Here are some common ways people choose their group fundraiser. Where do you fit in?

Profit, Profit, Profit!

Some people are only interested in how much money they can make. They are happy to see profit percentages of 50% and higher. If the fundraising company can throw in some additional profit incentives, like signing bonuses, all the better!

Upside: If the fundraiser makes a high profit, you don’t have to do as much of it.

Downside: High profit percentage often doesn’t translate into high profit to the group. There are a lot of variables that make a fundraiser successful. High participation always trumps high profit.

Convenience

People are busy, so they are looking for the easiest fundraiser possible. If a fundraiser promises to be quick and easy, they are in.

Upside: When a fundraiser is easy, the volunteers catch a break.

Downside: Convenient doesn’t always mean successful. Some of the best selling and most profitable fundraising items, such as cookie dough, takes a little work to coordinate.

I Would Buy That

Many people will pick the group fundraiser based on their own tastes. So if they see a brochure they like, that is the one they will choose. These people tend to value quality over profit percentage.

Upside: It is easier to raise money by selling something you feel good about.

Downside: Your tastes may not line up with the tastes of your participants.

Service Please!

For these people, what is most important is great customer service. They want to be sure that there is someone on hand to help make the fundraiser easy and successful. They will take great service over fancy brochures or high profit percentage any day.

Upside: You will experience a smooth and professional fundraiser, and feel good about it all throughout the experience.

Downside: Great service makes it easy for the fundraising coordinators, but it is still important to sell a great product at a fair price if you want to raise any money.

So, do you know where you fit in? There is a good chance that you are a mix of these. And if you decide on your fundraisers as a committee, you most certainly experience these different viewpoints.

And where does Stevco come down on this scale? Well, we believe that high profits come from selling quality products that people actually want to buy, and which participants are happy to sell. High participation equals high profit. And we think convenience and customer service is very important, so we do more than any other fundraising company to make sure your fundraiser is easy.

If you are looking for high profits and a high level of customer service, you can confidently choose Stevco.

As fall is a traditional time to start the big school fundraiser, and as fundraising is sometimes a stressful endeavour, we thought we would share some tips to alleviate the stress of your fundraising this year.

1. Review All of the Details

As you get ready to launch the fall fundraiser, make sure you have all of your dates and details in place. Also, be sure to double-check with the fundraising company, verifying that they have the same dates and details.

2. Allow Enough Time

Starting your fundraiser early gives you plenty of time to get the product handed out before the holidays. Don’t try to squeeze your fundraiser into a small time window. If you want delivery before Thanksgiving or before Christmas, schedule it for two weeks before vacation so any loose ends don’t ruin your holiday.

3. Recruit Volunteers Early and Often

You are going to want people by your side for some of the tasks of fundraising, such as the product hand out day. Start asking early so you are sure to have enough people on board. Also, it is always better to have too many volunteers, rather than too few.

4. Prepare Reminders

A note sent home at a key point in the fundraiser can help things go more smoothly. Consider sending reminders that the fundraiser is starting, that the orders are due in, and that the pick up date is approaching.

5. Double-check the Availability of Your Distribution Room

Make sure the office AND the custodial staff knows what room you need, how long you need it, what time the truck is coming in, etc. Nothing adds to stress like not having a room available when you clearly remember requesting it. Just to be safe, double-check.

6. Clear Your Day

Delivery day can get hectic without a little pre-planning. Make sure you have help in place to watch your kids and don’t try to fit extra stuff in on that day. When possible, schedule the distribution around your schedule so you are not getting overwhelmed.

7. Communicate

The more your communicate, the lower your stress will be. Remind parents every way you can about the order pick up; notes home, email, phone, Facebook, etc. If you don’t have an email list, start one at this year’s open house.

8. Double-Check Delivery Details

If you haven’t received delivery confirmation from your fundraising provider a few days before delivery, call them. It always pays to double-check details so that nothing goes wrong.

9. If You Haven’t Finalized the Fundraiser, Do it Now.

There is still time to plan and execute a successful fundraiser, but the longer you wait, the harder it will be.

10. Work with Stevco

If you are working with us for this year’s fall fundraiser, you can rest easy in our promise to make your fundraiser easy. We eliminate stress with our added services and personal attention. If you aren’t working with us this fall, follow the steps we’ve provided above, and give us a call for your Spring fundraiser (you should start planning for that now, by the way.)

With summer ending and a new school year starting soon, it will be time for many groups to fundraise. In some communities, people will be inundated with fundraisers, with group after group asking for their support. If you don’t want your fundraiser to get lost in the mix, you should get clear on your fundraising goals.

Define a Goal

First of all, define your goals as a group. Make sure all active members are on board with budget goals, what money is being raised for, and how it will be raised.

Find Your Story

Next, pick out any high-emotion goals. These are the things that will be easiest for your community to get behind. If possible, tell a story of a need that your group is seeking to fill. Whether you are raising money for school books, playground equipment, sports fields, or whatever, be prepared to tell the story. Explain the need. Show where current funding is falling short. Then tell your group’s plans to fill the gap through fundraising.

Communicate Your Goal

After you identify a high-emotion story you can tell, you need to communicate it. When explaining the fundraiser to your participants, tell them the story. Use the fundraising letter to explain the goal. Also post the story on your website and in your newsletter. If you can effectively communicate the need and your goal to fill the need, you will have an easier time getting participants on board and they will have an easier time raising funds.

Track Your Goal

Finally, track your goal. Was your fundraiser successful, or did it fall short? Those who have bought in emotionally to your goal want to know if you succeeded. Share how you did in your newsletter and online. Get the word out to the participants that they did a good job. And, of course, be sure to say thank you, to each and every participant.

Getting clear on fundraising goals can help your group stand out from the crowd and raise funds, even when people are already being asked by many other groups and organizations. Get your community behind your goal, and you will have success.

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photo credit: woodleywonderworks

Are you having a problem getting volunteers to help out? Try this quick tip. Invite people to do specific tasks.

When you get specific in what you ask, it is much easier for people to gauge the amount of involvement that will be required and whether they have the skills to meet the need.

So, don’t ask for volunteers. Ask for someone to help set up the book fair from 9:00 – 12:00 this Thursday.

Sure, every parent group would love to have a stable of volunteers to call on for any need, but people are unwilling to commit if they aren’t sure what they are getting themselves into.

Next time you need something, think of your entire parent database as your volunteer base. Ask for people to fill in with specific needs.

Of course, the more you know about your parents, the easier. If you know a dad has a day off mid-week, you will know you can ask for his help that day. If you know a mom designs websites, you can ask her to help with your group’s site.

You will still get plenty of no’s. But you may get a few surprising yes’s if you can ask specifically. Also, it doesn’t hurt to stroke a person’s ego. Let them know that you heard they were really good at a certain task, and that you really need their expertise.

If you are not getting enough volunteers, you may just not be asking in the right way.

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photo credit: Kid_SBTG

One of the key building blocks for better participation in your parent group is communication. Plain and simple, good communication matters.

A Little Communication Goes a Long Way

Spending a little time focusing on improving your communication efforts can really help your parent group get more participation. We’ll talk more in a later article about what you should be talking about, but in this article lets focus on the systems that you can use to communicate better with your school community.

First of all, you should be using the internet to communicate. It is fast, it is easy, and its mostly free.

Build an Email List

Every parent group should have an email list of all the school parents. You can build this list over time at open houses and events. Be proactive in getting emails and explain that it is a primary means of communicating about issues that effect their children.

Once you have a list, send out regular emails. We use MailChimp to send out our emails and we really like the service. Plus, it can be free if you have less than 500 email addresses.

Your emails don’t have to be fancy. They should be direct and to the point and should share important information. Try to keep parents “in the know.”

Get a Website

Beyond email, you may want to start a website or blog where you can post information for people to view.

Be More Social (Online)

Another important area of communication is online social networks. It would be a good idea to start a Facebook page for your parent group. You may also want to start a Twitter account. This is another way to stay in touch with your community.

Communicate Within Your Organization

Finally, you may need a more targetted means of communication. There is a web service called MemberHub which allows you to communicate with your group members via an online interface, email, and even text messaging. You can set up separate hubs for the different committees in your group, and have a main communication hub for every parent in your school.

Use the Tools

Once you have the right tools, it it just about using them. Practice makes perfect. Just make it your goal to better communicate with parents and to learn the new tools of communication that will help you build a more involved group.

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photo credit: Milestoned

What you need is a game plan. If you have low participation right now, start thinking ahead about how you can build that up.

The first step is to make building participation one of your main goals. Everything you do should have a participation building component to it. This includes fundraising and regular monthly meetings. Think of ways you can use those things to build participation. Also, plan family events and other fun things to help build involvement.

When you make building participation a priority, you will start thinking differently about your parent group. For instance, is it easy for a newcomer to get involved? If you find it isn’t that easy, then you will want to start to make changes.

After you start to focus on building participation, you will likely realize that communication is very important. It isn’t enough to post meeting dates in a newsletter and rely on word of mouth. Your group should look into having a web site that you can easily update and setting up an email list. Tools like MemberHub also help with group communication.

Once you begin to show a serious interest in participation, and work toward having better communication, you will start to see an uptick in participation. But don’t expect too much here. You should think about how you measure participation.

If a majority of parents know what your parent group is doing, you can measure that as a win for participation. Maybe they aren’t at the meetings, but at least they are listening. It is a pretty good start. If your fundraisers are hitting their goals and getting positive feedback, your participation is healthy. If you get good attendance at events, that’s good for participation. Of course, all of this is nice, but what you really need is volunteers.

Getting volunteers is easier when there is general knowledge about and involvement with your group. Once you have that, you need to do two things. First, be sure to ask for volunteers. Second, have something specific for them to do. For instance, you may need a volunteer to organize baskets for the silent auction. Another volunteer may be needed to update the website. Be specific when you ask.

The more you focus on building participation and building good communication, the easier it will be to grow both passive involvement and direct engagement through volunteering.

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Written by Bradford Shimp. Stevco Fundraising provides hassle-free fundraising for youth oriented groups and volunteer organizations.

photo credit: A. Drauglis Furnituremaker

That being said, there are a few things you can do to make your fundraiser more appropriate for this economy.

Have a Good Reason

The very first thing is to have a good reason for raising funds. As things are a little tighter, be more careful where you spend money. For now, focus on essentials and projects that are popular in the community. Just as people bristled to hear about car execs flying to Washington on private jets, they may bristle if they think your group is asking for money for frivolous things. Do an inventory of your goals and cut away things that can wait.

Once you narrow down to the essentials, be sure to communicate clearly what you are raising money for. Make a case for your fundraiser. Perhaps funds have dried up for an important program, or maybe your group helps families purchase school supplies. Tell a story that tugs at the heart a little, and you commit to doing good things with the money you raise.

Provide Value in Return

The next thing you should focus on is providing value. Remember, people are being more careful where they spend their money. If the only option you give them in a fundraiser is for non-essential items, you are coming across as out of step. Currently, fundraising programs such as discount books and value-priced food items are doing well. Overpriced gift items are suffering in this economy. Try to pick a fundraiser that sells something of value, and a decent price. People will appreciate that.

Be Thankful

Lastly, I know that you are always thankful for everyone who participates in the fundraiser and who buys from it. But there is no better time than right now to go out of your way to show that thankfulness.

For participants, why not a nice thank you note to every family who participates. You could even host an ice cream social just for them. For customers, maybe you can take out an ad in the local paper to say thank you.

Being thankful goes a long way. It shows that you know times are tough, and that you value the help you get.

You can still raise money, even in a down economy. Just be respectful with people’s time and money, give them something of value, and show your thankfulness.

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Written by Bradford Shimp. Stevco Fundraising provided hassle free fundraising solutions for youth oriented groups and volunteer organizations.

photo credit: TheTruthAbout..

Want to add a little fun while increasing involvement and participation in your fundraiser? Why not create a Clue-like mystery game to go along with the fundraiser. First, create a story. For example, you could say that Mrs. Marple’s dog has gone missing, and that the kids can help find it. Next, create a series of clues that will lead to solving the mystery.

During the fundraiser, have kids report how many items they have sold. Set up a check in counter during lunch time, for instance. For every so many items sold or dollars sold, give away a random clue. The kids can then compare clues and work together to solve the mystery. Have a prize for the first person to come to you with the answer.

To make this fun, make sure the mystery is a little difficult to solve. Give out a set of basic clues and then a set of advanced clues.

An alternate version of this is to do it by classroom. Have a clue-pack for each classroom, and let the kids work together to get the next clue. The first classroom to solve the mystery gets a pizza party.

A clue-based game like this will get everyone talking and get the kids excited about fundraising so they can get more clues.

Have any great participation building ideas? Email us at brad@enjoyfundraising.com and we will include your story here!

Fundraisers are a family affair. The child brings home the program and talks to a few relatives. Parents also take the fundraiser to work, to church, and to their friends. Many fundraisers offer prizes for the kids, but what about the parents? This idea rewards parents and the whole family for their participation efforts.

Get some volunteers together and ask local businesses for donations. You are looking for door prize type donations, such as free services, free products, and discount offers. Let the businesses know that their donation will go to help with your fundraiser efforts.

After you get the donations, compile a list of the prizes and send it to parents. There are two ways to hand out the prizes. You can either randomly draw winners from every participant, or you can reward families based on how much they raise.

Rewarding families based on effort is a great idea. Once you have the totals, you need to hand out the prizes. You can allow the top earner to pick their prize first, and then go down the list until you run out of prizes. You can do the same thing based on a random drawing, or you can just give out the prizes at random based on the drawing.

To have your prize program make even more impact, include it as part of a post-fundraiser party. Invite all of the participants to the school for pizza or ice cream (see if you can get it donated) and make giving out the prizes part of the festivities. Also hand out awards for things like most enthusiastic, hardest worker, and perhaps some random prizes just for participating. Again, with a little effort you can get all of the prizes donated.

A prize program like this is about more than the prize. To truly increase participation, you need to build community and fun into your fundraising efforts. Work hard at something like this, and you will have an easier time getting families to participate.

Boring Meetings

Not a lot of people want to show up for meetings, especially one where their input isn’t really needed. Think of who comes regularly to your parent group meetings. The officers, right? Why? Because they all have a role to fill and feel a sense of responsibility. You need to spread that feeling throughout a wider base of volunteers.

So don’t ask people to come to meetings. Instead, ask them to help out at events. Or tell them that you need someone to help organize the silent auction. Give parents something to do. If you can get them into a role, you’ll have them hooked on helping out.

Once you do have them helping out, don’t demand they come to meetings. Encourage it, sure. But if they can’t make it, be understanding. Build a system of reports so you can all stay in touch with what is going on. Want more people at the meetings? Entice them with specifics about what is going to be accomplished and voted on.

Find the Professionals

Sometimes, your parent group could use a little expertise. Whether you want to do something on the web, have a legal question, or need someone with marketing expertise, a little professional help can go a long way. Chances are, there is a parent that can help out. Chances are also good that they will be busy. But don’t be afraid to ask for their help. Working with a volunteer organization is good for everyone.

If you want the help of a professional, you need to be very specific about what you would like them to help you accomplish. If you leave things open ended, parents will be hesitant to volunteer time, not knowing if it will eat into their regular work.

Don’t be afraid to flaunt your non-profit, volunteer organization, status to potential helpers. Reach out to people’s good nature with specific needs, and they will be likely to help out.

Be Needy

If no one knows what needs your parent group has, no one can fill them. Communicate your specific needs. Talk about time commitments, goals, etc. Its okay to show that you have needs that aren’t being filled. The key is to be organized and professional about it. People won’t volunteer if they feel they are walking in to a mess. If there is a lot of sitting around and little direction, you will lose volunteers.

On the other hand, if you focus your efforts on picking a clear direction, organizing your group, and then communicating what you want to accomplish and what help you need to get there, you will have an easier time getting people to step up to the plate.

People are ready to help, but most of them just want to be plugged in. This is good news for you, as a plugged in volunteer is much more likely to be an active and regular volunteer. So stop thinking numbers of volunteers, and start trying to match up specific needs with specific people.