AltunQotka Business Blog

Archive for the ‘Fundraising’ Category

Looking for good school fundraiser? Cookie dough sales are an easy moneymaker. What is a cookie dough fundraiser? The basic concept is the same as all order taker fundraisers. You equip your sellers with a brochure, an order form, and a basic sales script.

Your group does catalog sales of a three-pound tub of cookie dough. Average retail price is $10 per three-pound tub. The dough comes in a wide variety of flavors, including some that are sugar free.

Some suppliers are now offering the dough in pre-sliced packages to further simplify the baking process.

Others are offering it in a dry mix that doesn’t need to be refrigerated. All you do is add water, mix by hand, and you have your cookie dough ready for baking.

Profitability
Most fundraising companies offer the three-pound tubs of cookie dough at a 40%-50% discount. Some suppliers also offer a larger four-pond tub for slightly more.

Cookie dough needs to be refrigerated, so this fundraiser requires a little more delivery preparation.  Kids like selling this because it’s something that they enjoy themselves.

The average seller makes ten sales or approximately $100 in revenue. That translates to roughly $50 in profit per seller, which is quite good.

Factors affecting your cookie dough fundraiser profitability include freight charges, quantity discounts, quality of the brochure, number of available cookie dough choices, and the need to keep the dough refrigerated.

This product works well for both elementary school and high school fundraising.

Larger groups can easily earn a quantity discount above 50%. As always, do an RFQ fax quote to the supplier list and get your best possible discount up front.

Sales Tips
Here’s what they need to do to sell:

1 – Smile, use their name in greeting, and introduce yourself
2 – Use the power of “because” (give a reason why)
3 – Ask for their help (ask for the order)
4 – Make eye contact and suggest a favorite

Example sales script: (Keep it short & sweet)

Hi, Mrs. Johnson! (Smile & make eye contact)

I’m Jimmy Roberts from down the street. (Hand over sales flyer with large bold print)

Our school is doing a cookie dough fundraiser because we need new computers.

Can you help us out with a $10 contribution? That gets you a three-pound tub of cookie dough. My favorite is the chocolate chip, but peanut butter is real popular too!

(Pause and wait for a response)

The important points are to smile, use a sales flyer, use the word because, ask for their help, and suggest an order size, then wait for a response.

Each prospect has a potential dollar value to your organization. Don’t waste prospects by not being prepared. Make sure all your sellers know what to say and how to say it.

Perhaps nothing matches the enthusiasm and zeal of elementary school children. This carries over to elementary school fundraising events where young students strive to complete every assigned fundraising chore with determination and dedication. Teachers and parents participate and guide the children to ensure their hard work is successful and raises a lot of money.

Candy is a favorite of children, and candy makes a great fundraiser for elementary schools. Gourmet, Hershey, Maredy Candy are a few companies that provide excellent fundraising programs. You can find out more about the companies and the programs on the Internet or by calling the company.

Selling perfumed candles is a traditional way for children to raise school funds and the returns are quite good. Companies offer attractive brochures for customers to browse through and place orders. The company, in turn, gives a percentage back to the school.  Avia Candles, Botika Candles, and Christ’s Light Candles are some of the companies who offer a variety of attractive candles for fundraising.

Book fairs and carnivals are excellent ways to raise funds for elementary schools. School carnivals could include game booths, talent shows and bake sales. Sporting events with parent/child participation have also proven to be successful fundraisers for elementary schools.

An important point to remember with any elementary school fundraiser is the children participating need close supervision throughout the event – safety comes first above everything else.

One thing to keep in mind is that if elementary students want to fundraise door to door, a parent or guardian should accompany them.

Fund raisers are a great way to raise money for your school, sports team or other type organization. What’s also nice about them is that they are a very sociable way to earn money for a good cause because you’re out there meeting the community. For younger participants, fundraisers can even be an early lesson in sales and marketing.

A very high-profit fundraising item right now is candles which are fun and very easy to sell because of their popularity. Candles are a much better choice than food or over-priced novelty items that tend to generate lower profits. They are a rapidly growing option that is more appealing to the public because they are a non-junk food alternative to fund raisers.

Candle fund raisers can also be very lucrative because they come in so many different varieties of size, color and scents creating a great earning potential. For school fundraiser such as band or sports teams, you can purchase and resell candles in your school’s colors. For any type of organization, especially religious congregations, think about holiday themed candles for those times of the year.

If your group has decided to embark on a candle fund raiser, a plan of action is a very important step for reaching your fund raising goal. You should start by determining the amount of money you want to raise. Next, figure out how many people in your organization are willing to take part in the campaign and then set your deadlines by deciding on when your group is planning to start and stop the fundraiser.

Research the candle manufactures that get involved with fundraisers and supply these types of items for that purpose. You’ll want to start comparison shopping so that you can ensure the most profit. Once you’ve got your partnership in place, the next step would be to determine the ‘new’ sale price of each candle and the number of candles each participant in the fund raiser will need to sell in order to achieve your goal.

Be sure to let everyone involved know what the expectations are and encourage them to use their best selling skills. Also, if you’re using brochures to sell the candles, you’ll want to supply your sellers with everything they’ll need to make meeting your fund raising objective as organized and easy as possible. Give them plenty of order forms and make them aware of shipping and delivery time periods so that they can let their customers know when to expect their items.

By following a few guidelines and setting a fair, but profitable pricing structure, your organization should be well on its way to reaching its fund raising target! Good Luck!