What is the best fundraising product to help your school, club, or sports team raise money?

My name is Greg and I own/run a fundraising company in Idaho. I have helped several groups and sports programs reach their goals. The information I’m about to share is based on my own experiences and what I’ve observed in the industry over the last 8 years. Enjoy!

For years I worked very hard to provide a fundraiser for various group types. Most of my efforts are directed towards helping schools reach their goal. These schools have anywhere from 250-2000 students. Our goal is always the same, raise as much money as we can in a two week period. Sports team fundraisers are similar but we can shorten the time frame by a week and still produce similar results.

Magazines
Don’t cringe when I say the word magazine because that is where most of my time was spent when I entered the industry. Price points averaged $22 per sale and distribution to supporters was a piece of cake. I eventually transitioned my groups away from magazine sales when results continued to decline. Publishers were really good at stealing supporters from our schools with 2-3yr subscription prices that didn’t benefit the school and we could not compete with their prices.

$20 Cookie Dough
The next product we selected was cookie dough. Our sales soared! We knew introducing a food product to the fundraiser would increase our results but WOW! We found that people from all demographics were willing to spend more money on food than non-food items. Our schools loved the increase in money raised but eventually grew tired of the increased workload cookie dough brought. Lucky for us, Cherrydale (AKA Beleive Kids/Kredo Inc) has helped my groups continue to raise money with cookie dough and we’ve drastically reduced the workload. If cookie dough is something you’re thinking of running, make sure it’s backed up by a company that know how to distribute frozen foods or logistics will become a nightmare.

The Power of $1
I eventually added World’s Finest Chocolate to the products our company offers. I was a little hesitant to do so because I feared what would happen when a student/athlete left campus with a case of chocolate and no money turned in. Little did I know how big fundraisers could grow by switching from a $20 cookie dough to a $1 chocolate bar. In every fundraiser where we switched a $20 cookie dough tub with a $1 chocolate we nearly doubled our profit. Why? We noticed more students wanted to participate when we told them the product we’re selling is a $1. If you take 2000 kids and increase participation from 30% to 50% you now have a huge increase in your sale. Not only that but your potential customers are excited to have a lower price point to become a supporter.

The best of $1 World’s Finest Chocolate Bar
1. You will increase fundraiser participation because families can afford the product.
2. Supporter age ranges increase, which increases the number of potential supporters. 5yrs and older can find a dollar
3. Distribution of products happens at the sale, no waiting!

Regardless of where you live, contact me with any questions as there are many reasons you should and should not run a chocolate sale. I’m here to help!

Greg
Idaho Fundraising Inc