Fundraising Options for Any Organization

By Donna Rivera-Loudon

One of the challenges for any group or organization is finding new ways to raise funds. It seems that everyone sells candy bars or puts on a car wash. Below are some fundraising ideas that might be a nice change and help your group raise funds using something unique that isn't being done by every other group out there.

1. Silent Auction

Have various members of your group donate items and then hold a silent auction. It is easy to do this. Just set aside a table or shelf. Give each item a piece of paper that people can write their bids on. The highest bidder wins the auction.

2. Direct Sales Companies

Several of the direct sales and party plan companies also have fundraising programs. Some of these programs are quite good. What is nice about some of these plans is that your group does not have to buy any stock in advance. Everything is done using catalogs. People place their orders and the consultant orders all the items. The majority of the time the consultant will pack all the orders and separate them by seller. Usually the consultant will give some type of incentive for the highest seller to encourage more fundraiser sales. Examples of direct sales companies that have fundraiser programs are Tupperware and Avon. These companies have a good reputation and a well know brand name. This helps to encourage your sales. If you use a company that is not well know, your sales may not be as good.

3. Rummage Sale

Put on a rummage sale. Ask for donations from all groups members. Advertise your rummage sale in the yard sale section of your local newspaper. Have your group members help at the fundraiser. The easiest way to price everything is to have tables for each price group. Then make signs for each table. For example, everything on this table is $1. Making a sign for each table or even for a certain corner or box will help eliminate the extra work of pricing everything individually.

4. Host a vendor fair or farmer's market or Trade show

This works well if you have a building or parking lot. Rent out booths. This can be as simple as each parking space is so much or so much per table. Those in direct sales are always looking for opportunities to set up displays so they are the first ones you should call. Contact law enforcement agencies and other informational type organizations who might be willing to set up a display. You can also rent spaces to group members who may want to sell some stuff lying around their house but don't want to put on a yard sale of their own. However, keep in mind that you don't want this to be a big rummage sale. It works best when the majority of your vendors are selling new items. If you set your rent low enough you can also request that a percentage of sales go to the group. For example, you can rent tables for $10 and then ask for 10 percent of their sales for your group.

One thing to keep in mind is that in order for people to rent a space or table they need to know that people will be attending this event. Hence, make sure all group members publicize it. Put fliers for the event everywhere you can and consider placing an ad in the newspaper. If your vendors find your event was successful for them, they will be calling you asking you to do it again. Hence, more funds for your organization.

5. A New Take on Car Washes

I mentioned car washes earlier. Several groups seem to do them. However, there is a different way to do car washes that can actually raise more money for your group. This is done by selling tickets to your car wash in advance. You will be surprised at how many people will buy a tickets. Some of them may not come to the car wash but will buy a ticket to help out your group. Some groups have actually doubled their fundraiser proceeds by selling these tickets in advance.

6. Host a luncheon or dinner

Hosting a luncheon or dinner is a nice way to raise funds. Of course, you have to host the dinner but this may not be as difficult as you might think. Many restaurants have specials rooms that they use to host conferences, etc. These rooms can be rented for a fundraiser dinner. Often, the restaurants will also provide the food. Hence, it is just a matter of determining the cost of the room and the meals and then adding so much per ticket. Sell the tickets in advance. Following are some ideas on luncheons and dinners.

a. Hold a Valentine's dinner. Order a nice cake, have candy hearts on the tables, balloons, flowers, etc. One time I went to such an event with my church. Our pastor actually did a vow renewal service for all of us and the night was very special.

b. Christmas lunch or dinner. Decorate the room in a Christmas theme and have some gifts set aside. Play games for the gifts. Provide a small gift for everyone who buys a dinner ticket.

c. Any type of theme will work. Make it fun and interesting so people will want to purchase tickets to your event.

Fundraising can definitely be a challenge. However, there are plenty of options out there. I only listed a few of them above, but the opportunities out there for raising funds are endless.
About The Author

Donna is the owner/designer of A Website for the Modern Woman

Donna's Websites:
Independent Tupperware Director Website
Independent Avon Consultant
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Selecting The Right Fundraiser

by Greg Reynolds

Selecting the right fundraiser is the most important decision you'll make. Among the key factors are the timing of your fundraisers each year, the quality of the merchandise, selling considerations, delivery considerations, and ultimately, the net profit to your organization.
Think of yourself as running a small business building a reputation for innovation and quality products. What are your financial goals versus expected unit volume numbers, sales revenue versus profit percentage, quality of goods versus cost, acceptable market price points, etc? If you think like a business leader, then you're on the right track.
First choose a type of fundraiser There are different types of "best" fundraisers and you have to select what's best for your organization at this particular time. Your fundraising choices are:
1 - Event-based fundraisers
2 - Direct donation fundraiser
3 - Fundraisers with immediate product delivery
4 - Fundraisers with delayed product delivery

The first decisions you have to make are on the fundraiser category, selecting a fundraising company or distributor as your supplier, and then the actual fundraiser itself.
Decision factors How do you make that decision? A professional fundraising consultant can often be a big help. You can also check the web, use your personal contacts, review your group's past records, etc. Most importantly, take some time to gather the information you need to make the right decision.
You can design a simple survey that you can give to past organizers and other key influencers such as local merchants and organizational leaders. Offer clear choices to ease evaluation of replies. Print it out and get quality feedback from within and without your organization on what's worked well before and what needs improving.
Then, put together a spreadsheet for evaluating and ranking fundraisers. Break the ranking criteria into categories with sub headings in text boxes across the spreadsheet. Numerical rankings should be assigned to what criteria are most important to your group at this particular time for this fundraiser.
Things to consider when evaluating offerings:
1. Quality of the merchandise items offered
2. Quality of support materials provided such as catalogs
3. References of supplier
4. Availability of free samples or catalogs
5. Service level of supplier such as pre-sorting goods, etc.
6. Hidden costs such as freight, paying for brochures, etc.
7. Hassle factors like replacement goods and refunds policies
8. Special delivery needs such as refrigeration for some foodstuffs
9. Specific needs of organization
10. Previous vs. projected financial performance

Seek wisdom from past experience Results will vary with the amount of fundraisers done previously, number going on at same time (yours and others), time of year, etc. Look at this fundraiser in context of others - done this one before, done it every year, competing group just did it, or our cheerleaders did this one before and it was a big hit.
Successful past fundraising ideas could and should be repeated, but remember that your customer base is often close to eighty percent the same customers from year to year. Spice it up; try something new and different that will increase your revenue.

About The Author

Greg Reynolds writes about fundraising for school fundraisers, church capital campaigns, and youth sports teams.

Fundraising For Youth Groups

by D. David Dugan

Youth Groups are almost always in need of funds. Holding fundraisers to finance important trips like tournaments, museums, and musical events are just some of the needs that have to be met through fundraising. Others include the need for uniforms, sports equipment, art supplies, musical instruments, and more.

There are a lot of different ways your youth group can raise the funds they need. In this article, I will explore some of those with you and try to help you avoid some of the pitfalls. I will let you benefit from my experience and I will help you avoid some of my mistakes.
Let's start right off with candy. I have tried to use candy as a fundraising tool on more than one occasion for more than one youth group.

Pros and Cons of using candy as a youth group fundraiser.

Pros: Candy is cheap and can be sold for a great profit for your youth group. Everyone likes candy, so it's a fairly easy sale, especially if you go with name brand candy. The candy is cheap enough that most people have enough money in their pocket to purchase it.

Cons: Candy melts. Trust me on this. Candy melts and when it does, your profits melt with it as you try to clean whatever it melted all over. The members of your youth group eat Candy and when the parents have to pay for all the candy YOU let their child eat, you get phone calls. Trust me on this. You get a lot of phone calls. Candy smells. Trust me on this. Wherever you store the candy will smell like candy forever. Bigger children steal candy from smaller children and again parents end up paying for the candy and you get the phone calls.

Coupon Books are another commonly used Youth Group Fundraiser.

Pros: Some coupon books are filled with free stuff and everyone loves free stuff! Your youth group can raise as much as $10 per coupon book so they need to make less sales to reach their goals.

Cons: Everyone still has last year's coupon book. None of the coupons have been used. They never have it with them whenever they go somewhere they might have been able to use it for. I have been to a door to sell coupon books and had a guy hand me 7 unused coupon books as his donation. He said if I resold those, I would be able to raise more money than if he just bought one again this year. Coupons expire. They usually have a cost of about $10 to $15 per book, but of course the children in YOUR youth group will never lose any of them and their parents won't be calling YOU, like with the candy.

Basically, every fundraiser your youth group takes on will come with responsibility and they all have their pros and cons. However, if you look for a product that has the following features, I believe you will have a more successful fundraising opportunity for your youth group.

1. Choose products that do not melt, expire, rot, or otherwise perish.
2. Choose products that do not have a large cost per unit, no matter what the profit.
3. Choose products that everyone uses and will get a lot of uses from. Something they will remember being very useful will get them to continue supporting your youth group.
4. Choose products that do not require a lot of storage space.
5. Choose products that are popular like things with the donor's favorite major league baseball or football team logo on them.

If you follow those simple rules, your youth group fundraiser will be easy to manage, you won't end up stuck with a lot of leftover product to store, your storage area won't smell, you won't need to clean up messes, and best of all, the parents of your youth group participants won't be calling you.

About The AuthorD. David Dugan is the president of DD&C and personally helps to maintain their computer support forum at http://forum.dugancom.com. Be sure to check out the Brax Fundraising website http://www.braxfundraising.com