How to avoid delays when collecting the money.
The moment of truth is here. After all the hard work, you'll finally see how much your sale brings in. This is where you find out how effective you were as a coordinator. Did people buy out of the brochure? Were students motivated to sell to earn the prizes? Now it's time to collect your students' order forms and money envelopes.
The hardest part about collecting money is getting people to turn it in on time. This is important because you'll want to stick to your timeline so the school fundraising company can get your merchandise delivered back to you on time. To ensure that you get money turned in on time, make sure you do the following:
Promote Your Sales Turn-in Date
Don't think that all you need to do is talk about your money turn-in date at the kickoff and then ensure it's in your parent's letter. You can use your turn-in day as a motivator to bring in more sales. Have a turn-in day countdown that reminds sellers that they only have 'x' days left to reach their fundraising goal. Perhaps their goal was to win a particular prize, be the top seller or qualify for a special event. Students and parents will know that your money turn-in day is essential because you remind them daily. Sending home an additional note during the sale won't hurt, either.
Only Do Pay Upfront Fundraisers
Most companies used to encourage schools to collect money after the merchandise arrived. Schools that did this were often victims of an over-inflated sale on paper, which led to chasing down money for months afterward. Fortunately, most schools now have sellers collect money up front with the order. A prepay sale helps ensure that money is turned in along with the order forms instead of later after the merchandise has been delivered to the customer.
Collect Orders and Money Together
Regularly remind your sellers to collect money when someone orders from them. The more students can collect money on the spot, the better. The closer you get to your fundraiser turn-in date, the more often you'll want to remind students that they'll need to ensure their money matches their order forms. Some sponsors even go so far as not to count an order without the money. If you decide to enforce this policy, ensure everyone knows it upfront.
This process wouldn't be as challenging if you established and communicated clear expectations for fundraising money collection.
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.