Start a School Fundraiser

New fund raising or just looking for new ideas? Here are the 5 main types of school fundraisers to help you make an informed decision. Also included is a way you can estimate how many customers you need to reach your financial goal.

First you need to answer two questions. What is the minimum amount of money you need? Secondly, the number of volunteers and sales personnel will be available? Your answers will help identify the collection of funds that will produce the desired results, which are:

1. Events

Think of it like putting together a huge party out. This type of fundraising is very labor intensive and requires a lot of planning. You will need to provide entertainment, food, drinks, tents, parking and advertising. Amount of money that can be generated will be dependent on the weather, costs, and how big your event.

2. Product sales - indirect method

This type of fundraising is labor intensive. Normally handled by the parents of PTOs and sales made by the students. The examples are cookie dough and wrapping paper. Requires two contacts with customers before they get a sale and collect the money, second to deliver the goods. Some of the activities required are: recruiting adult volunteers, student motivation, account books, order and collecting money, goods storage, delivery orders, rewards programs, orders and troubleshooting. At middle schools retain 25% - 55% of total sales of fundraising. Minimum Number of products must be sold to the highest percentage costs may include brochures, delivery of goods, and no refunds or returns.

2. Sales of products - Direct method

This type of fundraising is the low labor intensity and can be conducted by small groups of students in just two weeks. Examples of this type are chocolate bars and the punched cards. Pre-purchase of goods is a necessary and does not create a risk. In the course of ordering decreases profits for the amount not sold. In order, creates the loss of sales that would have increased profits. The costs may include shipping the merchandise and not return.

Candy Sales - middle schools retain 40% - 50%. These are orders from the minimal case and the percentage of profit you earn is based on how many cases you order. Selling price of products normally between $ 1 - $ 2.

Punch cards - customer pays for a card which can be used with a local dealer for (10) discounted purchases. Fundraisers are usually necessary to find a merchant that is willing to provide discounted goods. The cards can be purchased for about $ 2.50 or more and sold for $ 10 - $ 20.

3. Lottery and scratch cards

This type of fundraising at its basic level, it is gambling. Moderately labor-intensive and profits related to the size of the sales force or a large community event to sell. The costs are in advance.

Raffles - consist primarily of costs of lottery tickets and advertising. The money generated will be based on the value of the premium and any compensation due to the donor.

Scratch - customers receive discounted coupons and the chance is what you pay for it. Complaints are useful up to 75% - 90%. This is a game of chance - "until" does not mean it will. The odds are usually sold for between $ 1 - $ 5. The cost of the cards vary widely with each company, on average about $ 10. paper deals with an average of 15 per card.

4. Fundraising on-line - three types:

Affinity programs - schools receive discounts based on a percentage of purchases. Fans do not have any control over which schools receive the discounts and how much.

Indirect fundraising company sales - may provide for the display of websites their wares to raise funds and the ability to place a bulk order after the fundraiser is complete. Some do not allow customers to place orders and individual to choose the school proceeds must go to certain goods.

The entire fundraising program service - low labor intensity, can be carried out by small groups of students, no sales force needed. The work normally done by groups of fundraising, services are provided. Advertising is the key to success and offers the possibility to expand the customer base for the entire community. Some also include a guide for advertising at low cost. Orders are placed directly by the individual customer with the opportunity to choose schools for profit. This type of fundraising is fairly new. At middle schools retain 10% - 25% of each sale.

Calculation of the number of customers - I like to call the calculation "Guess-ta-Mat". The only things that are certain are death and taxes, but this will help to shed light into the black hole of financial assumptions.

Take the amount needed to lift and divide that number by the percentage of expected profit for this type of fundraising. Any costs increase the total amount needed. The result is the total sales required. Then, assess how you think the average customer spend? This will depend on the cost of your products and how the families in your community are willing and able to spend - your best guess. Take the total sales and divide by the average customer purchase. The answer is: how many customers you need.

Example: Goal - $ 6.000. Test type: Internet fundraiser. 25% profit. No additional cost. Hypothesis: customers spend an average of $ 20. How many customers do we need?

$ 6,000 / $ 24,000 = 25% of total sales required

$ 24,000 / $ 20. = 1,200 customers required

Question: support from the company allow us to create 1,200 customers? (With other types of fundraisers ask, do not have the sales force and support the community?)

A point to keep in mind is door to door is no longer an option in many neighborhoods. Increased number of targeted killings against children make it dangerous. This puts most of the burden on parents to sell.

I hope this was of help to you and wish you success in your fundraising efforts....