Anybody have any new ideas for fundraising? I need some fresh ideas for a small Catholic school in need of funds.
Madison
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Our Youth group, had the teens auctioned off to do a day of work at your house, of course they weren't allowed to do any heavy labor, nor climb ladders, but people battled to get a certain teen to work for them.
My children attend a Christian school with less than 40 students. The school is poor because most of the parents are not that well-to-do, but we've made a fairly good profit having an outdoor carnival in a county of 80,000, most of whom live way out in the boonies. All the parents that can-as well as the teachers-help. We have games, which the parents run.
"Sell" a yardsale. Mark off spaces in a parking lot and rent them for $5 each, first come, first serve. Our Sunday school had over 100 people respond -- $500, no overhead. The students had a concession booth (donations only for soda and baked goods, but you could charge per serving), and a car wash -- get yours washed while you shop! Also had a babysitting area with arts and crafts for children, free; donations accepted.
A Catholic church here had their preschool set up a baked potato sale. They had different toppings etc. It seemed to go over good, there were tons of cars!
Of course, there are the candy bars, World's finest chocolates.
WE were having these same discussions at our band booster meeting.
Here are a few ideas, one of them pretty off the wall.
One group of people bought brand name toilet paper from a manufacturer or a wholesale supplier. They went door to door selling it. People laughed when they found out what they were selling, but almost every house bought some. It made a lot of money. The principle is this...find something that people are going to buy anyway...and sell it to them at a fairly reasonable price.
Other people have sold flats of flowers and hanging baskets. This is fairly labor intensive because people have to go to the warehouse and pick them up and deliver them. For these items, the orders and the payment are taken in advance.
Ask people to donate in nice items in certain categories and sell them on Ebay. Try to find out what is hot...and go from there. Things that seem to sell well are Creative craft stuff (but only in certain categories: rubber stamps--especially sets, scrapbooking supplies, quilting fabric with themes such as cats, dogs, bugs, music, etc., (Cut them up accurately into 4, 5, and 6 inch squares and sell in lots of 30 squares. The mailing cost is minimal, but you can make a little money on shipping, too. Charge 2.00 for shipping, the actual cost of shipping is about 1.00 or less), certain newer craft related books sell pretty well...quilt books, knitting books, books on autism or asperger's syndrome, depression glass, milk glass, etc. The thing with eBay is that you have to research your categories both for pricing information and for information on whether those items sell at all. It does cost money to list on eBay...so there is some cost involved, but think of the percentage you will make compared to other fund raising ideas. Especially if the items are donated. Certain brand name clothing sells well...again do your research. Clothes in very good conditioin sell pretty well: Liz Claiborne, Coldwater Creek, Levi Jeans, Lands End, etc. Those are the brands that I buy. Naturalizer shoes have a pretty good follwowing.
Always pack items very well, but don't make the mistake of taking your items to a mailing store like Mailboxes, etc. That will eat up your profits in a hurry.
Those are my ideas.
Cindy
If you try the carnival thing, why not also add a cake/dessert raffle/auction. Or, something like the old fashioned box lunch raffle. Everyone bring a lunch in a box or suitable container, then raffle or auction them off to highest bidder. I would put a card on each saying what is in each lunch.
Your congregation could all pull together and bring in all kinds of hygiene products, ex: bubble bath, shower gels, nail polish remover, bath poufs, nail polish, cologne, scented talcum powder, body wash, bath bars, etc. You could make up gift baskets. Cheap baskets can be found at yard sales, thrift stores, dollar stores.
At http://www.orientaltrading.com, they have religious items you can purchase, whether you plan on making them yourselves or already made to sell. Just a 2nd thought, I had after my other post. Also, about the gift baskets, your church group could set up in front of stores like Walmart to sell your items for fundraisers. Walmart lets them in our area. Recently, before Easter, some church group was selling See's candies, there. Also, if you wanted to have a spaghetti feed, companies like Mueller's pasta and Prego pasta sauce donate for certain fundraisers. Write or call them. Best of luck!
Madison,
With Forget-Me-Not Aromas, you the organization decides on what product or products you'd like to use for your fundraising. I offer these products to you at 10% below the current price. You then set the price for your fundraiser. Generally, the item is marked up $2.50. Each item sold will net you $2.50 + the 10% I am already discounting the products.
Example:
8 oz Lotion Current Price
$5.50
Less: 10% Discount
$.55
Purchase Price
$4.95
Fundraiser Price ($2.50 Mark Up)
$8.00
Fundraiser Earnings from Each Item Sold
$3.05
Obviously, shipping is not apart of the above calculations. Because shipping is based on Real Time shipping, this can not be calculated until the order is actually processed.
I hope you find this information helpful. If you have any other questions, let me know.
Marla
http://forgetmenotaromas.com - Our fragrances leave lasting impressions.
My daughters gifted & talented class has an annual musical chairs fundraiser. Tickets are sold for $5, in advance, $6 if bought at the gate. Students are given an extra 100 in the grade book for every packet of 10 that they sell. On the day of the event (we do it on a Saturday morning at 10:30), participants bring a lawn chair to our football stadium for a huge game of musical chairs. We've held it on the football field, and even in the stadium parking lot. Either place works great. Oldies music is played. This year the age of our participants ranged from 3 years old to 80 years old. All ages can participate!
One end of the tickets is a raffle ticket. Gifts are donated by local merchants...everything from dog food (local vets & feed stores...don't forget ANYBODY!), to oil changes, $1 gift certificates from a local snowcone stand, to DVD & CD players. Between every few games of musical chairs, raffle tickets are drawn. You do not have to be present to win.
This year we had so many donations that every single participant received a prize as they were eliminated. The more expensive donations (DVD player, Playstation, etc.) were saved for the last few participants.
We planned the event close to lunch so we could make some money off of our concession stand, which we held to just a few items (lots of drinks), to keep costs & waste down.
Parents signed up in advance to ask vendors for donations, another group picked them up the day before the event, others worked in the concession stand.
The event takes about 1 1/2 - 2 hours, anyone can participate, many people buy tickets just to make a donation, and it is LOADS of fun!!! I have 3 children (1 in college, 1 in HS, and 1 in MS), so I have worked hundreds of hours on fundraisers. This one is the easiest, and most profitable of any we have ever had!
I don't know where you are located but in the Northeast, everyone is in love with Longaberger Baskets. As the fundraising chairman for our local Little League, we tested the waters a few years ago, by holding a basket raffle. We purchased a collection of 10 baskets, filled the top 3 prizes with items corresponding to that basket, and sold raffle tickets all season holding the drawing on Memorial Day Weekend. Tickets were sold for $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00 - its so easy to get someone to hand over $2.00 than to try and sell them junk they don't need, and like I said, everyone wants to believe they can win a Longaberger Basket for a mere $2.00. After an initial investment of about $300.00 for the baskets(the items we filled them with were donated), we ended up making about $2000.00 on our first attempt. You could make more if you could get local businesses to actually donate the baskets. Our tickets were donated by a local business, so no cost there, either. Last year, we assigned each participant a certain number of tickets to sell and made about $1500.00 more than the previous year. this year we decided to purchase bigger, specialty baskets that one wouldn't normally buy, and they will all be filled, but we only have 4 to raffle off this year. Parents keep coming back for more tickets! Can't wait to see how much we end up with this year! Its been very successful for us and the only work required is calling the prize winners.
The raffle for the baskets is always a big money maker at our school. Each class is designated a "theme" ie. Barbie, Teen basket, Ice Cream, Chocoholic, Spa, boys basket, pool fun, playground fun, etc. The children each chip in something and baskets are purchased at the dollar store and filled. Local merchants can be hit up for bigger raffle prizes, ie dinner, movie, popcorn, etc.. $1 per ticket, or 6 for $5. We combine it with a small carnival ie. cake walk (donated cakes), face painting (high school kids), etc. All pure profit! Good luck!
PaperFunds has a paper drive program suitable for smaller groups where you sell toilet paper and paper towels. (Yes, I work with PaperFunds but thought you'd find this relevant). You can sell useful products at fair prices and earn the money you need.
www.paperfunds.com
www.facebook.com/
A fundraising calendar for Churches, Schools and Community groups. You can contact us through facebook or our website, www.trinitycalendars.com. International shipping can be arranged.
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