Increase Fundraising Sales by Using Prize Coupons

How to use prize coupons to boost sales.

You can further increase fundraising sales by having periodic prize drawings. This is simple and easy to implement, and it doesn't have to cost you anything, either.

You can provide a prize drawing coupon sheet inside each student's packet, and every time they sell five items from their brochure, they get to turn in a signed coupon for a chance to win prizes or special privileges. Throughout your sale, you can periodically pull more students' names out of your drawing box and announce the winners. This way, you are not just reminding your students about your sale; you're motivating them to sell and to keep selling.

Another advantage to using prize coupons is gauging how your fundraiser progresses based on the number of coupons turned in. Most of the time, momentum will build as the fundraiser progresses because students will see their peers winning prizes. This is excellent peer-to-peer advertising. Here are two other things to consider.

1. Decide How to Handle the Coupons

You can remove the coupons from the drawing box after each drawing or leave them in until the end of your sale. Regularly removing them will level the playing field for everyone, whether they've sold anything or not. Simply letting the coupons build up over time allows people who continue to sell to accumulate coupons and increase their chance of winning.

2. Addressing Bogus Coupon Submissions

You may be concerned about students attempting to cheat the system by turning in 'bogus coupons' when they didn't sell anything. If this is the case, explain to the students that instead of giving out prizes right away, you'll reward their prizes once their order forms and money envelopes have been turned in. You can hold onto the names you pull out during the sale and cross-check them with the submitted order forms.

Improve fundraiser sales without using money.

By using daily prize drawings, not only will your student have more fun, you could add thousands of dollars to your bottom line.

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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.