When my son was young, each year his school had a walk-a-thon as one of their fundraisers. Each child was expected to raise $200, and if you didn’t raise that money through donations, the parents had to pay it themselves.
Many schools, extracurricular activities, and sports have these types of fundraisers. If you live far from family or have a small family, finding a way to raise the money can be difficult, and if you’re on a tight or modest budget, finding the money to cover the entire expense yourself may not be feasible.
If you’re faced with one of these, here are some charity fundraising strategies to try to boost your sales and meet your goal.
The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Melissa Batai. Melissa is a freelance writer who covers topics ranging from personal finance to business to organics to food. She blogs at Mom’s Plans where she shares her family’s journey to healthier living and paying down debt.
Door to Door Sales
The most common way to make sales is to go door to door in your neighborhood. You may get customers from those who know you, but don’t stop at just your neighborhood. Feel free to drive to other neighborhoods and approach those homeowners for sales, too. You might decide to hit a different neighborhood a night for a few nights to ramp up sales. Going to several neighborhoods is especially important if you live in a less wealthy or less populated neighborhood.
Ask Local Businesses to Buy
When you think of selling a product for a fundraiser, you likely automatically think about family and friends and going door to door. Have you considered asking local businesses? Car dealerships, hair salons, and small businesses make a great place to ask. You may get takers from both the employees and the customers!
Set Up A Table at A Local Business
Many businesses, such as grocery stores and home improvement stores will allow children and their parents to set up a table outside the store to market their fundraisers. However, beware that you’ll need to ask the store first, and they’ll likely assign you a day and a time since they like to schedule these events. In addition, by letting the store schedule your time, you’ll avoid competing with others who are fundraising if you’re both set up outside the store at the same time. My son and I did this outside a grocery store and raised quite a bit of money from people who liked to support children or who were alumni of the school.
If you feel comfortable doing this and if it’s legal in your state, some people who are selling food items for their fundraiser such as cookies or cheeses find that they can make quite a few sales outside marijuana dispensaries.
Ask Church Members
If your church will allow it, consider setting up a booth outside of church to sell your items.
If your church won’t allow it, there may be alternatives. When my son had to raise money to go to a national history bee, our church wouldn’t let him sell, but they did suggest he contact the men’s organization in our church. He gave a short presentation to the men’s group explaining why he was raising the money, and they donated $500 to his cause. After the event, he came back to the group and explained what his experience had been like and how he did in the competition.
Order Online for Out of Town Family and Friends
My cousin and I both live in the West, far from family in the Midwest. When her sons have fund raisers, she posts what is for sale on Facebook, in our family group, and family members can place orders that way.
Likewise, many of the companies offering fundraisers have an online address people can order from. Check if this is a possibility if you and your child live far from family and friends.
Another possibility is to find out how much your organization gets for the item being sold. For instance, if your child is selling a $15 product and the organization will get $8 for each item sold, maybe a relative will want to forego the item and shipping and instead donate $8 to your child, which can go straight to the fundraiser.
Sell at Work
If your workplace allows it, consider selling your child’s item there. When I was young, I was in Girl Scouts, and my dad always brought the order form to work. Most of my sales came from there. His coworkers asked every year when cookie season was coming up.
Sell on Facebook via Garage Sale and Community Groups
You can save a lot of time and reach a large amount of people by posting your item on your local Facebook Garage Sale and community group pages. You may want to contact an admin first to make sure selling like this is allowed. Particularly popular on these pages are discount cards, such as pay $10 and receive a coupon book for local businesses.
Real Estate Offices for Closings or Openings
I was surprised to discover that some people go to real estate offices to ask if the agents are interested in buying any of the fundraising items for sale. For instance, if your group is selling candles, agents may want to buy these to light when they have openings, lending a pleasant smell to the home. Likewise, agents may want to buy cookies and food to have available during openings. These same items can also be used as gifts during the closing.
Local University or College in the Evening
College students quickly tire of dorm food. Consider stopping by your local university or community college in the evening to see if you can find any students interested in buying your treats. You may be surprised at how many sales you make.
Buy to Donate to the Homeless Center
Local businesses may consider buying your product and donating to a homeless center or a women’s shelter. Likewise, if your family lives far away, and the item your selling is local delivery only, they might purchase the item for donation, also.
Carry Your Fundraising Materials Everywhere
You probably never think about it, but you meet a lot of people just going about your day. Have an orthodontist appointment? Consider asking the receptionist and the orthodontist if they’re interested in purchasing anything. Maybe some parents who are waiting will overhear and want to order, too. Anywhere you go during selling time, consider asking.
Conclusions
I never particularly enjoyed fundraisers as a parent. I felt a lot of pressure for my child to make the sales so I wouldn’t have to pay out of pocket. However, for children, having a fundraiser can be a terrific way to practice their sales skills, work on organizational skills when the product comes in, and follow through when they deliver the product. I still remember how excited I was to separate all my Girl Scout cookie boxes into each order and how proud I was to deliver them. That’s a feeling your child can have, too.
If you use these strategies, both you and your child can be happy that you’ve met your quota and given your child valuable skills.
***Photo courtesy of https://www.idpinthat.com/edit/186080
