Fundraising Basics

Conducting a successful Fundraiser requires effort. During the short time span of four to six weeks you will perform many of the same management functions. Our goal in nonprofit fund raising is to help you understand a few of the more important aspects of this process so that you have a great fundraising idea experience and your group successfully raises the money it needs.

Setting a Sales Goal: The figure you decide on must be achievable given time and resource constraints. For instance, let's assume that your group wishes to raise $2,000 and you have 10 selling members. This means that each fundraising product member will be responsible for generating $200 in profits from shcool fundraiser. The size of your sales force, the profit potential per cheerleading fund raiser sale of the product you choose, timing, and several other issues presented below will influence whether or not your sales goal is to low, to high, or right on the $$!! Keep this issue in mind as we continue.

Choosing A Product To Sell: Every group and all fundraisers are different. Here are a few questions one might ask before deciding:

band fund raising | school fundraiser | soccer fund raiser | soccer fund raising

• Profit Potential - can the highschool fund raiser sell enough of the product to reach its goal? How many customers will each member need to secure? What is the profit per sale of each product under consideration?
• Defining your potential customer - will they buy what your school fund raiser members want to sell?
• The time of year - chocolate bars in the heat of July would be a disaster. Our gourmet mixes offered in the Fall/Winter or Spring would be outstanding!
• Competition from other fundraising groups - having four groups sell the same thing at the same time would result in none of the groups doing well. The school fund raising idea sales potential for the same thing is limited.
• Product quality and uniqueness - many customers are "tired" of wrapping paper every year for school band fund raising. Offering our gourmet foods would be a great change for the better.
• Price points - a $15.00 candle might have a great profit margin but might not sell because a comparable candle at Wal-Mart is $5.95. Whereas, a set of 6 of our Purely American gourmet mixes at $33.00 might be considered a real bargain compared to what the pto fund raiser customer would find in a local gourmet shop.
• Level of interest by members - the product won't sell if the members don't get behind it.

These are only some of the issues which need to be addressed before choosing a product.

Getting Members Committed: Once a product is chosen by little league fund raising, the next step is to divide your total $$ goal by the # of selling members so that each will see how much he/she is responsible for selling to enable the group to reach the big picture goal. This is a critical step to get each member to realize that the sales goal is achievable and fundraisers for school that it isn't up to those who are internet fund raising good at selling" to make the 100% effort. So many times the old 80/20 sales split occurs: 80% of the sales comes from 20% of the sales force. This simple technique will go a long way to get every member to BELIEVE he/she can help reach the goal.

Set a Time Limit: Two-Three weeks is considered the best length of time to conduct a school band fundraiser. Usually, within those weeks, your members will have enough time to present the idea to their friends/family without loosing interest. Allow three days after your deadline for any stray orders to filter in before sending orders and payment to our office for processing.

Managing Collections: To keep things simple, it is advisable to have each school fund raising customer write checks payable to your group. After all funds are collected and verified (very important as well), one check should be written to Purely American to cover your costs.

Fundraising Ideas and Products Available Through Our Purely American Affiliate. If this is your first time coordinating the fundraiser for your group, we hope this information helps you make the experience a lot easier. Call us now @ 800-359-7873 to answer more questions or to place your order.