How to Run a Thanksgiving Pie Fundraiser for Your School

Tips and tricks to meeting your goals by selling gourmet pies this fall.

Customers love the familiarity and warmth of a classic pie. Pies symbolize comfort, caring, and connection, especially around the holidays. They can express gratitude to a Thanksgiving host or helpful neighbor. Other times, sitting together at the table to enjoy a slice of pie can bring families together at the end of a busy day.

All the best school fundraising teams know customers have difficulty saying "no" to a pumpkin pie in November. That's why before the holidays' approach is the best time for your group's annual Thanksgiving pie fundraiser. This is when students have settled into their school routines and can probably handle a little extracurricular selling activity.

But there is no time to waste with the holiday season just around the corner. Here are some pie fundraising ideas that can help you reach your goals.

Know Your Products

Optimize your sales by preparing your salespeople. Teach your students everything there is to know about the product, process, and cause.

Our pie fundraiser for schools has great resources for students and families to learn about Big Fundraising Ideas and our frozen pie offerings. Knowing how to answer customers' questions about shipping, online orders, packaging, nutrition facts, and more is important.

Set SMART Goals

What's one thing that all successful fundraisers have in common? A goal. Setting goals about the number of pies sold, students participating, or profit made can drive engagement and teamwork.

Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-limited (SMART). SMART goals eliminate estimates and guesswork by making progress easier to track. Consider these examples to help guide your team in goal setting:

• The volleyball team's pie fundraising campaign will raise $1,800 from October 1^st through October 15^th.
• 80% of our marching band members will sell at least two pies.
• The theater club will sell over 53 cases of pies to reach the 40% profit margin level for the fundraising period ending on November 2^nd.

Set your group's fundraising goal.

Don't Wait Until Thanksgiving

Planning for a fundraiser takes time. So much more happens behind the scenes beyond the two-week sales. Teams must set goals, learn about the products, read up on the FAQs, pick a prize program, spread the word, and learn how to promote their online store.

Luckily, we have school fundraising timelines down to a science. We suggest scheduling a meeting to discuss sales goals and how your fundraiser will work. Then, you'll schedule the two weeks for hosting your sale. Allow 7-10 business days to receive your fundraising supplies so they arrive at least 1-2 days before your kickoff date.

Get in the Holiday Season

Establish the tradition of a Thanksgiving pie fundraising event for success year after year. This strategy helps your group become the go-to pie sellers in the area. Wouldn't it be great for customers to anticipate and ask about your pies in advance every year?

The average American spends $186 a year on Thanksgiving dinner. Make sure your pie sales are included in Thanksgiving family budgets by marketing for the season. Talk to customers about how they can simplify the cooking by purchasing a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dessert or a pecan pie to express gratitude to a friend.

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Don't delay – start today with a Thanksgiving pie fundraiser for your school. Register now to sell Perfect Pies with Big Fundraising Ideas this fall.

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.