Why Fundraiser Profit Percentage is Misleading

Why you shouldn't get hung up on profit percent.

Does a higher profit percentage always mean more money for the group? Many school fundraising companies promise you'll be guaranteed the most profit if you work with them. Just look on the internet. Companies are offering up to 90% profit. If you Google "100 profit fundraising", you'll find several search results. But are these offers too good to be true? Are they even scams? Most aren't. Many of these companies offer legitimate ways for groups to raise money.

A better question is which company will help you bring in the most money. Many groups, unfortunately, get caught up in the profit war by only considering companies that offer the highest fundraiser profit percentage. They don't realize that other things are being sacrificed along the way. Successful sales reps winning the bidding wars are usually the best at disguising the downsides. Everything has pros and cons, so let's take a closer look at why you may not want to choose the company that offers the most profit percentage automatically.

Quality Fundraisers Make More Profit

The best companies offer great fundraising programs and help you personalize them to fit your needs best. It starts with an effective brochure that offers various consumer-based items at fair prices. An exciting prize program will then motivate your students to get out and sell. Finally, ensure you can access practical sales tools that will help drive sales by increasing student participation and the number of items sold per seller.

A Slow Nickel Beats a Fast Dime

A good rule of thumb is that the higher the fundraiser profit percentage, the lower the quality of the prize program. You don't want to offer your students and parents cheap prizes because this helps drive your sales success. In other words, you will never be able to take profit to the bank. You can only take money.

So, instead of focusing so much on profit percent, focus more on how you can bring in more sales. You'll never be satisfied getting a large cut of a small money pot.

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Author Bio

Clay Boggess has been designing fundraising programs for schools and various nonprofit organizations throughout the US since 1999. He’s helped administrators, teachers, and outside support entities such as PTAs and PTOs raise millions of dollars. Clay is an owner and partner at Big Fundraising Ideas.