Ensure a Great High School Fundraiser Kickoff

Effective strategies for obtaining high school sales success.

An effective high school fundraiser kickoff will ensure you have the foundation to reach your financial goal. So how can you be sure you'll address everything that should be discussed at your meeting?

Hopefully, your students are already excited about being a part of your organization and understand what the group is attempting to accomplish. If they're not, you'll have more of a challenge. Regardless, don't take any group for granted, regardless of the enthusiasm or perceived unity. You should always be prepared to convince your students that your sale is important to the group's goals and their selling effort will make a difference.

You'll want to consider the following as you plan for your fundraiser kickoff meeting.

Fundraiser Kickoff Meeting Objectives

• Ensure a strong foundation and purpose
• Equip your students to sell
• Establish momentum
• Encourage student success

3 Major Kickoff Sales Goals

1. Understand the Process
Hopefully, you've established an individual seller goal based on the amount of money needed. Here are a few important questions to ask yourself before your meeting:

• Will your students know what to do?
• Why are they selling?
• What are your sales expectations?
• How much time do they have?
• Who should they approach?
• Who should checks be made payable to?

2. Prepare for Success
Don't just hand out your sales materials and expect your students to sell. You should review the sales brochure to make them comfortable with the items and the pricing. This helps to equip them better to answer any questions from potential customers. The more familiar they are with the catalog, the more likely they will show it to others.

Have your students fill out the top of the order form and explain how it works by going through an example. This will ensure the order form is filled out correctly throughout the sale.

Review the prize program and explain what it will take to reach the different prize levels. Hopefully, you've picked a program your students will be excited about. Also, if the company has provided you with a parent letter, tell your students to review it with their parents.

3. Push Toward the Goal
Once your students are ready to start, it will be important to maintain the momentum throughout the sale. Don't expect they will automatically sell because they seem enthusiastic at the kickoff. It's better to convince your students to commit to a small daily sales goal. To ensure that your students are doing this, you should:

• Regularly remind them about working towards their sales goal
• Incorporate additional incentives during your sale that encourage selling
• Track their progress to ensure that they are keeping up

High school fundraising is a hands-on process that requires as much out of you as you expect from your students. If your students are inspired and held accountable, you should experience success.

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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.