The One Disadvantage of Prepay Fundraisers

One thing to think about when collecting money upfront.

There was a time when schools collected money after the merchandise was delivered to their customers. Post-collect sales initially looked good on paper because it was easier to get people to preorder without collecting the money. The problem was chasing down the money afterward. This made things difficult because people often changed their minds and decided they didn't want the product.

What also happened was people who moved away couldn't be located. As a result, schools had to deal with lots of returns.

Most fundraising companies were good about taking back returns; however, schools didn't receive profit for those items. What made matters worse was that many schools had to collect money for months after their sale.

Prepay Fundraisers are Easier

The concept of prepay fundraisers evolved out of practicality. It was simply easier for schools to have the order forms and the money in their hands before their order was processed.

The One Advantage of a Post-pay Fundraiser

Yet, there are still groups that collect money after they've received their merchandise. We recently worked with a smaller high school group that shared their reasons for collecting money afterward. They preferred not to have a prepay sale because of some bad experiences and complaints they received from people in their community about dishonest students. These students would sell items and collect the money but never turn in their order forms. Therefore, some people never receive the items they had paid for.

It comes down to educating the buyer.

Fortunately, these are isolated incidents; however, tracking down violators can sometimes be difficult unless people can identify these students. Customers can avoid this problem by only paying in cash to students they know and can follow up with. They shouldn't give cash to students they don't know. All checks should be made payable to the student's organization. If a student tells you otherwise, don't buy from them.

Like anything else, there are some disadvantages to prepay fundraisers. However, the test of time has shown that the pros far outweigh the cons.

See our brochure fundraisers.

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.