Tips & Suggestions for Fundraisers?

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Tips & Suggestions for Fundraisers?

Submitted by: Tip Hero 08/13/2009 7:42 AM

Many of us have been faced with the challenge of organizing a fundraiser -- whether for school, church, sports, the arts, non-profits or other worthy causes -- and have learned a lot along the way. Share your fundraising ideas, tips and lessons with your fellow Tip Heroes by posting a comment below so that their worthy cause may benefit from your experience. And thanks for being a Tip Hero!

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Comments:

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We used to run the hockey fundraiser each year and bought wholesale candy bars that we could sell for $1. We found that most people are willing to spend $1 on a candy bar and it's not asking a lot. We usually raised about $1500 doing this. Not sure if the candy company we ordered from is still in business. but it was a great fundraiser.

My husband would bring a box to work with him to sell and it'd be gone by the end of the day. They'd rather spend their snack money supporting a good cause than going to the vending machine.

Posted by K.Reed on August 13, 2009 1:32 PM

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The joys of fund raising...as mentioned earlier, the candy bar is always a hit and I believe the company (at least around here in Ohio) is Anthony Thomas.

Another favorite that requires a little effort but is well worth it is the community cookbook. There are several companies that you can Google and they would be happy to mail out samples and walk you through the process. Everyone gets involved and feels "a part of."

One that our church is having next month is the old standby "the white elephant sale" where everybody brings in a gently used item to be raffled off to the highest bidder. This can turn into lots of fun and gets rid of your old junk!

Posted by Dawn C. on August 13, 2009 2:57 PM

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Market Day is alot of work - but very profitable

Posted by Janet on August 13, 2009 3:08 PM

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In our area, Pizza Hut will give 20% of sales on a certain night (Monday here). We are a rural area and usually only bring in $200, but every little bit helps. AND, the only thing we have to do is advertise (local news column and word of mouth, Church bulletins, etc) and then sit at Pizza Hut (eat of course), greet people, etc.

Posted by Diane on August 13, 2009 5:10 PM

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Avon offers wonderful fundraising opportunities for any type of organization. If your group needs money quickly, you can have profits in hand in as little as three weeks for minimal work. They also have special fundraisers for the USO in which care packages are given to soldiers over-seas. You can contact avon.com to find a representative in your area for more info!

Posted by Lisa Delaney on August 13, 2009 5:43 PM

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We sponsored a plant swap at a community center and invited people to bring their extra plants and take home something new. At the same time we run a book sale, have garden seeds we give out. At the end of the swap, the extra plants are donated to a green space project such as a rain garden or entrance that needs color for allowing us to spread the health benefits of gardening and learning some independence from growing your own.

Posted by Cher B on August 13, 2009 5:51 PM

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we run cash for gold parties and have done quite a few to raise money for swim teams etc.

Posted by anonymous on August 13, 2009 10:13 PM

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Find a local Avon dealer. Our small group sold Avon for 2 campaigns around Christmas and again around Easter. Each student was to try to find 5 people they came incontact with regularly and to let their customers know that we would be doing this only 3 (or whatever) campaigns. Response was great, we sold a large variety of products and got a great profit margin.

Posted by anonymous on August 15, 2009 10:49 PM

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Two things our elementary school does: we hold a Tricky Tray - which is a LOT of work but nets us about $3000.
We also held a vendor fair at school: sent flyers out looking for vendors to take a table for $30. We sold about 20 tables so netted $600 for a minimum of effort. The tables went to home-party people: Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, At Home America, etc. Then we held a Shopping Night and the vendors kept whatever $$ they sold, plus the booked some parties too so it was worth their time.

Posted by Helen Q on August 17, 2009 7:52 PM

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please explain, what is a "cash for gold party????

Posted by anonymous on August 17, 2009 9:08 PM

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Some of the churches in our area hold consignment sales to make money for their missions. The consignor pays a $5 fee and is assigned a code (usually 3 initials and last 4 #'s of phone no. ex. LBT-9756) The consignor makes tags 1/3 index card size...puts their code on the top of the tag, a brief description in the middle of tag and the price at the bottom (even dollar amounts only to make it easier for cashier)

The tags are safety pinned on the right side of the garment and hung on hangers facing to the right. So everything is uniform and easy to hang when they are brought in. They have certain hours to bring in items. Volunteers look over the things and give back items that might be stained or otherwise too worn to be included. Sale is held for several hours on one day, and things not sold are returned within a 1-2 hour window of time. You just pull up, tell volunteer your code and they retrieve your unsold items to your car. You receive your check within 10 days. 70% for you and 30% for the church.

Posted by anonymous on August 21, 2009 9:43 AM

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You can hold a yard sale and AT the yard sale, sell hot dogs and waters---I make a good profit this way. Look for hotdogs on sale at the grocery store--99 cents a pack sometimes, or Buy one get one free and use coupons on top of that, and buy rolls when they are on sale for 99 cents or go to Dollar Tree--which sells bread products--and get the rolls for $1 a pack. Sell the hot dogs for $1.50 a piece.

But the real money maker is the waters--I just found on sale a case of 24 bottles for $2.15 per case. I'm going to sell them for $1 at a side walk Festival sale in a couple weeks--bringing in $21.85 in profit per case.

Posted by Cheryl on September 10, 2009 2:01 PM

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There are enough cookies & candies out there. How about something practical like first aid kits for the home & car; handcrank flashlights in case of power failure; emergency candles (not the sweet smelling kind, the ones that last 100 hours). With storms & all sorts of other disasters, people should jump at the chance to help a cause while helping their own families by being prepared.

Posted by Kanni on January 21, 2010 6:28 PM

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