Start a School Fundraiser

New to fundraising 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? Second, how many volunteers and sales people will be available? Your answers will help identify fundraisers that will produce the results you need, which are:

1. Events
Think of this as putting together a very large outside party. This type of fundraiser is extremely labor intensive and requires a lot of planning. You will need to provide entertainment, food, drink, tents, parking and advertising. Amount of money that can be generated will be dependent on the weather, your costs, and how large your event is.

2. Product sales – indirect method
This type of fundraising is highly labor intensive. Normally run by the parents of the PTOs and selling done by students. Examples are cookie dough and wrapping paper. Requires two contacts with customers; 1st to get a sale and collect the money, 2nd to deliver the merchandise. Some of the activities required are: recruiting adult volunteers, student motivation, record keeping, order and money collection, storage of merchandise, order delivery, prize programs, and resolution of problem orders. On average schools retain 25% - 55% of the total fundraising sale. Minimum number of products must be sold for the higher percentages Costs may include brochures, delivery of merchandise, and no refunds or returns.

2. Product sales – direct method
This type of fundraiser is low labor intensive and can be conducted by small student groups in as little as two weeks. Examples of this type are candy bars and punch cards. Pre-purchase of merchandise is a required and does create some risk. Over ordering decreases profits by the amount not sold. Under ordering, creates lost sales which would have increased your profits. Costs may include delivery of merchandise and no returns.

Candy sales - On average schools retain 40% - 50%. Minimum orders are by the case and percentage of profit you earn is based on how many cases you order. Product selling price normally between $1 - $2.

Punch cards - customer pays for a card which can be used with local merchant for (10) discounted purchases. Fundraisers are normally required to find a merchant who is willing to provide discounted merchandise. Cards can be purchased for about $2.50 or more and sold for $10 - $20.

3. Raffles and Scratch Cards
This type of fundraising at its basic level, is gambling. Moderately labor intensive and profits correlate to size of the sales force or large community event to sell at. Costs are upfront.

Raffles - costs mainly consist of raffle tickets and advertising. Money generated will be based on the value of the prize and any compensation owed to donor.

Scratch cards – customers receive discounted coupons and the chance is how much he will pay for it. Claims are profits up to 75% - 90%. It is a game of chance – "up to" does not mean you will. Chances are normally sold between $1 - $5. Costs of the cards vary widely with each company, average about $10. per card with average of 15 chances per card.

4. Online fundraisers - three types:
Affinity programs - schools receive rebates based on a percentage of purchases. Supporters have no control over which schools receive the rebates and how much.

Indirect sales fundraising companies – may provide internet sites for viewing their fundraising merchandise and the ability to a place bulk order after the fundraiser is completed. Some that do let customers place individual orders and choose the school the proceeds are to go to for certain merchandise.

The full service fundraising program - low labor intensive, can be conducted by small student groups, no sales force required. Work normally done by fundraising groups, are services provided. Advertising is key to success and provides the ability to expand the customer base to entire community. Some also include guidance for low to no cost advertising campaigns. Orders are placed directly by individual customers with the ability to choose the school to profit. This type of fundraiser is fairly new. On average schools retain 10% - 25% of each sale.

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

Take the amount you need to raise and divide that number by the expected percent profit for that type of fundraiser. Any costs will increase the total amount you need. Result is the total sales required. Next, estimate how much you think the average customer will spend? This will be dependent on the cost of your products and how much 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 costs. Assumption: customers spend an average of $20. How many customers do we need?

$6,000 / 25% = $24,000 total sales required
$24,000 / $20. = 1,200 customers required

Question: Will the support from the company enable us to create 1,200 customers? (With other types of fundraisers ask: do we have the sales force or community support?)

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

I hope this has been of help to you and I wish you success in your fundraising endeavor.