How to Pick the Right School Fundraising Program

Things to consider when choosing a product to sell.

How do you know when you’ve selected the right school fundraising program? The obvious answer is it’s the one that will make your group the most money.

Unfortunately, finding the right fundraiser is not so easy. Should you rely on common sense or wait until you find something unique that grabs you? You might find something that’s distinctive and exciting, but there may be other unexpected drawbacks that can become issues later on.

Before you attempt to find the perfect school fundraising program, you might want to look inward and answer some questions about your group. Here are some things to consider.

School Fundraising History

What have you sold in the past, and has it worked for you? If you kept a record of your previous 3 or 4 fundraisers, reviewing the results and feedback might be a good idea. Perhaps your students couldn’t relate to the product they were selling, or the pricing was too high. Maybe you need to consider selling an item direct instead of taking orders.

On the other hand, how many other groups were selling a similar product? Even though a particular item may be popular in your area doesn’t mean that it’s the right fit for your group. Perhaps you might consider selling earlier in the school year as one of the first.

Size of Your Group

Your group size can dictate the type of program you should run. For example, a small book club with 15 students shouldn’t sell out of a high-order minimum requirement brochure. Likewise, a large elementary school may not want to order 500 scratch cards before knowing that people will be committed to collecting donation money.

Take Orders or Sell a Product?

Do you feel your group will be better at taking orders or selling an actual product? Here are the advantages and disadvantages of both:

Taking Brochure Orders

• Your actual order will consist only of items already paid for.
• Buyers usually have more items to choose from when selling out of a brochure.
• Students must return to their customers a second time and deliver the merchandise.
• The items in a brochure are typically more expensive than selling an actual product. This may limit your market somewhat.

Product Fundraisers

• Many students find showing the product to a potential customer easier.
• Products usually sell for less money, meaning students can also sell to each other.
• The sponsor must know how many products to order and keep track of their inventory throughout the sale.

Once you can answer specific questions about your group, you’ll be ready to select the right school fundraising program.

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.