In a perfect world, all of our groups would be able to sell every last product and make use of every single piece of marketing material. While we have a very good track record, having items remaining after a fundraiser is quite common, especially for our direct sale programs like the candy and the customized items. But there are productive ways to deal with remaining inventory. Here are some suggestions that have used by our customers.

Try to sell them. This would be the ideal solution since your group would financial benefit from this option. Our groups typically set up a table at school events, such as sporting events or theater productions, and sell the remaining products at a discounted rate. We find that the community is rather supportive in these situations and will do their best to help out. Just make sure you promote this as much as you can!

Donate the products. If selling the remaining items is not possibile, then find a local organization that can use them and make a donation. Many local churches have programs set up where they would be able accept fundraising products and they would either sell them themselves or give them out to those in need. There is an element of satisfaction to this option, and the students may take away more from this than just making a profit. After all, you are fundraising to support a good cause, and it others can benefit, than more the better.

Recycle them. If the above two options aren’t practical, then you should look into recycling the products (if applicable). This typically works with paper goods such as gift wrapping, stationary and calendars. Also, many groups have left over brochures and order takers from their sale. We would hope our groups act responsibly and either return them to us so they can be used by another group, or recycle them through the proper channels. It’s a shame when we hear boxes of brochures were tossed in the trash.

Now that the school year is coming to an end, it’s time to evaluate how everything went. We know how things went on our end, but we want to hear back from you. What work this year for your school / group? And not just the program we offer, but any programs: Walk-a-thons, pot luck dinners, auctions, coupon drives, car washes, scratch cards, bake sales, etc. How did it go? Why was it successful / unsuccessful? Will you do it again next year? We want to hear your feedback! This helps us decide on what programs to focus on in the future. Please feel free to give us your feedback in the comment section below.

The school year is coming to an end. As are the responsibilities of the parent groups. It is time for the parents to get something out of it. Yes, they are doing it for the kids. The kids are the main reason parents you and the other parents signed up to be part of the fundraising activities. It’s part of being a good parent. Hopefully the hard work you put in paid off in the end. Maybe it’s a new playground, or new computers, or a new faculty position. It’s always nice to see a tangible result from your yearly campaigns. But it’s also important to keep in mind the effort and time put in by your volunteers (including yourself) to bring everything together. We have seen too many groups take their volunteers for granted. They forget that these parents have jobs and their hands full with the regular responsibilities. They are giving up their time to support your group. It is time to reward them for the hard work and support they have given throughout the year.

Make them feel appreciated for their effort! This is extremely important because your group will need these essential volunteers to be active next year. We suggest a “thank you” event such as a dinner or BBQ. A small token of appreciation in a small gift couldn’t hurt as well. We feel it is a good investment by rewarding the active participants in your group. This will pay off in the yearly effort they will put in the following year. If their hard work is ignored, and they are underappreciated, then it will be a tough time getting them to be involved in the future. Plus, it’s fun to have appreciation events. It sets a good vibe for your organization.

The ending date is just as important, if not more important. The sellers must be aware of the deadline to finish the fundraiser. We have a few groups who have a “loose” deadline and this usually ends in disaster. The sellers will procrastinate and fail to turn in the forms on time. Without a deadline, the motivation is lost. But with a firm deadline, the daily reminders will sink in more: only 4 days left, 3 days left, 2 days left, etc. With all fundraisers, there will be stragglers; those who forget to turn in their forms and collected funds. This is inevitable. But the number of stragglers is greatly reduced with a firm deadline and many reminders. Stay on top of your sellers. Keep them motivated and on target during your sales period and your fundraiser will be a success.

It seems so simple and obvious, yet we still ask the question from every group we work with. The most common answer is we “need to raise money for my school.” Well, that is the first part of the answer. But it is the 2nd part of their answer that interests us. We are amazed on all of the wonderful reasons our groups are fundraising. All of them are worthy causes. We especially like the groups that shoot for the stars with really ambitious fundraising goals. We are proud to be part of the process in helping them succeed. Here are some of the recent worthy causes we helped be a part of.

Eco Friendly Playground – We recently worked with an elementary school that was raising $60,000 to install an entire new playground. One that had environmentally friendly elements and were designed to last longer than the typical playground equipment.

Trip to London to play in Symphony – We worked with a middle school band to help send some of their members to London to take part in a mentorship program with a prominent symphony. The kids were determined to raise the funds necessary to make their dream a reality. A few cookie dough fundraisers later, their goal of $12,000 was reached!

To start a lacrosse team – We were contacted by a small group of high school students that were interested in starting their own lacrosse team. The lacrosse program was cut a few years back due to budget issues, but these kids were determined to raise their own funds to restart the team. The community rallied behind them and the team was re-launched!

From new computers, to sports competitions, to musical instruments, we are thrilled to help schools reach their fundraising goals.

It absolutely frustrates me that I have to dedicate a blog post to this, but I need to get this off my chest. I am just reading a story about a PTA president accused of stealing over $100,000 from an elementary school. I am sure the facts of this case will come to light in the days and weeks to come. But it is not just this story. Missing funds or theft is common occurrence in the fundraising world. Just as an exercise, do a Google search with the words: “fundraising theft” or “PTA theft” or “missing school funds”, etc. and you will be shocked with the results. There are literally thousands of stories of people stealing the fundraising proceeds from their groups. In most cases, these are adults stealing from children! It doesn’t get much worse than that. What causes these human beings to go down such a despicable path? Is it a gambling addiction? A drug addiction? A shopping addiction? Or a person struggling with debt and saw no other way out? My guess is the answer is yes in many of these cases. And there are dozens of other reasons that will drive a person to embezzle fundraising proceeds. A lot of these incidents are the first time these people were entrusted with a large sum of money and could help themselves to put hands in the cookie jar.

But what can an organization do to prevent internal theft from happening? First off, there needs to be some safe guards in place.

- Set up the bank account where at least two people need to sign off on every check written. This reduces the chance of one person going rogue.
- Do not have cash in hand for more than a day. Make sure any cash collected in deposited in the bank on a daily basis and have more than one person confirm this. If one person insists in control on all financial matters and limits access, then a big flag should be raised.
- Do weekly and monthly audits to make sure the accounts are accurate and give the entire regular reports to show everything is in order.
-Have an open and full disclosure policy.

The bottom line is don’t give one person total control of the finances. This is a recipe for disaster. The more people that can keep an eye on things, the less chance there will be for a person to take advantage of the situation.

It’s that time of year again. School-Fundraisers.com is pleased to offer of early bird program this year. Please see details below. We are thrilled to be able to offer this discount to our loyal customers. We know how hard it is to raise money these days and are glad to help out in any way we can. Here are the specifics of our early bird promotion.

For groups who sign up for their fall 2012 or spring 2013 fundraising program with School-Fundraisers.com by June 15th, 2012 we will give your group an additional 3% profit on your upcoming fundraising program. This is good for any of our product brochure programs (cookie dough, coffee, flower bulbs, cookbooks, candles, nuts, chocolate and many others) that begin after August 1st, 2012 and run through May 30th, 2013.

If you have any questions about this program or would like to receive our 2012 information kit, please do not hesitate to contact us at 866-327-7900.

Also, our 2012 spring programs are in full swing and there’s still plenty of time to get started for a spring fundraiser. Please contact us if you would like to inquire about one of our spring fundraising programs!

I think we all can agree that most teachers have their hands full with their day-to-day responsibilities. Their priority should be on the classroom and the best way to educate our children, to help our kids thrive in the learning environment. Here at School-Fundraisers.com, we fully support this and believe nothing should hinder teachers in their quest to educate. This includes fundraisers. Many teachers feel school fundraisers are a distraction and are not involved in the process. This sometimes plays a major role in the success or failure of a fundraiser. This is especially true in fundraisers that are run by parent groups such as a PTO or PTA. Many parents groups just assume the teachers will be part of the process, and only learn after the fact, that this may be easier said than done. Below are some tips on how to get teachers to be more involved in the school fundraising programs.

1. Communication is key. PTA / PTO should have a teacher liaison: A person act as the go-between for your parent group and the teachers. Any matter involving the teachers should be passed on to them and let them have a say. Make the teachers part of the decision process. If they feel part of the process, they are more likely to be involved.

2. Use the teachers’ past knowledge. Most PTO / PTA boards turn-over every year and have new people involved. There is a drop-off in “institutional knowledge”: how things ran in the past. Tap into the knowledge of the tenured teachers. They have seen it all. They know what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to fundraisers. Use this to your group’s advantage.

3. Create a teacher’s incentive. Most group’s focus on giving an incentive for the students and not the teachers. If the teachers have an incentive, the fundraising involvement will sky rocket. Obviously you will need to work within the rules of your school district of what is permissible and what isn’t. But we’ve seen schools offer restaurant certificates, iPads, and even an extra day off to the teacher with the top selling class.
The bottom line is: work with the teachers! Keep them in the loop and part of the process. This will only help your cause.

We get this question on a daily basis. Some of our groups like to be proactive and have their fundraisers planned well ahead of time. Others like to wait until they are ready to begin selling. There is no right or wrong way to go about this. We always say: whatever works best for your group is the way to go. With that said, the spring is an active time for fall fundraising research. Below are some tips to help the early planners.

1. Take advantage of special promotions for early sign up. Many companies, including School-Fundraisers.com, offer discounts to groups who sign up early. We offer a 3% additional profit to our groups who sign up before June 1st for their fall fundraisers. This can translate into a few extra hundreds of dollars in profit for our groups. So keep an eye out for any special promotions and take advantage of it.

2. Research, Research, Research. This is a great time to do your homework on what fundraising programs are out there. There are hundreds of fundraising companies and even more fundraising ideas, so it takes time to sort through everything. The earlier you do your research, the quicker you can make an informed decision for your organization.

3. Will there be new leadership next fall? This is an important question. If your group has yearly elections and there will be turnover with the decision makers, then we suggest waiting until the new board is in place. We feel the new board should make the decision of which fundraising programs are offered. We know many current PTO / PTA boards are encouraged by other fundraising companies (not us, we don’t believe in this practice) to sign up for the next year to get a better deal. We feel it is in bad form for a current PTO / PTA board to lock in their group to a fundraiser for the following school year, which the new board may not be in favor of. Here’s a blog post we did last year that covers the multi year fundraising contract dilemma.

Our Top Selling March Fundraiser

With Easter a little over a month away, it’s a great time to get signed up for our Greeting Spring program.  This fundraising program has a variety of items to choose from, many of which tend to be best sellers! With the Greeting Spring brochure, it is simple to provide consumers with products that are sure to be great around Easter time.  Whether people are in the mood for chocolate bunnies, gummy bunnies, jelly beans, or even cheesy snack spread, there are items for everyone. 

This fundraiser is perfect for any group or organization looking to raise funds for spring activities.  We have found that all groups and organizations that have chosen to participate in the Greeting Spring fundraiser have had a huge success rate, while reaching their initial monetary goals. We also find that many groups and organizations are curious about the quality of the products they will be selling with this fundraiser, especially with such a low cost.  We can assure you that the chocolates being used for the Greeting Spring fundraiser have won fifteen Seal of Excellence awards, which were based on consumer taste tests.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

All products are at a great, low price of $6 and sure to satisfy taste buds of all ages.  Contact us today in order to prepare for your group’s Easter fundraiser!