1 Choosing the right fundraising idea:
Plan ahead! Before diving in and beginning your band fundraiser, it is important to first consider the needs of your fundraising group, and the community you will be asking to support your band fundraiser. Factors to consider include:
Pricing - Consider the economy of the local communities you and your participants will be fundraising in. It is important that the products you will be selling will be affordable for those areas. We have selected a variety of price points for your consideration. Some brochures provide a range of prices, providing something for everyone.
Number of Sellers - Be sure to consider the number of sellers and choose a fundraising program which will generate the greatest profit possible. Consider minimums required to achieve free shipping, how many items you'll need to sell to reach your fundraising goal, or to meet the minimum number of items that may be required to submit an order.
Quality - Of course, all of our programs have been carefully chosen for you to assure you and your supporter's purchases will be appreciated for their high quality. Choose our programs and you'll discover your supporters will be eager to participate in your next band fundraiser. Fundraising sales can grow substantially in repeat years if you are selling the right products. Candle fundraisers, for example, are known for repeating their fundraisers year after year. Many groups who once sold only in the fall are now selling in the spring because their supporters are eager to purchase again and requesting another band fundraiser! Supporter purchase the first time to support your fundraising efforts. They come back and purchase a greater quantity the next time because they love the product.
Percentage of Profit - Our goal is to do everything we can to assist you in earning as much money for your organization as possible. In researching our recommendations for which fundraising programs to use we have purposefully strived to select programs that offer a minimum of at least 40% profit. Some programs add tax, others add shipping. We suggest you consider the size of your group to determine what your sales will need to be on average per person to qualify for free shipping. A shipping fee may reduce your profit about 5% and that is okay as long as the percentage of profit being offered is higher. For most programs, you have the option to collect additional money to cover the cost of shipping, if any. Be sure to know if the program you are considering collects tax, and whether or not you qualify as state tax-exempt. If not, you will want to consider collecting sales tax to keep your profit percentage high or whether you will deduct tax from your profit.
Questions? Call us at 860-384-3691 or 888-209-0613. We are here to help you choose the best fundraising idea for your band fundraiser.
2 Planning Ahead and Getting Organized:
Successful fundraisers are achieved when an organization is well organized, has a fundraising plan, and coordinates responsibilities and expectations of the participants, the parents, the fundraising coordinators, coaches, staff, teachers, extended family, and friends. By coordinating and teaming your participants, their parents, friends, and extended family with your coaches, teachers, staff, and your community a very successful fundraiser can easily be achieved. Coaching tips to guide you include:
Determine a sales goal and based upon the fundraising idea you've chosen how many items will you need to require each participant to sell. Simply saying to your participants "try your best" or "sell as many as you can" will not assure a successful fundraiser. Determine how the funds to be raised will be used and be absolutely certain that you communicate why you are fundraising to your participants and their parents. Unless you have determined, clearly, why you are fundraising and communicated how those funds will be used, it will be difficult for your sellers and parents to find value in why they need to participate. Additionally, unless you communicate how many items you need to sell to reach your financial goal, and break that number down to a required number of items required to be sold by seller, your supporters will not have any expectation of what they need to strive for. Determine a minimum number of items to be sold by each participant, and clearly communicate that minimum to everyone. Communicate those expectations clearly and repeatedly throughout your fundraiser with reminders. Include that message at your fundraiser kick-off, in your fundraising cover letter, in school announcements, at a team practice etc.
Plan an incentive program to increase your sales. It is important to motivate your participants and their parents. Your objective should be to motivate many to sell the minimum number of items you require rather than motivating a few who try to be a top seller. We have had years of success in encouraging organizations to plan celebration events for the participant who sell a minimum number of items. You can ask your community to donate free pizza, ice cream, discounted tickets to a movie, bowling party, laser tag etc in trade for free advertising in your cover letter, newsletters, announcements, etc. Your organization, large or small, can plan a celebration party, inviting those who have sold a minimum number of items. Other ideas include a movie and popcorn night, a game night, a dance. The possibilities are endless. People love social events and don't want to miss out an opportunity to have fun with their friends. And the best part is that a celebrating party is fair. You no longer have to have kids who have sold a large volume not being recognized if they fell short of the top 3 top seller prizes, or a student who sold their heart out but the class was not the winning class for a pizza party, or a student who sold a lot but didn't win in the chance drawing.
Establish a team of volunteers to assist with promotion, collecting money, coordinating a prize program, distribution of your products and pick-up day. Be sure to clearly define and communicate their responsibilities throughout the fundraiser.
Create a calendar to include important dates including your kick-off date, reminder dates, collection dates, and distribution dates. Don't forget to include other details such as when you will write your cover letter, coordinate a prize incentive, submit tax exemption certificate, complete any required paperwork needed by the fundraising company or your treasurer, dates that may be required to tally your order, to inventory your delivery, etc.
Be organized with a list of names and email addresses to communicate with your fundraising team, utilize newsletters, social media, websites to promote your fundraiser. Keep promoting, reminding, and keep everyone informed about the status of your fundraiser.
3 Motivate your Band Fundraiser Participants and Volunteers:
Getting your sellers committed and motivated to start is important. Keeping them that way throughout the fundraiser is equally as important. A few helpful tips include:
Be sure your participants know they are accountable for their individual sales. It is too easy for a seller to feel they are "too busy" or that that they are only one person in the crowd and that what they do or don't do really matters. But therein lies the secret to success! Sales achieved by each participant matters immensely and creating accountability and some competition along the way makes all the difference. Track sales at points throughout your fundraiser. Put up a poster board with your sellers names and list the number of items sold up to that point, offer an incentive for early sales, create a racetrack on the wall for each student to move forward their own decorated car as they progress to the finish line, etc. Shout out announcements on morning announcements, at team meetings, in newsletters, weekly emails, social media posts for sellers who surpass mid point milestones. Being recognized by your peers, teachers, and coaches is very motivating.
Reach out to your parents, teachers, principals, coaches etc and remind them as well to keep motivating your sellers, talking about the fundraiser, and reminding them how the funds will be used. Remember the saying "out of sight, out of mind"? Avoid at all cost just passing out the brochures and saying "see what you can do" and then waiting for the sellers to turn order forms back in.
Stay focused on your goals but don't forget to have fun. Working together positively with your volunteers is extremely important. Avoid tension and keep everything relaxed. Show appreciation for your volunteers help and remember they are volunteering too! There is a lot to accomplish and you'll appreciate everyone's support.
Send home a thank you note to each of your participants, and your supporters for their donations. Consider taking late orders. You'll be surprised how many people will love their products and decide to purchase more!
Best Times of Year to Hold Your Fundraiser
Principals, PTA's, and PTO's typically hold two fundraisers a year. One is scheduled for the fall at the start of the school year and the other is usually mid-spring, before or after their spring break. But are there better times to hold a fundraiser?
It is always helpful to do a little investigation to see what other groups are planning their school fundraisers and what products they are selling in your area. When the students are just coming back to school and they are at their peak of involvement with all their activities pertaining to school, they will be much more willing to participate in your elementary school's fundraiser. Parent involvement is your key to having the most successful elementary school fundraiser. Normally, when your fundraiser can be the first spring fundraiser parents are asked to participate in, the more success you'll achieve. Many schools choose to hold a fundraiser during the holiday shopping season, believing their supporters will purchase more items and that there will be more potential customers. While that thought has merit to some extent, historical statistics show a significant drop in average sales and in the average number of participants. Families and customers are simply burnt out on fundraising after participating and supporting other fundraisers held throughout the fall season. Limit your competition as much as possible and try to beat the other schools, sports teams, clubs and other organizations before their flood the market with fundraisers.
Also, keep in mind, that although some fundraisers can be tallied and shipped within a few days, some programs can take up to 5 weeks. Plan early and be sure to ask what the cut-off date is for the programs you are interested in. If you considering a cookie dough fundraiser or other fundraisers that require frozen products be aware that they will take longer to process and ship. Overall, regardless of the program you choose, we recommend starting your fundraiser right after the school year begins. That way your students are the first ones asking friends and neighbors to buy a product. And the students may not be as overwhelmed with the multitude of school events as they will be later in the fall.
For spring fundraisers, we recommend taking a break from fundraising, allowing supporters the chance to rebound from holiday expenses, and with addtional cash flow from tax returns, mid-season is the best time to start a sale. Again, be one of the first fundraisers before all the spring sports fundraisers begin and end of year fundraisers for schools, clubs, and other organizations kick off their fundraises. If you can hold off and sell in March or very early April you will not compete with as as many other organizations and you will have less concerns about receiving your orders before the end of the school year.
Why Use Best-Fundraising Ideas for Your Elementary School Fundraiser? We've help thousands of groups over the past 20+ year to raise millions of dollars and many of those are elementary school fundraising groups. We would love to help you and your school as well!
Reveiw our site to find suggestions on candle fundraisers for schools and other great elementary school fundraising ideas. We offer numerous different fundraisers that do not require any upfront cost, offer free shipping, online fundraising store, and brochure and virtual fundraisers. We offer high profit fundraisers for elementary schools and other organizations that offer fundraising programs that can work well for small and large groups.
Elementary schools typically raise money school-wide unlike other grade levels. Sometimes elementary schools will raise money for individual classrooms, class field trips, and other events. That’s why we offer a great selection of large scale and smaller programs. We can provide you with suggestions of proven elementary school fundraising ideas that have helped schools throughout the U.S. to raise money. Elementary School Fundraising is a much need yearly tradition and there are more elementary school fundraisers than there are at any other grade level. Fortunately, parents are not yet burned out on fundraising in the early fall and early spring, and with the right program, you'll achieve the most success elementary school fundraisers. Their kids are new to school and they are at the peak of their involvement at all things pertaining to school.
Wishing you great success!
Deb Murray
Fundraising With Candle Fundraisers has selected the best fundraising ideas to match the needs of today's elementary school fundraisers. Beyond textbooks and school supplies, school organizations such as school clubs, prom committees, sports teams, PTO's, etc. all depend upon fundraising to support their programs. With the decrease in funding and increase in operating costs facing elementary schools, we offer simple and easy elementary school fundraisers that are effective, and will exceed your school's fundraising goal! We've worked with elementary schools all across the U.S. for more than 13 years as Celebrating Home Fundraising, originating as Home Interiors Fundraising, Home and Garden Party Fundraising, and La-Tee-Da! Fundraising. Through the years, we continue to search for and offer the best elementary school fundraising programs available to you. We look forward to helping you with your next fundraiser!
Fundraising With Candle Fundraisers ● 102 Thompson St, S. Glastonbury, CT 06073 ● Contact: Deb Murray Anderson ● Bookmark: www.FundraisingWithCandleFundraisers.com
Phone: (860) 384-3691 ● Email: deb@best-fundraising-ideas.com ● Copyright © 2002 New Fundraising Ideas, all rights reserved
Simply the best in candle fundraiser offering Premium Soy Blend Candles, Room Sprays, Wax Melts, and Essential Oils. Offering 50% Profit fundraising, FREE Brochures, FREE pack-by-seller, online fundraising, chairperson and seller dashboards to track sales. No miniums, free shipping. Everyone loves candle fundraisers!
Elementary School Fundraiser Ideas to Raise Money
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Simply the best in candle fundraiser offering Premium Soy Blend Candles and room sprays. Offers 50% Profit fundraising, FREE Brochures, FREE Pre-sorting by Seller, Risk Free with no Minimums, No Case Requirements, Fast Shipping. Everyone loves candle fundraisers!
Once known as Home Interiors Candle Fundraiser, and Celebrating Home Fundraising Candle Fundraising, we are still the same company but with a new name, La-Tee-Da! 50% Profit, FREE Brochures and Presorting, No Minimums, No Case Requirements.
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Helping Organizations Raise Money Since 2002
Simply the best in candle fundraiser offering Premium Soy Blend Candles, Room Sprays, Wax Melts, and Essential Oils. Offering 50% Profit fundraising, FREE Brochures, FREE pack-by-seller, online fundraising, chairperson and seller dashboards to track sales. No miniums, free shipping. Everyone loves candle fundraisers!
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Elementary School Fundraising Ideas
For over 20 years, we have a proven success record working with thousands of groups across the U.S. and we are ready to help you. You'll receive FREE fundraising brochures and FREE Shipping opportunities with all fundraising programs. Only the best, high quality, high profit, and easy to sell fundraising programs are offered. You'll have the opportunity to work with the same representative throughout your fundraiser from start to finish. When you need help we'll be here to help you with extended evening and weekend office hours.
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