Friday, 11. December 2009
Meat fundraisers are considered a premium fundraising item as they tend to be more expensive than your regular candy and popcorn fundraisers. A package of premium steaks can cost $60 or more and even the minimum order tends to be in the $30 range. The variety of meats offered can include: pork chops, gourmet hamburgers/franks, or even venison!
Make sure you look into different companies as the profit percentages can vary quite a bit. Doing preliminary research beforehand can save you tons of headache and money in the long run.
The meat fundraiser products are perishable so you usually don’t have to worry about delivery. Companies often handle the logistics and delivery. Products are shipped in coolers packed in dry ice so they don’t get spoiled.
To make things even easier for you, companies often take orders straight from their websites. All you have to do is point your patrons to the correct webpage with the right account# (different companies have different systems so they can explain this to you in greater detail), and they will handle it from there. Even if you take pre-orders via hand-written forms, most companies drop ship the products straight to the clients as if they ordered from the site.
Beef jerky is another great meat selling alternative as you can sell them as if they were candy pouches, but with the added convenience of being able to sell them wherever you are and whenever you want.
Posted in Fundraising - Product Ideas, Medium Group Fundraisers, Small Group Fundraisers by Christopher -
Friday, 11. December 2009
Who doesn’t love a good mystery? A murder mystery is a unique fundraiser that will allow every member of your group to participate while bringing in lot of people from the community to support your organization and have a great time doing it.
While there is some investment required, you will make all of your money back in this one night event. All you have to do is host a murder. Murder mystery parties are popular for all ages, so why not use this popular event as a way to raise money for your group?
The murder mystery can be geared toward any age group, from children to adults. Scripts can be purchased online or, if you have a lot of creativity in your group, you can write your own script.
You’ll need a venue in which to host your murder mystery. The options for a venue are endless, and depend largely on what you plan to charge for admittance. Some groups have held a similar fundraiser and charged $100 or more. They held the event in a hotel ballroom, and a wonderful dinner, catered by the hotel, was included.
Other groups have charged far less per ticket and held the event in a church fellowship hall or local Moose lodge and served pizza, chicken or heavy appetizers. You know your audience, so just be sure to be realistic when setting ticket prices and choosing a venue.
You’ll want to send press releases to local media well in advance of your event. The uniqueness of this event makes a perfect news story, and if the local paper runs a story prior to the event, you’re sure to have increased ticket sales as a result. Also, it’s a good way to the name of your group in the public eye.
You will need to set aside rehearsal time with the group members who are participating. Think of the event as an interactive play. The actors in the play will actually mill around with the people who purchased tickets. They will answer questions, offer clues while also trying to throw people off the scent of the “real killer”.
When guests begin to arrive, they should be shown into the event room and told to mingle with other guests. You may make it obvious which people are actors (by having them wear costumes) or you may choose to have the players mix in seamlessly with the guests. Once most of the guests have arrived, it’s time for murder.
There are a couple of ways to carry out this part of the fundraiser. One is to have the murder be carried out in the room where the guests are located. The lights should flicker out, and when they come back on, the body will be in the room. While the lights are out, you can have sound effects, such as a gunshot or a scream, to add to the drama. Another option is to have someone playing a police officer enter the room and inform the crowd that there has been a murder.
Either of these options will work equally well. The back story and clues are the backbone of this event more so than the actual murder.
After the murder, guests will spend time mingling with the actors, trying to extract clues and figure out whodunit. If a sit down dinner is being served, continue to offer clues during the meal, perhaps having the waitress share clues with the guests as she serves them.
At the end of the night, the guests will answer some questions such as who did it? And why did they do it? Offer prizes for the best answers.
Because several different scripts are available for murder mystery dinners, you could hold this event on an annual basis without having to repeat the exact same performance.
What you’ll need:
- A murder mystery script – you can purchase one or write it yourself
- A venue – the options are limitless, and depend on the price of your tickets
- Prizes – they could be token prizes or more substantial. Talk to local vendors and merchants to see if they would be willing to donate items to the fundraiser
- Food – Whether a fancy sit down dinner, or heavy appetizers, you will want to serve food during the event
A murder mystery fundraiser is sure to be remembered by all who participate!
Posted in Fundraising - Event Ideas, Large Group Fundraisers, Medium Group Fundraisers, Small Group Fundraisers by Christopher -
Friday, 11. December 2009
Flower fundraisers are effective because unlike food or coupon items, they last for a much longer time and provide the added benefit of beautifying its surroundings. With flower fundraisers depending on which company or nursery you decide to go to, you should expect a gross profit of between 40-60%, depending on your flower choice and number of flowers sold.
The most important things to look for when searching for a company is 1) best profit system 2) easiest system of selling 3) lead time in ordering and having the flowers(bulbs) delivered. You should also make sure that the company that you order from is reputable, as having dying plants or unattractive plants cause for a lose-lose situation. You don’t want to be stuck with lots of plants that people do not want to buy.
The amount that your group can make is entirely dependent on how many customers they can reach. You can either go door to door in your neighborhood (safety comes first: make sure minors are accompanied by an adult), or stake a high traffic location and take orders from there.
Posted in Fundraising - Product Ideas, Large Group Fundraisers, Medium Group Fundraisers, Small Group Fundraisers by Christopher -
Friday, 11. December 2009
The polar bear plunge fundraiser is where participants volunteer to jump into an iced over lake or other obviously freezing body of water. This type of fundraiser isn’t limited to those near icy lakes or ponds. You can create your own “polar pool” by filling a swimming pool with large quantities of ice.
This event is great because there really is no limit to the number of people that can participate. Having more people participate does not add on to the overall cost of the event. Making this into a competition with different categories also can draw more people to participate.
Once a date is set for th event, start marketing it as soon as you can. Start by sending letters to local businesses, schools and groups. Encourage participants to apply in teams. The more people that they have on their team, the more money they will be able to raise. You should also try to encourage individual participants to enter. To encourage people to raise as much money as they can, have prizes for both the team and the individual who raise the most money.
Each participant of this event should do their best to gather “sponsors”. Typically, once they hear of the cause of the event, and the means of the fundraising (jumping into icy cold water), they would be more inclined to donate. If you want, you can also set rules where participants have to either be submerged neck deep or all the way inside the water in order to “qualify.”
If possible, you should also charge each team or individual an entry fee. You can explain that the proceeds of the fee will go to the fundraiser itself, as well as in buying supplies to make the event possible.
To make extra fundraising money, you can set up mini hot chocolate or coffee carts.
Posted in Fundraising - Event Ideas, Large Group Fundraisers, Medium Group Fundraisers, Small Group Fundraisers by Christopher -
Friday, 11. December 2009
Popcorn fundraisers are very popular for a lot of reasons. 1) They are easy to handle and light weight 2) Non-perishable 3) Long Shelf Life 4) A popular snack for any age group 5) Time-tested
These days (year 2010+), it is very easy finding gourmet popcorn of all varieties. Some of the more popular flavors include popped popcorn dipped in caramel, cheese, chocolate or some other flavor packed into a decorative package. Recently however, microwavable popcorn has become more and more popular.
Be sure to research into different popcorn companies as they offer different incentives and programs. Bottom line, you should expect to make 40% – 60% profit from your sales.
Posted in Fundraising - Product Ideas, Large Group Fundraisers, Medium Group Fundraisers, Small Group Fundraisers by Christopher -
Friday, 11. December 2009
Scratch card fund raising is a really easy and highly profitable fundraiser. All different types of groups (youth groups, bands, sports teams, etc.) use this fundraiser and are successful every time.
Basis of the fundraiser: “Scratch cards are an easy way to ask for donations. Supporters scratch your personalized fundraising card, give a small donation up to $3.00, and receive a small gift in return for their donation. Raise $100 per card!”
Different fundraising companies offer different programs, so search around before deciding on what is the best fit for your company. The maximum donation about varies from $3.00 to $5.00 and prizes range from a small gift (silicone bracelet) to a discount sheet full of coupons.
This type of fundraiser can also be used as an “add on” to a different fundraiser. The small donation amount encourages donors to participate!
Posted in Fundraising - Product Ideas, Large Group Fundraisers, Medium Group Fundraisers, Small Group Fundraisers by Christopher -
Friday, 11. December 2009
Spelling Bees can be great for any sized congregation. As younger kids, everyone dreaded taking spelling bees for dread of embarrassment and a bad grade. However, when you get everyone at the church involved, including parents, the choir, pastor/minister, etc involved, it proves to be a very fun event that anyone and everyone can enjoy.
Planning A Spelling Bee Fundraiser
The planning stages of this type of fundraiser are the most difficult, after that, it’s easy. Finding volunteers and teams to participate in the spelling bee and publicizing your event will likely be the only challenges that you face. There are a few sure-fire ways to get some help!
First, you want to ensure that you advertise your Spelling Bee to whatever group or population that you are striving for. Get some great prizes lined up, things that everybody wants; not cheesy prizes! Prizes that are great incentives are trips, gift cards, money, shopping sprees, and movie theater tickets. Separate your prizes or have two each and offer a drawing for prizes for volunteers as well, that always gets names signed on the dotted line.
How It Works
Now we all understand the basics of a spelling bee, but a fundraiser Bee will be a bit different. In order to raise profits and draw an audience it will have to be put on in such a way that is comical and interesting. You will have teams of three or four participants instead of individual contestants. This heats up the competition and will give everyone a good laugh, because the contestants are not singled out! When a team misses two words they are disqualified from that round! The winning team goes on and the last team standing wins the Spelling Bee.
This fundraiser is profitable at different levels; first, the teams pay an entrance fee, also donations and individual or team sponsorships, or you can sell tickets to the event. Having refreshments can bring in additional funds as well since everyone loves a snack.
You can even make this a competition b/w different churches, with the winner of either church getting a larger percentage of the shared funds (optional)
Posted in Fundraising - Event Ideas, Large Group Fundraisers, Medium Group Fundraisers, Small Group Fundraisers by Christopher -
Friday, 11. December 2009
A very personal type of fundraiser would be to sell homemade stationery and greeting cards. This raises both school and community spirit as well as money at the same time!
These type of fundraisers are most common throughout the holidays (Valentines Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannakuh, etc.) They are also rather simple to organize without the need of a lot of advance planning.
The greatest part of this fundraiser is how great both sides of the fundraiser feel from the sale of custom and homemade stationery. Buyers feel like they’re buying a quality product that took both time and effort to make, and sellers have a great time making them.
Posted in Fundraising - Product Ideas, Medium Group Fundraisers, Small Group Fundraisers by Christopher -
