a single location or a small group of outlets for a national chain. Pizza Hut cards are good for eat-in dining while most others are aimed at the take-out or delivery market.
Given how popular pizza is with younger children as well as teenagers, pizza cards are excellent school fundraising ideas.
The cards for Pizza Hut and those for some of the other chains place a limit on the number of times you can use the card, often 21 times. That is a lot of free pizza for $10. Usage is tracked via holes punched in marked spots on the card.
Some of the offers also specify that your initial order must be for a large pizza while your free pizza is a medium size. When you think about it, that works well for most adults because they usually want a different set of toppings than what their children enjoy.
Profit Tip: Pizza cards can be obtained from many suppliers. Most offer the same set of national chains and prices can vary widely, so it pays to shop around.
All in all, pizza cards are among the best easy fundraisers based on profitability and ease of sale.
Fundraising Sales of Frozen Pizza, Supplies, or Kits
Little Caesars and several other companies offer a "do it yourself" pizza kit that many schools, youth groups, and sports teams have successfully sold.
The basic concept is the same as a cookie dough fundraiser. Your sellers use an order-taker brochure, collect payment upfront, and deliver the goods after you receive your bulk shipment.
As with all order taker sales efforts, there is slightly more work involved than with immediate sale items. The delivered product must be received, counted, and sorted by customer.
Pricing is generally close to the price the customer would pay at retail. Profit margins are in the 30%-40% range.
Tip: Because the dough is frozen, deliveries need to be timed well. Your customer pickup/delivery needs to take place within 4 to 6 hours after your bulk delivery.
If you are looking for a great fundraising idea for your school, youth group, or sports team, try pizza this year!
How to Build and Manage a Successful Fundraising Team
(category: Fundraising, Word count: 721)
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For larger fundraising projects you should put together a team to help you otherwise you will be stretched far too thin and stand a good chance of failing. The ideal team from a cost perspective is volunteer-based but you might have to occasionally hire someone especially if it's for a specialized task that most people can't do.
Many people dread being asked to volunteer and do so begrudgingly but you will be surprised at how many people you ask will be more than happy to "roll up their sleeves" and pitch in for no other reason than to help out a good cause.
The best people to approach in building your fundraising team should be individuals or groups that are sympathetic to your cause. Example: Parents with players on the football team have a vested interest in helping the team get new uniforms.
Others are just naturally giving in their time and are usually involved in several projects at once. If you can land one of these types of go-getters on your team they often have the drive and ambition of several volunteers.
To find volunteers just use common sense. Try the people that are tied to the cause first and build from there. You might consider placing ads in your local grocery stores if they have free Community Bulletin Boards in the entrance and exits. Another idea is to approach your local paper and see if they will donate a small ad for you to use to find help.
Talk to your prospective volunteers and tell them exactly what you are trying to accomplish and what you would expect from them in terms of time and effort. It's a good idea to have some type of fundraising plan drawn up that you can show them as this not only shows that you are organized and serious but they will also be better able to see how the time and skill requirements fits into their schedules and abilities.
Training should be done by you or someone that knows the exact role the volunteer will be performing and you want to be sure to thoroughly go over any tasks and duties they will be performing so there are no misunderstandings later on. Be careful to not talk down to them or lecture them. Remember, they are giving you one of their most precious resources, their time, so respect that and them as a person and you will go far.
It is important to match the task with the person when making job assignments. You probably wouldn't want someone who is an expert in selling to stuff envelopes when they would be more valuable and happy working the phones trying to solicit donors.
If you are working from an office environment be sure and make it as pleasant and comfortable a place as you can. Easy access to snacks and drinks (maybe provided free by a generous donor?) should be available and any other creature comforts you can add will be most welcome.
If it's a long project you might want to consider some type of event for reaching a milestone. This would of course depend on your budget but it could be something as simple as bringing in pizza to celebrate.
Always keep an eye out for overwork and stress. People that have volunteered want to help you so respect them and if it looks like they are being overwhelmed it's time to bring in some more help. The key idea is to keep them happy and wanting to continue to help rather than feeling like they are stuck because they are too polite to quit.
Be sure and give praise and say thanks often to each and everyone of your volunteers. Let them know how appreciative you are of their help.
Keep an eye out for any personality conflicts and work swiftly to resolve them. This might be something solved easily like relocating someone to another part of the office or it might mean asking the person to leave. Don't be afraid to do this if you have to because you ultimately are responsible for the group as a whole and the success of the project falls on your shoulders. Be a leader!
Follow these simple steps, communicate frequently, respect and thank your team often and you will find that your fundraiser will be a great success!
Free Easy Fundraisers
(category: Fundraising, Word count: 820)
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When your youth group needs to raise money quickly, you need a fast free fundraiser that you can rely on to generate the necessary revenue. The amount you make on these free easy fundraisers will depend on how much time you have to prepare and how well you execute your plan.
Here are three time-tested projects to raise some fast cash:
1 - Car Wash
2 - Yard Cleanup
3 - Community Cleanup
Car Wash Fundraiser
Car washes have proven to be great fundraisers in virtually every community. All you need are willing volunteers, a high-traffic location with good visibility, and some attention getting signs. You can put your car wash fundraiser together on short notice.
Here's what you need to do:
1 - Line up a location with good main road frontage
2 - Ensure it has water access
3 - Assemble supplies list - hoses, buckets, wash towels, dry towels, squeegees
4 - Assign each volunteer an item from the supplies list
5 - Make 8-10 poster board signs in high-contrast colors
6 - Arrange your volunteers in 2-hour shifts
7 - Wash cars for six hours (Saturday preferred)
8 - Have dual lines so you can wash two at once
Your car wash fundraiser's success will of course depend on the weather. If you can wash 12 cars an hour (one every 10 minutes in each line), you can easily raise more than $500 in one day.
Remember to put together a quick flyer that includes the reason why you're raising funds and clearly states the price. You can even offer some extra services such as Armor-All tire treatment or interior vacuuming for an additional fee.
Alternatively, you can advertise a free car wash and just ask for donations for your cause. Often, this can raise more cash than stating a specific price, because people will see a group of volunteers working hard and having a good time, and may pay more than you would hav asked.
Keeping safety in mind, be sure to get volunteers to hold and wave signs toward passing traffic, not just volunteers to wash cars. If you have time, advertise your car wash event in the local newspaper, and post signs a day or two in advance.
Yard Cleanup
A yard cleanup fundraiser is extremely fast and easy to put together. Simply create a set of instructions for your group detailing what to offer, what to say, and how much to charge.
Like most fundraisers, the target market is family, friends, and neighbors. Depending on the age of your participants, your offerings can range from simple lawn care all the way up to mulching flower beds or pruning tree limbs. In many climates, autumn is a great time to do this fundraiser, because leaf clearing is always a needed service during those months.
Create a flyer describing your fundraiser and clearly list your prices for the various cleanup options. Assign a fundraising quota to each participant.
Offer some individual and group performance bonuses. There's nothing like a team pizza party or movie passes to motivate a youth sports group.
Community Cleanup
A community cleanup, also known as a trash bag fundraiser, performs a valuable community service while also providing a significant revenue opportunity. Organizing a community cleanup project is a way to raise funds and send a positive message about your group at the same time.
This type of one day or weekend fundraising event is very similar to the Athlet-A-Thon or Fun-A-Thon concept. Here your group's participants solicit pledges from the usual suspects - family, friends, and neighbors. Have local businesses donate trash bags and recruit parents and relatives with trucks to haul what you collect.
Pledges are tied to a specific attainment goal such as the number of pounds of trash collected or the number of road miles cleaned of debris. You'll need to create a one-page overview of your cleanup program and a pledge signup sheet.
It works best if your overview specifies a suggested range for donations, say anywhere from a penny to a dime a pound for a large project. An amazing amount of garbage can be collected from a local stream or illegal dumping area, so it's not a bad idea to also put a maximum limit on pledge amounts of $20.
Have local businesses donate trash bags. Recruit parents and relatives with trucks to haul what you collect.
Do the math. You'll be surprised at how much money you can generate. Assuming 50 participants, each of whom has five pledges of a penny a pound, if you collect a ton of garbage, your group will raise $100 per participant or $5,000.
That's not bad money for a free fundraiser! You'd be surprised at how easy it is to collect a ton of garbage.
Each of these fundraisers is fast, easy to put together, and a reliable revenue generator for your group. As with any youth group event, an adult should be in attendance at all times for safety purposes. Get started on your free easy fundraisers today!
Fundraising And The Business Of Relationships
(category: Fundraising, Word count: 385)
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The golden key to effective fundraising is an organizations ability to manage relationships. While some may consider this an oversimplified explanation of a complex non-profit business model, our experience has shown us that this is one of the most overlooked, yet lucrative, elements of our fundraising efforts.
The backbone of any fundraising campaign is the appeal to donors for contributions. The problem many organizations run into during this phase of their fundraising efforts is that they have neglected to keep their donors engaged with their organization since their previous appeal for support. The donor no longer feels engaged by, or attached to, your organization in any meaning way. What distinguishes your organization or non-profit from the next?
We advise all of our clients to develop strong relationships with their donors and supporters. In the non-profit sector, these relationships play a significant role in the success of any given campaign. In some cases, these relationships can make or break an organization. Keep in mind that appeals for support are not always of the monetary type. Organizations of every type need support staff, and your donor list is an ideal place to search for new recruits.
One of the most important elements of fundraising is strategic planning, and your donor list can provide you with a lot of useful information. For instance, a well organized donor list can provide you with information about the types of causes a certain individual tends to support. By studying the types of initiatives an individual supports, you can make relatively educated guesses about their receptiveness to your current efforts. By organizing and tracking this data, you can save your organization valuable time and resources that could be used more effectively in another area.
A number of organizations purchase their donor lists from a third party. While this may be the most convenient solution, it is certainly not the most effective. It is imperative for any organization that is serious about fundraising to develop a proprietary donor list. This is a significant point that is often overlooked. By building your own donor list, you become engaged with the people in your community. These are the people that will support your organization over the long term, and the ones most likely to get involved.
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